2014 Comic Book News Archives

September 29, 2014: Long Beach Comic Con Panel Talks Lois Lane and Women in Comics

Lois Lane Saturday's "Ladies First: The Impact of Women in Comics" panel at the Long Beach Comic Con in California saw a number of female comic book creators discussing arguably the most famous woman in comics, Lois Lane...

    Barbara Randall Kesel, a writer and editor who has worked at DC Comics, said the character's portrayal "rises and falls with what is happening with women in the real world" - from being a "spitfire" like new career women in the '30s and '40s, to being diminished to "comedic foil" for Superman as women were being encouraged to relinquish jobs and focus on their husbands in the '50s, to becoming a more feminist character as the equality movement has advanced.

    Lane is "a superhero without any powers," popular artist Amanda Conner, who co-writes DC's "Harley Quinn" series, said.

    "She's got that assumption of authority - 'Of course it's going to work out,'" Kesel noted.

    "And you know that [Superman] is going to think that's really hot," Conner added.

    Cecil Castellucci, writer of the Eisner Award-nominated "Odd Duck," said she'd been trying to pitch a miniseries about the hard-charging reporter for years because she's "obsessed with Lois Lane for the very reasons that you're saying," and agreed that the spitfire aspect of the character's personality is what would appeal to Clark Kent.

    In current DC stories, though, it's not Lois who Superman is dating, but Wonder Woman.

    Kesel called that "a step down" to some crowd laughter and applause.

Read the complete "Ladies First: The Impact of Women in Comics" panel report at the LA Times website.



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