LOIS LANE #52 (1964)
by unknown & Kurt Schaffenberger
Hmm this will end well.
We begin with Lois and Lana arguing because one thinks that the other is trying to sabotage a date with Superman. Must be Tuesday.
Meanwhile Superman runs into an alien who just landed on Earth because she’s in love with him.
She looks like Kid Psycho’s older sister.
Superman smitten by a woman whose initials are not L.L.? Must be a trick of some kind!
Also: Perry White is a dick.
Superman and Illena hit it off, even if she won’t reveal her superpower just yet.
Time to gang up on her!
I would like to point out that Illena hasn’t done anything suspicious so far. Aside from the initials thing.
She reminds Superman to be careful of the deadly space rocks that are absolutely everywhere!? That monster! She MUST be stopped!!!
Well okay, she DOES have a dark secret, but it comes out of nowhere.
Why does Illena walk around with a gun if she can kill people without it?
And yes, apparently her power IS deadly.
Lois and Lana break into the apartment that Illena is using.
And it turns out she’s actually Medusa… kind of.
You see, the actual Medusa from Greek mythology? Some aliens chopped off her hair and made a hat out of it.
This story is brought to you by “I can’t believe this wasn’t made on drugs”.
Aaand she then goes to sleep on the couch. Because why should the story make sense now?
She does wake up later, threatening to turn Lois and Lana into stone.
Except…
“I’ll be a three-eyed Kryptonian Babootch” is actually a catchphrase now.
(also this makes me think that the writer is either Siegeil or Binder)
Well on the plus side, it looks like this isn’t really a lethal weapon. SOMEHOW.
Well that’s a perfectly sane reaction, Lana.
That was so excessive that the comic tries to fix it in the very next panel!!!
But you’re not fooling me, comic. Lana’s going to kill someone SOME day, I just feel it.
Historical significance: 0/10
To the best of my knowledge Illena doesn’t appear again, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Medusa cap again.
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Superman meeting Medusa is fine. Superman meeting an alien with Medusa’s powers is fine. Superman meeting an alien with a hat made of Medusa’s hair is peak Silver Age!
Does it stand the test of time? 1/10
I’ll give the comic SOME credit for the attempt to make Lois and Lana less insane, but this is still a really bad story.
Stupid Lois Lane moment
So why exactly go through all the trouble of replacing Illena’s hat instead of just stealing it and running away?