Since the first appearance of the Superman character in comics, in 1938, the character of Lois Lane has played an important part in the storyline. She was with the Man of Steel in Action #1, and she's been with him ever since. Certainly, Lois has changed with the times, and reflected various periods in our society via her clothes and behavior, and loyal readers have followed her through every transition.
In the 1940s, humorous covers, like the one reproduced here at right, showed Superman mocking domestic bliss, much to Lois' annoyance. [That was always one of the big conflicts within her: she wanted the career, oh yeah, but she also wanted a happy home with a certain blue-garbed hunk.] Superman #36 (right), in fine condition, rated 6.0 by CGC, was selling for $370 at GoAntiques.com in July 2008.
One of the most valuable categories of Lois-related collectibles is original comic book art. These hand-drawn black-and-white pages sell for anywhere from under $100 to thousands of dollars and more, based on the age of the piece; the prominence, popularity, and talent of the artist; which characters are depicted; and whether the page is a splash page (an opening page with a larger-than-usual panel) or cover (the most coveted -- and rare -- art of all). The cover at left is a picture of a very rare Shazam!, #25, drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger, which introduced the character Isis, seen at left on the cover, who went on to her own (short-lived) comic and kids' Saturday morning TV series. (Squint a bit and Isis could almost pass for Super-Lois, who appeared in several imaginary stories during the run of Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane.)
Of course, Schaffenberger wasn't the only artist who drew Lois. As one of the major characters in the Superman canon, Ms. Lane was drawn by every top DC artist through the decades. The black and white pencilled-and-inked page at right was drawn by the late, great Curt Swan, perhaps the foremost interpreter of Superman from the 1950s through the 1960s and into the 1970s. That means, to a lot of Baby Boomers, a Curt Swan Superman is the only true Superman. His originals are highly prized, especially those featuring Supes and strange aliens. This page is from Lois Lane # 103, August 1970. In the story, "The Devil's Bride," Lois is set to marry the man of her dreams when she realizes he's been hiding something from her--namely, horns and hooves. In the end, she goes back to Superman.
I purchased the page a decade ago, and its worth has probably tripled or more since then (a constant rule of mine when it comes to collecting: a collectible, even art, is only worth as much as one person is willing to pay for it).
Unquestionably, the current gem of my collection right now is a partial strip drawn by Joe Shuster, one of the creators of Superman along with Jerry Siegel, and probably inked or ghosted by Wayne Boring, one of the major Superman artists from the 1940s through the 1970s. I came to it by one of those happy coincidences. My best friend Craig had met Frank Giella, the son of D.C. artist Joe Giella, who worked for the Superman empire back in the 1940s and beyond, through eBay. We were invited out to his house in New York to compare art collections and perhaps trade some pieces.
Frank's collection is nothing short of magnificent, comprised of hundreds upon hundreds of art pages, specialty pieces, and ... well let's just say it's a comic lover's dream come true, and rightly belongs in a museum. But that's another discussion. After happily slogging through much of Frank's art, we came to a deal, and one of the pieces I acquired is the Shuster strip, which you can see here, at left. It features Lois in her typical reporter mode, hot after a story, and getting into trouble with some nasty thugs. Surely Superman came to her rescue a few strips later. Dated 1942, there's only one thing wrong with it: the strip is partial, perhaps one-third or more of it (the left side) ripped off and missing in action.
We asked Frank about this, and he told us that when his father acquired the strips at D.C., he had literally rescued them from the trash. Sadly, back then, with no regard for what the art might have been worth to history, the strips were simply torn in half and discarded so no one could steal or otherwise take advantage of the D.C. characters. In any case, this particular (half)-strip has a happy ending, at least, and is currently the pride of my apartment, waiting for a proper place on the wall (as soon as I can find the other half to blow up and frame it with!). Such are the joys of collecting comic art.
And speaking of Wayne Boring, besides Shuster, it would be hard to find a D.C. artist whose work is in greater demand than Boring's. I've been lucky enough to acquire some pencil sketches Boring did later in his career (he died in 1982) and a Superman daily strip from the early 1960s with Lois Lane looking very "Jackie Kennedy" (which I'll share with you soon). Boring was born in 1916, and studied art at the Chicago Art institute. He began working for National Periodical Publications (D.C.'s predecessor) in 1937, ghosting "Slam Bradley," "Spy," and "Dr.Occult." Once Superman hit it big in 1938, Boring worked in Shuster's studio, often ghosting art for Superman's creator (see strip, above). For the next 30 years Boring took over the Superman character, becoming one of the best (and best-known) graphic portrayers of the man of steel. When DC dismissed several of its "classic" artists in af effort to modernize in the late 1960s, Boring was let go. Boring ghosted backgrounds for Hal Foster's epic "Prince Valiant" Sunday comic from 1968 until 1972 and ghosted Sam Leff's "Davy Jones" (I have one of these strips, too) during the same period. After working at D.C. rival Marvel, briefly, he left the comics field. He was working as a bank security guard before he died in 1982. Boring's Superman remains one of the most enduring icons of the Golden and Silevr Ages of comics. He drew Lois Lane almost as often, and what you see here is a head sketch of Lois done on the back of one of his Superman daily strips (dated 5-4-1965).
A much more recent version of Lois comes from the animated series "Superman" (1996) which featured what is commonly referred to as the "Bruce Timm" style – after the artist who most influenced the way recent Superman/Batman universe characters have been drawn and animated – it offers a more traditional take on Superman, Lois Lane, et al., and in terms of style is almost a throwback to the 1940s cartoons of Max Fleischer. Very gothic and deco backgrounds are featured. A dark, somber mood prevails. The cel shown at right was on sale on the Internet for $900 in 2002. It is described as follows:
Excellent image of Superman and Lois from the episode titled "The Main Man, Part One." The untrimmed cel measures 9x10.5" and has been placed on a Matching Hand-Painted Production Background. The entire piece measures 10x14". The total image size of the characters 6x7".
What’s even more interesting is the following: a similar-style cel, one featuring Lois and Aquaman, was being offered for $350. The Aquaman cel is actually bigger than the Superman cel, and the portrait of Lois in the Aquaman cel is actually nicer than the other, featuring her from the front in an action pose. Still, for art collectors, Superman (and especially Superman and Lois) is the holy grail, which explains why any piece featuring him will automatically be more expensive than similar cels without him.
Watch this space for more Lois art to come.
Site Content © 2008 Michael Karol
All comic art reproduced on this site is copyrighted by DC Comics unless otherwise noted.
This site is not meant to infringe on any copyrights, but solely as a loving tribute to Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane.
