#THE lois lane ever.

[hollis-art]

they can be best friends. they can be lovers. whatever they are, i am rooting for them

[tiffycat]

The couple ever (x)

[kaban-bang]

😳

[gae-bolg-alternative-dot-exe]

[flurrywhipdies]

calling the maws crowd!!

[jesncin]

The Potential of Asian Lois Lane: An extra addition

A bonus addition to my Asian Lois essay. I know Lois Chaudhari isn't technically a Lois since the premise of the comic she's from is where the Superman mythos is fictional and the characters in it happen to be named Clark/Lois etc. But since she's a Lois stand in and romantic partner to the Clark Kent of that story, I figured she deserves an honorable mention at least.

Here's where I position her in my Spectrum of Asian Lois Lane chart. And I'd like to talk about her!

Compared to American Alien, this Lois is actually specific and textually Indian in Superman: Secret Identity. Unlike American Alien Lois (that never specified what kind of Asian Lois was), she can't be replaced as a white woman because the text acknowledges her Indian identity (her name, lines of dialogue like this, etc.) hence she's not interchangeable with whiteness. So this take has that going for it.

Where Lois Chaudhari still falls behind Girl Taking Over (and what it shares in common with American Alien) is yet again a sense of missed opportunities narratively.

In Superman: Secret Identity, a man named Clark Kent from Picketsville suddenly has Superman's powers. After years of being made fun of for his namesake, he suddenly is what everyone has been making fun of him for- and as he lives through life he slowly understands why fictional!Superman is the way he is. It's a great story but where it misses the mark for me is its failure to recognize Superman as an immigrant. Secret Identity's Clark isn't an alien immigrant, or a human immigrant, and is instead ostracized because of his name. Government baddies want to do experiments on him so he has to hide from them too. But then he meets city girl Lois Chaudhari, and they connect because people keep teasing them for their names and Lois knows what it's like to keep secrets because she,,, committed a crime as a teen once.

"I guess we're both dangerous felons, then. Public menaces."

Being hunted by the government and being experimented on isn't really the same as being caught shoplifting.

It works well enough as a connection but to me is a huge missed opportunity to have an Indian American relate to your Superman stand-in as an immigrant. To connect on a deeper level other than "people make fun of us for sharing names with fictional characters". Later in the story, Clark and Lois have twin daughters who are visibly Indian. They too, have Superman's powers. While we're treated extensively to the narrative showing us why Clark would hide his powers from the government wishing to seek harm on him, we never get to see what Clark's daughters have to deal with on top of being visibly non-white.

Superman as an alien immigrant is an anecdote in this story. Because after all, that's not what a white American man from Picketsville would find relatable about him, is it? I have the same thing to say about Secret Identity that I did with American Alien: "Clark isn’t the only American Alien in American Alien, if you catch my drift."

I think this story is the perfect encapsulation of the limits of a white writer. One of my hottest takes on Superman is that the best and most holistic take on his character doesn't exist in the white imagination. Take a look once more at the Spectrum of Asian Lois Lanes chart that I made. All save for Girl Taking Over were headed by white men (MAWS may have Asian directors and writers on their team but ultimately its pitch and main ideas are the brain child of Jake Wyatt, a white man).

People have taken issue with me saying this and assume that I mean white people can't write a good Superman story, and no. That's not what I'm saying. I like Superman: Secret Identity. I even like American Alien. But it's been 80 years of predominantly white writers of all backgrounds getting the chance to write Superman- and already multiple attempts at an Asian Lois- and yet it took until Gene Yang (and artists Gurihiru) with Smashes the Klan and Sarah Kuhn (and artist Arielle Jovellanos) with Girl Taking Over that I felt Superman's themes as an immigrant finally took center stage and weren't just a mention or anecdote.

In no way do I want to imply that getting writers of color or Asian writers specifically will mean you'll be guaranteed a great Superman story. I'm against promoting the idea that diverse talent is infallible or tokenizing and essentializing them in such a way. What I am saying is that the best and most holistic story on Superman as an alien immigrant isn't even a goal in the white imagination. Immigrant Superman doesn't live in that mind. He doesn't pay rent there. He doesn't stop by to visit. And no, Superman creators Shuster and Siegel wouldn't have written that story either. Superman may have been the "Champion of the Oppressed" from another planet under their pen, but he would never have related to or have had immigrant solidarity with America's perpetual foreigners the way Smashes the Klan portrayed him as having. Superman's creators were too busy writing Slam Bradley to be able to write that kind of Superman.

The appeal of these cape characters for me, is the process of adaptation. Seeing them be handed off to someone else with different life experience. Seeing them bring a whole new perspective that surpasses even the creator's intentions on their character. That's what makes these characters rich and worthy of constant revisits. I just think that people of different backgrounds should be able to get as many chances as white men have with writing Superman and his cast of characters.

[sisaloofafump]

It’s not even an accidental “haha why does Superman look like he’s gonna kiss Batman?” moment. Supes was just fully going to kiss him. No hesitation. And he continues to daydream about it. He did get to kiss Lois but had to wipe her memory and it broke my heart :( the inherent tragedy of their early dynamic.

“Love of humanity. I started to loose sight of that, but when I looked at you two, it all came back”.

[phantom-0-writer]

The Justice League had finally given the go ahead to officially form the Young Justice. Not that any of them were going to stop regardless of having permission. Since the Justice League had opened up their slots for more than the original six earlier that year, Batman thought it would be a good opportunity to use the Young Justice to help reach out and recruit some other heroes without drawing too much attention by going themselves. With protégés of most of the originals in the roster it was a solid plan.

They had been told about their newest "assignment" (if you could even call it that) earlier that day and they would be leaving in the morning. They were supposed to go meet a duo in Illinois (it was their base of operation even though they'd worked in other place). Phantom has been in the vigilante/hero scene for almost 10 years now, and Red Huntress started a few months after him.

Their names were well known, Dick had known of them even before he became Robin. But despite their national (maybe even International fame) little was actually known about the duo and the rumored Team Phantom that alluded to there being more than just the two. Dick had been a big fan of Phantom, and modeled a lot of his moves off of the super-powered hero.

Batman told them that they had already reached out the Phantom (Red Huntress had deferred them to him, and refused to speak with them afterwords) and he agreed to meet the YJ team and mentor them for a designated amount of time. There had been rumors in certain forums that the JLA had reached out to Phantom to be one of the original members of the league but he had turned them down. When Kid Flash had brought it up during the meeting, Batman refused to confirm or deny (which was proof enough).

The plan was for the YJ would stay in Amity Park for 15 days and learn from them, they would check in after that to see weather their stay should be extended. Specifically citing that their legendary teamwork would be incredibly beneficial to learn from to strengthen them as a team. The other plan, and equally as important, was to warm them up to joining the JLA ranks since a direct invitation hadn't been received favorably.

All that was thrown in the window when, three days in, the YJ, Phantom and Red Huntress get portaled to an unknown destination, with strange and unknown life(?) forms, with no supplies, no working communicators, and worst of all, no way back.

[francis-ford-kofola]

Lois Lane interviewing Superman in SUPERMAN (1978) dir. Richard Donner (Christopher Reeve as Superman and Margot Kidder as Lois Lane)

[nat-20s]

I really do think Lois "lmao you and bruce should get strippers next time you hang out" Lane is one of the biggest Clark has two hands advocates. One day she probably is like "so when are you gonna hook up with Bruce anyway" and Clark gives her the SADDEST WETTEST eyes of all time like "are you breaking up with me 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺?" and she's like WHAT no I just think that you can have a wife and a boyfriend as little a treat. And Clark is like oh ok...but uhhh, *coughs* wh-why bruce? and Lois is like idk man maybe it's the literal DECADES of homoerotic tension?? the fact that the two heartbeats you have memorized best are his and mine?? he made you your own rose breed and learned Kryptonian for you I think there might be something there lol.

[wizardyandcheesesammich]

The thing is that Clark likes difficult people.

He likes people who are too smart for their own good, who get in over their heads but still somehow manage to come out on top.

People with too much ambition and drive and heart, for their much more vulnerable human bodies.

Clever and observant, with minds that move fast enough to leave him behind and confused and in awe.

He likes people who, in his eyes, are much braver than he could ever be.

[doortotomorrow]

LOIS LANE - Dresses

[massiveladycat]

okay so when we talk about joker and batsy everyone goes wild but when i bring up pink kryptonite we're all quiet??

[lilho-ho-bo10]

Bruce: What is going on here?

Clark: In honor of Father's day we're having a "bring your kids to work day". Isn't that right, Jon?

Jon: *Waves at Bruce while playing Chess with Lois* Hi Dad!!!!

Bruce: Hey kid.

Arthur: *Cradling Andrina in his arms*

Diana: Your daughter is adorable.

Arthur: Thank you , Princess. Wait, didn't you have a son?

Diana: I did.

Arthur: Where is he? I'm sure Clark wouldn't mind if you brought him.

Diana: He's dead.

Arthur: Oh...

Diana: I killed him.

Bruce: !?

Everyone in the room: ...

Everyone: Starts to applaud and cheer.

Arthur: Thank God!!!

Jon: I hated him!!!

Clark: You did the right thing.

Bruce: !?!?!?!?!?

[the-gamling-dog]

I have been watching and reading Superman since I was three

how is it that 17 minutes into My Adventures With Superman i'm in love with Clark for the first time ever

[pokeberry5]

dc scraps im never gonna finish

(they’ve got individual captions for context idk if that works on mobile tho rip)