Would you like to see a Superman/Lois Lane comic book?

[misslane]

Yes, the creator of the Superman/Wonder Woman couple is clearly going to turn his run into a Superman/Lois team up book after putting the female lead of said team up book in one freaking panel on the only issue we have. I mean, we can all see the signs here

I continue to be confused by something. Why is it assumed Johns was the original champion and ur-creator of SM/WW simply because he wrote the first few SM/WW moments in Justice League? I think it's far more likely the original plan for the couple, including getting them together and the general outline of what their early relationship should be like, was more of a collective decision. Johns merely had the responsibility for executing it.

Johns didn't start his Justice League with any significant hints that he would eventually build to a SM/WW romance yet he ultimately did just that. Johns, more than any other Superman writer, is in a position to write more Clark/Lois. He's alluded to the possibility that his run will focus more on the supporting cast, including the Daily Planet supporting cast. Superman editor, Eddie Berganza, recently promised Clark/Lois fans that, "[Lois] will continue to play a part in Clark's life, especially with what Geoff Johns has planned in SUPERMAN with John Romita Jr." (Source: Ask Eddie). I'd say anyone hoping for more Clark/Lois team ups has seen enough signs to at least hope for more from Johns.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

But yeah, I'd buy LOIS LANE #1. And LOIS LANE #2. And so on.

I mean, these looks kinda cool, right?

Those books do look really cool.

Afraid that while I haven't read them, my understanding is that they're pretty, pretty bad. Chris Sims mentioned it in his Ask Chris article on his favorite and least favorite Lois Lane stories, with the mini picking up the latter 'honor' (his favorite, to his admitted shame, was the one where she got zapped by a fat-ray and everyone was just horrible to her for the whole duration of her 'condition').

"As for my least favorite, well, that dishonor would probably go to Mindy Newell and Gray Morrow’s two-issue Lois Lane mini-series from 1986. It’s essentially a long-form PSA about missing children, and while its heart is in the right place, the execution leaves quite a bit to be desired.

Dr. Scott, a noted PSA comic enthusiast, has what’s probably the definitive write-up of it over at Polite Dissent:

"As this mini-series starts, Lois is feeling low. She has recently bungled a major interview, and her reputation at the Daily Planet has never been worse. In the midst of a dinner date, she notices police cars tearing down the road and she ditches her date (and “borrows” his car) to follow them. She ends up at a crime scene where the body of a murdered little girl is pulled from the harbor. At that moment Lois Lane, prize winning journalist, has an ONISGS (Oh No, I Suddenly Got Stupid) moment and suddenly realizes that there are missing and exploited children out there, and all too often they turn up murdered.

[...]

The big shocker of the book comes near the end of the story, at a police press conference that Lois and Lana are attending. As the police are discussing a dead body that has been found, Lana gets nauseous and bolts from the room. Lois follows her. In the conversation that follows, we learn a little secret: spoilers:

While Lana was in Europe, she got married and had a son. This child was kidnapped by an Italian terrorist group who sent Lana a little memento – her son’s ear – before ultimately killing him. To this day, Lana keeps her son’s ear in her safe deposit box. So not only did Lana have a marriage and child in her past – a family that has never been mentioned before or since – but she keeps her dead son’s ear (which she describes as “a dried piece of skin that looks like an apricot”) at her bank.

end of spoilers

Did I mention what an enjoyable comic this was?"

So yeah, not exactly the laugh riot I was hoping to end on, but there you go. They can’t all have fat-rays."

I mean, maybe that's your thing, and you'd like to see Lois Lane tackling that sort of thing. I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea. But I got a feeling this wasn't a story that gave it the treatment it would demand.

[Blacksun]

I continue to be confused by something. Why is it assumed Johns was the original champion and ur-creator of SM/WW simply because he wrote the first few SM/WW moments in Justice League? I think it's far more likely the original plan for the couple, including getting them together and the general outline of what their early relationship should be like, was more of a collective decision. Johns merely had the responsibility for executing it.

Johns didn't start his Justice League with any significant hints that he would eventually build to a SM/WW romance yet he ultimately did just that. Johns, more than any other Superman writer, is in a position to write more Clark/Lois. He's alluded to the possibility that his run will focus more on the supporting cast, including the Daily Planet supporting cast. Superman editor, Eddie Berganza, recently promised Clark/Lois fans that, "[Lois] will continue to play a part in Clark's life, especially with what Geoff Johns has planned in SUPERMAN with John Romita Jr." (Source: Ask Eddie). I'd say anyone hoping for more Clark/Lois team ups has seen enough signs to at least hope for more from Johns.

yep, Johns interest in smww is barely for a story line. he is the same guy that said it would end badly. What was said in a article johns X didio, is that johns like to evert back the status quo.
so everything points more to clark/lois interaction

[Blacksun]

kelly sue deconnick has said that Lois is one of her favorite characters ever. DC should offer her a Lois series. or at least a mini series. she recently wrote a short story featuring Lois in Adventures of Superman.

Clark/lois is her OTP. Katryn Immonen also said she would love to write more lois

[Auguste Dupin]

I continue to be confused by something. Why is it assumed Johns was the original champion and ur-creator of SM/WW simply because he wrote the first few SM/WW moments in Justice League? I think it's far more likely the original plan for the couple, including getting them together and the general outline of what their early relationship should be like, was more of a collective decision. Johns merely had the responsibility for executing it.

Johns didn't start his Justice League with any significant hints that he would eventually build to a SM/WW romance yet he ultimately did just that. Johns, more than any other Superman writer, is in a position to write more Clark/Lois. He's alluded to the possibility that his run will focus more on the supporting cast, including the Daily Planet supporting cast. Superman editor, Eddie Berganza, recently promised Clark/Lois fans that, "[Lois] will continue to play a part in Clark's life, especially with what Geoff Johns has planned in SUPERMAN with John Romita Jr." (Source: Ask Eddie). I'd say anyone hoping for more Clark/Lois team ups has seen enough signs to at least hope for more from Johns.

Because he's the uber A list writer who wrote them being together and made it a fairly important plot point of his run? Looking at past history on the matter, it seems fairly certain that, when Johns has a strong dislike of an editorial decision, he has at least enough influence to not be the one who writes it.
Plus, Johns is pretty much part of the editorial at this point. After all, wasn't he one of the architects of the New 52?
I see no evidence that he was forced to write these two as a couple, or that it was an editorial decision. Add to that he has an executive position and that he is possibly the most influencal DC writer right now, and I doubt he has been coerced into doing so.
As for his issue, yeah there was some Daily Planet. Not much Lois, though (one panel and one conversation). So yeah, maybe she will appear more down the line (which is really all that Berganza's quote is promising.), but you don't start a "Superman/Lois team up book" by barely having Lois in it.

[kidstandout]

nope, especially not while supes is still with WW.

[misslane]

I see no evidence that he was forced to write these two as a couple, or that it was an editorial decision. Add to that he has an executive position and that he is possibly the most influencal DC writer right now, and I doubt he has been coerced into doing so.

I did not argue Johns was coerced to write Superman and Wonder Woman. I simply suggested that we have no way of knowing if putting SM/WW together was solely his idea and his creation.

As for his issue, yeah there was some Daily Planet. Not much Lois, though (one panel and one conversation). So yeah, maybe she will appear more down the line (which is really all that Berganza's quote is promising.), but you don't start a "Superman/Lois team up book" by barely having Lois in it.

Like I said, Johns didn't start Justice League with heavy hints SM/WW would eventually be a couple, so a first issue that doesn't feature a whole lot of Lois is hardly proof of anything. You can't just go from nearly 0 to 100 in just one issue. Big changes require groundwork.

[daBronzeBomma]

Afraid that while I haven't read them, my understanding is that they're pretty, pretty bad.

"As this mini-series starts, Lois is feeling low. She has recently bungled a major interview, and her reputation at the Daily Planet has never been worse. In the midst of a dinner date, she notices police cars tearing down the road and she ditches her date (and “borrows” his car) to follow them. She ends up at a crime scene where the body of a murdered little girl is pulled from the harbor. At that moment Lois Lane, prize winning journalist, has an ONISGS (Oh No, I Suddenly Got Stupid) moment and suddenly realizes that there are missing and exploited children out there, and all too often they turn up murdered.

[...]

The big shocker of the book comes near the end of the story, at a police press conference that Lois and Lana are attending. As the police are discussing a dead body that has been found, Lana gets nauseous and bolts from the room. Lois follows her. In the conversation that follows, we learn a little secret: spoilers:

While Lana was in Europe, she got married and had a son. This child was kidnapped by an Italian terrorist group who sent Lana a little memento – her son’s ear – before ultimately killing him. To this day, Lana keeps her son’s ear in her safe deposit box. So not only did Lana have a marriage and child in her past – a family that has never been mentioned before or since – but she keeps her dead son’s ear (which she describes as “a dried piece of skin that looks like an apricot”) at her bank.

end of spoilers

Did I mention what an enjoyable comic this was?"

Yikes! I was just looking for old Lois Lane covers and did NOT know the story behind those two. Wow, that just sounds all kinds of horrible.

Despite that grotesque narrative, I wouldn't let it stand in the way of a NEW Lois Lane solo ongoing, provided it hit all the marks I mentioned earlier.

I'd really like to see Lois Lane gain a sorta supporting cast that belongs to mainly her.

Lucy Lane - the trouble-making family embarrassment
Sam Lane - the imperiously competent but ultimately good military dad: none of that disowning nonsense
Ella Lane - the exact opposite of Lois in every way: happy homemaker, publicly subservient to Sam (not privately), gave up career, focused on family

I'd like a small team of Daily Planet staffers who report directly to her: like .... ok, no one immediately comes to mind, but whatever make up new characters if you have to.

I'd also like Lois Lane to get her own sidekick, a younger female.

[TheFearlessDefender89]

Yikes! I was just looking for old Lois Lane covers and did NOT know the story behind those two. Wow, that just sounds all kinds of horrible.

Despite that grotesque narrative, I wouldn't let it stand in the way of a NEW Lois Lane solo ongoing, provided it hit all the marks I mentioned earlier.

I'd really like to see Lois Lane gain a sorta supporting cast that belongs to mainly her.

Lucy Lane - the trouble-making family embarrassment
Sam Lane - the imperiously competent but ultimately good military dad: none of that disowning nonsense
Ella Lane - the exact opposite of Lois in every way: happy homemaker, publicly subservient to Sam (not privately), gave up career, focused on family

I'd like a small team of Daily Planet staffers who report directly to her: like .... ok, no one immediately comes to mind, but whatever make up new characters if you have to.

I'd also like Lois Lane to get her own sidekick, a younger female.

Yes to all of this. Her having a supporting cast of her own is an imperative to removing her from being a support groupie to possibly having her own series as well as being a self functioning heroine. It's time for her role to evolve within the DCU and supplying her with her own supporting cast is one way to help challenge her and make her contrasts with others even more compelling.

[daBronzeBomma]

Yes to all of this. Her having a supporting cast of her own is an imperative to removing her from being a support groupie to possibly having her own series as well as being a self functioning heroine. It's time for her role to evolve within the DCU and supplying her with her own supporting cast is one way to help challenge her and make her contrasts with others even more compelling.

Yeah, I really don't agree with any of that.

Lois Lane belongs in the Superverse. She is the greatest beta character in all of comicdom. That shouldn't change.

Her recent solo one-shot (sans Superman or the Superverse) didn't sell nearly well enough to justify her leaving the Superverse.

The hypothetical solo ongoing title idea has my support provided it is going to enhance her position within the Superverse, not take her out of it.

[Lois]

Yeah, I really don't agree with any of that.

Lois Lane belongs in the Superverse. She is the greatest beta character in all of comicdom. That shouldn't change.

Her recent solo one-shot (sans Superman or the Superverse) didn't sell nearly well enough to justify her leaving the Superverse.

The hypothetical solo ongoing title idea has my support provided it is going to enhance her position within the Superverse, not take her out of it.

100% agree.
Lois Lane is indeed a very important part of the Superverse.

[Lois]

I'd Love a new Superman's girlfriend Lois Lane book but this the New 52 so that's not gonna happen.

Why not? Been reading DC comics for a very, very long time.
The fun part about the comic book universe is you can have alternate reality titles too along side other titles.
They've got Smallville in their comics line up.
Remember reading many a comic book of Superman and Lois in an alternative universe working at the Daily Star.
Seen quite a few changes at DC over the years and wouldn't be surprised at all to see it change again.

[misslane]

Yeah, I really don't agree with any of that.

Lois Lane belongs in the Superverse. She is the greatest beta character in all of comicdom. That shouldn't change.

Her recent solo one-shot (sans Superman or the Superverse) didn't sell nearly well enough to justify her leaving the Superverse.

The hypothetical solo ongoing title idea has my support provided it is going to enhance her position within the Superverse, not take her out of it.

I don't think TheFearlessDefender89 was suggesting setting Lois up with her own cast, etc. as a way to take her out of her position in the Superverse, but to give her her own space outside of it which would do as you wish (i.e. enchance her role). Those two things need not conflict. There's a character on Doctor Who called Captain Jack Harkness who's a supporting character to the hero, the Doctor, in the main series. However, he got his own series with him as the lead and his own supporting cast of Gwen, Tosh, Owen, and Ianto in Torchwood (an organization of people who investigate alien/paranormal phenomena). Furthermore, Lois Lane's one shot did okay for a title within the overall lackluster Superman franchise and without a star creative team or publicity push. It sold about as well as Batwoman, Supergirl, and Catwoman, I believe, and probably did decently via digital, since it was a female centric story and women buy a lot digitally. For example, I only buy digital and have no contact with my LCS. That kind of performance was inconclusive to me as far as sales go, especially considering it wasn't a genuine effort from DC to do a Lois Lane series one shot that could legitimately serve as a "pilot" (like TV show pilots) for a book of her own.

[Shawn Hopkins]

I think she should get her own book, and one of the rules should be that Superman never appears directly in it. The book would follow what she does in the DCU on her own time, which could be interesting.

[TheFearlessDefender89]

I don't think TheFearlessDefender89 was suggesting setting Lois up with her own cast, etc. as a way to take her out of her position in the Superverse, but to give her her own space outside of it which would do as you wish (i.e. enchance her role). Those two things need not conflict. There's a character on Doctor Who called Captain Jack Harkness who's a supporting character to the hero, the Doctor, in the main series. However, he got his own series with him as the lead and his own supporting cast of Gwen, Tosh, Owen, and Ianto in Torchwood (an organization of people who investigate alien/paranormal phenomena). Furthermore, Lois Lane's one shot did okay for a title within the overall lackluster Superman franchise and without a star creative team or publicity push. It sold about as well as Batwoman, Supergirl, and Catwoman, I believe, and probably did decently via digital, since it was a female centric story and women buy a lot digitally. For example, I only buy digital and have no contact with my LCS. That kind of performance was inconclusive to me as far as sales go, especially considering it wasn't a genuine effort from DC to do a Lois Lane series one shot that could legitimately serve as a "pilot" (like TV show pilots) for a book of her own.

Right. My statement wasn't meant to separate Lois from Superman, but what I mean is that she deserves to be elevated to much more than just a supporting role to Superman/Clark. She's a vital character to the universe and is very much need within it, but I do also believe she could benefit from this soft-boot with Johns/Romita as he's made the attempt to service Lois with a sidekick character of her own. I might be speaking a little too soon on that, but I really do think Johns giving her the lead instead of Lois being amongst other supporting characters was the best way to go unlike what they did to her the first time around. Now that was cringeworthy.