Investigating Lois Lane: The Turbulent History of the Daily Planet’s Ace Reporter is a very well written, well-researched book by Tim Hanley, who also wrote Wonder Woman Unbound. It’s a fascinating look at comic book culture, how women are depicted in comics, and what happens when a female character is written almost exclusively by men. It’s also a book that pissed me the hell off (because of what the book described, not because of any flaw with the book itself).

Lois Lane made her first appearance in the first Superman comic, Action Comics #1, in 1938. Since then, she’s appeared in Superman comics plus her own comic, Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane, which at its peak was the third most popular comic book in the US. Her character has changed with the whims of culture and publishing, but she’s a constant presence in the world of Superman. Tim Hanley’s book explores the myriad versions of Lois on page, radio, and screen, and shows how the twists and turns of her character mirror changes in society and in the individual personalities and agendas of writers, illustrators, and editors. The book is well organized and meticulously researched, but often utterly enraging as Lois often suffered considerably at the hands of patriarchy.

One thing I love about Tim Hanley is that he believes in the best core qualities of the characters he studies. You can tell that he is rooting for Lois. He portrays her characteristics of ambition, empathy, courage, and intelligence as essential components of her character, and expresses anger on her behalf when those components are ignored. As he says in the introduction:

Lois is Superman without the superpowers. She’s not faster than a speeding bullet or more powerful than a locomotive, but she is just as committed to truth and justice through her tireless reporting, and just as willing to put herself in harm’s way to help someone. Lois is reckless and passionate for all the right reasons, and while this sometimes gets her in trouble, it only further endears her to her legions of fans. To those who grew up reading her comics or watching her various live action and animated incarnations, Lois Lane is a beloved icon and role model.

Hanley points out how Lois’ core character traits tend to shine through even in her worst moments. Sometimes they seem to shine despite the efforts of her writers. Lois is a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter who can’t recognize her boyfriend when he wears glasses. She’s been known to get into hair-pulling jealous fights with Lana, engage in social justice efforts that were truly well-intentioned at the time but are unbearably cringe-worthy today (she had a terrible case of White Savior Syndrome), and get kidnapped over and over and over again. In one episode, she was spanked by a Superman robot and had to eat breakfast the next day standing up. But even when the writing doesn’t allow her to be a successful independent career woman, she craves her career and the respect of others as much as she loves Superman.

Out of the first fifty issues of Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane, Lois cried in forty-one. Her writers had Superman smugly and often very cruelly “teach her lessons” in issue after issue, often tricking her so that she’d learn to be a better person. Superman was never remorseful about causing her pain because he believed it was for her own good.

In a series of “Imaginary Stories,” writers were able to explore Lois marrying Superman without actually having to commit to the marriage as canon. In these stories, Lois was taught to be a dutiful wife, and she was still always unhappy. Hanley states that in his view, there was no intended subversive content to the stories. They were written, illustrated, and edited by men who had no interest in questioning the societal norms of the day. Yet the stories did have a subversive undertone, because the more Lois was pushed into a domestic role, the more miserable she became:

The myth of this era was that being different was bad and that submitting to the rules and ideals of those in authority would lead one to happiness. But that certainly wasn’t the case with Lois. She was never happier than when she came up with the new plan to get a story, and never more despondent than when she was shown the “error” of her ways. Lois was trapped in a very small box; whenever she was curious, or came up with a clever way to sell a story, or behaved in a way other than how the men in her life wanted her to, patriarchy in blue tights showed up to correct her behavior. She cried because it was all she could do to show that her lot in life was deeply unsatisfying, and that she was stuck in a system she clearly hated.

This book made me absolutely enraged, not because it’s a bad book but because it’s a good book that often describes upsetting things. However, I also felt inspired by Lois, and fascinated in her deeply dysfunctional relationship with Superman (Hanley considered Superman to be Lois Lane’s “constant adversary…Superman is the worst thing to ever happen to Lois Lane”). From the conclusion:

 

One of the keys to Lois’ long-term appeal is the solid base at the core of her character. Lois has been the same woman since her very first appearance in Action Comics #1 in 1938. She was tough, she was ambitious, she was fearless, and she had very little respect for authority. Through every reboot and adaptation, these basic facts have remained the same.

However the history of Lois Lane is a tumultuous tale about the degree to which the core of her character was buried. In the Golden Age, Lois swiftly shifted from reporter to cheerleader as she fell madly in love with the Man of Steel. The Silver Age brought romantic shenanigans and constant patronizing lessons, while the Bronze Age was one prolonged soap opera. In the Modern Age, Lois’s role narrowed to marital stereotypes as she was regularly sidelined from the action.

Through it all, she persevered. Lois made her way to the front page of The Daily Planet and briefly became a herald of women’s liberation and other social issues. She took down villains singly-handedly in her solo adventures, exposed the criminal machinations of Lex Luthor, and bravely reported form the front lines of a dangerous war. She was always a capable reporter; her exploits were just intermittent or regulated to the background.

The fact the Lois has such a persistent following speaks to a craving for representation. Many readers loved to hate Lois, finding her a useful scapegoat. It was easy to punish Lois vicariously for being out of her “place.” Other readers love Lois, because they recognize her courage, ambition, intelligence, and heroism. Readers can see those qualities struggling to escape, and we root for Lois to be her best self. Hanley’s book does a great job of putting her highs and lows in a cultural and historical context. The book is useful and thoughtful and educational – just be prepared to get really, really mad on Lois Lane’s behalf.