strange radiation: the pool of radiance archive
Adventures with an unreliable narrator.
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Dec 2 04: alas, poor lois
Anybody looking to waste a little time at the office—not me, to be sure; I’m far too busy for that sort of thing—might be amused by this look at the brain-wrenching and hilarious world of Lois Lane, Superman’s Girlfriend. Yes, Lois had her own comic book, and it was a huge seller. LL,SG ran from 1958 to 1974 and published about 140 issues. But the real question is: in the pre-ironic world, who on Earth bought this stuff?
Because there’s some crazy, crazy things on those covers. Lois the empress; Lois the executioner; Lois the gorilla; Lois the Black-woman-for-a-day. Lois, either doing everything she can think of (and she can think of a lot, apparently) to marry Superman or weeping because Supermann won’t marry her or marrying somebody else to spite the Man of Steel. Lois, granted super-powers, which she uses for good or evil depending on the month. Lois, rescuing Superman. Lois, murdering Superman.
Anyway, somebody on the forum started a thread to examine the weirder moments in Lois Lane covers. As the pile-on picked up speed, people started putting in covers from Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen, a book legendary for its own excursions into the surreal. There’s also an appearance by Rainbow Batman, about whom the less said the better.
Last I checked, the thread had hit 33 pages with no signs of stopping. Go see, when you have some free time. Be aware that the pages contain lots of big images (this will be tough on dialup users) and that it contains some mildly spicy language from time to time. Thanks to BoingBoing for the tip.
UPDATED: If the link above doesn’t work, try Superdickery.com. The allspark thread, as it spun out of control, was putting outrageous demands on bandwidth—so a whole online museum has been created to give this vital field of study a permanent nerve center.