Taming down Lois and a world without Superman
Newsarama has a rather fascinating and painful peek at the early depiction of Lois Lane and Superman. DC Comics entered the documents in the Siegel case to demonstrate Superman as a work-for-hire. Those documents don't do DC any favors in showing how they treated Siegel & Shuster. We bemoan the changes in Lois in the 1950s, but apparently it started a lot earlier, covering everything from her body type to her hair and clothes. Who knew Lois suffered from body image issues?
A commenter on the Uncivil Society cross-post raises an interesting if disturbing question. There were tons of characters that cropped up during the Golden Age. Not all of them had staying power. They'd show up for a few stories and disappear just as quickly as they appeared. Superman could have been one of those. Imagine there's no Superman. What would our world be like? Would the comics industry be the same? The popular answer, of course, is that someone would have created a better version. But would they?
A commenter on the Uncivil Society cross-post raises an interesting if disturbing question. There were tons of characters that cropped up during the Golden Age. Not all of them had staying power. They'd show up for a few stories and disappear just as quickly as they appeared. Superman could have been one of those. Imagine there's no Superman. What would our world be like? Would the comics industry be the same? The popular answer, of course, is that someone would have created a better version. But would they?