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u/Awkward_Bison_267 6d ago
Was there a fetish where readers liked to see Superman treating Lois and Jimmy like crap? Cinderella, Death Row, marrying a monkey, who was this aimed at?
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u/LightninJohn 6d ago
My understanding it was the comics version of clickbait. You’d see ultimate good guy Superman doing something evil on the cover and go “woah! By golly! Why would Supes do such a thing?” And buy the comic to find out
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u/CommitteeofMountains 6d ago
They were still pretty terrible inside the issues, though. I think it's a mix of the characters not being appointed pop culture paragons yet (although somewhat in adaptations), comical drama being a major appeal of comics, and thinking through the moral ramifications outside the framing not being an issue between the light tone, young audience, short issue lengths, and fridge logic not being valid yet (it can't break your immersion if the back cover did it first).
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u/Awkward_Bison_267 6d ago
But this was every goddamn issue. I mean you’re not wrong but wow, no one got bored with this shit?
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u/TheSlayerofSnails 6d ago
Where there any good silver age comics or was it just all this clickbait?
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u/halloweenjack 6d ago
Well, Joe Shuster did fetish art for a while in the fifties, and Curt Swan did some R-rated illustrations for an essay that Larry Niven wrote about Superman’s sexuality, so it’s not that much of a stretch.
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u/Master-Collection488 5d ago
What it was really about was that little box in the upper-right-hand corner and the 12 cent price point. These work together to let us know that this was probably published in the mid-60s or so? Definitely Silver Age.
DC had been the kings of comic books back in the Golden Age. They sold like hotcakes. While interest in comics and their various genres have always fluctuated over time (as with things like pro wrestling and its kid sibling classic theatrical (unlike now) roller derby.
Come the Silver Age DC wasn't selling as many comic books as they had in years prior. Readers weren't as interested in the sanitized storylines that the Code (which the industry adopted "voluntarily" in wake of congressional hearings spurred on by soon-to-be-"banned" horror comics and Wonder Woman's kinkiness.
DC had to make money, and even before the Code was put into place, Superman had been getting outsold by Fawcett's Captain Marvel (Fawcett basically ceased publishing once the code hit and superhero comics waned anyway after the war).
DC needed to sell as many comics as they could. They were primarily known for superhero comics. Comics with detectives were somewhat hampered by the Code's rules, and horror comics were all-but-banned until things loosened up a bit in the 70s (when Marvel introduced a few, and DC did Swamp-Thing).
What DC did to keep their sales afloat was to put crazy-sounding stories on the cover. Sometimes these were mostly-accurate exaggerations, sometimes they weren't accurate at all. As others have mentioned, Superman being a paragon of virtue, beloved by all made him the perfect character to show appearing to do a heel-turn on the cover. So that kids' attention would be grabbed and they'd be more likely to plop down their dime/12 cents on the counter to see what really happened (stern owner looked over his glasses and said, "This ain't a library, Billy!").
This became particularly the case AFTER "The Adventures of Superman" left the TV airwaves in 1958. Crazy covers became the standard M.O. for all DC comics. Especially the Superman-related ones. Lois and Jimmy's titles most of all, because if Superman wasn't doing something CRAZY it'd just be stories about reporters, right?
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u/Awkward_Bison_267 3d ago
Apologies for replying to your reply so late but you made a lot of sense.
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u/pizzaheadbryan 6d ago
Cinderella had a shit time for a lot of that story, Lois. This is on you. Reread the story before you commit to it.
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u/angeltay 6d ago
Also did she have to relive Cinderella’s entire life up until the ball and Prince Charming? Is that something she even asked Superman? She wasn’t even thinking at all!
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u/LogicalWelcome7100 6d ago
Superman just looks so delighted at Lois' misery.
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u/doctordoom2069 6d ago
His little smile! Tormenting his friends is one of the few things that gives him true happiness!
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u/script_researcher 6d ago
How unhinged were these Lois Lane comics?
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u/esgrove2 5d ago
They were for female readers. Female readers at the time apparently had a deep humiliation fetish.
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u/Garguyal 5d ago
Why would anyone want to be Cinderella? A lifetime on abuse followed by a lifetime of relative comfort, but only by medieval standards.
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u/MrZJones 4d ago edited 5h ago
April 1964, this is a three-part story that takes up the whole issue.
Prologue: Lois finds a tape in Perry's desk, to be played in the event of Superman's death, and listens to it. it's a recording of Superman talking about all his secrets in life, but she shuts it off right before he's about to say who his secret identity is, because she wants to learn his secret identity, but she wants to learn who he is through her own cleverness and ingenuity, not by sneakiness and luck.
Clark, who had been standing outside the room trying to figure out how to ruin the tape before she got to that part, is impressed with her, and so, as Superman, offers her a deal: he'll take her to three historical periods and disguise himself as someone in her immediate vicinity, and if in any of those scenarios she figures out who he's disguised as, he'll tell her his secret identity.
Chapter 1 sees her as temporarily taking the place of Hellene of Troy, who suffered a head injury in a chariot accident (and by "accident", I mean deliberate sabotage in an assassination attempt). Lois has to decide whether Palicles (her guard, who has Superman's build and a similar face and a long beard, but he seems cruel), Aenas (her food taster, who seems to be an old man but also seems immune to poison), three new gladiators (one of whom has Superman's build and black hair, and answered to the name Kal-El at first... but he's missing teeth), and the slave Cadmo (beneath notice and suspicion). The Aenas dies from poison, Palicles reveals himself as leader of the assassins, and Cadmo proves to be Superman in disguise. (She mainly didn't think it was him because Calmo's outfit showed skin, while she was expecting him to be hiding his costume under his disguise)
Chapter 2, "The Courtship of Cinderella Lane", is the cover story. He takes her to a place that apparently "inspired" the story of Cinderella, with Lois in the title role. It plays out as Cinderella (with Superman reducing the dress she had worn as Hellene to tatters and rags), including her fairy godmother arriving. Apparently Mr. Mxyzptlk has a temporary truce with Superman, and he called in a favor. Suspects for Superman in this world are a blacksmith (who nailed in a horse's shoe with his bare hands) and the Prince (who is wearing Superman's colors). The Prince was ruled out because the glass slipper fit and she knows Superman wouldn't really marry her, and the Blacksmith was ruled out because he has burns on his hands. Mxyzptlk points out that Lois was only looking at the men and so missed Superman's real disguise: the wicked stepmother. (The real wicked stepmother was far away at the moment, finding the real Cinderella)
Chapter 3, "Florence Nightingale's Last Stand!" sees Lois taking the titular nurse's place, after weaving her a new outfit at super-speed. Since this is Lois's last chance (and because she has to solve it quickly, before the real Florence Nightingale arrives), Superman says he'll be sporting and offer clues this time. Is it the cowardly soldier who refuses to be inoculated, has a picture of a woman who looks like Lois in his locket, and refuses to fight? No, because he's shot to death for his cowardice. Is it the French army doctor who seems to know about modern medical techniques like pasteurization? No, because he's literally Louis Pasteur, who invented the process. The seemingly super-strong soldier who is carrying a bronze statue with one hand? Father Carlos, who stands in the middle of battle, seemingly without being worried about being hurt? No and no... Superman was disguised as the bronze statue. When she first saw the statue, it was holding the sword in its left hand, but later it was holding the sword in its right hand, meaning it was alive.
She'll get you next time, Superman. Next time!
(Superman also points out all the double-L's in the story: Hellene, Cindrella, and as a stretch, Florence Nightingale)
Cover accuracy: 8/10. She's too busy trying to figure out who Superman is to be annoyed about the drudgery — she's there only a few hours — but otherwise accurate. (In the story, she does notice that the red-headed stepsister looks like a buck-toothed version of Lana Lang)
Story: Okay, it had me trying to figure out who Superman was along with Lois, but I don't think they were entirely fair-play mysteries (with way too many red herrings). 6/10.
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u/Canapau654 6d ago
...if Lois knows about Cinderella, shouldn't she also knows that she actually do make it to the ball and meets the prince ?
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u/Anastrace 5d ago
Bitch you wanted to re-live Cinderella but you didn't remember the WICKED stepfamily?
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u/SpaceShipwreck 5d ago
These comics have conditioned me to the point I was half expecting the redheaded step sister to be Jimmy Olsen in drag... again.
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u/Thundersting 6d ago
This means Cinderella is an actual historical figure in the DC universe.