Comics: The Golden Age

Vital Statistics

First Appearance: 1938 (Action Comics #1)
Age: Slightly younger than Clark Kent
Birthday:  Depicted as winter Nov/Dec ( S No. 37/2, Nov/Dec 1945: "Pranks for Profit!", Act No. 139, Dec 1949: "Clark Kent...Daredevil!")
Grew up in the town of: Metropolis (or Cleveland... which is where the first few issues were set before the fictional Metropolis was created).
Parents and Siblings: None known or mentioned.
Position at the Daily Planet: Initially forced to write a column for love lorn women, but through her determination became a full fledged investigative reporter.
First Meets Clark/Superman: At the Daily Star as Clark Kent. (Action Comics #1)
Relationship with Clark Kent: Married to Clark Kent.   (Earth 2, see below)
Editor: Originally George Taylor, became Perry White
Is a Reporter:  Before Clark Kent shows up.
Lex Luthor was: Mad scientist who first encounters Superman as an adult. In his first appearance he had red hair (but was bald in subsequent appearances) and was simply called Luthor for the first few years.

In Depth

Spanning from approximately 1938 - 1959 is the Golden Age, the original Superman stories as started by Siegel and Shuster including the comic books and the daily newspaper comics.  (Some break this age period in half by the Golden Age, and the "Flux" age where they start setting up the Silver Age in the late forties..)  This, of course, sees the first introduction of Clark Kent (Kal-L originally) and Lois Lane, and of course other milestones including Perry White and Jimmy Olsen.  The first comics start out in Cleveland where they work for the Daily Star, and later in the Daily Planet.  It is this age that set up Clark Kent as a disguise and Superman as the real man of the story; Lois of course falls for Superman who initially wants nothing to do with her.

Lois' journalistic rise starts off being a "sob sister" (S No.7/1, Nov Dec 1940; and others) that works on the lovelorn column for the Daily Planet.  She quickly rises up the ranks to be considered one of the "star reporters" of the Planet along with Clark Kent himself. ((S No.27/1, Mar/Apr 1941; “The Palace of Perilous Play!”; and others) .  The two in this age share a heated rivalry, Lois always trying to prove herself no matter what.  (Though since most their stories are about Superman, Superman is really playing with her.)  This is the age that really starts off setting Lois Lane up as a feminist icon.   She is portrayed as a serious journalism lover,  “newspaper reporting is [Lane’s] first love” (S No. 58/2, May/Jun 1949: “Lois Lane Loves Clark Kent!”) and even early has made comments “… I guess I’ve got printer’s ink in my veins,” muses Lois in November-December 1946 (“Lois Lane, Actress!”).  In Superman #49 is is described as a "Modern Age Nellie Bly" and even re-walks the footsteps of that famous real life journalist.

She's struggling against a glass ceiling to be a woman in a very male profession and struggles to be taken seriously.   However rivals as they might be, Lois tends to show up on his stories fairly often; she's been shown calling Clark for help when in danger, and trusting his instincts about stories.   A lot of the comics about these times dealt with he social issues of the day so there are plenty of racketeering, misusage of orphanages, and mobsters not to mention the occasional mad scientist.  When it comes to their personal life,  it is pretty much the set up for the later revisited in the Iron Age where Clark steal her job from her.   However, after 1940, the two become friends which again, is revisited in the iron age.

Lois Lane and the secret is something that also comes up later in this time period, again in the 1940's (Act No. 25),.  By 1942, Lois is actively suspecting that Clark Kent and Superman are the same (thus dispelling the whole 'Lois was too dumb to figure it out for sixty years' myth.) in the issue whose scan is on the right. (S No. 17/1: “Man or Superman?”).  Earlier texts don't form a solid opinion if she would publish or not, but Superman certainly suspect it would be a scoop that she would not be able to resist.   Starting with these stories it was never that Lois was too dumb to figure it out but Superman would use tricks including Super speed to steal the conclusions she rightly made.

Similarly very early on they start putting Lois in trouble which becomes a major part of the mythos.  There is a method to why Lois is always in danger: (1) she gets caught snooping around on a story by the bad guys, (2) bad guys come after her for a story that she's already written, (3) she is kidnapped and held hostage in order to get to Superman or (4) bad guys try to hurt her to get back at Superman.  In these early books, Lois carries a gun in her purse to protect herself (Act No. 43, Dec 1941; and others); she eventually stops when Superman always rescuing her makes it a needless tactic.

Lois Lane is fiercely loyal to Superman. She is his staunchest supporter and most ardent fan. She is constantly seeing to it that he receives the fullest measure of public credit for his many good deeds (S No. 16, May/Jun 1942: ‘‘The World’s Meanest Man’’; and many others), and she almost always retains her faith in him even when, for the moment, his motives are suspect or his actions unpopular (WF No.6, Sum 1942: Man of Steel versus Man of Metal!’’; and many others). [From Supermanica, link at the bottom of the page.]  It is also in this age that Lois Lane started keeping scrap books of Superman (a practice  that is noted in Lois and Clark as well.) as well as of her own work.  Additionally it is in 1943 that Lois s shown as a writer, working on her own novel (S No. 23/2 ‘‘Habitual Homicide’) - again something that is noted in Lois and Clark as well.   Romantically, Lois has a handful of suitors (including Mxyzptlk) but none last as she's dead gone for the Man of Steel.

Notable Issues:

Action Comics #1, 1938

The introduction; note that Lois is shown just to be one person in the DP (albeit one he apparently has an ongoing interaction with.)

K-Metal From Krypton, 1940

This is, perhaps, considered the greatest story never published.  Superman throught he Ages is rebuilding this comic and simply going over their essays and remastering of the comic is amazing.  From their essay documenting why this story is such a landmark find:

Conventional Supermanic History tells us that Kryptonite, Superman's one major weakness—a piece of mineral from his home planet—was created fully formed from the writers of the Superman Radio Show in 1943 and first appeared in the Superman comic books in 1949.  It tells us that Superman never learned that he came from an alien planet—nor that said planet was named "Krypton"—until 1949.  And it also tells us that Lois Lane never learned that Superman and Clark Kent are one-and-the-same until sometime in the 1990s.

If Jerry Siegel had his way, all of these events, and more, would have occurred in 1940—but "The K-Metal from Krypton" was never published.

Check out the K-Metal story and the essays.

Earth 2: 1966 - 1986, a spin off

In the 1966's we got Earth-2, a slightly tweaked place holder for the Golden Age versions to exist.  More about Earth 2 here.