Newsarama: Tom, let’s just start with the choice to resurrect Lois Lane as a new version of Red Tornado. What were your thoughts behind resurrecting Lois this way?
Tom Taylor: I had two big reasons for bringing Lois into our story.
The first reason was a little selfish, if I’m being honest. As a very big fan of Superman and Lois Lane, having to bring about her death inInjusticewas the hardest thing I’ve ever had to write.
There’s a term called ‘fridging’, coined by my friend Gail Simone, for when a woman dies as a plot point. The concern is that their life becomes inconsequential. It’s all about the man’s suffering and how it effects him.
I’m very aware of this. It was something we came under a lot of criticism for.
I tried very hard to celebrate Lois and to show her at her best inInjustice, before her tragic demise. Whenever Superman talks about her, he talks about the life they lost together. He acknowledges the person she was. She isn’t dead and then forgotten.
The first thing I wanted to do on Earth 2 was ‘unfridge’ Lois Lane. If you look at the first page Red Tornado appears on, Nicola Scott and I actually have her coming out of a large blue, steaming refrigeration unit.
Nrama: Oh my gosh!
Taylor: We thought this was pretty appropriate.