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DC Anniversary Celebrations
Lois Lane: A Celebration of 75 Years
For seventy-five years, Lois Lane has been one of the most iconic characters in comics. In celebration of her contributions to the DC Universe and life as a pop culture icon, DC Comics is proud to present this new hardcover anthology collecting some of Lois Lane's greatest stories from creators such as Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, John Byrne, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Phil Jimenez, Frank Quitely and many more!
The Lois Lane Anthology collects stories from the following issues:
Action Comics #1 - The Superman, Champion of the Oppressed...
Action Comics #2 - The War in San Monte
Action Comics #6 - Superman: The Man Who Sold Superman
Action Comics #484 - Superman Takes A Wife
Action Comics #600 - True Love
Action Comics #662 - At Long Last... The Secret Revealed!
Adventures of Superman #631 - Battery Part Five
All Star Superman #2 - Superman's Secret Room
All Star Superman #3 - Sweet Dreams Superwoman
Man of Steel #2 - The Story of the Century
Showcase #9
Superman #29, #33-34, #58, #168
Superman 80-Page Giant 2011
Superman: Lois Lane #1
The Lois Lane Anthology collects stories from the following issues:
Action Comics #1 - The Superman, Champion of the Oppressed...
Action Comics #2 - The War in San Monte
Action Comics #6 - Superman: The Man Who Sold Superman
Action Comics #484 - Superman Takes A Wife
Action Comics #600 - True Love
Action Comics #662 - At Long Last... The Secret Revealed!
Adventures of Superman #631 - Battery Part Five
All Star Superman #2 - Superman's Secret Room
All Star Superman #3 - Sweet Dreams Superwoman
Man of Steel #2 - The Story of the Century
Showcase #9
Superman #29, #33-34, #58, #168
Superman 80-Page Giant 2011
Superman: Lois Lane #1
384 pages, Hardcover
First published November 26, 2013
12 people are currently reading
495 people want to read
About the author
Jerry Siegel
619 books81 followersJerome "Jerry" Siegel, who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S. Fine, was the American co-creator of Superman (along with Joe Shuster), the first of the great comic book superheroes and one of the most recognizable icons of the 20th century.
He and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993.
He and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
August 31, 2015
This is a fun look at Lois Lane throughout the ages, from 1938 to 2006.
Some of the stories are very, very weird. And both Superman and Lois come off as jerks in different issues. Superman goes through this stage of deliberately fucking with Lois. For instance, he makes her 100 pounds heavier in one issue. Of course not telling her a bling-blang thing. Then, in another issue, he fucks with her by tricking her into believing she has Kryptonite vision and is hurting him every time she looks at him. She actually leaves Metropolis to live in Alaska. o.O He's just very manipulative, callous, and cruel.
But Lois is no angel, herself. Despite occasionally marrying him and having his children, she is rabidly catty to "rivals" Wonder Woman and Lana Lang. Really hating on them. There's a lot of petty jealousy and weird anger on Lois's part.
Tl;dr - Read this expecting a lot of zaniness and a LOT of non-politically correct stuff from the past. Lois Lane is fat! No one can love a fat woman! Oh no! (What's extra weird is that they make it seem as if Superman is out of breath carrying her - give me a break! o.O) Lois Lane gets turned into a black woman and experiences what life is like in the projects! Lois Lane gets tied to a kite - made somehow with nails that Superman created by chewing up an iron bar (o.O) and Superman uses his super-breath to blow her to the Daily Planet!
I mean, serious "WTF" stuff going on in this collection.
The highlight is definitely the kissing.
WHAT? KISSING?!!?!?
Yes, romantic kissing like when Superman takes Lois to the Moon and has kissing with her on the moon. <3
Carmen, I'm pretty sure kissing is not the highlight of this collection... o.O'
Oh, well, it is as far as I'm concerned!
Actually, I'm not attracted to Superman at all. I don't really like him. But I adore Lois Lane and have always admired her and her wide-eyed, innocent stare and a foxy little brain - as she puts it. She's always been one of my all-time favorites, even though I was never a huge fan of Supes/Clark. She's fearless, brave, an intrepid reporter. Stupidly brave, a lot of the times, but I adore her.
I loved seeing all the different art styles.
Definitely worth checking out if you are a fan of Lois, Superman, DC or comics in general.
Not available in Spanish.
Some of the stories are very, very weird. And both Superman and Lois come off as jerks in different issues. Superman goes through this stage of deliberately fucking with Lois. For instance, he makes her 100 pounds heavier in one issue. Of course not telling her a bling-blang thing. Then, in another issue, he fucks with her by tricking her into believing she has Kryptonite vision and is hurting him every time she looks at him. She actually leaves Metropolis to live in Alaska. o.O He's just very manipulative, callous, and cruel.
But Lois is no angel, herself. Despite occasionally marrying him and having his children, she is rabidly catty to "rivals" Wonder Woman and Lana Lang. Really hating on them. There's a lot of petty jealousy and weird anger on Lois's part.
Tl;dr - Read this expecting a lot of zaniness and a LOT of non-politically correct stuff from the past. Lois Lane is fat! No one can love a fat woman! Oh no! (What's extra weird is that they make it seem as if Superman is out of breath carrying her - give me a break! o.O) Lois Lane gets turned into a black woman and experiences what life is like in the projects! Lois Lane gets tied to a kite - made somehow with nails that Superman created by chewing up an iron bar (o.O) and Superman uses his super-breath to blow her to the Daily Planet!
I mean, serious "WTF" stuff going on in this collection.
The highlight is definitely the kissing.
WHAT? KISSING?!!?!?
Yes, romantic kissing like when Superman takes Lois to the Moon and has kissing with her on the moon. <3
Carmen, I'm pretty sure kissing is not the highlight of this collection... o.O'
Oh, well, it is as far as I'm concerned!
Actually, I'm not attracted to Superman at all. I don't really like him. But I adore Lois Lane and have always admired her and her wide-eyed, innocent stare and a foxy little brain - as she puts it. She's always been one of my all-time favorites, even though I was never a huge fan of Supes/Clark. She's fearless, brave, an intrepid reporter. Stupidly brave, a lot of the times, but I adore her.
I loved seeing all the different art styles.
Definitely worth checking out if you are a fan of Lois, Superman, DC or comics in general.
Not available in Spanish.
July 16, 2015
Lots and lots of Lois Lane in this collection. And it's even a nice bunch of issues. They're put into different categories, most by the year or years, although I liked the section at the end about the Imaginary Stories. Elsworlds, especially when it comes to Lois, sometimes it seems like she gets much better in those stories than she does in the regular ones (although sometimes she doesn't, and one of the issues in this one was sorta like that).
I had read a lot of the stories already, but some of them were new too. I'd never read the Wonder Woman/Lois Lane story where Lois follows Wonder Woman around for the day and I liked it. Not to mention, when that story is put in the light of the New 52 reboot stuff going on with Lois Lane, some parts of the reboot I like, what they've done to this amazing character of Lois Lane is not one of the things.
But, back to this large collection. I really, really liked it. For the most part it had a widely varied and interesting issues and was a lot of fun to read.
I won this through the Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
I had read a lot of the stories already, but some of them were new too. I'd never read the Wonder Woman/Lois Lane story where Lois follows Wonder Woman around for the day and I liked it. Not to mention, when that story is put in the light of the New 52 reboot stuff going on with Lois Lane, some parts of the reboot I like, what they've done to this amazing character of Lois Lane is not one of the things.
But, back to this large collection. I really, really liked it. For the most part it had a widely varied and interesting issues and was a lot of fun to read.
I won this through the Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
March 7, 2014
A great collection showcasing the changes of both the artistry and character attributes given to Lois Lane over the past three quarters of a century. Definitely helps the reader and many comic book enthusiasts understand how the character has developed into what they publish today. Wish there were more notes or critiques throughout the book instead of only an introduction to each new major change in the character development.
April 7, 2018
This book collects nearly 400 pages of Comics in celebration of Lois Lane. This is a challenge because Lois really isn't the main character most of the time and so ideally we're looking for stories where she steals the show and for those rare solo works. Here's a list of highlights and lowlights:
Highlights:
---Action Comics #6. Of course, the book reprints the first story featuring Lois Lane (the oft-reprinted classic Action Comics #1 and #2) but #6 is a trip as it predicts the coming of Superman-merchandising and licensed media, though it involves a racketeer and Lois using her brain. This is just terrific.
---Lois Lane, Girl Reporter: We get back up three stories of Lois Lane, Girl Reporter in which Lois stars as the protagonist and solves things herself. These are simply marvelous. I wonder how many were made and if all these Golden Age Lois Lane tales could be collected in a book rather than just the three here.
---Story of the Century (Man of Steel #2), At first glance, I thought DC had reprinted the over-reprinted Superman #2 by John Byrne, but this is far better. This is a nice introduction to Lois for the post-Crisis world. The story manages to have fun with Lois in her quest to get an interview with Superman. It's funny, but in a more relatable way than the Superman's girlfriend stories. Also, I liked Byrne's back up Lois Lane script from Action Comics #600 which shows her conflicted feelings about Superman, how his work overshadows her own journalism and her feeling of inadequacy during a time when Superman and Wonder Woman were thought to be a thing.
---Superman Takes a Wife (Action Comics #484): This tells the story of how Golden Age/Earth 2 Superman finally got married to Lois. A sweet story I hadn't seen reprinted before.
---All-Star Superman #2 and #3-Grant Morrison's brilliant All-Star Superman makes an appearance with the two most Lois-centric stories. Great story and a nice update on the Silver Age.
The lowlights:
Modern stuff is problematic because of decompressed storytelling, so many comics are multi-part stories, so we're given a single part of a longer arc that may not say a whole lot about her character. Probably, the worst example of this is Adventures of Superman #631 which is part five in a multi-part story and doesn't do a whole lot with Lois and ends on a cliffhanger. Then there's "Secrets in the Night" which contains Superman revealing his identity to Lois, but is mostly about a battle with Silver Banshee and ends without us finding out his reaction. One exception to this is, "With This Ring" which is part of a larger story arc but features Lois prominently and manages to highlight the relationship between Lois and Clark in such a way that I felt satisfied.
One other consequence of modern stories is that the book has some one-shot tales like a special Lois Lane comic from 1998 and a 10-page story from an annual that are mediocre at best, but are included because they're actually self-contained.
I will say that reading, "She's a Wonder" in here reduced by distaste for it, if only slightly. It's about Lois going with Wonder Woman for a "day in her life" report. It's still a boring overly-speechified preachy story. It still has a big error right on the big panel that introduces Wonder Woman (Lois' narration describes Wonder Woman as wearing no make-up despite the fact the artist drew her with lipstick and nail polish.) Yes, Wonder Woman does make a ridiculously goofy number of wardrobe changes in a single day (and often for arbitrary reasons). Yet, as a Lois Lane story, it works as a kind of follow up on Byrne's tale of her insecurity about Wonder Woman. It's a bit of a clearing the air session between them at the end that at least makes, "She's a Wonder" slightly more tolerable.
Overall, these aren't all great, but there are some really fun reads in here, particularly from the Golden Age, but there's even some modern stuff that's very good, and a few that are at least enjoyable and worth a read. Overall, a nice collection.
Highlights:
---Action Comics #6. Of course, the book reprints the first story featuring Lois Lane (the oft-reprinted classic Action Comics #1 and #2) but #6 is a trip as it predicts the coming of Superman-merchandising and licensed media, though it involves a racketeer and Lois using her brain. This is just terrific.
---Lois Lane, Girl Reporter: We get back up three stories of Lois Lane, Girl Reporter in which Lois stars as the protagonist and solves things herself. These are simply marvelous. I wonder how many were made and if all these Golden Age Lois Lane tales could be collected in a book rather than just the three here.
---Story of the Century (Man of Steel #2), At first glance, I thought DC had reprinted the over-reprinted Superman #2 by John Byrne, but this is far better. This is a nice introduction to Lois for the post-Crisis world. The story manages to have fun with Lois in her quest to get an interview with Superman. It's funny, but in a more relatable way than the Superman's girlfriend stories. Also, I liked Byrne's back up Lois Lane script from Action Comics #600 which shows her conflicted feelings about Superman, how his work overshadows her own journalism and her feeling of inadequacy during a time when Superman and Wonder Woman were thought to be a thing.
---Superman Takes a Wife (Action Comics #484): This tells the story of how Golden Age/Earth 2 Superman finally got married to Lois. A sweet story I hadn't seen reprinted before.
---All-Star Superman #2 and #3-Grant Morrison's brilliant All-Star Superman makes an appearance with the two most Lois-centric stories. Great story and a nice update on the Silver Age.
The lowlights:
Modern stuff is problematic because of decompressed storytelling, so many comics are multi-part stories, so we're given a single part of a longer arc that may not say a whole lot about her character. Probably, the worst example of this is Adventures of Superman #631 which is part five in a multi-part story and doesn't do a whole lot with Lois and ends on a cliffhanger. Then there's "Secrets in the Night" which contains Superman revealing his identity to Lois, but is mostly about a battle with Silver Banshee and ends without us finding out his reaction. One exception to this is, "With This Ring" which is part of a larger story arc but features Lois prominently and manages to highlight the relationship between Lois and Clark in such a way that I felt satisfied.
One other consequence of modern stories is that the book has some one-shot tales like a special Lois Lane comic from 1998 and a 10-page story from an annual that are mediocre at best, but are included because they're actually self-contained.
I will say that reading, "She's a Wonder" in here reduced by distaste for it, if only slightly. It's about Lois going with Wonder Woman for a "day in her life" report. It's still a boring overly-speechified preachy story. It still has a big error right on the big panel that introduces Wonder Woman (Lois' narration describes Wonder Woman as wearing no make-up despite the fact the artist drew her with lipstick and nail polish.) Yes, Wonder Woman does make a ridiculously goofy number of wardrobe changes in a single day (and often for arbitrary reasons). Yet, as a Lois Lane story, it works as a kind of follow up on Byrne's tale of her insecurity about Wonder Woman. It's a bit of a clearing the air session between them at the end that at least makes, "She's a Wonder" slightly more tolerable.
Overall, these aren't all great, but there are some really fun reads in here, particularly from the Golden Age, but there's even some modern stuff that's very good, and a few that are at least enjoyable and worth a read. Overall, a nice collection.
January 30, 2021
This book contains selections of comics than span Lois Lane's first 75 years, from the very first Superman story that appeared in Action Comics in 1938, through to the 2010s. It's divided into sections, with short commentaries at the start of each one that help put those stories in context. Most of them are complete stories, though there are a couple 'to be continued' ones taken from larger story arcs.
It was a really interesting look at pop culture and how it's changed with the times. In the early comics in the late 30s and early 40s, Lois was a feisty reporter who'd stop at nothing to get a scoop, even if it meant tricking Clark Kent. Indeed, she was much meaner to Clark than she was in later years, because she thought he was a lily-livered coward.
Then after WWII and into the 50s when women were supposed to get back into the kitchen, there was the era of Lois as Superman's girlfriend. I didn't like those stories as much because Lois spent most of her time mooning over Superman, jealous of his old girlfriend and trying to trick him into marriage. There were also some stories that are politically incorrect by today's standards (e.g. fat shaming), though interesting to read in the context of the times. More of a social conscience develops from the late 60s. The story "I am Curious (Black)!" from 1970 was particularly interesting, as Lois becomes 'black' for a day and experiences prejudice firsthand in an effort to get a story.
There's more romance, with the 'Lois and Clark' era of the 80s, and a return to hard-hitting reportage, with Lois later being referred to as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who's not afraid to put herself in danger for the sake of a scoop.
There are 23 stories in all. As with any collection, I liked some better than others, but I enjoyed it overall. It was also interesting to see the changes in artwork over the years. The more recent art is probably better artistically, but the earlier comics still had a certain charm.
Definitely worth a read if you're a fan of Lois, Superman, and pop culture in general.
It was a really interesting look at pop culture and how it's changed with the times. In the early comics in the late 30s and early 40s, Lois was a feisty reporter who'd stop at nothing to get a scoop, even if it meant tricking Clark Kent. Indeed, she was much meaner to Clark than she was in later years, because she thought he was a lily-livered coward.
Then after WWII and into the 50s when women were supposed to get back into the kitchen, there was the era of Lois as Superman's girlfriend. I didn't like those stories as much because Lois spent most of her time mooning over Superman, jealous of his old girlfriend and trying to trick him into marriage. There were also some stories that are politically incorrect by today's standards (e.g. fat shaming), though interesting to read in the context of the times. More of a social conscience develops from the late 60s. The story "I am Curious (Black)!" from 1970 was particularly interesting, as Lois becomes 'black' for a day and experiences prejudice firsthand in an effort to get a story.
There's more romance, with the 'Lois and Clark' era of the 80s, and a return to hard-hitting reportage, with Lois later being referred to as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who's not afraid to put herself in danger for the sake of a scoop.
There are 23 stories in all. As with any collection, I liked some better than others, but I enjoyed it overall. It was also interesting to see the changes in artwork over the years. The more recent art is probably better artistically, but the earlier comics still had a certain charm.
Definitely worth a read if you're a fan of Lois, Superman, and pop culture in general.
January 27, 2020
A great collection of fun stories. The highlights are definitely the older stuff like Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane issues which is definitely not politically correct by modern standards. Look out for the hilariously racist I Am Curious (Black) which was probably well meaning but makes for an incredibly out of touch story in modern times and probably was the same then. Look forward to Superman being a dick and Lois Lane being weirdly mean.
In the end, this whole set is definitely worth a read for fans of older comics, Lois Lane, Superman or just someone just interested in seeing some old ridiculous relics of the past.
Overall: 4/5
In the end, this whole set is definitely worth a read for fans of older comics, Lois Lane, Superman or just someone just interested in seeing some old ridiculous relics of the past.
Overall: 4/5
August 8, 2016
It's hard to give this a good review. Do I review it as the quality of its stories? Well, I probably shouldn't, given that some of them are more here for historical value. So I should probably review it as a sampling of Lois Lane. But then that starts to fall apart too.
The book is divided into 5 sections that essentially come down to Golden Age, Silver Age, Post-Crisis, Modern Age, and Imaginary Stories. The Golden Age stories are the ones that surprised me the most. Lois is straight-up awesome in these, especially in special back-up stories that come down to her coworkers at the Daily Planet underestimating her, she winds up in the middle of a crime, she takes down the criminals, her coworkers have egg on their face. It's a formula, but damn is it nice to see stories where Lois will scream for Superman, and then turn and take the bad guys down by herself.
The Silver Age is where the story quality is at its lowest point. Everything is super misogynist and ridiculous as we get stories from Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane. If you've ever seen those wacky comic covers, you get to see what's inside, and...it's just as ridiculous. The brightest spot here is the infamous I Am Curious (Black). Despite its racist premise, it actually comes around as a nice, thoughtful story on race, mainly thanks to the black characters explaining their situation over having Lois have to experience everything. It's an honest surprise that this story is decent.
Post-Crisis and Modern Age is where the selection really starts to fall apart. For one, the special where Superman and Lois are married gets mentioned (and is included in the cover gallery), but isn't included here. The stories range from interesting Lois-focused stories to "Well, Lois kinda does something in this so she's included". The weakest instance of this is a Wonder Woman issue that has her following Wonder Woman for a day. It's an alright issue, but Lois' part in it is more incidental than anything. There's also several issues that are part of a multi-part story that are just thrown in here without any sort of "Previously" to catch the reader up. Something has happened, you read the issue, it ends on a cliffhanger. It's bizarre. The collection also mentions how the Superman/Lois relationship was reset post-Flashpoint, but doesn't include any New 52 issues as an example of this.
The imaginary stories are forgettable, although it includes 2 issues of the excellent All-Star Superman.
It's nice to get a feel for Golden and Silver age Lois, and that's worth picking this collection up for, but as the collection goes on, it becomes even more apparent that Superman's girlfriend is getting the short end of the stick recently.
The book is divided into 5 sections that essentially come down to Golden Age, Silver Age, Post-Crisis, Modern Age, and Imaginary Stories. The Golden Age stories are the ones that surprised me the most. Lois is straight-up awesome in these, especially in special back-up stories that come down to her coworkers at the Daily Planet underestimating her, she winds up in the middle of a crime, she takes down the criminals, her coworkers have egg on their face. It's a formula, but damn is it nice to see stories where Lois will scream for Superman, and then turn and take the bad guys down by herself.
The Silver Age is where the story quality is at its lowest point. Everything is super misogynist and ridiculous as we get stories from Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane. If you've ever seen those wacky comic covers, you get to see what's inside, and...it's just as ridiculous. The brightest spot here is the infamous I Am Curious (Black). Despite its racist premise, it actually comes around as a nice, thoughtful story on race, mainly thanks to the black characters explaining their situation over having Lois have to experience everything. It's an honest surprise that this story is decent.
Post-Crisis and Modern Age is where the selection really starts to fall apart. For one, the special where Superman and Lois are married gets mentioned (and is included in the cover gallery), but isn't included here. The stories range from interesting Lois-focused stories to "Well, Lois kinda does something in this so she's included". The weakest instance of this is a Wonder Woman issue that has her following Wonder Woman for a day. It's an alright issue, but Lois' part in it is more incidental than anything. There's also several issues that are part of a multi-part story that are just thrown in here without any sort of "Previously" to catch the reader up. Something has happened, you read the issue, it ends on a cliffhanger. It's bizarre. The collection also mentions how the Superman/Lois relationship was reset post-Flashpoint, but doesn't include any New 52 issues as an example of this.
The imaginary stories are forgettable, although it includes 2 issues of the excellent All-Star Superman.
It's nice to get a feel for Golden and Silver age Lois, and that's worth picking this collection up for, but as the collection goes on, it becomes even more apparent that Superman's girlfriend is getting the short end of the stick recently.
November 14, 2016
Lois Lane has had many incarnations through the many adventures of Superman, what is often lost on the modern reader is how she was originally portrayed. In the early stories of Superman, she was an energetic, fearless reporter with a strong personality that backed down from no one. Everyone from the powerful villains to her male co-workers were subject to her ire as she pursued the story, even when there was great danger.
In the middle years, she was femaled out a bit, becoming less of a strong woman, sometimes depicted as an emotional wimp. However, in the last years, Lois has once again been portrayed as a powerful, dynamic woman bent on getting the story and changing the world.
Her early depiction is contrary to how female co-stars were generally depicted in entertainment at that time, present only to scream and faint at the slightest hint of danger. This is a welcome relief and shows how comics can be a force leading to social change. Although the artwork, dialog and storylines have changed, the Lois Lane of the last years is once again the Lois of the early years.
The slightly over 20 stories in this collection form what could be a textbook on how comics have changed over what is essentially their existence. Society changes over time and the forms of entertainment both reflect and drive the change.
In the middle years, she was femaled out a bit, becoming less of a strong woman, sometimes depicted as an emotional wimp. However, in the last years, Lois has once again been portrayed as a powerful, dynamic woman bent on getting the story and changing the world.
Her early depiction is contrary to how female co-stars were generally depicted in entertainment at that time, present only to scream and faint at the slightest hint of danger. This is a welcome relief and shows how comics can be a force leading to social change. Although the artwork, dialog and storylines have changed, the Lois Lane of the last years is once again the Lois of the early years.
The slightly over 20 stories in this collection form what could be a textbook on how comics have changed over what is essentially their existence. Society changes over time and the forms of entertainment both reflect and drive the change.
July 11, 2016
Let me start by saying that this book is a great idea. I felt as though there was an overall deeper meaning in the study of Lois Lane, but it left a lot to be desired.
Honestly I think there was a strong undercurrent of women's studies at heart and an examination of the social bias toward/against women during the last one hundred years laid out in comic book form.
Unfortunately there was a lacking of serious consideration for putting it to paper and ultimately it just turns out to be a big collection of comics in one location. Don't get me wrong, I liked this fact and the entire idea of using a collection of comics for the study of, well really, any subject matter. Maybe this was not the intent of publicizing this particular book. Most likely not, but it should be.
I really liked the access to comics that would have taken much too long or expensive to find on my own.
This is not a graphic novel, more of a mash up of sorts and in the end exactly what the cover says it is. A celebration of Lois Lane.
Honestly I think there was a strong undercurrent of women's studies at heart and an examination of the social bias toward/against women during the last one hundred years laid out in comic book form.
Unfortunately there was a lacking of serious consideration for putting it to paper and ultimately it just turns out to be a big collection of comics in one location. Don't get me wrong, I liked this fact and the entire idea of using a collection of comics for the study of, well really, any subject matter. Maybe this was not the intent of publicizing this particular book. Most likely not, but it should be.
I really liked the access to comics that would have taken much too long or expensive to find on my own.
This is not a graphic novel, more of a mash up of sorts and in the end exactly what the cover says it is. A celebration of Lois Lane.
December 31, 2013
I thought this was a great way to celebrate Lois Lane's 75 years. I really enjoyed this book and I recommend it to anyone that is a fan of Lois Lane as this is a nice collection of stories beginning with her first appearance. Thank you Goodreads and DC Comics for allowing me to get this for free as a Goodreads First Reads winner and to have the opportunity to read this.
June 10, 2016
I didn't know this book was composed of extract of Lois moments. At first I was a little concerned but at the end it was nice for someone like me, who has still a long way to go to read Superman comic books!
I've loved Loïs forever and I'll never stop
I've loved Loïs forever and I'll never stop
March 6, 2017
This collection reminded me of something I complain about 24/7: Lois Lane needs a solo run and "Superman's Girlfriend" was an offensive goddamn tragedy. Five stars because it's Lois and I prize her above all others!
January 27, 2014
Lois over the ages...from the beginnings up thru All-Star Superman and even a cover from the New 52.
March 18, 2014
Very cool to see the older comics.
April 29, 2014
Wonderful collection of Lois Lane comics, showing her evolution as a character from the beginning to right now. I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
July 17, 2015
Wish there'd been a wider selection of Kurt Schaffenburger material...
September 28, 2017
As with the Superman volume in this series, this book is a nice look at Lois Lane's history from the Golden Age to more or less the present day. Again, I'm annoyed that the introductory material is lacking and that some of these stories don't have all the parts, meaning that I can't get proper context for them. Still, this is a pretty good collection. The Golden Age material starts with the first ever Superman story, as right from the start Lois is willing to risk a lot to get the scoop right alongside Clark. There's another early Superman story where Superman and Lois expose a man who's using an actor in a Superman costume to rake in the money from sponsorship deals. Notably, Lois drugs Clark to get to the story before him! There are some neat Lois Lane Girl Reporter stories where men treat Lois like an idiot and she solves some sort of mystery to show them up. Finally, there's a story about Lois displacing her love from Superman to Clark Kent for goofy reasons that foreshadow what she'd be like as Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane.
And boy, are the stories from that comic reprinted here completely insane. There's one where Lois meets Superman's Smallville girlfriend and they compete to see who he loves more. This includes a hilarious sequence where Superman uses his teeth to make metal into nails, use these to build a kite, and tie Lois to it so she can get to an interview! There's classic Superdickery on display as Superman makes Lois fat and pretends to give her Kryptonite vision. Lois tries to finally force Superman to marry her, only for them to both consume an anti-aging serum that turns them, eventually, into babies - and yet they're still going to be married until it turns out baby Lois can't say "I do". Finally from the Silver Age is a story in which Lois becomes a black woman for a day. It's kinda iffy, but for the time it was published it seems like a fairly good attempt at being racially conscious, and I appreciate that Superman makes the point that given his own outcast heritage of course he can emphasize with black people.
Next comes post-Crisis stories, in which Lois meets Superman and Clark for the first time, discovers they're the same person, and goes off on an action-adventure story by herself that seems to tie into some major 90s villain or another. Plus there are teens mutated into polar bear warriors (???). The 21st century material sees Lois team up with Batman to fight President Lex Luthor, only for Superman to try to stop her because of his personal convictions. There's also a pretty good story about Lois interviewing Wonder Woman which shows her attitude towards the seemingly perfect woman change a lot, which was pretty cool to see and reminds me I really need to read some Wonder Woman comics. There's a random issue from the middle of a story arc where Lois seems to sacrifice her life for another person, which would be a cool character moment if not for the fact that I'm sure she comes back to life somehow. Finally, there's a cute little story about Clark trying to take care of Lois when she insists she's totally not sick, no way.
Whereas the Superman volume ended with an adventure from the New 52, this collection makes the interesting and perhaps reasonable choice to highlight some of the "imaginary tales" of Lois instead. All three of these focus, of course, on her relationship with Superman/Clark Kent. First there's a story from the 60s that's part three of a "what if Lois and Clark married" series. It's kinda weird they chose part three, especially cause it's basically 8 pages of Lois's life sucking hard cause her husband and kids have superpowers and she doesn't. Plus, cause it's the 60s, she's stuck as a housewife. Then there's the 40th anniversary issue of Action Comics, in which the Earth 2 (aka Golden Age because continuity is insane) Lois and Clark get married due to a wacky set of circumstances involving magic. I'd hoped it'd be some nice cute wedding issue where all their friends, and maybe even some Earth 1 characters, would show up, but no, it's the exact sort of zany nonsense that'd happen in an issue of Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane. To end the collection is one of the best stories here: Grant Morrison's homage to Silver Age Lois Lane goofiness, issues 2 and 3 of All Star Superman. Lois gets to visit the Fortress of Solitude, get freaked out about what Superman is up to, and then discover he's just making a serum to give her his powers for a day. It's a wonderful story that has the Silver Age vibe but in a form that actually makes at least some degree of sense, and reminds me that I'm overdue for an All Star Superman reread.
All in all, as with the Superman collection, the quality of these stories varies, and a few of them seem like odd or frustrating choices, but this was a pretty good read and a nice way to see how Lois Lane has evolved and changed over the decades. I hope they do one of these for Jimmy Olsen at some point, just cause his Silver Age stuff is possibly even more wacky and I'm curious to see what he's been up to since then.
And boy, are the stories from that comic reprinted here completely insane. There's one where Lois meets Superman's Smallville girlfriend and they compete to see who he loves more. This includes a hilarious sequence where Superman uses his teeth to make metal into nails, use these to build a kite, and tie Lois to it so she can get to an interview! There's classic Superdickery on display as Superman makes Lois fat and pretends to give her Kryptonite vision. Lois tries to finally force Superman to marry her, only for them to both consume an anti-aging serum that turns them, eventually, into babies - and yet they're still going to be married until it turns out baby Lois can't say "I do". Finally from the Silver Age is a story in which Lois becomes a black woman for a day. It's kinda iffy, but for the time it was published it seems like a fairly good attempt at being racially conscious, and I appreciate that Superman makes the point that given his own outcast heritage of course he can emphasize with black people.
Next comes post-Crisis stories, in which Lois meets Superman and Clark for the first time, discovers they're the same person, and goes off on an action-adventure story by herself that seems to tie into some major 90s villain or another. Plus there are teens mutated into polar bear warriors (???). The 21st century material sees Lois team up with Batman to fight President Lex Luthor, only for Superman to try to stop her because of his personal convictions. There's also a pretty good story about Lois interviewing Wonder Woman which shows her attitude towards the seemingly perfect woman change a lot, which was pretty cool to see and reminds me I really need to read some Wonder Woman comics. There's a random issue from the middle of a story arc where Lois seems to sacrifice her life for another person, which would be a cool character moment if not for the fact that I'm sure she comes back to life somehow. Finally, there's a cute little story about Clark trying to take care of Lois when she insists she's totally not sick, no way.
Whereas the Superman volume ended with an adventure from the New 52, this collection makes the interesting and perhaps reasonable choice to highlight some of the "imaginary tales" of Lois instead. All three of these focus, of course, on her relationship with Superman/Clark Kent. First there's a story from the 60s that's part three of a "what if Lois and Clark married" series. It's kinda weird they chose part three, especially cause it's basically 8 pages of Lois's life sucking hard cause her husband and kids have superpowers and she doesn't. Plus, cause it's the 60s, she's stuck as a housewife. Then there's the 40th anniversary issue of Action Comics, in which the Earth 2 (aka Golden Age because continuity is insane) Lois and Clark get married due to a wacky set of circumstances involving magic. I'd hoped it'd be some nice cute wedding issue where all their friends, and maybe even some Earth 1 characters, would show up, but no, it's the exact sort of zany nonsense that'd happen in an issue of Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane. To end the collection is one of the best stories here: Grant Morrison's homage to Silver Age Lois Lane goofiness, issues 2 and 3 of All Star Superman. Lois gets to visit the Fortress of Solitude, get freaked out about what Superman is up to, and then discover he's just making a serum to give her his powers for a day. It's a wonderful story that has the Silver Age vibe but in a form that actually makes at least some degree of sense, and reminds me that I'm overdue for an All Star Superman reread.
All in all, as with the Superman collection, the quality of these stories varies, and a few of them seem like odd or frustrating choices, but this was a pretty good read and a nice way to see how Lois Lane has evolved and changed over the decades. I hope they do one of these for Jimmy Olsen at some point, just cause his Silver Age stuff is possibly even more wacky and I'm curious to see what he's been up to since then.
June 4, 2018
Lois Lane: A Celebration of 75 Years is a compilation of some of the best representative of Lois Lane stories over the years to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary debut of one of the most iconic comic characters (2013). Over the years, there were many incarnations and depictions of this iconic reporter and this collection explores them all rather well.
This anthology is divided into five sections or more precisely comic era. The first section depicts Lois Lane in the Golden Age of Comics, then Silver, Bronze, Modern, and Rebirth Ages follow with each successive section.
It is very interesting to see about how Lois Lane's evolution through the years from her sassy reporter day and feminist icon in Action Comics #1 to the complex character filled with ambition and an equal to Superman in every way – even with his superhuman powers.
As a whole, Lois Lane: A Celebration of 75 Years is a rather balanced book, showing each section rather evenly and not placing any favoritism in any of the eras. It gives us a nice perception of the era in which these stories were produced – a reflection of the times.
Story selection must have been difficult at best. Lois Lane is the preeminent reporter in the DC Universe and has appeared side-by-side in many Superman stories through many series. The problem is that one can't please everyone all the time, so while there are stories I wished were added, I am overall pleased with the collection. The only issue we all could agree on to be included in this anthology is the first one Lois Lane appeared in – Action Comics #1 – the rest is debatable.
All in all, I think Lois Lane: A Celebration of 75 Years is a wonderful selection of stories over the three-quarters of a century that she has been around. It is a good anthology for both the avid and subdued fan alike. However, for the newly initiated I would recommend a collection that is more substantial and cohesive.
This anthology is divided into five sections or more precisely comic era. The first section depicts Lois Lane in the Golden Age of Comics, then Silver, Bronze, Modern, and Rebirth Ages follow with each successive section.
It is very interesting to see about how Lois Lane's evolution through the years from her sassy reporter day and feminist icon in Action Comics #1 to the complex character filled with ambition and an equal to Superman in every way – even with his superhuman powers.
As a whole, Lois Lane: A Celebration of 75 Years is a rather balanced book, showing each section rather evenly and not placing any favoritism in any of the eras. It gives us a nice perception of the era in which these stories were produced – a reflection of the times.
Story selection must have been difficult at best. Lois Lane is the preeminent reporter in the DC Universe and has appeared side-by-side in many Superman stories through many series. The problem is that one can't please everyone all the time, so while there are stories I wished were added, I am overall pleased with the collection. The only issue we all could agree on to be included in this anthology is the first one Lois Lane appeared in – Action Comics #1 – the rest is debatable.
All in all, I think Lois Lane: A Celebration of 75 Years is a wonderful selection of stories over the three-quarters of a century that she has been around. It is a good anthology for both the avid and subdued fan alike. However, for the newly initiated I would recommend a collection that is more substantial and cohesive.
February 17, 2023
The trick with a Lois Lane-centric collection is that she's pretty much always a supporting character, so even stories that feature Lois effectively are Superman stories.
It was a nice move, splitting the book into eras. The Golden Age stuff are the best tales in the book. The "Lois Lane, Girl Reporter" stories are great (except the unnecessary descriptor attached to "Reporter" in the feature title). The Silver Age Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane stories do not age well at all - there's a certain "guess what's going on" zaniness in them, like much of DC's Silver Age output, but you gotta overlook some really gross depictions of women's place in society.
The modern stuff is mostly good. The John Byrne issue is great, as is the short back-up from Action Comics 600. The issue in which Superman reveals his identity to Lois - I get why it's included. It shifted fifty-five years of history. It's a big moment, but Lois's role is mostly sitting in her apartment in the dark while Superman fights a baddie. The Batman issue, the sniper issue - they suffer from being small parts of a larger Superman story (although Lois has a great line in the sniper issue - "Clark would understand.") - there's an argument to be made that a less celebrated one-off issue might've been been a better choice.
Ironically, the only issue in the book that really stank, imo, was the Lois Lane one-shot from DC's late 90s "Girlfrenzy" week. Aside from a sweet Lois/Clark interlude, the plot is sloppy, the characters vague, and the resolution flat.
Still, I enjoyed the book. It's a nice overview of Lois's character. I've long said Lois Lane is my favorite corporate comics superhero character, and reading this skim through her history, I realize how much of that fandom comes directly from Jerry Siegel and the Man of Steel reboot.
It was a nice move, splitting the book into eras. The Golden Age stuff are the best tales in the book. The "Lois Lane, Girl Reporter" stories are great (except the unnecessary descriptor attached to "Reporter" in the feature title). The Silver Age Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane stories do not age well at all - there's a certain "guess what's going on" zaniness in them, like much of DC's Silver Age output, but you gotta overlook some really gross depictions of women's place in society.
The modern stuff is mostly good. The John Byrne issue is great, as is the short back-up from Action Comics 600. The issue in which Superman reveals his identity to Lois - I get why it's included. It shifted fifty-five years of history. It's a big moment, but Lois's role is mostly sitting in her apartment in the dark while Superman fights a baddie. The Batman issue, the sniper issue - they suffer from being small parts of a larger Superman story (although Lois has a great line in the sniper issue - "Clark would understand.") - there's an argument to be made that a less celebrated one-off issue might've been been a better choice.
Ironically, the only issue in the book that really stank, imo, was the Lois Lane one-shot from DC's late 90s "Girlfrenzy" week. Aside from a sweet Lois/Clark interlude, the plot is sloppy, the characters vague, and the resolution flat.
Still, I enjoyed the book. It's a nice overview of Lois's character. I've long said Lois Lane is my favorite corporate comics superhero character, and reading this skim through her history, I realize how much of that fandom comes directly from Jerry Siegel and the Man of Steel reboot.
December 24, 2022
Very interesting to chart the changes to Lois Lane's character over the decades. The Lois of the 1930s-40s is surprisingly tough and no-nonsense. She smacks a gangster in the face in her first-ever appearance in 1938, and the 1940s saw a series of "Lois Lane, Girl Reporter" back up stories, in which she uncovered criminal plots and foiled gangsters without Superman's help.
The 1950s-60s see a dramatic change in tone as the plots turn incredibly goofy and Lois becomes completely marriage-obsessed. As a modern reader, I should find the Silver Age tales more cringy, but honestly they're so off-the-wall that they fall into "so bad it's good" territory for me and I get a lot of enjoyment out of their silliness.
By comparison, the modern stuff is a bit harder to get through. Or maybe it's what was selected? I found it odd that nothing from the marriage issue was included, not even an excerpt of a few pages. Also a very odd choice to have an editor's note explaining the continuity reboot of the "New 52" era, but to not include anything from that period. Were there really no Lois-centric stories in the "New 52" timeline?
I think the old "imaginary stories" are a ton of fun, and wish they had included some more of them, i.e. the Lois Marries Lex Luthor and Lois Marries Batman stories. Feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. This book is beautifully put together, though - glossy, bright pages with colors that really pop, and the naked hardback is stunning.
The 1950s-60s see a dramatic change in tone as the plots turn incredibly goofy and Lois becomes completely marriage-obsessed. As a modern reader, I should find the Silver Age tales more cringy, but honestly they're so off-the-wall that they fall into "so bad it's good" territory for me and I get a lot of enjoyment out of their silliness.
By comparison, the modern stuff is a bit harder to get through. Or maybe it's what was selected? I found it odd that nothing from the marriage issue was included, not even an excerpt of a few pages. Also a very odd choice to have an editor's note explaining the continuity reboot of the "New 52" era, but to not include anything from that period. Were there really no Lois-centric stories in the "New 52" timeline?
I think the old "imaginary stories" are a ton of fun, and wish they had included some more of them, i.e. the Lois Marries Lex Luthor and Lois Marries Batman stories. Feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. This book is beautifully put together, though - glossy, bright pages with colors that really pop, and the naked hardback is stunning.
September 22, 2016
If you're looking for a collection of straightforwardly fun superhero stories, Lois Lane: A Celebration of 75 Years is middling - there's good stuff, there's painful stuff, there's stuff where you don't get the whole story because it's cut down to the Lois-centric part. But if you're looking for a history of how a character develops over three-quarters of a century, or an exploration of gender roles since 1938 through the lens of pop culture, then this is a rewarding read.
The book is split into five parts; "Girl Reporter", covering the '30s and '40s; "Superman's Girl Friend", covering the '50s, '60s, and 1970; "Lois and Clark", covering the '80s and '90s; "Twenty-First Century Lois", covering up to the present day; and "Imaginary Tales", covering alternate-universe Lois stories from 1961, 1978, and 2006. The names of these sections aren't just cute references - each section is a chapter of a conscious narrative about who Lois was in that era and how she was treated by writers.
"Girl Reporter" features a Lois based on the leading ladies of old Hollywood - not unproblematic, but competent and intelligent and go-getting. We see her disdain Clark for being cowardly and, in multiple stories, take down crime rings on her lonesome. ...and then World War II ends, the conservatism of the postwar era comes into full swing, and suddenly she's a lovelorn sop who gets manipulated by Superman just so he can keep his secret identity.
This segues into "Superman's Girl Friend", where the editors rip the gender politics of the '50s and '60s to shreds just by carefully-picked reprints. It's hard to say which is the worst, the story where Lois gets hit by a fat ray, and also, every body-shaming insult in the book, and it was actually a plan of Superman's to stop criminals; or the one where Lois gets Kryptonite vision because she was "too curious", and gets yelled at for being a nuisance, and sent to Alaska, and it was actually a plan of Superman's to protect his secret identity. It's pretty uncomfortable to read, to be honest, but boy, does it ever get its point across. The section ends with "I Am Curious (Black)", a 1970 story that avoids most of these uncomfortable gender politics in favor of uncomfortable racial politics, though it's much less casually cruel and more Well-Intentioned Liberal Who Doesn't Actually Know What They're Talking About.
Nevertheless, it acts as a segue into "Lois and Clark", which focuses on how the character changed after the reboot of Crisis On Infinite Earths, with Lois focusing back on being a crusading reporter who takes down corruption and criminality, Clark willingly revealing his identity (gasp! interpersonal trust!) and the two of them getting married. There's still struggles with the roles of female characters, and authorial attitudes towards them both in writing and art, but everyone involved is clearly trying to do well by the character and the concept. This is good stuff, but there is a problem here; in going straight from 1970 to 1985, they skip the decade-and-a-half of effort to update the character post-Silver Age. The Lois we see in Man of Steel #2 builds on a lot of other people's work, and it all kind of gets passed by. It's a relatively minor point, but I wish they'd left out one of the Silver Age stories so they could present a piece of this process - even if it would mess up the neat categorization into distinct eras.
"Twenty-First Century Lois" is the least focused, but is also the most about Lois as an independent protagonist, and honestly, the most straightforwardly fun. It presents a view of what Lois's character is considered to be nowadays, and the kind of journalistic good she does - fighting against corruption; investigating warzones; and having honest, open, intense discussion and debate. It makes a good argument for why the character is not just still relevant, but vital and meaningful; and frankly, makes me want a new Lois solo series.
The first two "Imaginary Tales" are both about Lois and Clark getting married, back in the days when that just wasn't allowed in the main continuity. "The Wife of Superman" is another one with unpleasant gender politics; it kind of feels like gilding the lily at this point, though the way it explicitly has men putting her down and controlling her *because* of her marriage and children is, at least, unique in this volume. "Superman Takes a Wife" takes the Earth-2 Lois - that is, the Golden Age version as seen through the lens of the Bronze Age - and shows how and why she and her Clark came to tie the knot. It's the only peek we get at that '70s slowly-being-updated Lois I mentioned, and only in passing, but she's still a badass here, figuring out the strange puzzle of Superman's disappearance and Clark Kent's transformation in a way that feels like the next step beyond the identity-revealing tricks of '60s Lois.
The two Lois-centric issues of All-Star Superman are an interesting inclusion. They're all about going back to the Silver Age and doing an updated version of those tropes... but they draw on the parts of the Silver Age that don't get included in this volume; the parts where Lois got her own powers, where men fought over her instead of her fighting other women for Superman's affections, where she actively caused plots. This volume focuses so hard on the larger narrative of "crusading do-gooder before and during World War II, victim of misogyny in the '50s and '60s, back to being crusading after that" that it doesn't really have room for those stories, or anything else that doesn't fit that narrative.
One could bring that up as a severe criticism - that a celebration of the history of Lois Lane should give as wide an overview as possible, instead of focusing on a single aspect of her history. But I'd disagree with that. Conveying a critical point through carefully chosen samples of narrative - that's a goal you don't find too often in the genre of 'fun adventure stories for nerds', and doubly so when it's a point about gender and the toxic expectations applied to romantic relationships. And it's a goal that's most doable in the context of characters like this, that have decades of uninterrupted narrative to choose from. Lois Lane: A Celebration of 75 Years is exactly the kind of thing we need more of in the superhero genre and the comics medium, and I'm glad it exists.
The book is split into five parts; "Girl Reporter", covering the '30s and '40s; "Superman's Girl Friend", covering the '50s, '60s, and 1970; "Lois and Clark", covering the '80s and '90s; "Twenty-First Century Lois", covering up to the present day; and "Imaginary Tales", covering alternate-universe Lois stories from 1961, 1978, and 2006. The names of these sections aren't just cute references - each section is a chapter of a conscious narrative about who Lois was in that era and how she was treated by writers.
"Girl Reporter" features a Lois based on the leading ladies of old Hollywood - not unproblematic, but competent and intelligent and go-getting. We see her disdain Clark for being cowardly and, in multiple stories, take down crime rings on her lonesome. ...and then World War II ends, the conservatism of the postwar era comes into full swing, and suddenly she's a lovelorn sop who gets manipulated by Superman just so he can keep his secret identity.
This segues into "Superman's Girl Friend", where the editors rip the gender politics of the '50s and '60s to shreds just by carefully-picked reprints. It's hard to say which is the worst, the story where Lois gets hit by a fat ray, and also, every body-shaming insult in the book, and it was actually a plan of Superman's to stop criminals; or the one where Lois gets Kryptonite vision because she was "too curious", and gets yelled at for being a nuisance, and sent to Alaska, and it was actually a plan of Superman's to protect his secret identity. It's pretty uncomfortable to read, to be honest, but boy, does it ever get its point across. The section ends with "I Am Curious (Black)", a 1970 story that avoids most of these uncomfortable gender politics in favor of uncomfortable racial politics, though it's much less casually cruel and more Well-Intentioned Liberal Who Doesn't Actually Know What They're Talking About.
Nevertheless, it acts as a segue into "Lois and Clark", which focuses on how the character changed after the reboot of Crisis On Infinite Earths, with Lois focusing back on being a crusading reporter who takes down corruption and criminality, Clark willingly revealing his identity (gasp! interpersonal trust!) and the two of them getting married. There's still struggles with the roles of female characters, and authorial attitudes towards them both in writing and art, but everyone involved is clearly trying to do well by the character and the concept. This is good stuff, but there is a problem here; in going straight from 1970 to 1985, they skip the decade-and-a-half of effort to update the character post-Silver Age. The Lois we see in Man of Steel #2 builds on a lot of other people's work, and it all kind of gets passed by. It's a relatively minor point, but I wish they'd left out one of the Silver Age stories so they could present a piece of this process - even if it would mess up the neat categorization into distinct eras.
"Twenty-First Century Lois" is the least focused, but is also the most about Lois as an independent protagonist, and honestly, the most straightforwardly fun. It presents a view of what Lois's character is considered to be nowadays, and the kind of journalistic good she does - fighting against corruption; investigating warzones; and having honest, open, intense discussion and debate. It makes a good argument for why the character is not just still relevant, but vital and meaningful; and frankly, makes me want a new Lois solo series.
The first two "Imaginary Tales" are both about Lois and Clark getting married, back in the days when that just wasn't allowed in the main continuity. "The Wife of Superman" is another one with unpleasant gender politics; it kind of feels like gilding the lily at this point, though the way it explicitly has men putting her down and controlling her *because* of her marriage and children is, at least, unique in this volume. "Superman Takes a Wife" takes the Earth-2 Lois - that is, the Golden Age version as seen through the lens of the Bronze Age - and shows how and why she and her Clark came to tie the knot. It's the only peek we get at that '70s slowly-being-updated Lois I mentioned, and only in passing, but she's still a badass here, figuring out the strange puzzle of Superman's disappearance and Clark Kent's transformation in a way that feels like the next step beyond the identity-revealing tricks of '60s Lois.
The two Lois-centric issues of All-Star Superman are an interesting inclusion. They're all about going back to the Silver Age and doing an updated version of those tropes... but they draw on the parts of the Silver Age that don't get included in this volume; the parts where Lois got her own powers, where men fought over her instead of her fighting other women for Superman's affections, where she actively caused plots. This volume focuses so hard on the larger narrative of "crusading do-gooder before and during World War II, victim of misogyny in the '50s and '60s, back to being crusading after that" that it doesn't really have room for those stories, or anything else that doesn't fit that narrative.
One could bring that up as a severe criticism - that a celebration of the history of Lois Lane should give as wide an overview as possible, instead of focusing on a single aspect of her history. But I'd disagree with that. Conveying a critical point through carefully chosen samples of narrative - that's a goal you don't find too often in the genre of 'fun adventure stories for nerds', and doubly so when it's a point about gender and the toxic expectations applied to romantic relationships. And it's a goal that's most doable in the context of characters like this, that have decades of uninterrupted narrative to choose from. Lois Lane: A Celebration of 75 Years is exactly the kind of thing we need more of in the superhero genre and the comics medium, and I'm glad it exists.
September 7, 2019
This collection of stories about Lois Lane really caught me off guard. I’m not a huge Superman fan by any means, but there was something so heroic about a normal character surrounded by people with super powers. Throughout time Lois has proved herself to be determined, smart, witty, and sometimes clumsy. She leads with her heart and her mind. A few of my favorite stories were when Lois had kryptonite vision and couldn’t be around Superman anymore. I also loved the interview with Wonder Woman. And of course when Lois was given super powers, but I wish she would’ve done more with them instead of let 3 guys fuss over her, that seemed a little dumb. I was also very surprised to see that Lois was as headstrong in her first appearance as she continues to be throughout Superman comics today. She’s maintained her spunk and charisma. There’ll never be a better reporter in the comics than miss Lane. She’s more than a love interest, she’s a story herself and she proves you don’t need superhuman strength to get the job done.
August 19, 2025
This one is a true testament to the history of Lois Lane. She has always been an incredible powerhouse, but this book shows how some male writers became all too comfortable sidelining her as Supeman's stalker-y sometimes-girlfriend. The more modern stories show just how far she has come and blossomed. Those earlier stories become a necessary tome for people to see how women were treated and disrespected back then, so that everyone can identify and STOP those behaviors today while preventing them in the future.
Lois will always be my favorite character across mediums. I am glad to have found this collection if only to gain a better perspective on who she was, who she is, and who she can become.
Lois will always be my favorite character across mediums. I am glad to have found this collection if only to gain a better perspective on who she was, who she is, and who she can become.
April 22, 2020
Some of this old DC stuff is really weird. Good weird, y'know? But weird.
It was fun reading Lois over decades, and seeing her go from kick-butt girl reporter, to flibbertigibbet housewife and back. I think some of the bizarre 50's stuff was my favorite. (Cringey, but fun!) "Lois gets fat and worries Superman won't love her."
It was fairly amazing that Lois got SO FAT in that story that Superman grunted when picking her up! (That's pretty fat!)
Lois enters a magic box and turns black for 24 hours was pretty hysterical, too.
Anyway--Lois is what keeps Clark on the ground, and she's a pretty good character on her own. This was a fun read.
It was fun reading Lois over decades, and seeing her go from kick-butt girl reporter, to flibbertigibbet housewife and back. I think some of the bizarre 50's stuff was my favorite. (Cringey, but fun!) "Lois gets fat and worries Superman won't love her."
It was fairly amazing that Lois got SO FAT in that story that Superman grunted when picking her up! (That's pretty fat!)
Lois enters a magic box and turns black for 24 hours was pretty hysterical, too.
Anyway--Lois is what keeps Clark on the ground, and she's a pretty good character on her own. This was a fun read.
May 16, 2018
A fun romp through the ages from Lois Lane’s perspective. It was fascinating to see how the character started and how it changed over time as women’s role changed. I only wish there was a little more narrative between the “chapters” giving a little more context. May be an introductory chapter explaining the characters history and relevance to the superman comic. But that is a quibble since the collection is great. It vetted my appetite to read more of the Lois collection to see the zany adventures of Girl Reporter!
This needs an epilogue to the new 52 !
This needs an epilogue to the new 52 !
Read
April 21, 2021This was a book that was a mix of many comics over time, there were over 10 comics. It shows a lot of change between former comics from a long time ago compared to the recent less scratchy and more detailed comics. It brings you through the everlasting relationship of Lois Lane and Superman right from the beginning to the end.
December 1, 2018
Lois...
Lois lane has always been a stale inn the superman universe. She's the rock he stabs on, the thing that makes him human. There are some good stories in here, but the best are Grant Morrison's and Frank Quietly's two from All Star Superman.
Lois lane has always been a stale inn the superman universe. She's the rock he stabs on, the thing that makes him human. There are some good stories in here, but the best are Grant Morrison's and Frank Quietly's two from All Star Superman.
January 11, 2019
A great collection. When she is written well, she is a favourite character of mine; smart, courageous, no-nonsense his girl Friday type reporter who gets the job done, but with a vulnerability underneath. Her and Superman are DC legacy characters I grew up with that I will always come back to.
June 28, 2019
Lois Lane characterization in Superman comics is a great fragment of the role women played in society.
This “Celebration of 75 Years” is an awesome selection of stories. Great read, perhaps the best in the whole collection.
This “Celebration of 75 Years” is an awesome selection of stories. Great read, perhaps the best in the whole collection.
January 3, 2024
What a great sampling of stories across the decades. My favorites, of course, are the stuff that’s just absolute bananas.
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