The Super-Men (and -Women) of All-Planets

[Jim Kelly]

But in the end, all the teams work together to finish off Starbreaker before he can destroy our world.



When the universes were combined in INFINITE CRISIS, Dharma had to use power from Rift to make repairs to the continuity.



Starbreaker's attack has weakened reality, but Dharma reassures Icon and Superman that everything is holding together okay. However, the fate of the Dakota characters is uncertain.

[Jim Kelly]

Back in Clark Kent's college days, he fell in love with the beautiful mermaid, Lori Lemaris--in SUPERMAN 129 (May 1959)--3rd story, "The Girl in Superman's Past" by Bill Finger, Wayne Boring Stan Kaye. Years later, Clark and Lori are reunited and resume their romance in "Superman's Mermaid Sweetheart" by Jerry Siegel, Boring and Kaye--2nd story, SUPERMAN 135 (February 1960); r. 80 PAGE GIANT MAGAZINE 14 (September 1965):

After Superman proposes, Lori Lemaris happily says "Yes," but an attack by an errant fisherman leaves her paralyzed. Superman must search the galaxy for a surgeon with the skill to cure her condition.



He consults with the greatest doctors on several planets with no luck, until he locates a merman on a waterworld who claims to have the know-how.



Lori is cured, but during her convalescence has fallen in love with the waterworld surgeon that cured her--identified in later stories as Ronal. Seeing that the two mer-people are meant for one another, Clark is convinced he must give Lori up and return to the surface world.

[Jim Kelly]

Before I go on to more aliens and other worlds, as I was reading Lois Lane stories, I got side-tracked wondering how Lana Lang came back into the comics as an adult, after having been in Clark's life when he was Superboy in Smallville.

The first time we see Lana Lang as a grown up woman is in SUPERMAN 78 (September-October 1952)--3rd story, "The Girls in Superman's Life." Lana leaves Smallville for Metropolis, in hopes of becoming a reporter just like Clark. She convinces Perry White to give her a chance. Lois and Lana meet for the first time and Lois invites her to be her roommate. Lana proposes to write a series for the Planet called "I Remember Superboy." However, she's later hired away from the Planet as a writer for the Federal Syndicate.

Next, Lana shows up in SHOWCASE 9 (July-August 1957)--the first try-out issue for Lois Lane's own comic--in the first story of that issue, "The Girl in Superman's Past." Lana Lang arrives in Metropolis again and meets Lois Lane for the first time--Clark Kent introduces them to each other. Miss Lane proposes that Miss Lang move in with her and she helps the red-head get a job doing T.V. commercials for station WXR.

Only a couple of months after that, in SUPERMAN 116 (September1957)--2nd story, "Disaster Strikes Twice"-- Clark Kent is invited back to Smallville for a gala anniversary celebration of Superboy's departure from the town. Lana Lang also shows up in Smallville, but since all of Superman's old friends were invited back for the celebration, this would explain why Lana is there and not in Metropolis.

That then brings us to SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE 7 (February 1959)--3rd story,"The Girl Who Stole Superman" (writer unknown), art by Kurt Schaffenberger; cover by Curt Swan and Ray Burnley; r. 80 PAGE GIANT MAGAZINE 3 (September 1964). So far this is only the fourth appearance of the adult Lana Lang):



Lois comes across Lana Lang in a Metropolis slum, as the beautiful red-head is down on her luck. She has come to Metropolis "in search of a career [but] failed miserably." She has no money and no job and doesn't want to ask Superman for help.



Lois takes her home with her and arranges with Perry to offer her a temp job on the paper as a photographer. Lana is grateful and tells Lois about a ring that Superboy gave her when they were young. By accident he had injured her finger and to make it up to her he gave her the ring.

[Jim Kelly]

When the Daily Planet reporter recounts this to her Caped Crush, to be fair, the Man of Steel presents a ring to Lois that is made from a rare metal found on another planet.


Lois swears that as long as she loves him, she will never take it off. After that, Superman and Lana carry on in such a way as to make Lois jealous, until finally the journalist flings the ring at Superman, declaring she's had enough.



Which is what the Smallville Sweethearts wanted all along--because Superman's X-ray vision could cause the alien metal to explode.



Following this story, Lana will become a regular character in the LOIS LANE comic; however, it takes awhile to sort out what she does for a living.

As of issue 10 (July 1959)--1st story,"The Cry Baby of Metropolis"--Lana is living in her own house. So when Lois is turned into a baby, it's Lana that provides in-home child care.

Yet in issue 11 (August 1959)--1st story, "The Leopard Girl of the Jungle"--Lana is newly arrived in Metropolis and staying at the Hotel Danton. She calls up Lois to get her to read a novel she's written and to offer her thoughts. That novel is about a leopard girl and subconsciously influences Lane in becoming "Leopard Girl" when she has temporary amnesia in Africa (having been in a plane crash on her way to interview Albert Schweitzer).

Lang has her own apartment in issue 12 (October 1959)--2nd story "The Girl Atlas"--and has landed a job working for a practical joke T.V. program--3rd story, "Lois Lane Loves Clark Kent."

In issue 17 (May 1960)--1st story, "Lana Lang, Superwoman"--Lana comes into Perry White's office and proposes to write a series for the Planet called "I Remember Superboy" (just as she did in SUPERMAN 78).

It's not until issue 21 (November 1960)--2nd story, "The Battle Between Super-Lois and Super-Lana"--that the Smallville Sweetheart is now established as a T.V. news telecaster. In issue 56 (April 1965)--3rd story, "Lois Lane's Super-Gamble"--an Untold Tale shows that Lois got Lana her T.V. reporter job.

[Jim Kelly]

SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE 14 (January 1960)--1st story, "Three Nights in the Fortress" by Otto Binder and Kurt Schaffenberger; r. SUPERMAN 187 [G-23] (June 1966):

Lois and Superman each are sneaks.




When the Man of Steel shows his gal pal around his digs in the True North, Lois gets stuck overnighting at her crush's crash pad, hoping he'll get the idea she can move in on a permanent basis. In the course of her overstaying her welcome, she encounters several creatures that the Man of Tomorrow has stolen from other worlds just so he can look at them on his break time.

[Jim Kelly]

Lois gets stuck in the Fortress again in issue 21 (November 1960)--1st story, "The Lois Lane Doll" by Edmond Hamilton and Kurt Schaffenberger:

When a plot by the Anti-Superman Gang to blow up the Fortress of Solitude with a life-size Lois Lane doll goes awry, Superman mistakenly brings the real Lois in a crate to his Fortress before taking off to save a planet from a quake. Lois finds herself trapped inside Superman's headquarters with no way out.



And then an automatic release of anti-microbe gas threatens to kill her. The other creatures in his interplanetary zoo are kept safe by a protective dome. At the last second Lois opts to use the exchange ray, which allows her to switch places with Sylvia--nee, DeWitt, the wife of Van-Zee and Lois Lane's exact double. Sylvia, having super-powers outside Kandor, is immune to the gas, but the exchange ray has fizzled out and the Man of Steel is still off Earth--now helping the wrecked civilization on a faraway planet, after the quake, which could take weeks.



Staying in Kandor with Van-Zee and his kids, Lili and Lyle, Lois meets Van-Zee's twin brother, Dik-Zee--yet another Superman double! And being so much like Superman, Dik-Zee sweeps her off her feet in a whirlwind romance that has him pop the question. But just as Lois is about to answer, the exchange ray has her change places with Sylvia again.

(More of Lois Lane's out of this world love life tomorrow.)

[Jim Kelly]

SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE 41 (May 1963)--3rd story, "Superman's Romance With Lana Lane" by Jerry Siegel, Curt Swan and George Klein; r. SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE 113 [G-87] (September-October 1971):

One day, in Superman's Arctic Sanctum, Lois and Lana watch a slide show of past events, when they see a picture of Lana Lane--a woman they don't remember. Asking the Man of Steel who this woman could be, he explains the story in flashback.



In May of 1959, the Man of Tomorrow brought Lois and Lana to a hidden valley, where lived colonists from the planet Zermb (they came to Earth when their planet was going through an ice age), who were then planning to return to Zermb under more favourable conditions. The Misses Lane and Lang toured the colony's treasures, but curator Hajal warned them off touching some charms that belonged to the evil sorceress, Malignia.

Paying no mind and playing with a camera and a necklace, they did not realize these combined had the power to fuse two entities into one. They failed to understand their actions created a flying lamb and a dog parrot, before they also become fused as one. When Superman discovers what has happened, he finds the combination of Lois and Lana irresistible and pops the question on the spot. He gives her Martha Kent's engagement ring.




Although the Man of Steel made plans for his future with Lana Lane, Hajal approached to warn him that his bride was doomed. The effect was only temporary and, when the two entities split off again, they would soon die. The lamb and the bird had already expired; however, by holding the dragonetter, Hajal willed the dog to live, yet the parrot died.

Then Lana Lane split apart and Superman was forced to choose which one to save, Lois or Lana. He couldn't decide and tried to use a rock from Zermb to neutralize the magic spell. That did't seem to work and time was running out. As the two women debated over who should live and who should die, they noticed that the time had run out and they were both still alive, so the trick with the rock had worked.

Note: the second story in this issue is where we met Super-Male of Soomar.

[Jim Kelly]

SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE 49 (May 1964)--1st story, "The Unknown Superman" (writer unknown), art by Kurt Schaffenberger; r. SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE 113 [G-87] (September-October 1971):

The mysterious Dr. Drolc demonstrates for the Daily Planet reporter his talent-tracer, which purportedly can find "the greatest unknown talents in the world." Using the tracer and a special pair of glasses Lois finds a perfect pitcher, Joe Brant, in Rockville, Florida; a violin virtuoso, busking on the street in Metropolis; and finally an Unknown Superman, 35 degrees east of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The latter is Strong Bear, a forest ranger on the reservation, who appears to have powers equal to those of the Man of Steel. He explains that his powers derive from one of his tribal ancestors and confesses that he fell in love with Lois at first sight. When he proposes, she accepts, and the tribal chief urges Strong Bear to give her his ring, per their custom.

Then Lois must take a ceremonial bath to prepare for her nuptials.



Examining Strong Bear's ring reminds the gal from Pittsdale that she saw the same ring on the hand of Dr. Drolc, Joe Brant and the violinist. At once Lois realizes they were all the same person. When Strong Bear suddenly appears, his startled fiancée drops the ring, which cracks, releasing a gas. The man called Strong Bear is undone. The cracked ring has lost all its power and he now transforms into a sad, blue figure. He's dying.

As the life fades from him, he recounts to Lois his tragic story.



He was once Bamor, a scientist on the planet Zavak, which was engaged in a nuclear war with a neighbouring planet. To protect their women and children from nuclear fallout, they sent them off planet in a fleet of rocketships; however, an asteroid crossed the path of the evacuation fleet and killed everyone. Only the men were left on the surface of Zavak and they were horribly mutated from the nuclear fallout. Facing their own doom, they had one rocket which could reach another solar system. Lots were drawn and Bamor was sent to Earth, given a special ring which would allow him to assimilate the form of those on our world and to live in this environment. But without the ring and its powers, after one hour, he would die.

Bamor had long admired the lovely reporter from afar, on his view screen when he was a scientist on Zavak, so it was his design to find her and marry her. And with one final kiss from Lois, the Unknown Superman becomes dust in the wind.

[Jim Kelly]

SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE 54 (January 1965)--3rd story, "The Monster Who Loved Lois Lane" (Hamilton and Schaffenberger); and 57 (May 1965)--2nd story, "The Return of Lois' Monster Sweetheart" (Hamilton and Schaffenberger); both r. SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE 113 [G-87] (September-October 1971):

One day, Lois visits Dr. Elder, who has built a projector that can pierce the door between our world and another dimensional world. When Dr. Elder demonstrates his device, a so-called monster from that world--Herko, by name--comes into ours and immediately takes a shine to Lois. He follows her everywhere and tries to woo her with grand gestures, which some mistake for hostility. But he just wants to protect the woman he loves.



When Superman approaches, Herko sees him as a threat and they get into a battle that could destroy the city, before Lois intervenes. She leads Herko back to Dr. Elder's lab, where he has re-opened the door between worlds. To get Herko to go back into his world, Lois enters that world, so he will follow. Luckily for her, Superman uses his super-breath to draw her back to our world before the doorway closes.



Lois is sad to lose the dear creature and continues to think about him and hopes to see him again, as she does in issue 57.



She and Jimmy sneak into Dr. Elder's lab when he is away and use the dimensional projector to reopen the door between worlds. Lois and Jimmy enter into the other world, but the dimensional door closes behind them.

(continued in next post)

[Jim Kelly]

In the other dimensional world, Herko runs to Lois and embraces her. He has picked up a bit of her language, so he can communicate. Herko thinks Lois has come to marry him and drags her to meet his family. When Lois sees Herko's next door neighbour, Zagga who always wanted Herko for her own, the reporter cooks up a scheme to have Jimmy court Zagga and make Herko jealous.




This plot doesn't seem to work as Herko is perfectly fine with Jimmy marrying Zagga and the family plans a double wedding. Then Lois discovers that Herko is allergic to her cosmetics, so she plasters her face with lipstick and make-up. And becoming too sick to go near Lois, Herko falls into the arms of Zagga, who promises to take care of him.

Dr. Elder happens to reopen the dimensional doorway, which gives Lois and Jimmy the chance to get back to their own world.

It's funny that Dr. Elder's name is an anagram of Dr. Erdel, the scientist that brought J'Onn J'Onzz to Earth from Mars, with his own transdimensional device.

You'll note that the above stories from issues 41, 49, 54 and 57 were all reprinted in SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE 113 [G-87] (September-October 1971), cover by Dick Giordano.



(Mrs. Superman steps through the looking glass, tomorrow.)

[Jim Kelly]

SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE 94 (August 1969)--1st story, "The Lois Lane in the Mystic Mirror" by Leo Dorfman, Curt Swan and Mike Esposito; and 96 (October 1969)--2nd story "Weep for Lois Lane's Baby" by Dorfman, Swan and George Roussos:

Leo Dorfman demonstrates the truth in Leo Tolstoy's dictum that all happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

When she receives a magic mirror, Lois doesn't seem to remember already having had a magic mirror from her Uncle Ned--as told in "The Truth Mirror" (Siegel, Swan and Klein), ACTION COMICS 269 (October 1959). The new magic mirror is from the stage magician Cagliostro II, who claims the mirror belonged to the original Cagliostro.



Not believing the looking glass has any power, Lois puts it up in her apartment yet sees her virtual twin living on the mirror world of Terra. There the mirror-Lois is Mrs. Superman, married to another Man of Steel and with a little son named Jor. But she's tired of being a wife and mother and makes a deal to switch places with the Lois Lane of Earth.



Reaching through the dimensions, they trade places and now our Ms. Lane is Mrs. Superman which is all she ever wanted. Her "husband" takes off for a mission in space, but before he does he launches his Satellite Fortress into space with his wife and son on board, to keep them safe from his enemies.



When the Fortress comes under attack, the retro-rockets are damaged and it becomes invisible to shield itself from harm. Trapped aboard the Satellite Fortress in space, our Lois wants little Jor, with his super-powers, to fly outside and repair the retro-rockets--but as he prepares to do so, he opens a booby hatch containing Gold Kryptonite--which robs him of his powers.

(continued in next post)

[Jim Kelly]

The plot thickens in issue 96--as 95 [G-63] (September-October 1969) was a Giant:

Terra's Superman, having returned from his mission but unable to find his family, has seen Mrs. Superman in the mirror--and being this is his actual wife, she pulls him through into our Ms. Lane's apartment. At just that moment, Cagliostro II shows up at the door to destroy the mirror.



Meanwhile, aboard the Satellite Fortress high above Terra, our Lois discovers that, in the mirror world, Gold K. transfers powers from Kryptonians to non-Kryptonians, so she now is a Superwoman. She returns the Satellite Fortress to Terra firma. And then using her super-powers she is able to put the shattered mirror back together.



Our Lois pleads with mirror-Lois to exchange places, but her counterpart will have none of it. She's having a ball as a bachelor girl on Earth, going out with that world's Superman, while her devoted husband tries to find a way back to Terra. And she doesn't care at all for little Jor.



On Terra, Lois is now an abusive mother, as well, yelling at Jor and spanking him. However, seeing such cruel treatment of her child finally melts the heart of mirror-Lois who wishes to go back to her son and relieve his suffering under such a wicked woman. And so Mr. and Mrs. Superman are pulled back through the mirror by our Ms. Lane.

Of course, this was her plot all along--and Lois was just abusing the poor child to appeal to Mrs. Superman's maternal instincts.

Weep for little Jor, the victim of hap and indifference. His real mother abandons him. His fake mother robs him of his super-powers, abuses him emotionally and physically, then abandons him also. "Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain."

[Jim Kelly]

SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE 97 (November 1969)--1st story, "The Three Super-Sirens" (writer unknown), art by Irv Novick and Mike Esposito; cover by Swan and Anderson:

One by one, the Man of Tomorrow encounters three lost loves--

Lori Lemaris, who claims that Ronal has died, leaving her free to marry Clark;



Lyla Lerrol, who claims to have escaped Krypton's destruction, to return to Kal-El;



and Luma Lynai, who claims to have found an antidote for her yellow sun weakness, so she can be with Superman forever.



What's going on? Have these former sweethearts come back into the Man of Steel's life? Who will win his ring?

Answers in the next post.

[Jim Kelly]

The truth is that the three women are actually shape-shifters from Durla. When confronted by them, Lois is baffled why they are bent on driving Superman crazy, given that the Action Ace "once took a special serum to Durla to save that world from a plague."

However, when Lois calls in the police from Durla, they say that these insane women escaped from an asylum.



Notes:

There is no time travel shown in this story, so it seems that all these Durlans are from the 20th century. As far as I've been able to determine, that story about a plague on Durla was not ever published (if anyone knows different, please let me know). In which case, this seems to be the first story establishing shape-shifting Durlans in the 20th century.

Given the reference to Durla, I would say the writer was likely either E. Nelson Bridwell or Jim Shooter, as they were both Legion writers at the time. The use of women from Superman's past makes me think it was Bridwell.



SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE 102 (July 1970)--1st story "When You're Dead, You're Dead" by Robert Kanigher, Curt Swan and Mike Esposito; and 103 (August 1970)--1st story, "The Devil's Bride" (Kanigher, Swan and Esposito):

One Sunday, at the Metropolis Sports Arena, reporter Lois Lane is covering the International Parade of Rare Animals, where she meets the Rajah Satdev from Nepalunda. She soon falls under his spell, but her curiosity gets the better of her. The following day at the Rajah's estate, after Satdev has drank his special elixir and fallen asleep, Lois takes a sip from his glass. Then she removes his turban and finds he has horns. Then she removes his boots and finds he has cloven hooves.

When Satdev awakens, he holds up a mirror to Lois. The elixir has given her horns and cloven hooves, as well--and a tail!

Meanwhile, for Lana Lang's birthday, Superman has promised to fly her on his patrol. Seeing Lois and Satdev having a row, the Man of Steel and the birthday girl intervene. But from his mystic ring, Satdev fires energy bolts at the couple. Superman steps in front of Lana to shield her, but an energy bolt ricochets and hits Lois, who falls to the ground as if dead.



The hellish yarn continues in the next post--

[Jim Kelly]

In the following issue (Swanderson cover art), as Lois lies on a funeral bier, the grieving Superman says his wedding vows as he places a ring upon her finger and Lana looks on.



When the Man of Tomorrow has gone, Satdev returns and says a special incantation that brings Lois back to life. The devilish duo walk through flames, but when Lois falls in a faint she wakes up in an infirmary on the planet Nferino, surrounded by other diabolical creatures. Then, in the space archives tele-theatre, Satdev shows Lois the history of his people. Explorers from Nferino came to Earth long ago, but were mistaken by different cultures for devils--and so they returned to their home planet.



However, watching Earth on his space scanners, Satdev fell in love with the reporter and came to Earth to woo her, adopting his Rajah identity to disguise his true nature. His ring is a multiple electronic mass-manipulator, capable of miraculous feats.

Now that she has become like him, Lois agrees to stay with Satdev on Nferino and be his bride. She goes through the preparations for the marriage ceremony, taking a ritualistic geyser bath.



Then at the wedding, Satdev gives her a ring that has been in his family for eons and . . .

(The surprising conclusion is in the next post.)