Comics WI: Kill Lois Lane

With the "death"s of Superman, Batman, & Phoenix all "reset" by later writers hoping to cash in, the only death in comics I recall being permanent was Gwen Stacy (& that's excluding her clones...:rolleyes:).

So, what would be the effect of killing Lois, & having her stay dead?:eek: What would it take for the book's writer to do it? Pick any period. No imaginary stories--real continuity, really dead; no robots, aliens, or clones allowed.

I'd guess the only way to make it stick is for DC management to just be thoroughly sick of her, & possibly insane.:p

Thoughts?
 
It depends on the year. If in modern era, then she would never stay dead. In the recent decades of comics, death is a gimmick...and a bad one, because we've all come to realize what is happening so it has no impact. Someone dies, and the writers try to make us feel like it's a big deal and we should be sad, and buy this big event book. Woopity doo, because they'll be brought back in a year or less.

If it were circa the era of Gwen Stacy dying, it would never happen. DC was infantile while Marvel was pioneering things. In that era, at the same time you had Marvel's two dimensional characters, you'd still have things like a cover that read "Superman ... FAT!?" with a picture of a chubby Superman that was made fat by some chunky ray by a mad scientist or something.
 
If it were circa the era of Gwen Stacy dying, it would never happen. DC was infantile while Marvel was pioneering things. In that era, at the same time you had Marvel's two dimensional characters, you'd still have things like a cover that read "Superman ... FAT!?" with a picture of a chubby Superman that was made fat by some chunky ray by a mad scientist or something.

You are confusing eras here. You are talking about the Superman of the Silver Age, which ended for him in 1971 with his Bronze age relaunch in the classic Kryptonite Nevermore/Sandman storyline. Gwen Stacey's death didn't happen until 2 years later in 1973.

Torqumada
 

shiftygiant

Gone Fishin'
Alan Moore is given a regular run on post-crisis Superman thanks to the success of Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?. Moore takes this opportunity to craft darker and more surrealist stories, however by 1990 is sick of his work and the pressure to make his stories grimdark. Moore decides to make his most famous Superman comic, and his last, the Numerous deaths of Lois Lane, in which a transdimentianal being, blatantly the head editors in DC, kill and resurrect Lois Lane numerous times, forcing Superman to try-and fail- to save her multiple times. Superman finally stops them, but the stress of what has happens results in Lois suffering a heart attack and dying. The last shot is of Superman weeping over her body. Moore is kicked off, and it's seen in bad taste to bring Lois back. She is replaced by Lana, and the Superman writers never resurrect her, deciding they prefer Lana.
 
Alan Moore is given a regular run on post-crisis Superman thanks to the success of Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?. Moore takes this opportunity to craft darker and more surrealist stories, however by 1990 is sick of his work and the pressure to make his stories grimdark. Moore decides to make his most famous Superman comic, and his last, the Numerous deaths of Lois Lane, in which a transdimentianal being, blatantly the head editors in DC, kill and resurrect Lois Lane numerous times, forcing Superman to try-and fail- to save her multiple times. Superman finally stops them, but the stress of what has happens results in Lois suffering a heart attack and dying. The last shot is of Superman weeping over her body. Moore is kicked off, and it's seen in bad taste to bring Lois back. She is replaced by Lana, and the Superman writers never resurrect her, deciding they prefer Lana.

Huh. That sounds like it'd be interestingly meta. I wonder what TV and movie adaptations would look like ITTL.
 
If it were circa the era of Gwen Stacy dying, it would never happen. DC was infantile while Marvel was pioneering things. In that era, at the same time you had Marvel's two dimensional characters, you'd still have things like a cover that read "Superman ... FAT!?" with a picture of a chubby Superman that was made fat by some chunky ray by a mad scientist or something.

:rolleyes:

Marvel fanboyism aside the real reason Lois Lane is unlikely to be killed off before the very late Bronze Age at the earliest is that she was a successful comic star in her own right. For the entirety of the 1960s Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane was in the top five comics sold every year.

Which is probably the problem. Lois is simply too iconic and popular a character to kill off, not just amongst comic book readers but amongst the wider population. Even in 1973 she'd been a key part of cartoons, movie serials, radio and television series and before the end of the decade Margot Kidder would be playing her on the big screen.

Lana Lang on ther hand, her I could see being killed off.
 
I vaguely remember one of those alternate history stories (The ones where they have Supes Landing in the middle ages, or Bats being a crusading knight, or Clark is a descendant of a Kryptonian who came to Earth as a conqueror) where Earth is invaded by Aliens and Lois is killed.
One of the Elseworld publications?
I think it was "The Longest Night"

Kal-El just drops out into his Clark Kent Persona.
 
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Here's the thing: suppose the writer dislikes Lois for being "cosmically stupid" (not seeing Supes is Clark) & for always needing to be rescued, & decides to kill her. The idea being, Supes needs to learn to deal with death. It also offers the chance to get an insight into what's it's like to be invulnerable in a world full of vulnerable people.

It doesn't mean Supes doesn't end up with a *Lois in his life, just not thadt one.

If it's also done for some shock effect, so be it.
 
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