LOIS LANE #024 (1961)
“The Super-Surprise!” by Unknown & Kurt Schaffenberger
“Lois Lane… Traitor!” by Unknown & John Forte
I could not find a source for who wrote these stories.
We begin with Lois Lane testifying at the parole board for a prisoner who she believes has reformed. I think this might be the first non-awful thing we see Silver Age Lois do.
She gets a useful tip out of this: it seems some mobster is planning to kill Superman.
With Kryptonite, of course.
Lois decides to sneak into the mobster’s favorite nightclub and seduce him. She does so by ordering “the flashiest outfit”…
…which is very tame by 2020 standards, but I suppose in 1961 this could’ve been scandalous.
And it works!
Or not.
Turns out the mobster’s plan is to lure Superman to his doom, using Lois as bait.
It’s not spelled out, but the story suggests that the criminal on parole wasn’t really reformed.
Interestingly, the comic takes the opportunity to have Superman stop a forest fire before he can answer to the police’s report that Lois has been kidnapped.
It’s a good choice; way too many times in this era, it looks like Superman had nothing important to do and was just waiting for Lois or Jimmy to call him.
Despite its simplicity, the mobster’s plan to kill Superman comes extremely close to working.
In fact, the only reason it doesn’t work is that Lois suddenly develops superpowers!
Superman is just as confused as the readers: he didn’t give her superpowers, and he points out that she’s too tall to be Supergirl.
So… what’s the deal? Did Lois start to get superpowers just as easily as Jimmy Olsen?
Nope. This isn’t Lois.
Yep. That’s Sylvia from Lois Lane 15.
It seems we just can’t get rid of the people on Kandor spying on Earth!
Can’t these people find another hobby that doesn’t violate other people’s privacy!?
For once there’s actually a lot of continuity with Van-Zee’s origin story: they remember that Sylvia was given a serum that grants superpowers, and that it doesn’t work on Lois.
They even got the goofy serum name AND Sylvia’s blood type right!
So Sylvia and Van-Zee just happened to spy on Lois at the right moment, or do they spy on her all the time? Because if the second option is true, every time Lois is in danger and they don’t show up, they’re deciding not to save her.
Perhaps Van-Zee really DID get jealous.
Next story: Lois Lane as foreign correspondent!
She’s in the made-up “Kingdom of Pahla”. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to represent… Pakistan? Afghanistan? Saudi Arabia?
For what it’s worth, they use dinars. So who knows.
She doesn’t end up as slave. But at least we get Lois smoking a hookah.
While she’s relaxing instead of not doing her job, someone tries to assassinate the king.
The voice of the woman who shot the king (and missed) was recorded…
…and she had the same voice of Lois.
The authorities also have the assassin’s fingerprints…
…which are publicly displayed.
What the… how is that useful!? What, they expect someone will recognize fingerprints at a glance? Or that the people will check their own fingerprints to disprove suspects?
I WAS KIDDING!!!
Lois thinks she’s being framed and applies for a passport to leave the country. Fortunately for the authorities, they weren’t dumb enough to disclose everything they knew.
So… yeah. The evidence against Lois is pretty comprehensive.
She’s sentenced to death, but of course Superman saves her.
Even Superman can’t come up with a way to exonerate Lois. But he doesn’t really have to, because the would-be killer shows up immediately.
And the answer is… Bizarro-Lois!
Specifically, a Bizarro-Lois exiled because she’s not imperfect enough!
I was expecting something stupid as soon as Bizarro-Lois showed up, but there’s actually a comprehensive explanation for her behavior.
Lois points out one of the two flaws of this plan, and Bizarro-Lois is so devastated when she witnesses that this Lois is not ugly like her…
…she trips and dies (!!!), thanks to a RIDICULOUSLY convenient piece of Kryptonite.
Superman informs us that we shouldn’t feel sorry for this creature who, despite her mental instability, clearly showed strong emotions and independent thought.
I bet that if the real Lois tripped like that, instead of Bizarro-Lois, Superman would’ve found a way to save her. I mean, look at how he utterly dismisses the struggle of Bizarro-Lois to fit into both Bizarro and Earth societies.
Soo… did they eventually exonerate Lois? Or is she still wanted for the attempted murder of a king?
Historical significance: 0/10
As usual, completely forgotten by time.
Silver Age-ness: 8/10
Both stories have intrinsically Silver Age elements, Kandor and Bizarro-World, that are absolutely essential to the plot.
Does it stand the test of time?
First story: 2/10
Lois is at her most incompetent here: she completely falls for the mobster’s plan, she’s spotted immediately when undercover, and she’s taken out of the solution. Saved from being a 0/10 because for once she’s shown to be a decent human being, even if the man she’s helping at the parole board might’ve been lying.
Second story: 8/10
Much to my surprise, this is far more nuanced than it has the right to be. The mystery is interesting and well-paced, despite some ingenuities here and there. I was expecting Bizarro-Lois to turn this into a farce, but instead she’s a tragic figure: not fitting anywhere, clearly mentally unstable but not in an over-the-top fashion. I would absolutely love to see this story done with modern sensibilities and tone!
Just leave out the slave auction.
Stupid Lois Lane moment
First story: more incompetent than stupid, but Lois utterly fails her undercover mission.
Second story: I admit it’s a stretch, but Lois goes to Pahla to report on a possible revolution and does absolutely no journalistic work.
Kryptonite, baby: both stories have Kryptonite out of nowhere, but the second story is particularly egregious since there’s really no reason for it to show up.
Interesting letters: the answer is pretty funny, but I love that the idea behind the question is basically “how can we get rid of both Lois and Jimmy?”.
