Lois Lane and Supporting Cast (Spring 2018)
Lois Lane
“Fictional characters allow us to step into another world and either accent the parts of our personality that we see within the characters or help us draw out facets we didn’t know we have” (Eckard 225). Relating this back to Superman, there is no doubt that his popularity is related to his embodiment of “truth, justice, and the American way,” attributes that make him the exceptional citizen that we strive to be like. While Superman himself has had a huge influence on American culture, it would be remiss to say that there are no other influential characters in the Superman stories. One such character is Lois Lane. While Lois Lane has a reputation for being a damsel in distress who always needs a heroic man to save her, there are many versions of Lois that portray her as a strong and independent woman.
In wanting to digitize an image of Lois Lane that portrays her as a well-rounded character that has a life outside of her relationship with Clark Kent/ Superman, the artifact that I chose for this project was a page from the first issue of a two-issue Lois Lane mini-series written by Mindy Newell and published in 1986 by DC Comics. In order to help portray a more feminist image of Lois, I thought it was important to find a story about her that was written by a woman. Comics have a reputation for being a more male-dominated field, so a female depiction of a strong female character, especially from the 1980s, seemed like an excellent embodiment of the kind of Lois I wanted to digitize. While Clark Kent/ Superman is featured in this comic, I liked that he was more of a secondary character, and that he and Lois are not even romantically involved. This comic focused heavily on Lois and her professional career, which I found very empowering as a woman. Furthermore, I really liked the visual depictions of Lois in this comic, as she was dressed in professional attire instead of being sexualized. To highlight the feminist image of Lois that I saw in this comic, the particular page that I chose to digitize includes a heated conversation between Lois and her editor, where she argues that her story about missing children cases deserves more respect than being buried in the back of the newspaper, and worse, placed by a lingerie advertisement (Appendix A).
The reason Lois has been so instrumental in the Superman mythology is because since
June 1938, when Action Comics #1 debuted, she has been a key character in Superman’s journey. Her character is vital to the storyline of Superman for a variety of reasons, but her most well-known role is as a romantic interest. In the essay “What Makes Superman So Darned American?”, Engle notes that a major component of the Superman mythology is the “romantic game in which, as Clark Kent, he hopelessly pursues Lois Lane, who hopelessly pursues Superman, who remains aloof until such time as Lois proves worthy of him by falling in love with his feigned identity as a weakling” (Engle).
While Lois is notoriously thought of as a mere plot device in the Superman stories, she is so much more than this. As noted in the article “Analyzing the Avatar of Lois Lane: What We Learn from the Daily Planet Reporter”, Lois “was an independent career girl long before it was fashionable, and despite some seeing her character as only a love interest for the hero, her storylines often didn’t involve being solely a romantic
partner for Superman” (Eckard 225-226).
During the 1980s, there was a bit of a shift in the way that Lois Lane was portrayed in the Superman books and movies. Starting in 1980, when the movie Superman II aired, we start to see Lois as a character that was not only capable of doing of her job as a reporter, but in a sense, was more capable that Clark Kent (Eckard 229). Eckhard highlighted this shift as she referenced a scene where Perry White told Clark Kent, “No offense, Kent, you’re good, but Lois Lane’s better” (229). This notion of Lois Lane as a strong, smart, independent, and professional woman embodies the image that I want to digitize of Lois, as it defines her based on her personal achievements, rather than defining her by her relationship with Clark Kent/ Superman.
Eckard, Sandra. "Analyzing the Avatar of Lois Lane: What We Learn from the Daily Planet Reporter." Works & Days, vol. 32, no. 1/2, 2014/2015, pp. 225-239. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.bgsu.edu:8080/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=117806170&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Engle, Gary. “What Makes Superman So Darned American?” Microsoft Word file.
Krypto the Superdog
The item that I’ve selected to display for the Superman Digital Gallery is the cover of the book, Krypto! The Origin of Superman's Dog. It was written by Michael Dahl with illustrations by Art Baltazar. Published in the fall of 2017, Krypto! The Origin of Superman's Dog is an part of a series of children's books for early readers by DC Comics known as DC Super-Pets. I chose this item because to me it’s a good representation of what Krypto the Superdog is to young children. I remember watching the cartoon of Krypto from the mid-2000s on Cartoon Network. It was my first big introduction to what I lovingly think of as the camp parts (aka the best parts) of Superman. The adventures of Krypto were what made me more interested in Superman and other aspects of the DC universe. Friendly pet sidekicks really have a way of getting kids invested in Superheroes because they love to pretend. In their eyes, they very well might be the Man of Steel with their trusty dog companion by their side. Introducing children to these characters is important because there really is no better way to keep them alive than to plant them in the public consciousness. Maybe these books will do for the children of now what the cartoon did for me.
This item is relevant to the Superman mythos and the superhero genre as a whole because Krypto the Superdog is essentially the most prominent of the animal superheroes. He really was the hit that spawned all sorts of different pet sidekicks to the DC heroes. There’s something about Superman that just spawns seemingly endless amounts of additional ‘Supers.’ Superboy, Superwoman, Superdog. It just goes to show what a pop culture juggernaut Superman is. Slap that ‘S’ and those powers on a character and they get instant recognition and some level of immortality. Merchandise, fan art, cameos. All these things are part of this legacy. These characters become an essential part of the Superman universe, and thus the history of comics itself. Personally, I feel these kinds of characters are the kind of camp that makes Superman an interesting franchise. There's a Super for everyone and everything.
Supergirl
The artifact that I have chosen is the cover of Supergirls first appearance in comic
history. She was introduced as Kara Zor- El in Action Comics #252 of May 1959. The character was drawn by Al Plastino and the story when she was introduced was written by Otto Binder. The caption on the cover introduces Supergirl as Superman, Clark Kent’s, cousin but then hints at the idea that she maybe a friend or she may be a foe. I have selected this item because it is the beginning of Supergirls story and her origin. For any character that is important. The target audience was young girls, to show that girls could be super as well. Also, it showed that Clark had someone to relate to since he thought he was the only one of his kind. Superman believed that he did not have any family left since his planet exploded, killing everyone. Supergirl is revealed to be his blood family; someone with memories of his home planet, his family and life on Krypton. This adds to his story and his world because it opens up the doors to knowledge of his home planet. She was strong and could fly just like Superman.
Supergirl is a character that girls could look up to and aspire to be.
Comet the Superhorse
The artifact that I picked for the Superman Digital Art Gallery is Supergirl’s pet horse Comet the Superhorse. Comet the Superhorse was created by Leo Dorfman and Jim Mooney. The first ever appearance of Comet the Superhorse was in Action Comics issue number 292 back in 1962. As for the story of Comet, Comet the Superhorse was first born as a centaur in ancient Greece. His name back then was Biron. There was a witch named Circe that gave Biron a magical potion that would turn him into a human. But instead, there was a mistake and the potion turned Biron iinto a full horse instead of a human. Since the witch was unable to reverse the spell put upon Biron from the potion, she granted him superpowers. She also cast a magical spell on the centaur that allowed him to switch between both forms for a horse and a centaur. Some of which are all of the powers of Supergirl, which has all of the powers of Superman. This includes flight, super speed, super strength and also telepathy. One unique power that Comet gained was the power of immortality. After the ordeal with the potion, a sorcerer and his mentor were trying to get rid of Biron. They ended up being able to imprison him on some asteroid in the constellation of Sagittarius. This just happens to be where he was born. Biron managed to escape his prison with the unintentional and unknowing help of Supergirl. Supergirl was on one of her rockets that passed the asteroid of Sagittarius. When she did this, her rocket broke the force field that was keeping Biron trapped on the asteroid. This enabled him to finally escape the prison that was set for him by the evil sorcerer. Once Biron escaped, he eventually met Supergirl. On a mission to another planet with Supergirl, Biron got yet another spell cast on him that allowed him to turn into a human but only when a comet passes through the solar system that he is currently at. When he was turned into a human, he changed his name to “Bronco” Bill Starr. As Bill, he took up the career of a rodeo trick rider. Also while as Bill, Supergirl fell in love with him.
The typical audience of Comet the Superhorse would be aimed more towards females that follow the Superman series. This being because Comet is one of the many super pets of Supergirl which is aimed more towards girls who read comics. I picked this character from the Superman genre because I liked the look of the horse and the origin story of this horse. Comet is one of those forgotten characters from the Superman genre. He doesn’t really appear in comics anymore and the origin story is lost with the ages.
Comet the Superhorse relates to Superman because of Supergirl’s relation to Superman. Supergirl’s story is that she is the cousin of Superman with all of the same powers as him. With Comet getting all of the powers of Superman and more, he relates to the genre of Superman and his mythos quite nicely. This specific character doesn’t seem like it was made for any specific reason other than to give Supergirl a super powered sidekick. But the character Supergirl seems to me made to get girls more into comic books. Now in today’s comics, you see more and more female characters to attract the attention of both males and females. This character reveals to me that the Superman world and all of the DC universe is extremely vast. There is this character which is a horse with superpowers. If there is that kind of character, there is no telling what DC can do and what more characters they will add to their arsenal.
Jimmy Olsen
I chose this specific image of Jimmy Olsen from the Comic Book series Legends of the DC Universe vol. 14, because I feel like it explains who Jimmy Olsen is as a character. In this particular image, Jimmy Olsen is explaining to someone that he is going to turn in a video feed for his current assignment at the Daily Planet, and then he is going to go do more of an investigation on something that he believes was just lightly brushed off. This expresses the kind of character that Jimmy Olsen is. Yes, he can be considered rude and egotistical by some of the characters in the Superman Comics, but he is also a character who thinks that everything should be done correctly. He also believes that just because someone does not do it correctly the first time, someone else—usually him—cannot go back and fix it.
The image also shows how dedicated he is to his job at the Daily Planet. Instead of taking a break from work once his initial assignment was finished, he decided to go above and beyond what he really had to do and did more. Most people would just assume that the police had done a decent enough job investigating and would choose to go home after a long day at work, but not Jimmy Olsen. He is not the type to let things rest, and this image is a perfect representation of that. These are the reasons why this image reveals just how unique and individualistic Jimmy Olsen really is.
Being a part of the Lois Lane and Other Supporting Characters group, I really had to think about which supporting character really helped describe the Superman Comic Books. To me, I think that Jimmy Olsen is the perfect character that helps with this description. Superman is the kind of superhero that never gives up, he does what needs to be done to save as many lives as possible, and that is how Jimmy Olsen is to me. Instead of giving in to societal peer pressures, Jimmy Olsen decides that he is going to do whatever is necessary to get the information that he needs for a story—similar to Superman in this way.
The theme of the Superman Comic Books is to never give up, and Jimmy Olsen is a perfect fit for this theme. He correlates so well with it for so many different reasons. As stated above, Jimmy Olsen will do whatever it takes to get the correct information for a story. He does not believe in doing minimal work because something could get messed up, he wants to do the right thing and work as hard as possible. For that reason alone it can be easily seen how Jimmy Olsen is a character who never gives up on anything, whether it be a story or his friends Jimmy Olsen is there to help and get things done correctly.
Super-Turtle: The Powers of Superman But With a Shell
The image is a character description page of Super-Turtle. In the middle of the page you see Super-Turtle standing proudly with his hands on his hips just as you see Superman in many of his covers or just throughout his comics. He is wearing a red cape with the S on the back of it as well just as Superman. Around Super-Turtle there are little descriptions about all of the powers that he has and often are the same that Superman has. His origin story is very similar to Superman’s as well. You see the much more cartoonish version of Super-Turtle in this image when in the comics that he appeared in he was much more detailed and had a more “aggressive” look to him. He looked much stronger and more ready to fight crime in the comics rather than
just a innocent turtle with a cape in this image (Korte, 2013).
I personally selected this character because I did not know anything about him. I thought that it would be interesting to see what other animals took place in the Superman comics other than Krypto. This image was pulled from the DC Super-Pets Character Encyclopedia were you can also see all of the other pets that took place in the comics as well as Krypto. This encyclopedia was published by Capstone in 2013 with details of what each pet did and what their powers were. This character was aimed to bring younger readers into the Superman comics because Superman was looked at as more of an adult comic but the Turtle softened it and made it more interesting to younger readers.
Super Turtle made his first debut in the Adventure Comics #304 in January 1963. This is a character that many people remember but was a character that did not only resemble the name Superman but also had all the same super powers that Superman had (Tur-Tel,2018). The more well-known animals that was related to Superman was Krypto the Super dog. Super Turtle did not last long in DC Comics, but he is still worth mentioning.
Super Turtle was from the world of Galapagon. There was a scientist names Shh-Ell that realized that their planet was doomed, and they need to get off of the plant as soon as possible. He convinced the Science Council to allow them to build 1,000 spaceships in order for them to escape the planet safety. Being the turtles are so slow it was not easy for them to build the 1,000 spaceships that they needed to build in the time that they needed to build them, so they only managed to build one. Shh-Ell had an infant son named Tur-Tel and they were the only ones that were sent to Earth. When their spaceship landed they were found but a farming couple and they were raised like normal turtles. When they came to realize that they were not normal turtles at
all. Shh-Ell and Tur-Tel grew up and discovered that they had superpowers and they became Reptile of Steel and Super-Turtle (Tur-Tel, 2018).
Super Turtle has the same super powers as Superman. Unlike the species of a turtle Super Turtle has super speed and can travel incredibly fast (Korte, 2013). He also has super strength like Superman (Korte, 2013). A few of his other traits are: super smell, flight, freeze breath, as well as heat and x-ray vision (Korte, 2013). Super Turtle also reacts to the material Kryptonite as Superman does (Korte, 2013). It makes him tired and weak and bring down all of his greatest powers (Korte, 2013).
Super-Turtle shows that Superman had more of an effect on popular culture then most.
He has animals that had the same super powers that he has and inspired many stories to be based off of not only the powers that he had but the origin story as well. The idea that Super-Turtle landed on this Earth the same way that Superman did and was discovered by farmers as well just shows that the industry was making the most out of the Superman story.
References: Korte, S. (2013). DC Super-Pets Character Encyclopedia (p. 15). N.p.: Capstone.
Tur-Tel (Earth-One) (2018). In Fandom . Retrieved April 18, 2018, from
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Tur-Tel_(Earth-One)