Superman's Girl Friend Character Analysis

5.2 Chasing Domesticity: Lois Lane in Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane With the cultural development within the Unites States after the Second World War and the move towards domesticity and a more conservative image of femininity, a new version of Lois Lane was born. In 1958 the character of Lois was reinvented when the comic series Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane was published, in which she functioned as the protagonist. While comics involving Superman, like many others in the early stages of the superhero genre, targeted young males, “Lois Lane was directed to a primarily pre-adolescent female audience” (Williams 4-5). Up to this point comics for a female readership have rarely been distributed, so the comic book industry started to

Although Lois and Lana interact heavily throughout the series’ 16 year-long run, their interactions are always based on their mutual interest in Superman. The relationship between the two women is grounded in their rivalry over the superhero’s affections, stressing the importance of romantic relationships and the wish for domesticity over female friendships: Particularly through the rivalry of the central female characters, Lois Lane and Lana Lang, the comic book addresses its young readers’ fears and desires in ways that alternately empower and devalue femininity while teaching those readers to value heterosexual romance over same sex friendship. (Williams 46-47)

The first of the Superman’s Girl Friend stories which features Lana Lang is “The Girl Who Stole Superman”, published in 1959. The title itself already highlights Lana’s role in the series: she is primarily a rival for Superman’s attention, not a friend or confidante to Lois. Lana arrives in Metropolis poor and unsuccessfully looking for occupation, and Lois decides to take her in and help the other woman. Although Lois’s intentions are noble, jealousy over Superman’s past quickly takes over. Lois’s constant need for assurance in this situation can be further understood as