Will Lois Lane Ever Get Her Due?

She’s a Pulitzer prize-winning reporter. She’s willing to stare down the vilest human being on the planet. She’s also married to the most famous superhero in history.

So why can’t she have her own book?

While I have no allusions that a Lois Lane title would go toe-to-toe with Green Lantern in sales, I think there is a strong property there. Jerry and I discussed the possibility of a Lois Lane book on last week’s podcast and the idea has been swirling around in my head for the last few days.

“Yeah… why don’t they do that?” I keep thinking to myself.

Lois Lane mini from 1986.

I like books whose action takes place just within the periphery of comic’s greatest characters, such as Gotham Central or The Pulse. I could see an engrossing Lois Lane-centric book that focuses on the Daily Planet and the huge—and hugely underused—supporting cast that resides there.

Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, Cat Grant and Lana Lang are all bigger than life characters who have been fleshed out enough over the years that it isn’t impossible to believe that they could comprise  a strong ensemble cast, led by Miss Lane. Do you know who else could be a character in this book? Clark Kent. You see, it might be interesting to see how this guy conducts his day job when he’s not off being super.

One of the more memorable stories from my youth was a Lois Lane story from 1986. In this two-part tale, Lois is writing a piece on child abductions that was truly haunting. The book opens with the discovery of a child who has been mutilated to look like a Cabbage Patch Kid. This is one of those stories that has stuck with me over the years. It’s just Lois writing a story that Perry White, in the end, buries deep within the once immense Daily Planet.

While I don’t think every issue would need to be a moralizing human interest story that tugs at the heart strings or goes for a cheap emotional punch, a Lois Lane book would be a place to tell more grounded stories from the DCU. And I am not referring to walks across the country.

I think G. Willow Wilson missed some opportunities to tell solid Lois and Perry stories in her own “Grounded” fill-ins in the pages of Superman. I’d like to see a more perceptive take on characters like Lois and Perry. They’re a couple of strong reporters who have broken some of the biggest stories in modern history—they need to be tough, have integrity, but they don’t need to necessarily be nice.

When I think of books like Powers or Alias, I can’t help but think of how cool a Lois Lane title could be as one of those fringe series that deals with life in a world with superheroes. The DCU has a long rich library of unused costumed characters to propel Lois Lane, intrepid reporter-centered stories.

Now doesn’t that sound super?