How do we get Lois and Jimmy on track in the N52?

[The World]

So yeah, how do we get these two characters in order in the new universe? The franchise is going to need these characters to be given some direction if its going to succeed like most other story needs supporting characters to be successful. Pak's doing a pretty good job with Lana in Action and seems to be be moving in on Steel, he's also done a good job with the Kent's in Flashbacks.

[Vanguard-01]

They both just need to be used more. And better. That's really it.

The gross underutilization of Lois Lane is one of the biggest crimes in the New 52. It's almost like a lot of writers are actually trying to perpetuate the idea that Lois really has no purpose if she isn't Superman's girlfriend/wife. Bull! Lois is a strong and highly interesting woman all by herself. Having her not currently involved with Superman should be looked at as an opportunity to show the world that she's more than just some guy's love interest.

So far her "best" use to date was in Doomed. And that wasn't a good use of her at all. Just the most prominent use of her. Lois doesn't need her own set of superpowers, or to be taken over by Brainiac in order to be interesting, either. All she needs is for some writer to come along and really want to think about how best to make use of a strong character like Lois, now that she's outside what has come to be seen as her "traditional" role.

Jimmy? He just hasn't been used much at all, and that is also a crime. Unlike Lois, the writers don't even have a good excuse for not using him that much, because unlike Lois, Jimmy's traditional role was not changed in the New 52. He's still almost exactly the same character he has always been. The writers just aren't using him.

If any of the current writers can help these two characters, my money's on Pak. That man never disappoints. All he needs is to take the initiative and turn his creative energies in their direction, and I'm betting he could do much to help them along. He's already taken Lana Lang: a character most fans rarely thought much about at all, and turned her into a truly interesting and enjoyable character. He can easily do the same thing with Lois and/or Jimmy.

[daBronzeBomma]

There definitely seems to be a problem with both Lois and Jimmy.

And their problem can be summed up in one word: usurpation. Their traditional roles in have been usurped by other characters.

Lois Lane 's role has recently been usurped by Wonder Woman, while Jimmy Olsen has long been usurped by Superboy.

Let's briefly look at Lois Lane's predicament. She is basically shoved to the sidelines by the arrival (invasion?) of Diana as Kal's lover into the Superverse in 2012. And now we find that, after 70+ years of being written almost exclusively as an immediate/eventual love interest for Kal (in his Superman or Clark Kent guises), nobody has any coherent idea what to do with her outside of that role. In order for her recent one-shot to lead to a solo LOIS LANE ongoing title, it needed to be wildly successful (at least Top 30 of all titles that month) instead of somewhat successful (I believe it was # 100 out of 300 that month). There's just been no significant development of the character outside her core competency, and it's hard to start now. It might be a good idea to have Lois follow the lead of the Wonderverse's Steve Trevor and join some non-Superverse entity while this Superman/Wonder Woman romance eventually plays itself out.

But Lois' predicament, while highlighting how every Super-writer is currently failing her by showing us how little interest they have in establishing her a la Selina Kyle in the Batverse, is temporary (IMHO).

DC/WB wants as many money-making franchises under their umbrella as possible, and while a Superman/Wonder Woman romance will initially drive up interest in WW from non-WW fans, it will ultimately hamper the Wonderverse's growth as a viable franchise away from the Superverse. It will pass, probably well before the solo WW film is released in 2017. Lois Lane will regain everything she's lost plus more, just endure these dark timelines for now, Lois fans. The true Queen of the Superverse will get her rightful throne back one day.

Jimmy, on the other hand, is in much deeper trouble. His troubles go beyond another character temporarily usurping his position. His position has been on the decline for decades now.

This is the character that is supposed to be Superman's Pal, was almost as integral to the Superverse as Dick Grayson was to the Batverse from the 1940s to the 1980s. Even Post-COIE, Jimmy still had a defined role. The fundamental problem with Jimmy Olsen wasn't obvious until the years rolled by and you noticed something: More and more people in the DCU knew Clark's secret, but Jimmy was never among them.

Aside from the obvious case of 1) Jonathan Kent and 2) Martha Kent, within the Superverse there was

3) Lana Lang,
4) Kara Zor-El,
5) Kara Zor-L,
6) John Henry Irons,
7) Lori Lemaris,
8) Connor Kent,
9) Krypto,
and eventually
10) Lois Lane,

Outside the Superverse, the Justice Leaguers who know:

11) Bruce Wayne,
12) Diana,
13) Barry Allen,
14) Hal Jordan,
15) Arthur Curry,
16) J'Onn J'Onzz,
17) Eel O'Brien,

Even some of Superman's enemies knew the secret

17) Darkseid
18) Brainiac
19) Mxyzptlk
20) Conduit
21) Manchester Black

And there are more characters I'm forgetting to mention here.

The point is : as more and more characters learned Superman's identity, it became more and more telling that Jimmy did not, either through being told directly by Clark or by finding out on his own. Even if you exclude the villains and the leaguers, within the Superverse you still had Lana, who wasn't super-powered like Supergirl, nor a hero like John Henry.

Jimmy's not knowing the secret was fine when it wasn't explicit that so many others knew. But now that so many do or have known, it's way past time for Jimmy to know the secret, in any continuity, in any medium.

Even beyond his not knowing the secret, there's the whole he's-not-an-actual-sidekick angle. Again, that was fine for decades ... until Superboy showed up. Why does Superman need Jimmy when Kal can just bring along Superboy, who'd be of some actual use in battle and not a liability?

Does Kal really need Jimmy from even a human angle, when he has both Lana and John Henry for that (both of whom already know his secret)?

Too bad you can't merge Jimmy Olsen and Superboy into one character. Then again, this is comix, where literally anything is possible ...

As long as Jimmy continues to stay in the dark about who Clark really is, there's no end for his marginalization in sight.

[misslane]

I believe the problem with Lois goes deeper than Wonder Woman taking the love interest position she traditionally held; although it is highly possible that the Clark/Diana relationship is the central cause of secondary problems as well. To me, Superman could date Wonder Woman and Lois Lane could have a fine, maybe even great, place in the narrative. However, Lobdell's (and likely the powers that be in general) choices to remove Clark from The Daily Planet and consequently have his journalistic interactions happen mainly with Cat Grant, as well as Pak's (and likely the powers that be in general) choice to seemingly having a rule that only one female is allowed in Action Comics at a time with Lois losing out to Lana for over a year, one finds Lois edged out of even more narrative space.

One possible explanation for this is that the powers that be worry that if Lois does occupy those spaces, it will be too obvious and too tempting to see romantic potential between her and Clark. Keeping Lois in the dark about Clark's secret and having her with Jonathon Carroll, who unlike Steel for Lana gets little development and is often forgotten since he's merely a lazy plot device, are all additional ways that Lois Lane's potential is being limited in the prime Earth so as to not interfere. If the powers that be believe they can do this for an extended period of time -- almost like putting Lois on a shelf like a toy until they're ready to "play" with her again in the way she should -- without any repercussions, I think they're wrong. First, it gives the impression that the things they're trying to develop in her absence are so weak and vulnerable that they would be threatened by her presence. Second, they run the risk of alienating people from her and depriving any subsequent developments of a solid foundation.

[RobinFan4880]

Jimmy and Lois just haven't been used as much as they should have been. If writers start using them, they will get back on track quite quickly.

[Blacksun]

There definitely seems to be a problem with both Lois and Jimmy.

And their problem can be summed up in one word: usurpation. Their traditional roles in have been usurped by other characters.

Lois Lane 's role has recently been usurped by Wonder Woman, while Jimmy Olsen has long been usurped by Superboy.

Let's briefly look at Lois Lane's predicament. She is basically shoved to the sidelines by the arrival (invasion?) of Diana as Kal's lover into the Superverse in 2012. And now we find that, after 70+ years of being written almost exclusively as an immediate/eventual love interest for Kal (in his Superman or Clark Kent guises), nobody has any coherent idea what to do with her outside of that role. In order for her recent one-shot to lead to a solo LOIS LANE ongoing title, it needed to be wildly successful (at least Top 30 of all titles that month) instead of somewhat successful (I believe it was # 100 out of 300 that month). There's just been no significant development of the character outside her core competency, and it's hard to start now. It might be a good idea to have Lois follow the lead of the Wonderverse's Steve Trevor and join some non-Superverse entity while this Superman/Wonder Woman romance eventually plays itself out.

But Lois' predicament, while highlighting how every Super-writer is currently failing her by showing us how little interest they have in establishing her a la Selina Kyle in the Batverse, is temporary (IMHO).

DC/WB wants as many money-making franchises under their umbrella as possible, and while a Superman/Wonder Woman romance will initially drive up interest in WW from non-WW fans, it will ultimately hamper the Wonderverse's growth as a viable franchise away from the Superverse. It will pass, probably well before the solo WW film is released in 2017. Lois Lane will regain everything she's lost plus more, just endure these dark timelines for now, Lois fans. The true Queen of the Superverse will get her rightful throne back one day.

I'm pretty sure that Warner loves clois that made billions through 75 years of its story. Superman/ww is more a case of editors like jim lee and berganza realizing their shippers fantasy. it's only on DC

I don't agree that writers are lost because Lois is not dating Superman. Snyder didn't seemed lost on his Unchained or jurgens/lemire on futures end. or tom taylor on earth 2. The problem is just editors that want to keep her on shadows and barely interacting with Clark kent.

It's hard to lois spin off if they give her book to a writer that is good but doesn't has a big name and the story goes out of Lobdell Superman title. Give a fraction and it will sell. also she only sold 14k less than superman on the same month. It's not bad. Warren ellis superme blue rose seemed like it was a good Lois Lane story to tell, too bad he won't write for Superman books soon.

When Superman starts to be writing more like clark kent, doing journalism Jimmy and Lois are automatically included. Let the friendship flow between the characters, there's nothing complicated on it.

yeah, I think that superman/ww relationship ending the editors can leave the protectiveness and let lois go deeper into superman stories

[The World]

Imo the most important thing for Lois and Jimmy is for them to have something to do long term in the world. Part of the problem is a lack of use for sure but another part of it is an issue that is racking pretty much every character in Superman related stories these days. They lack a goal in their lives; something to be striving for. Superman himself is a huge victim of this and cares more about fighting the next big challenge than trying to accomplish something important with his life before he gets killed.

Lois needs something that she can start trying to achieve a project or something, I never saw a problem with her getting a higher position at the Daily Planet other than field agent but I guess that was just me. That could have led to her trying to pull the Daily Planet back into a new age with a more executive position at the company but I think that idea is fubar. Now I think maybe she should start trying to create her own little news reporting project like the fast lane or something of that sort. An underground reporting network similar to what some people in Iraq do against ISIL. But I can't even think of what would warrant such a movement on her part to be honest, maybe she discovers a long line of government conspiracies and she fears for the safety of her coworkers and herself so she starts creating a covert news network.

For Jimmy initially I liked the idea of him being a rich kid adrenaline junky but again I think that idea is fubar for now. I've been reading some of the old Kirby Omnibus I liked how he handled Jimmy, he was competent without doing the overwhelming over the top badass angle. He lived more for proving himself and experiencing the adventure than he did for getting the story which made him more interesting to me. He also had this cool supporting cast 'The Newsboy Legion' made of up of younger kids that were like his side kicks, they all had interesting personalities and went on adventures with him. They should be brought back and updated accordingly. He should be less about justice and truth and more about adventure maybe he ends up working for another company after he ask Perry for more serious work but Perry rebuffs him. Also he needs to go back to being Superman's best friend, Bruce needs sink back into the hole known as Gotham.

Just an idea. But they definitely need long term plans or goals.

[Kid A]

I guess you have to get both of them out of the Planet and do the kind of indie-journalism that Clark was doing in Lobdell's run. The Daily Planet became a sinking ship when they decided to make it reflect its awful real life news media counterparts.

[misslane]

Lois needs something that she can start trying to achieve a project or something

Since pretty much the beginning of the New 52, I've been advocating an arc for Lois in which she finally reforms The Daily Planet by launching a serious investigation of Morgan Edge. He should be her nemesis.

I guess you have to get both of them out of the Planet and do the kind of indie-journalism that Clark was doing in Lobdell's run. The Daily Planet became a sinking ship when they decided to make it reflect its awful real life news media counterparts.

I don't think indie-journalism is the answer. Clark's a freelance journalist, and that hasn't produced a wealth of compelling journalism arcs for him. What would work, however, is an arc in which Lois spearheads an investigation of Morgan Edge with the goal of returning the Planet to its former glory.

[daBronzeBomma]

If anything, this SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN era should also be about rearranging and realigning relationships among Kal's human companions.

We already have the beginnings of Lana Lang + John Henry (which, btw : ).

I think Lois should be used during this time to develop her own sub-cast of allies and enemies.

Co-sign on Morgan Edge being Lois' chief adversary. Lois also needs a sidekick or two that belong to her alone. Is there a younger Angela Chen in the New52? Or would she work better as a rival to Lois?

I'd rather not make Jimmy one of them, but in the 20 years since both Connor and John Henry showed up in the Superverse and took his place as Clark's two closest guy friends (oh, yeah Bruce Wayne also ranks above Jimmy in Clark's eyes now), he's been permanently demoted to 4th place (5th if Krypto counts) and may as well take shelter under Lois' wing.

Maybe Lois needs her own crew, a group that answers to her but also hangs out together socially outside of work? Wouldn't it better if the Daily Planet staff: Ron Troupe, Steve Lombard, Jimmy Olsen, some other younger female characters acted like an actual team with Lois as their leader? Not Clark (not while Sm/WW is still ongoing) and not Perry (he's still their boss) and not Cat Grant (whom I feel maybe should move into city politics a la HBO's excellent tv show VEEP).

[Cameron Samurai]

Cat Grant (whom I feel maybe should move into city politics a la HBO's excellent tv show VEEP).

Only if we get a Malcom Tucker-inspired Morgan Edge (VEEP being from the same team as "The Thick of It/In The Loop")

[Prime]

Why not give her an outgoing? I'm sure she can maintain it.

[Sacred Knight]

I think it could too, but on DC's end it appears they weren't overly impressed with the take on her one-shot last year, unfortunately.

[gwangung]

I believe the problem with Lois goes deeper than Wonder Woman taking the love interest position she traditionally held; although it is highly possible that the Clark/Diana relationship is the central cause of secondary problems as well. To me, Superman could date Wonder Woman and Lois Lane could have a fine, maybe even great, place in the narrative. However, Lobdell's (and likely the powers that be in general) choices to remove Clark from The Daily Planet and consequently have his journalistic interactions happen mainly with Cat Grant, as well as Pak's (and likely the powers that be in general) choice to seemingly having a rule that only one female is allowed in Action Comics at a time with Lois losing out to Lana for over a year, one finds Lois edged out of even more narrative space.

Which is really silly. If Clark was really doing investigative work independently, that was the perfect way to show Lois and Clark as friendly competitors. And the use of Lois could have easily enchanced and help define the Superman/Wonder Woman relationship by showing how Clark deals with women (who he's admittedly attracted to) who he isn't in a relationship with. I think it's TOTALLY FINE to see the romantic potential between the two of them even when there is no romance---I have plenty interactions with people I'm attracted to but don't have a relationship with. As you say, it's lazy writing.

[Blacksun]

Why not give her an outgoing? I'm sure she can maintain it.

No, no while berganza is editing Superman books and Lois Lane needs better showing before going solo. Too many characters are dumped in solo before being ready.

Which is really silly. If Clark was really doing investigative work independently, that was the perfect way to show Lois and Clark as friendly competitors. And the use of Lois could have easily enchanced and help define the Superman/Wonder Woman relationship by showing how Clark deals with women (who he's admittedly attracted to) who he isn't in a relationship with. I think it's TOTALLY FINE to see the romantic potential between the two of them even when there is no romance---I have plenty interactions with people I'm attracted to but don't have a relationship with. As you say, it's lazy writing.

No, Lois is not a tool to prop smww. That's is all the problem with lois, everything has to do with smww.