Do you think it's possible that Jimmy and Lois will ever have 100+ issue solos..

[The World]

ever again or was that just a thing of the silver age/bronze age? It's kind of crazy to think two civilian characters in a superhero story were able to have their own solos decades before Robin ever got his own and that they ran for as long as the did.

[seismic-2]

A 100-issue run of anything is, with a few exceptions, not the way that the business operates any more. In the modern era, titles rely on re-numberings and re-launches to satisfy the collector and speculator markets. The nearly decade-long runs of the Jimmy and Lois comics took place in the era when the industry was aimed at the readers market (which back then was mainly 12-year-old kids).

[Jim Kelly]

Jimmy's book actually ran for twenty years (163 issues). From 1954 to 1974--when it wasn't cancelled but simply was retitled as THE SUPERMAN FAMILY, which itself ran for another eight years.

SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND (137 issues) lasted more than fifteen years--1958 to 1974--before also joining THE SUPERMAN FAMILY.

Had these books been on a monthly schedule, their numbers would have been much higher. Their popularity was such that they could have sustained 12 issues per year--but that would have drained the talent that were working on all the other Super books at the same time. And one can argue that it was smarter to leave more than a month between some issues as that meant an issue stayed on the racks longer, giving it a better chance of being bought and sold before the next issue replaced it.

This was also in a time when lots of non-super characters had their own titles. Whenever I was feeling a bit overloaded with the super-hero stuff, Jimmy and Lois books were a nice change.

In the 1950s, National Comics put out a fair number of titles that featured celebrities. One could argue that SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN was a celebrity title--spawned from Jack Larson's turn as Jimmy on THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN. The LOIS LANE comic came out just as the T.V. show was ending (but remained airing in syndication)--and maybe Noel Neill helped bring in many readers.

While there were a variety of stories in each issue--a lot of it was humour. Back in the 1960s, humour comics were very popular (maybe more popular than straight super-hero comics), so Superman's friends would have some cross-over appeal.

[Stanlos]

Lois especially could easily do that. Why there is no streaming property based on her and the planet doing their thing is a mystery

[Vordan]

A 100-issue run of anything is, with a few exceptions, not the way that the business operates any more. In the modern era, titles rely on re-numberings and re-launches to satisfy the collector and speculator markets. The nearly decade-long runs of the Jimmy and Lois comics took place in the era when the industry was aimed at the readers market (which back then was mainly 12-year-old kids).

Yeah this. I think the only DC characters with ongoings that haven’t been relaunched right now are Batman, Superman in Action, Flash, and Wonder Woman. Reaching 100 issues with even the big characters is a pipe dream nowadays. So no I don’t think either of those two will ever have 100 issue runs ever again. But 12 issues of Fraction’s Jimmy Olsen run brought me more entertainment and excitement than something like Spawn ever did.

[DABellWrites]

Lois can easily hold a title for 100+ issues. Any character can hold their own title, it just takes the right team to bring out the character.

[Vordan]

Lois can easily hold a title for 100+ issues. Any character can hold their own title, it just takes the right team to bring out the character.

I wish that were true. Spurrier was writing a fantastic Hellblazer, the art was great, it should’ve gone on for 100 issues. But it didn’t, it died at 12 because people weren’t buying it. And this is John Constantine, a character who not to long ago had a 300 issue ongoing! The market has contracted by a lot alas.

[Adekis]

Remember kids, only nothing is impossible!

But it is not very likely.

[Yoda]

I wish that were true. Spurrier was writing a fantastic Hellblazer, the art was great, it should’ve gone on for 100 issues. But it didn’t, it died at 12 because people weren’t buying it. And this is John Constantine, a character who not to long ago had a 300 issue ongoing! The market has contracted by a lot alas.

Batman/Superman couldn't even get to like 25 issues. The market is really very limited. I don't read much Marvel, really only Hulk, but I give them credit for throwing out a lot of titles for lesser know characters (particularly women) and sticking with them for a while. DC seems to at least be trying to push a lot of 6-12 issue miniseries for a lot of characters and that would be ideal for giving Lois & Jimmy more chances when creators have solid ideas. Jimmy's book will be a trade seller for a while like a lot of Fraction's stuff. Lois' unfortunately probably won't because Rucka just flamed out on that one. But there are plenty of writers who would probably kill a Lois book if given the chance.

[DochaDocha]

If you're talking monthlies, this is something like an 8-9 year run. That's a lot to ask of any title or creative team these days, to come up with a new title for a supporting character and manage a monthly for that long.

If it were to happen, you'd probably have to "cheat" a little and make it something like a short weekly book, thus making it only two years to complete.

[Jim Kelly]

I used to be in awe of the fact that they put out comics on a monthly schedule--even second tier comics. Since that wasn't the practice for most of the history of comics when bi-monthly and quarterly titles were common. To have that many issues in a year meant that a title got to 100 a lot faster than in the old days.

Now it's shifted again.

They should publish comics like academic journals. Those--as I know from university days hunting the stacks for articles to cite in term papers--would restart their issue numbers with each new year, but they would keep going up with volume numbers. So the publisher could easily have a new number 1 each year, but it would be all one title.

[Vordan]

I used to be in awe of the fact that they put out comics on a monthly schedule--even second tier comics. Since that wasn't the practice for most of the history of comics when bi-monthly and quarterly titles were common. To have that many issues in a year meant that a title got to 100 a lot faster than in the old days.

Now it's shifted again.

They should publish comics like academic journals. Those--as I know from university days hunting the stacks for articles to cite in term papers--would restart their issue numbers with each new year, but they would keep going up with volume numbers. So the publisher could easily have a new number 1 each year, but it would be all one title.

Marvel did that for a while, every year there was a new #1, but sales actually cratered and the relaunches started hurting the books’ sales.

[Robanker]

No, I don't think so. There's no way either of their books would sell well enough to keep the same team going that long and more than likely the book would be relaunched after a big team leaves around 20-30 issues.

Most comics don't get to those numbers anymore. That's not the way the market works. Of Rebirth, it was only Batman and Flash and the latter only because it was Williamson nearly the entire time so it made no sense to break the momentum.

Lois is an excellent character but to think she is going to hit 100 issues uninterrupted is ignoring the market. Stuff like Nightwing retaining its numbering despite the massive change does mean it's possible, but he's also proven to sell consistently higher than she has.

[DABellWrites]

I wish that were true. Spurrier was writing a fantastic Hellblazer, the art was great, it should’ve gone on for 100 issues. But it didn’t, it died at 12 because people weren’t buying it. And this is John Constantine, a character who not to long ago had a 300 issue ongoing! The market has contracted by a lot alas.

Well, according to Wikipedia, the book was cancelled due to covid. I think we can agree the industry is in a very unhealthy place right now.

[Jim Kelly]

You guys all make a good point that the market is unstable. Which just seems to mean that whatever is common now isn't going to last. So it's just as possible we'll be in a time when titles have long runs and more down to earth characters, like Lois, become the norm.

Anything could happen.