This is Wedding Bells Are Ringin', a month-long examination of notable comic book weddings, since this is June, after all, and that's a time for weddings. I let you all vote and you voted for this feature to spotlight real AND fake weddings. I've decided, then, to only go with weddings that actually ended with marriages, whether dreams or not (in other words, everything but called off weddings).

Today, we look at the marriage of Lex Luthor and Lois Lane, which drove Superman to marry Lana Lang on the rebound.

The story in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #34, by Jerry Siegel and Kurt Schaffenberger, was an extremely Siegel-esque story. When Siegel did an imaginary story, he tended to pull out ALL of the stops. He would wring whatever emotion he could possibly wring out of the story and that was definitely the case here.

The story opens with Lois being kidnapped by Luthor and taken to another planet...

However, Luthor is, in effect, brainwashed to become a good guy. He volunteers to return to Earth to accept his punishment for his crimes...

After saving the governor, though, he is pardoned. He pitches Lois on a romance, but she's too caught up on Superman still.

Then, Lois is almost killed while Superman is away from Earth. Instead, it is Luthor who saves her with an amazing new invention. Lois realizes that she loves Luthor and accepts his marriage proposal...

They set up the wedding while Superman is in space, which is such a dick move, right? He arrives right as they get married. Schaffenberger's "surprise" faces are some of the best in comic book history and I love Superman's expression. Jimmy Olsen is also a bit of a dick to rub it in on ol' Supes...

Luthor soon becomes world-famous for all of his beneficial inventions and Superman decides to marry Lana Lang on the rebound. Lana doesn't care (bizarrely, Superman breaks out a super power potion that you'd think he would have used before now if he had access to it)...

Luthor and Lois have a very happy marriage, with Lex making Lois immortal through his technology. However, their son, Larry, discovers his father's evil past and decides to emulate his dad. Lex tries to stop him and gets killed by his own son. Superman has to bring down a NEW Luthor and Lois is distraught and Siegel even acknowledges just how dark this story is...

There was a sequel a couple of years later.

If any one has suggestions for a future wedding spotlight, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com