Identity is an important thing. It defines who people are. It gives them a sense of self. In comic books, especially those about superheroes, this is doubly important. Superheroes usually have two identities. One is their superhero identity, the other is their secret identity. Superman is Clark Kent and Spider-Man is Peter Parker for example. A common theme for teenage superheroes is to change their superhero identity after they have gone through an adventure or a set of events that have matured them. In the comic book series Kitty Pryde and Wolverine, Kitty Pryde goes through a rite of passage adventure and changes her identity in the fifth issue.
Kitty Pryde, at the time of publication, is the youngest member of the X-Men. She is a teenager in a group of adults. She is often seen as the sidekick of Wolverine. Before this series, the bulk of her appearances were in the Uncanny X-Men comic book series. Kitty had been code-named Sprite (an identity given to her by Professor X, the leader of the X-Men) and briefly called herself Ariel. Kitty Pryde’s power is considered a defensive ability. She has the ability to become intangible and can pass through walls like a ghost. She can also extend this effect to others by touch. In the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine series, Kitty embarks on a dangerous adventure that will cause her to mature.
During the events of the series, Kitty follows her father to Japan, because he is in deep with some Japanese mobsters. She uses her powers to stow upon an airplane and soon finds herself alone and in a foreign country. She is soon captured by an old enemy of Wolverine’s named Ogun. Ogun brainwashes Kitty and mystically downloads his skills and personality upon her. Wolverine finds out that Kitty went to Japan and goes after her. He encounters Kitty, who then defeats him in combat and gravely injures him. His healing powers save him from dying, but he is rescued by an associate of his, Yukio, who also manages to capture Kitty. Wolverine and Yukio help Kitty back to herself. After this, she is afraid of Ogun. Up until this adventure, Kitty’s powers had allowed her to go through the X-Men’s adventures relatively unscathed. She had seen being a superhero as fun and now it was deadly serious. She decides that she must confront Ogun. In the fifth issue, Kitty engages Ogun even though she is sure she will die. “I wish I could see the Prof and the other X-Men, too. Especially Ororo. And Mom...and my Dad.. too. I miss them so. There’s so much to say. But I can’t…and probably never will…” (Claremont, 3). Kitty knows all that she has to lose, but feels that she must face Ogun, or she will never reclaim herself. This was her trial by fire or her rite of passage.
This adventure profoundly changed Kitty. She not only looked different. She was a more dangerous character. She became darker. The X-Men stopped treating her like a child after the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine series. “I don’t even recognize myself. The person reflected in the train window is a stranger—inside and out” (Claremont, 6). Kitty adopts a new identity during this series. Teenage superheroes often change identities as they mature. Probably the most famous example of this is Batman’s protégé, Robin, growing up to become Nightwing. This identity change most often happens with characters that are considered sidekicks. Kitty is changed by this adventure and changes her costume and code-name to reflect that. “I’m not a Kitty anymore…much as I wish differently…I’ve grown up. I’m a cat. And I like the shadows a whole lot more than the daylight. Shadowcat. I like it. Suits me a better than Ariel or Sprite, That’s for sure” (Claremont, 6). Kitty wore bright colors before, and now wears a dark blue costume. The Shadowcat code-name and costume appeal to her and Kitty feels that they match who she has become.
Rites of passage are common themes for younger characters. These younger characters often have to prove themselves and are tested to great lengths. These events usually greatly affect the character and they are different after. Rites of passage and identity are entwined in comic book culture. A sidekick often assumes a new identity after that trial of fire. In Kitty Pryde and Wolverine, Shadowcat survives her rite of passage and becomes who she was meant to be.
Works Cited
Claremont, Chris (w), and Milgrom, Allen (p). “Courage”. Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #5.
Lois Lane: A Depiction of the Cultural Evolution of Women
2013 was the 75th anniversary of Superman. That means it was also the 75th anniversary of Lois Lane. Now going for seventy-seven years, Lane has changed many times over the course of her long publication history. Lois Lane is not a superhero. She is a reporter and usually presented as the love interest of Clark Kent/Superman. But is that all that defines Lane? Is she just a damsel in distress? Is she just Superman’s girlfriend? Or is she a prize-winning reporter and an independent woman? Lane has been all of these things over the years. As time and the roles of women in real life evolved, so did she. Lois Lane, as shown in her appearances in comics, cartoons, television, and film can be seen as a depiction of the ever-changing gender roles of women.
Lois Lane and Superman both first appeared in Action Comics #1. Lois starts off strong. According to Maya, K, blogger“Lois is left to her own devices in a pre-liberated society. This was a time men were expected to give up their seats and open doors for women while women were taught to defer to men. Lois Lane didn’t follow these conventions. She walked the proverbial walk of a tough career woman” (K, par. 4). Lois often put herself in dangerous situations that required a rescue by Superman. Lois was at times a damsel in distress. However, Lois was a character who was not going to be controlled by the men in her life Tim Hanley and Lori Wozney state in their article “Lois Lane’s Cry For Help” that:
Back then she was a spunky reporter who climbed her way up from the lovelorn column to the front page. During Lois’ first encounter with Superman, the Man of Steel cautions her ‘I’d advise you not to print this little episode’, but the very next morning she was at her editor’s desk trying to get the story published. While her progress may have been slow, Lois fought tooth and nail against anyone who tried to keep her down (Hanley and Wozney, par. 2).
The fact that Lois Lane was a reporter on dangerous assignments was a big step for women in the late thirties and forties. This was also during the World War II era, where women were stepping out of their gender roles by working outside of the home and helping the war effort. The character of Lois Lane appeared in the Max Fleischer cartoon serials of the time. She was voiced by Joan Alexander. Her depiction here was much like the comics of the time. She would go after a scoop and then be rescued by Superman.
Things changed in the Silver Age of comics. Lane had a serious downgrade from her previous self. She was no longer the woman she had been. Women of the time were also changed. Post World War II, women were expected to go back to their roles as wives and mothers, instead of productive members of the work force. Lois Lane would become something very different from her strong willed incarnation. Hanley and Wozney discuss Lois’ change during the 1950’s:
At first glance, The Silver Age Lois Lane had a lot going for her. She was an ace reporter for the Daily Planet, appeared regularly in various Super-books, and in 1958 she launched her very own series. Unfortunately that series was called Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane. She didn’t even get top billing on her own books, and the stories consisted of Superman regularly setting up elaborate ruses to teach the impetuous and reckless Lois the error of her ways. Superman’s chastisement often reduced Lois to tears, and she spent most of the silver age sobbing. (Hanley and Wozney, par. 1)
Lois Lane went from being an independent woman to caring about only what Superman thought. “She was turned to a caricature of herself” (K, par. 14). Lane’s sole goal in the fifties was marriage. The tough as nails reporter was now pining away after Superman. She spent much of this era scheming ways to get the Man of Steel into wedlock. She would often try to deduce his secret identity as a means of blackmail. She was completely infatuated with Superman, but ignored Clark Kent. It can be said that Lois Lane was a product of the decade.
In the fifties it was very much a man’s world. Hanley and Wozney state that:
It’s clear that Lois’ frustration and despondency showcased a systemic problem. The series served as a mirror that distilled and reflected back a hyper-reality to the reader that exposed the cruelty and aggravations of the patriarchal, limiting world of the 1950’s. Lois was trapped in a small box, expected to be a demure, complacent woman and be happy in this narrow role, but she wasn’t.
Any time she tried to take initiative and go after her ‘dream’ life, patriarchy in blue tights showed up to tell her she was stupid , or even worse, disobedient. Lois cried because it was all she could do to show that she was struck in an oppressive system that she clearly hated. Tears were the only weapons Lois had (Hanley and Wozney, par. 11).
Lois Lane was trapped in a system created by not only society at the time, but the Comics Code Authority. This was created due to Senate hearings on comic books. A man named Frederic Wertham wrote a book called The Seduction of the Innocent. He found all sorts of thing wrong with comics. Comics were too sexual. Comics were too violent. Batman and Robin appeared to be homosexual. He made the people of the time so worked up that the subject of comic books went to the senate. The Comics Code Authority was then created. One of the codes was :“The treatment of love-romance stories shall emphasize the value of the home and the sanctity of marriage.” (Hanley and Wozney, par. 12). This is from where Lane’s fascination with marriage is derived. During this era, the character appeared in The Adventures of Superman, a television series. She was portrayed by Phyllis Coates in the first season. Starting with the second season, Lane was portrayed by Noel Neill. Lois was often depicted as a damsel in this series. Lois Lane gets some relief in the 1970’s.
Lois Lane finally gets a chance to be herself again. Hanley and Wozney go on to discuss Lois in the seventies. “In 1972, Dorothy Woolfolk took over the editorial duties for Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane, along with new writer Cary Bates. In their first issue, SGFLL #121, Lois quit her job at the Daily Planet to become a freelance journalist and write the social justice stories she cared about and broke up with Superman”(Hanley and Wozney, par. 15). It is important to notice that it took a female editor to take over the comic to make the changes that were needed. This was also the women’s liberation era. Again, Lois Lane is a bi-product of the times. Lane could go on her own adventures and solve her own problems. This was a large evolution for the character. The focus of Lois Lane’s own comic book was finally on her. During this era, she was portrayed in the Superman series of films by Margo Kidder. She was portrayed as strong woman, but still very infatuated by the Man of Steel.
Dan Jurgens, a writer of the Superman comics during the nineties, is interviewed for Lane’s big anniversary. Jurgens says that
I think it is fair to say that we were moving with the times a bit, maybe without even being terribly conscious of it. But I think we tried to portray a Lois who cared about people and their plight, who was committed to her job, and loved it and saw it as a way to give something to the world. That became a shared bond between her and Superman. For example, we all sort of felt that if she was a highly accomplished writer and Pulitzer winner, that she could have made a lot of money doing something else. But she came up from a family committed to service (her father), became that herself and responded to that in Superman. (Qtd. in A, par. 5).
Lois Lane’s father was a military general. He instilled in her the idea of service. Lane found her work as a reporter to be serving the public good. The Lois Lane of the nineties was independent, smart, resourceful, and could take care of herself. Lane didn’t need Superman to rescue her. She could save herself. Lois Lane could trounce a villain by herself. No longer was she striking an attacker with a purse, she was hitting them with her fists. Women in the nineties continued to grow in the work force and even in the political arena. Lois Lane did not have her own series during the nineties, but did appear in a few one-shot comics, and often in the Superman comics.The character also headlined in the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. In this series she was portrayed by Teri Hatcher. This television series portrayed her as a tough reporter who had a strong attraction for Superman. The twist of the show was that she ended up falling for Clark Kent instead. She eventually did figure out his secret identity. The show was more about the relationship between the two title characters and had less time for Superman’s heroics. Lois and Clark married during the course of the show. It is interesting to note that Lois kept her maiden name instead of becoming Lois Kent, because she felt her professional name that she had built for herself was important to her career.
As the gender roles of women have changed, Lois Lane has continued to evolve over the years. Today, she is still an intrepid reporter. In the comics, Lane did end up marrying Superman. They were married for several years until DC Comics decided to reboot their continuity and start at the beginning again. The idea was to make it more accessible for new readers. Lois Lane is again a single lady who is extremely independent of Superman.They are not even dating in the new storyline. In a recent story arc, Lane figured out Superman’s identity and revealed it the world. This is a far cry from the Lois Lane of the past who was so in love with Superman that she let it get in the way of reporting. She has had several more depictions of film and screen. She was played in Smallville by Erica Durance. This was portrayal of Lois Lane as a teenager until she started working at the Daily Planet as an adult. She is smart, tough, and independent. She forms a relationship with Clark Kent, but it does not control her life. Kate Bosworth plays the character in the film Superman Returns. Lane is depicted as single mother in this movie. The child, of course, turns out to be Superman’s. The most recent screen portrayal of Lois Lane is by Amy Adams in Man of Steel. Lois Lane is an intelligent reporter who picks up Superman’s trail and discovers his identity early on in this version of the tale. This is a very different portrayal than the Lane of old who was fooled by a pair of glasses.
Lois has gone through multiple incarnations over the years. In the forties, she was a feisty reporter while women in the real world were helping with the war. During the fifties, she became more subdued as women were pushed back into old roles. During the seventies, she became liberated as other women did. In the nineties, Lois and other women pushed forward. The Lois of today is her own woman and very successful in her field, and America is getting ever closer to having the country’s first female president. As real life women evolve, so does Lois.
Works Consulted
A, Mary. “Interview With Dan Jurgens”. Women Write About Comics. 27 May 2013. womenwriteaboutcomics.com. 13 Nov. 2013.
Devine, Deborah Joy, prod. Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. ABC. 1993. Television.
Ellsworth, Whitney, prod. The Adventures of Superman. 1952. Television.
Gough, Alfred, and Miles Millar, prods. Smallville. CW. 2001. Television.
Hanley, Tim and Wozney, Lori. “Lois Lane’s Cry For Help”. Women Write About Comics.
30 May 2013.womenwriteaboutcomics.com. 13 Nov. 2013.
Jehanezeb. “The Objectification of Women in Comics.” Fantasy Magazine. Aug. 2008
fantasymagazine.com. 6 Nov. 2013.
K, Maya. “Reflections on Golden & Silver Age Lois Lane”. Women Write About Comics.
28 May 2013. womenwriteaboutcomics.com. 13 Nov. 2013.
Knight, Gladys L. Female Action Heroes:A Guide to Women in Comics, Video Games, Film,
And Television. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood, 2010. Internet resource.
Man of Steel. Perf. Henry Cavill and Amy Adams. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2013. Film.
Mcmillan, Graeme. “Marvel Boss: We’re Not Sexist, Just Loud”. io9. 5 May 2009. io9.com.
13 Nov. 2013.
Rogers, Vaneta. “Are American Comics Sexist?” Newsarama. 28 Sept. 2011.
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Superman. Prod. Max Fleischer. Fleischer Studios, 1941.
Superman, the Movie. Perf. Christopher Reeve and Gene Hackman. Released by Warner Bros., 1978. DVD.
Superman Returns. Dir. Bryan Singer. Perf. Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth. 2006. DVD.
Thompson, Kelly. “She Has No Head!- No, It’s Not Equal”. Comic Book Resources. 21 Feb.
2012. comicbookresources.com. 13 Nov. 2013.
Whitwood, Jennie. “The Changing Role of Women in Comic Books”. Den of Geek. 10 Nov.
Years of Future Past starts out great. It has a nice twist in that the main character is not Kitty Pryde, but Kitty's daughter Christina. She looks very similar to a young Kitty. The book definitely has the feel of The original story and is looking to broaden that world for new readers. I thought the characters were pretty spot on. It was interesting to see Christina and Wolverine have a close relationship that echoes the one he had with her mother. Christina is the youngest mutant alive along with Wolverine's son, Cameron. (I have my suspicions about who the mother is).
This book has that quality that all good X-books have. The X-men are fighting for the survival of the mutant race. Deep at its roots, the X-Men are fighting hate and prejudice. The writing was well done and the art was good as well. This book's first issue was very well done.
One thing I found interesting is that Rachel was displaying Phoenix abilities and was wearing a hound outfit. I hope they delve further into her story as I suspect it is different than the way it was originally presented.
I am very much looking forward to the rest of the series. So far I would say this is my favorite X-book to come out of Secret Wars. I am sure this will only be for the duration of Secret Wars. But it looks to be a fun ride.
I am so annoyed with a friend of mine right now. I was talking about Christmas stuff on my FB and she just felt the need to attack the holiday. I am fine with people having their own opinions, but she is negative about everything. She uses everything and anything as an excuse to complain about how bad her life is. She asks for advice and then doesn't listen and tells you your advice is stupid or just won't work for her. She says she wants change and then does absolutely nothing to change it. I mean my post had nothing to do with her and she felt the need to derail it with her negativity. I don't want to hurt her feelings but it seems like if she can't be happy then nobody should be.
kinda upset they brought kitty back and just pushed her to the background. and they have already done the kitty can't turn solid story twenty years ago. i mean i have to read x-men forever for my kitty fix. which is not a problem claremont always wrote her the best anyway.
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