Superman's sidekick Lois Lane is set to star in her very own story: a young adult novel in which a high school version of the ace reporter begins a new life in Metropolis.
By the young adult novelist Gwenda Bond, Fallout will be published next May, and will see "army brat" Lois taking on a group of teenagers who are bullying another girl at her new school. "They're messing with her mind, somehow, via the high-tech immersive videogame they all play," runs the description from publisher Switch Press. "Not cool. Armed with her wit and her new snazzy job as a reporter, Lois has her sights set on solving this mystery. But sometimes it's all a bit much. Thank goodness for her maybe-more-than-a friend, a guy she knows only by his screenname, SmallvilleGuy … "
Bond said it had been an "incredible honour" to put Lane – who first appeared 76 years ago in the first Superman comic – "front and centre in the starring role".
"Lois is an icon, of course, a superhero without any superpowers … except her unmatched bravery and smarts," said Bond. "Not to mention her sense of humour and her commitment to truth and justice. She's also one of my all-time favourite characters – which is why I jumped at the chance to write a novel featuring a teen Lois, moving to Metropolis and becoming a reporter for the first time."
The news was broken by the website DC Women Kicking Ass, which said that "Lois Lane has a fervent fan following among females due to her appearances in Smallville as well as film and comics". The star reporter previously headlined her own comic series, Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane, between 1958 and 1974.
The launch comes amid discussion about the portrayal and treatment of women in the comics world, and follows the release last year of The She-Hulk Diaries, a novel pitched as "the hysterical and brutally honest account of one year in the life of Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk as she tries to get her act together", and Rogue Touch, in which the X-Men character "must decide if she'll unleash her devastating powers once more, which she swore never to do, in order to save the only man alive who seems truly to understand and accept her".
"It'll be interesting to see how much of the book's heroics are left to Lois's 'maybe-more-than-friend' and how many are performed by the girl reporter herself, but regardless, Fallout's publication is exciting news for anyone who thinks Superman's main squeeze has gotten a short shrift in the comics and movies," said pop culture website The Mary Sue of the news.
