Thursday, February 20, 2014

Signing Off on a Very Self-Centered, Twisted Girl

It wasn't until I decided to take us through this issue of Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane -- issue #59 -- that I realized that she is consistently depicted as a delusional, manipulative bitch.

But is she really wacko?  ... The site Diffen.com explains the difference between sociopath and psychopath:


"Psychopathy and sociopathy are both anti-social personality disorders. While both these disorders are the result of an interaction between genetic predispositions and environmental factors, psychopathy leans towards the hereditary whereas sociopathy tends towards the environmental.

Psychopaths are born with temperamental differences such as impulsivity, cortical underarousal, and fearlessness that lead them to risk-seeking behavior and an inability to internalize social norms. On the other hand, sociopaths have relatively normal temperaments; their personality disorder being more an effect of negative sociological factors like parental neglect, delinquent peers, poverty, and extremely low or extremely high intelligence."
Wow ... the description of psychopathic behavior sure nails our girl:
  • impulsive behavior
  • risk-seeking behavior
  • inability to internalize "normal: behavior
"On the nosie!" as somebody said in a Monty Python skis (I think).

The top of the last page of the comic is an ad for Cocoa Puffs.  Say, does "Gramps" still appear in Cocoa Puffs commercials on TV or in print?  I don't remember seeing him lately.

To my mind, the ad for the Lois Lane subscription seems targeted more towards the girls in the audience, as if to try and draw in more girl readers.  Make sense to me, in that there would be a natural cross-connection from boys reading other Superman titles towards reading this one.  But girls might be less likely to go for the title, unless the ads played up the heartbreak side of the stories?  After all, in the fine Schaffenberger panel seen in the illo, Lois appears like any wronged woman whose story might be featured in a tearjerker mag.  No Superman in sight here!

 Junior Sales Club of America wants you for a sucker in their pyramid scheme.
When I read these ads trying to get kids to try and sell greeting cards, I always counted the people at the top.  "Just 10 people ..."  Actually, the baby makes eleven ... but it probably has little disposable income.

Me, I was always too shy to think I would succeed at any of these schemes.

*                             *                          *                       *                          *                         *

Well, Folks, this has been a tour through issue #59 of Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane, from 1965.

As Heckle and Jeckle used to say, "See ya next week with a brand NEW show!"

 

Monday, February 17, 2014

The End of a Twisted Tale of Deceit

OK ... Lois Lane, who wants to get Superman to marry her, has witnessed Superman changing into Bruce Wayne after rescuing her.  But she doesn't know that Wayne is subbing for Superman while the real Supes is away somewhere.

So Lois throws herself at Bruce, hoping to snag him (and thus Superman).


Wearing a Superman mask, Superman outfit, and a flying belt ( the latter an accoutrement of the Legion of Super-Heroes), all Bruce has to do is fly into the warehouse to make the fur thieves surrender.  Lois hears about it, and tells her entire snag-a-Superman plot to sister Lucy.

Now, why do you suppose Lucy is shown only in profile, even though she's the closest thing to the reader in the panel layout?  I suggest that it's because Lucy Lane is ashamed of her sister's twisted scheme, and is metaphorically hiding her face in disgust.

Little does Lois know that the real Supes had alighted atop her apartment building moments earlier.  We "see" him looking in on Lois with Super-Vision ... but don't forget about those Super-Ears of his!  What do you think may happen when he finds out there's ANOTHER patented Lois-Lane-Superman-stalking scheme going on?

What's this?  Next day, Bruce Wayne proposes to Lois Lane!  And check out the last panels on the page as Lois gloats to herself that she is entering into this marriage through a trick ... and then Superman flies in to be Best Man!
 

In the first panel of this page, Lois looks genuinely emotionally conflicted.  Once again, high marks to penciler Curt Swan and inker George Klein.

Along about here, the reader realizes that Superman DID hear Lois brag to her sister about her plans, and that this rush wedding must have been planned by Superman and Bruce Wayne to force Lois's hand.  But then Lois rallies to scold Bruce on the deception, and gives up, apologizing.  What a psycho nut job!

Lois certainly deserves to be laughed at, for this sordid tale of machination and emotional hostage-taking.  The last panel is a gem of comic book art.

Even though it seems mean of our two heroes to laugh at Lois, admit it -- she deserved to be "taught a lesson."  Although I think the whole church wedding routine was over the top, this was only a comic-book story (they tell me).

The bottom half of the last page of the story is a dialectic on the homiletics of nomenclature.  You see, the caption in this advertisement calls the item in question a "a tootsie pop."  But, according to its denotation on the wrapper, it's a "Tootsie Roll Pop."

It's ads like this that sparked many a playground debate.  Which is it, "Tootsie Pop," a term also heard in advertisements on television; or the more loquacious "Tootsie Roll Pop," which is accurate to the labelling?

It's Tootsie Roll Pop, buddy!  A Tootsie Pop sounds like you stuck somebody's dirty ol' big TOE in your mouth!

We'll wrap this issue up soon.
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© by Mark Alfred