777 – Mrs. Superman, Part Three

A panel from Lois Lane #23, December 1960
A panel from Lois Lane #23, December 1960

Lois Lane #23 (Dec 1960) also contains the third part in the special “imaginary” series (Part 1 here, Part 2 here). We peek in on the imaginary, out-of-continuity Lois and Clark to find them still married and now with twins, a boy named Larry and a girl named Carole. Both of these children exhibit super-powers, but oh my, the parents have special watches which lets them turn off their powers by exposing them to low-doses of green kryptonite. The ostensible reason for this is that Superman hasn’t figured out a way to give Lois super-powers yet, so in order to protect her, the young kids need to be hobbled. Super chastity belts?

Lois has quit her job to raise the kids (of course!) and is shocked to find Lana Lang taking over as Perry White’s star “girl” reporter. When Superman has to rescue Lana and she thanks him by kissing Superman’s cheek in public, Lois freaks out and starts getting jealous as well as admitting anxiety that the world doesn’t know Superman is already married.

Another panel from Lois Lane #23, December 1960
Another panel from Lois Lane #23, December 1960

Very little else happens in the story other than Superman trying to control his miserably vain wife by saying if he succeeds in giving her super-powers, she can then shout to the world that she married Superman.

Superman assuages Lois’ vanity in Lois Lane #23, December 1960

I have found the imaginary tales series are still pretty entertaining, normalizing for 1960s comic-book writing, of course. They must have been exciting to read at the time as they give you tastes of how characters could evolve if writers were brave enough 🙂