Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #3 is an issue of the series Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane (Volume 1) with a cover date of August, 1958.
Synopsis for "The Rainbow Superman"
Lois Lane discovers that whenever she opens her locket, energy from within causes Superman to glow in the varying colors of the rainbow. The locket contains a small fragment of a meteor that Superman recently destroyed on one of his adventures. Once Lois closes the locket however, Superman returns to normal.
That evening, Clark Kent and Lois have dinner together. Clark grows nervous as Lois begins fondling her locket. He knows that if she were to open it, the meteor energy would cause him to glow like a rainbow again, thus exposing his secret identity.
To further protect his secret identity, Superman secretly sprays the Daily Planet office with a special chemical, which causes everything to glow like a rainbow whenever Lois opens her locket. Since everyone is experiencing this bizarre manifestation, Clark's secret identity is secure. As the sun goes down, the effects of the meteor rock wear off and Lois' locket (as well as Superman) returns to normal.
Appearing in "The Rainbow Superman"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Jewel Thief (Unnamed) (Cameo) (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Metropolis Police Department
- Citizens of Metropolis (Unnamed) (Cameo)
- Professor Jason (Cameo) (Final appearance)
- Superman Supper Club (Unnamed) (Single appearance)
Locations:
- Space (Flashback only)
- Metropolis
- Metropolis Police Department
- Professor Jason's Laboratory
- Daily Planet
- 344 Clinton Street
- Clark Kent's Apartment
- Restaurant (Unnamed)
Items:
- Crystalline Meteor (Flashback only) (Destroyed)
- Lois Lane's Locket
- Superman (Statue only)
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "The Man Who Was Clark Kent's Double"
The small town of Hadley boasts their very own adventurer, the noble hero known as Robin Hood – a mysterious man who robs from the rich and gives to the poor. Lois Lane investigates the rumors of this Robin Hood character and travels to the town of Hadley.
While working on the story, Lois meets a man named Mark Benton. Mark Benton bears a strong resemblance to Clark Kent, and Lois finds herself suddenly attracted to him. Like Clark, Mark maintains a duel identity. Lois discovers a domino mask in Mark's pocket and realizes that he is the one perpetuating the Robin Hood rumors. Mark opens up to Lois and reveals that his real name is Ronald Van Horton. As a soft-hearted millionaire, Ronald uses his vast wealth to finance his Robin Hood crusade. Realizing that he has betrayed Lois' trust in him, he breaks up with her.
Appearing in "The Man Who Was Clark Kent's Double"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Ronald Van Horton (Single appearance)
- (disguised as Mark Benton)
- (disguised as Robin Hood) (Behind the scenes)
- Robin Hood (Mentioned only)
- Maid Marion (Mentioned only)
- Costume Party Guests (Unnamed) (Single appearance)
- William Tell (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Hadley (Unnamed) (the town was never named; the name came from the local newspaper)
- Van Horton Residence
- Metropolis (Mentioned only)
Items:
- Hadley Chronicle Newspaper
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Lois Lane and the Babe of Steel"
While investigating a story, Clark Kent discovers that the Smallville orphanage possesses a pair of invulnerable baby-booties that he had been wearing when he first arrived on Earth. Fearing that these strange items might pose a threat to his secret identity, he travels backwards in time and switches places with himself when he was Superbaby.
Superbaby returns to the present era and comes under the care of Lois Lane. Lois attempts to take care of the toddler, but Superbaby's playfulness causes Lois no end of frustration. Superman eventually returns from his time-traveling expedition, having recovered the Kryptonian baby booties. He sends Superbaby back to his normal time period.
Appearing in "Lois Lane and the Babe of Steel"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Orphanage Worker (Unnamed) (Single appearance)
- Toy Store Salesman (Unnamed) (Cameo) (Single appearance)
- Professor Winston (Cameo) (Single appearance)
- Metropolis Police Department
- Lieutenant (Unnamed) (Cameo) (Single appearance)
- Acme Amusement Park
- Patrons (Unnamed) (Cameo) (Single appearance)
- Owner (Unnamed) (Cameo) (Single appearance)
- King of Syvania (Unnamed) (Cameo) (Single appearance)
- Cyrus Foster (Cameo) (Single appearance)
Locations:
- Krypton (Mentioned only)
- Metropolis
- Bright Home Orphanage
- Lois Lane's Apartment
- Toy Store (Unnamed) (Metropolis' biggest)
- Professor Winston's Mountain Peak Laboratory
- Acme Amusement Park
- Foster Castle
- Daily Planet
- Smallville (Mentioned only)
Items:
- Superbaby's Super-Booties (Mentioned only)
Vehicles:
- Professor Winston's Mechinical Mole
Concepts:
- Time Travel (Behind the scenes)
Notes
- Cover dated July-August 1958.
- Are You a Litter-Bug? public service advertisement.
- Binney gag strip.
- Cora the Car Hop gag strip.
- Famous Newspaper Firsts half page of trivia.
- Oddities in Romance one page of trivia.
- Read 'em and Laugh one page of jokes.
- Fran gag strip.
- This issue is reprinted in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane Archives Vol. 1.
- The Rainbow Superman was reprinted in Superman Annual #8.
- The Man Who Was Clark Kent's Double was reprinted in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane Annual #1 and Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #99.
- Lois Lane appeared last in Superman #122. Following the third story in this issue, she appears next in Action Comics #242.
- Jimmy Olsen, Perry White and Superman all appeared last in Superman #122.
- Superman appears next in World's Finest #95.
- Jimmy Olsen and Perry White appear next in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #30.
- Professor Jason last appeared in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #1. This issue is his final appearance to date.
Trivia
- This issue is not the last time that Superman will have trouble with meteor-laden lockets. In the 2003 WB television series, Smallville, Lana Lang possesses a locket containing a fragment of Kryptonite meteor rock. Teenager Clark Kent grows ill whenever he is within a few feet of the locket.
- Although the Robin Hood presented in this issue is not the true Robin Hood, the original Robin Hood is in fact a character in DC's Silver Age history. Robin Hood was featured in a series of back-up stories in The Brave and the Bold (Volume 1).
- In the story Lois Lane and the Babe of Steel it was mentioned that:
- The Bright Home Orphanage moved from Smallville to Metropolis and that Kal-El was taken here as a baby.
- When Superman traveled back in time there could only be one Superman occupying a particular moment in time. i.e. Superman and Superbaby can't meet each other. One will replace the other in their particular time eras.
See Also
- Cover gallery for the Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane series
- Images from Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane Vol 1 3