Previous Post Hi all. This is probably going to sound really random and really silly to some of you, but I have a crisis and I need some aid from some Superman experts. I'm writing a final paper for my Gender & Communication class on gender roles in superhero comics. It's pretty sweet so far and I've got alot of material.. but I'm working on a segment where I talk about the two leading ladies Mary Jane Watson and Lois Lane. I'm a huge Spider-Man fan and I basically know exactly what I'm going to say about Mary Jane. I really know nothing about recent Superman comics, however. My basic thesis of the paper is that there is a constant uphill battle by writers and artists to meaningfully write women into comics stories but they are usually overshadowed and/or marginalized by the male leads, etc etc. For Mary Jane I'm going to talk about how she's been fairly supportive of her husband throughout his career but that's been inconsistent.. I'll also mention that anytime she contributes to the income its a typically feminine job (modeling, soap opera acting, whathaveyou). AND ultimately I'm writing about how the magical marriage-undoing occuring in Spider-Man One More Day. My question to you guys is... can you think of any examples of Lois as a strong supporting character? Can you think of any recent (read- anytimein the past several decades) examples of Lois being unfairly portrayed and/or marginalized? Is she a strong character or not? PLEASE INCLUDE ISSUE NUMBERS so I can cite them. This is only a one-page segment so material doesn't have to be terribly comprehensive. Paper's due tomorrow at 11:30 am eastern standard time. Anything you can provide me with would be AWESOME. thanks

> Hi all. This is probably going to sound really random and really silly to some of you, but I have a crisis and I need some aid from some Superman experts.
>
> I'm writing a final paper for my Gender & Communication class on gender roles in superhero comics. It's pretty sweet so far and I've got alot of material.. but I'm working on a segment where I talk about the two leading ladies Mary Jane Watson and Lois Lane. I'm a huge Spider-Man fan and I basically know exactly what I'm going to say about Mary Jane. I really know nothing about recent Superman comics, however.
>
> My basic thesis of the paper is that there is a constant uphill battle by writers and artists to meaningfully write women into comics stories but they are usually overshadowed and/or marginalized by the male leads, etc etc. For Mary Jane I'm going to talk about how she's been fairly supportive of her husband throughout his career but that's been inconsistent.. I'll also mention that anytime she contributes to the income its a typically feminine job (modeling, soap opera acting, whathaveyou). AND ultimately I'm writing about how the magical marriage-undoing occuring in Spider-Man One More Day.
>
>
>
> My question to you guys is... can you think of any examples of Lois as a strong supporting character? Can you think of any recent (read- anytimein the past several decades) examples of Lois being unfairly portrayed and/or marginalized? Is she a strong character or not? PLEASE INCLUDE ISSUE NUMBERS so I can cite them. This is only a one-page segment so material doesn't have to be terribly comprehensive.
> Paper's due tomorrow at 11:30 am eastern standard time. Anything you can provide me with would be AWESOME. thanks

Sorry, don't have issue #s as I only read Trade Paper Backs but I can supply some info on Lois. First off, she is unsupportive which is primarily due to her selfish nature. I have read Spider-Man and in my opinion comparing Mary-Jane to Lois is like night and day. The two are not similiar at all. Lois is probably one of the biggest mistakes in the Superman mythos, a mistake so big it will probably never be corrected.

navin