The Batman Adventures #25

“Super Friends” – Early November 1994

Yep it’s another issue of The Batman Adventures. Aside from the obvious, this was an easy grab: extra long story, bonus pin-ups by the likes of Mignola and Toth, and a guest appearance by Superman that predates his own Dini/Timm animated series. That was the big draw for me. I couldn’t wait to see how Parobeck chose to design the man of steel in the absence of any character models. Honestly, though, the results were a bit underwhelming. You see, instead of a purely Parobeck designed last son of Krypton, what we end up with is heavily influenced by Supes and Lex’s looks in the then current Superman books, meaning a mulleted Superman and a Lex Luthor with long red hair and a beard. This definitely feels like editorial meddling and it’s a shame because the Fliescher style face Parobeck gives Superman (possibly the only design choice the artist was able to make himself) hints at something pretty great. The story itself is alright, playing with the different ways in which Superman and Batman operate, but it’s nothing special and not nearly as good as the average Batman Adventure. Frankly, Superman and his powers just seem out of place in a world that, for 24 issues, was all about (somewhat) regular people. I can see the appeal of putting Superman in this anniversary issue, especially when he had yet to have his animated debut, but I can’t help but wish we’d just had an oversized Batman story.

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #46

“Lois Lane’s Outlaw Son!” – January 1964

Okay, here we go. It’s the (imaginary) future and Lois Lane is now Lois Luthor, widow of a reformed Lex, and mother to Larry, a space buccaneer (!) called Black Luthor. Lois is suitably embarrassed by her son and spends her time crying and watching her son’s criminal exploits via a creepy peeping tom machine and hanging around with Superman, his wife, Super-Lana, and their daughter named (I shit you not) Joan Superman. Soon, Joan gets the hots for Larry and decides to reform him with magic lipstick that fails to work, leaving Joan to utter, in true Silver Age fashion, “That evil-removing chemical I put into my lipstick, then placed on my lips, should’ve reformed you instantly when my lips touched yours!” Turns out Joan kissed a Luthor robot that Larry keeps around for just such occasions. Larry captures Joan to use as a hostage while planning his revenge against Superman. You see, Larry’s hair fell out due to a rare substance Larry himself built into his own Superman detecting helmet, meaning that Superman must die, naturally. Meanwhile, Larry’s evil crew mutinies for vague reasons and they strand Larry on a desolate planet. Lois flies off in a rocket to save Larry, crashes, and almost dies. Larry saves her and is so moved that he turns good, develops an anti-evil chamber to turn him good, modifies the chamber into a ray, uses it on his crew, saves the Earth, and marries Joan. Man, I love comics.