I'm tired of Lois, Jimmy and reporter Clark

[Jason]

I KIND of agree that Lois is a pretty boring character. However, I can't support the idea of 'this character has no personality... lets bring in someone else who does.' The CORRECT way to do it... would be to GIVE her some personality.

Lois is the one gal on the whole planet who has been able to catch Superman's interest and hold it for 70 years... Personally, I'd like to know WHY.

She's typically not been shown as particularly attractive, and most of the actresses play her as being a real jerk... Spunkiness only goes so far.

I want to see more then just the 'brave independent woman'... But really, just switching girlfriends isn't going to solve the issue.

I guess it's your opinion but basing a characters worth on attractiveness seems shallow to me. Personally, I find all the ladies in the DCU attractive in their own way... but, I digress.

As for Lois being a "jerk", it's amazing how fanboys like us will clamor over Batman (a mere mortal, with gadgets and a pissy attitude) yet if a female character is shown to be abrasive and spunky and goin for what she wants, she's a "real jerk". Amazing.

[misslane]

Imo, I don't think you can give Lois anything more than "I'm a independent woman", theres a limited amount of stuff that you can do with her unlike a new characte. But It's worth to try because Lois is so deep in Superman's myth.

Lois has never, ever just been an "I'm an independent woman" character. She's a woman who has had to struggle with growing up without a permanent home base or a loving, supportive father. Lois had to basically raise her sister, Lucy, when their mother died when they were children. Lois is fundamentally driven by a desire to expose the truth of corrupted power. Powerful men are attracted to her and intrigued by her, but she only has time for the guys who prove themselves capable of fighting for the same ideals she cherishes. She's independent, but she also is deeply alone. Her independence makes it difficult for her to accept help or to show vulnerability. She's an interesting character because she's an inverse of Clark Kent. While he is a strong man masking his strength in weakness, Lois is afraid of being perceived as weak so she masks her vulnerabilities with snark. I'm not sure what qualities you believe a new character could possess that would be more interesting.

For me Lana proved that Lois isn't the only one for Clark and that's why I liked their relationship. I don't want that relationship again because It's been done though.

I've never experienced a Superman story that proved Lana was also compatible as a true love for Clark. Smallville, for instance, ultimately proved that Lana was only capable of being with Clark if she augmented her being with fake superpowers. Lana walked away from her relationship with Clark because she lacked the emotional strength to work through an obstacle to happiness. Their relationship was always dysfunctional, and I could never like seeing Clark in a relationship with someone who could never truly make him happy or be with him through good times and bad times.

[Pinsir]

Nothing but Clark dating a mermaid is just too out there. IMO it turns his book into an episode of Once upon a Time.

It seems Mermaid bigotry is rampant on the Superman boards.

LORI LORELIS IS SUPERMANS TRUE WAIFU!!!!! ACCEPT THIS TRUTH!!

[Blacksun]

It seems Mermaid bigotry is rampant on the Superman boards.

LORI LORELIS IS SUPERMANS TRUE WAIFU!!!!! ACCEPT THIS TRUTH!!

It's Lemaris...

but I laughed about a once upon a time episode.

Lois and clark is new to many people that never read comics with them. now the new 52 is for old fans or new fans?

[Agent Z]

I guess it's your opinion but basing a characters worth on attractiveness seems shallow to me. Personally, I find all the ladies in the DCU attractive in their own way... but, I digress.

As for Lois being a "jerk", it's amazing how fanboys like us will clamor over Batman (a mere mortal, with gadgets and a pissy attitude) yet if a female character is shown to be abrasive and spunky and goin for what she wants, she's a "real jerk". Amazing.

Anyone remeber Bruce telling Clark the "last time you inspired anyone was when you were dead"? Even Lois at her worst has never said anything on that level

[Agent Z]

I guess it's your opinion but basing a characters worth on attractiveness seems shallow to me. Personally, I find all the ladies in the DCU attractive in their own way... but, I digress.

As for Lois being a "jerk", it's amazing how fanboys like us will clamor over Batman (a mere mortal, with gadgets and a pissy attitude) yet if a female character is shown to be abrasive and spunky and goin for what she wants, she's a "real jerk". Amazing.

Anyone remeber Bruce telling Clark the "last time you inspired anyone was when you were dead"? Even Lois at her worst has never said anything on that level

[Blacksun]

I know this really flies in the face of making Lois MORE interesting, but I often wondered what if she were the mild-mannered, quiet, and enigmatic one, and Clark had to figure her out. The theory sounds interesting to me, but I'm sure nobody would like it.

n, it's clark that has a secret not her. he is the misterious guy, that hide and is much more than what meets the eye. this wouldn't work, unless Lois was Superwoman

[DochaDocha]

One doesn't have to be quiet in order to be hard to figure out. Lois is full of contradictions and is constantly surprising Clark/Superman. She's far from an open book simply because she portrays herself as confident and loud.

I specifically mean role-reversal, or at least make her more like mild-mannered Clark and make Clark more like... well, something else.

[DochaDocha]

It seems Mermaid bigotry is rampant on the Superman boards.

LORI LORELIS IS SUPERMANS TRUE WAIFU!!!!! ACCEPT THIS TRUTH!!

I'm with dangleo61288 on this. There's no good rationale, but Superman + Lori somehow makes me ill and want to puke and tear comic books in half*.

If that makes me a bigot against mermaids, so be it.

*Obvious hyperbole is obvious.

[Jason]

Anyone remeber Bruce telling Clark the "last time you inspired anyone was when you were dead"? Even Lois at her worst has never said anything on that level

Yeah I remember that (I think Johns wrote that) and I hear ya mate... I guess what I'm trying to say is how fanboys like myself treat male characters vs. how some of those same qualities are used against female characters (I'll be honest I've done that). I mean Bruce is often coveted by fans because he's a mere mortal with flaws fighting the good fight (like us)...which is great but when it applies to say someone like Lois it's used to degrade her aka she's a jerk.

[Pinsir]

I'm with dangleo61288 on this. There's no good rationale, but Superman + Lori somehow makes me ill and want to puke and tear comic books in half.

If that makes me a bigot against mermaids, so be it.

There will be a time when those like you are exposed for the bigots that you are!

[Prime]

Didn't Morrison made Superman a firefighter?

[DochaDocha]

There will be a time when those like you are exposed for the bigots that you are!

I expose myself on my schedule, not anyone else's.

Bringing this back to Jimmy Olsen, I don't have any good suggestions on how to modernize him. Making him closer in age to Clark was a decent idea, but I still finding myself caring about him less and less, with my only interest in him coming in the form of nostalgia.

[Prime]

Olsen was younger than Superman. He was 22 in pre-flashpoint. He was a little younger than Nightwing. But as was as supporting character....what happened to the Legion?

[Superlad93]

If he really wanted to make use of himself outside of Superman then he'd be a doctor or a scientist. Sure Superman is both when he needs to be, when he's tinkering by himself, and when a problem is right in front of him. But Superman always makes it a point to not do things like back giant breakthroughs as Superman as not to discourage normal people.

But the argument could be made if he made said breakthroughs as say Clark Kent the master doctor or Clark Kent amazing scientist then it would still be a "human" making these achievements. Lex does it all the time. In fact Lex is smarter than Superman and does it. The only difference is Superman would share it.

There are only a few reasons why he's still a reporter, but they're big reasons so he stays one. 1. It's the iconic marker of Clark Kent the secret identity 2. It plays up the brains over brawn/ pen over the sword idea 3. Lois is iconicly a reporter so simply by proxy he almost always ends up being one even if it's forced(Man of Steel) 4. thematically it just works when going along with the truth theme that Superman was created with.

Realistically though it's a wast of his time and seems to only go for sop opera style interplay between him and co workers for the most part (hardly seen in the new 52). Their are holes upon holes in the idea of him doing this, but some (only some) of it gets smoothed out when you put of the idea from the novels that it's Superman's love for the idea of Clark and what he might have been. It becomes much more than "where's the most effective place to put Superman" and more "where would the boy who grew up in Smallville like to work had he just be that boy".

When done right it has less to do with what makes sense (by good writers like Morrison make it do that too) and more of ideas behind it all. Still a foolish thing to do given who the man is, what he has to offer, and the many ways he can package it outside Superman. Hell he could start a blog that sheds light on things as a side to being a doctor. He's Superman it would take seconds for him.