Martha Washington, Jackie Kennedy and Lana Lang. What do all three of those ladies have in widespread? Imagine it or not, they have been all First Women of the USA.
That’s proper, Lana Lang was as soon as a First Woman. She has additionally been a Legionnaire, a Manhunter sleeper agent, a countess and an award-winning information anchor. In case you’ve been watching Superman & Lois, then you realize that Lana additionally simply bought elected as the brand new mayor of Smallville. That’s fairly a resume for one particular person, however Superman’s past love has all the time been one in every of a sort.
The Different Girl in Superman’s Life
Readers first met Lana Lang in 1950’s Superboy #10. The story was penciled by John Sikela and written by Invoice Finger. Sure, THAT Invoice Finger. The title web page introduces the readers to Lana by evaluating her to Lois: “As fairly as Lois Lane. As inquisitive as Lois Lane. As harassing as Lois Lane.” (Yeah, we’re simply going to chalk that final one as much as it being a unique, much less tolerant time.)
Her first look arrange her establishment for many of her Superboy appearances. She lived subsequent door to the Kents, she had a crush on Superboy and labored tirelessly to show that he was secretly Clark Kent. On a couple of events, Lana would develop momentary superpowers, generally with loopy B-movie outcomes. In Superboy #124, Lana discovers a visiting alien trapped below a tree and when she frees him, he provides her a particular ring that has the ability to rework her into varied bugs, thus making her…THE INSECT QUEEN. It nearly feels like Hal Jordan’s origin, besides with extra bugs.
What’s nice is that this wasn’t a one-off. Lana would proceed to make use of the ring on and off all through the Silver Age. The truth is, her skills proved so helpful that in Journey Comics #355 she was accepted into the Legion of Tremendous-Heroes as a reserve member.
In 1952’s Superman #78, Lana seems as an grownup for the primary time. Within the story, she heads to Metropolis, turns into a reporter, rooms with Lois Lane, and begins to compete with Lois over Superman’s coronary heart. (Look, we mentioned she appeared as an grownup, not that she acted like one.) This story was adopted by one other look in Showcase #9 the place Lana journeys to Metropolis, turns into a reporter, strikes in with Lois, and competes along with her for Superman’s coronary heart. Then in Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #7, Lana involves Metropolis, turns into a reporter, begins rooming with Lois, and competes along with her for Superman’s coronary heart.
Look, we’re not right here to inform these hard-working Silver Age writers the right way to do their job, but when a narrative doesn’t work the primary time, or the second, then maaaaybe you would possibly wish to assume twice earlier than going for the trifecta. In any case, after her look in Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #7, the grownup model of Lana remained in Metropolis and have become a daily supporting character within the varied Superman titles. That implies that on the time, readers might choose up Lana’s teenage adventures in Superboy and Journey Comics, whereas additionally studying about her grownup exploits in titles like Superman, Motion Comics and Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane.
Many of those tales targeted on Lois and Lana’s rivalry of their quest to marry Superman. However whereas their competitors bought fierce on many events, the 2 ladies got here to genuinely respect each other and have been in a position to separate their rivalry from their friendship. Then in 1971’s Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #109, Lana determined to start out a brand new life in Europe after realizing that Superman solely had eyes for Lois. Other than a quick go to in Superman #284, Lana was absent for six years earlier than returning in 1978’s Superman #317. Nonetheless, it might be even longer earlier than the stunning reality about her time in Europe was revealed.
In 1986’s Lois Lane #2, Lana had an emotional breakdown throughout a press convention about lacking youngsters. This precipitated her to speak in confidence to Lois that in Lana’s time in Europe, she had married an Italian noble and had a toddler. Horrifying, a gaggle of terrorists kidnapped and murdered Lana’s little one, sending her the newborn’s severed ear. Lois was shocked to be taught that her pricey pal Lana had been silently carrying this emotional burden for years.
A Publish-Disaster Presidency
After the truth altering occasions of Disaster on Infinite Earths, Lana was revamped together with a lot of Superman’s supporting forged in 1986’s The Man of Metal restricted collection. Lana was established as Clark’s childhood pal, but it surely was all the time clear that he might by no means return the emotions she had for him. After studying of his skills, Lana was the primary particular person Clark confided in earlier than he left Smallville to wander the world. Lana by no means bought over her emotions for Clark, however made peace with the truth that they’d by no means be a pair.
This revamp modified the character of Lana in a couple of methods. Now she was in on Superman’s secret, one thing her pre-Disaster counterpart by no means had the privilege of understanding. This dynamic gave a brand new degree of intimacy to her friendship with Clark. The Man of Metal additionally tied Lana extra carefully with Smallville, making her the smalltown farmgirl to distinction with the extra worldly Lois Lane. This was a far cry from the Lana we’d gotten to know beforehand, who left Smallville behind to develop into an award-winning broadcast journalist. But, to today, the smalltown farmgirl incarnation of Lana is the one which we most frequently see, together with in Emmanuelle Chriqui’s portrayal on Superman & Lois.
That’s to not say that Lana’s post-Disaster story was uninteresting. Removed from it. Through the “Millennium” crossover occasion, it was revealed that Lana had been kidnapped as a child and brainwashed by Manhunters to develop into a sleeper agent. As detailed in The World of Smallville #3, Lana had been tasked with conserving tabs on Superman. Finally, she was purged of the Manhunter’s programming and was in a position to start her life anew.
After placing her emotions for Clark behind her, Lana bought along with Pete Ross, one other childhood pal from Smallville. The 2 bought married in Motion Comics #700 and gave start to a child boy in Superman: The Doomsday Wars. Lana named the kid Clark Pete Ross, and though she insisted it was a tribute to Martha Kent (whose maiden title was Clark), Pete and Lois had their suspicions.
When Lex Luthor determined to run for President, he chosen Pete Ross as his operating mate. Pete was unaware of Lex’s duplicitous nature, however Lana was. In Superman: Lex 2000 #1, Clark confronted Lana, perplexed at why she would go together with this. Lana advised Superman that she hoped Pete’s presence might make Luthor a greater man and assist the nation, however after the Man of Metal flew off, she privately admitted that she hoped the Vice Presidency might save their struggling marriage.
After the Luthor/Ross ticket received the election, Lana turned a really concerned Second Woman. She personally learn each single letter she acquired and tried to assist those that sought her help. As detailed in Motion Comics #798, she used her workplace to champion a number of initiatives together with charity and schooling reform. After Luthor was faraway from workplace in “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies,” Pete was sworn in as President, making Lana the First Woman. Sadly, the Ross marriage was all however over by then. Lana had secretly gotten her personal house and the couple have been already going by means of divorce proceedings by the point Ross stepped down from the Presidency in Superman Secret Recordsdata and Origins 2004.
Superwoman…and a Tremendous Star
After the occasions of Flashpoint shifted the timeline, Lana was reimagined as {an electrical} engineer who would use her experience to assist Superman out every now and then. At a time when it appeared Superman was dying, a burst of power got here from his physique and hit Lana. She quickly found that she had a few of Superman’s powers, together with new skills like electrical manipulation. Lana fought crime as Superwoman and briefly starred in her personal ongoing collection. Sadly, she finally misplaced her powers and left the superhero life, at present serving because the science correspondent for the Each day Star newspaper.
For many years, Lana has been an necessary supporting character in Superman reside motion media. Diane Sherry portrayed a teenage Lana Lang throughout the Smallville sequence in Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman film. Lana later returned in Superman III as an grownup, this time performed by Annette O’Toole, who would later go on to painting Martha Kent in Smallville. O’Toole’s chemistry with co-star Christopher Reeve is taken into account the most effective components of the movie, along with her Lana being fondly remembered by followers.
Stacy Haiduk performed Lana Lang within the 1988 Superboy tv collection. Her model of Lana was extra proactive than many superhero love pursuits on tv, as she labored on the Bureau for Further-Regular Issues the place she investigated supernatural and alien encounters. Maybe probably the most memorable Lana was Kristen Kreuk, who portrayed the character for seven seasons on Smallville, earlier than briefly returning for a farewell arc in season eight. Chronicling the adventures of Kreuk’s model of Lana would take a novel, but it surely’s necessary to notice that she was an enormous a part of the collection, and Smallville’s success laid the muse for the trendy DCTV period.
This brings us to Chriqui and Superman & Lois. Our present small display screen Lana is an amalgamation of the numerous variations who preceded her—but may be very a lot her personal girl. She’s a loving mom, a supportive spouse, a terrific pal and somebody who actually cares about her neighborhood. And now she’s Smallville’s mayor.
Contemplating Lana’s colourful comedian e-book previous, it’s laborious to know the place to rank getting elected mayor on her record of accomplishments, but it surely’s equally laborious to think about a task during which she might have higher affect. Or a task during which she feels higher suited, for that matter. In different phrases, it’s been a protracted journey, however we predict Lana Lane is exactly the place she must be. However don’t anticipate her to remain within the function ceaselessly. One thing tells us Lana’s story is simply starting.
Superman & Lois returns tonight at 8 p.m. (7 p.m. CST) on The CW. Searching for extra information on Smallville’s new mayor and her greatest pal Superman? Take a look at our official Superman & Lois collection web page!
Joshua Lapin-Bertone writes about TV, motion pictures and comics for DCComics.com and writes our month-to-month Batman column, “Gotham Gazette.” Comply with him on Twitter at @TBUJosh.
