All day this August I'll be spotlighting strange but ultimately endearing comic stories, one a day (basically, we're talking lots and lots of Silver Age comic books).
Today we look at 1963's Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane #38's "The Invisible Lois Lane."
In this story, Lois discovers Superman's secret identity, but things don't go the way she planned (through the helpful assistance of amnesiac).
The issue was drawn by Curt Swan and George Klein. I actually don't know who wrote it.
Ah, Lois, the perfect example of her typical "drink first, ask if it is toxic later" attitude.
During the rest of the story, Invisible Lois Lane examines various social and intellectual issues facing African-Americans in the early twentieth century.
Oh, all right, she tries to see if Clark Kent is Superman.
With this knowledge in hand, Lois does what anyone would do, she decides to screw with Superman's head.
What?!?! How can Lois cut Clark's hair? And where's Clark's costume?
We soon learn...
I love the idea of Superman entrusting just some amnesiac with his secret. I also love the confidence that Superman has that he can cure his amnesia. And then when he actually DOES do it, he clearly was just winging it. "Well, I'll be damned, flipping a dude upside down a lot DOES cure amnesia. I'll have to remember that in the future."
It would have been even better if it went down like "Thanks for helping me out, Ron, but really, I have no idea how to cure your amnesia. I just told you that to get you to help me. And while yes, you now know my secret identity, don't forget that I have super-hearing. If I ever hear you talk about me, I WILL kill you. Thanks again for helping me out!"
It is also great how after spinning the guy upside down a couple of times cures his amnesia, Superman helpfully drops some "knowledge" on us about how amensia victims don't remember anything that happened to them during their amnesia. Don't doubt the science!! Superman comics would never lie to us!
If you have suggestions for a future comic book story that you'd like to see featured here, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com!