Wendy brought up my name in her last comments post for David's story. She and Ann had been commenting on the various incarnations of Lois and Clark/Superman that exist and how they figure into the continuity of fanfiction. Particularly she posed the question as how much, those of us who are familiar with the comic book versions, utilize what is given there.
I chose to start a separate thread rather than hijack David's comments folder to present this. I'm sure there are many others who have more than a passing familiarity with the comic book versions who may wish to join in.
Personally, for this particular fanfiction I always used the television series as the world where my characters existed. (Though my 'Faith, Hope, and more Hope' was based on the comic book universe and only borrowed the emotions I saw presented in the series).
Since most of the fanfics have a significant 'relationship' component to them, they lend themselves much more readily to the series as their base. Even though the John Byrne retcon tried to bring out the facet of Clark being who he was and Superman being what he can do, it's still a comic book aimed at young males, which means that action is of primary importance. Which means that Superman is of primary importance. I mean, look at the titles; Superman, The Adventures of Superman, and Action Comics. Kind of tells the tale doesn't it?
The television series was about two characters; Lois and Clark. Superman was actually just another supporting character. Most fanfiction is about Lois and Clark and their relationship and how it is affected by whatever is happenning in the story. Even an action heavy plot needs to address these issues if it's to be appreciated by the audience we have here. That's mainly why the television series is generally considered the canon universe for L&C fics.
Having said that, it doesn't mean that I'm not above 'borrowing' aspects from other media that I find compelling, or appropriate to my characters. Lois will always, physically, be Teri Hatcher in my stories, but I tend to make her somewhat of an amalgam of the televised version and the comic book version. (The movie versions are patently ignored). The Lois of the comic books is actually a bit tougher, and more competent than the one in the series. She has grown up an army brat and has learned a lot of hand to hand from that experience. She's also completed the MPD's SCU unit training. So she's more able to 'take care of herself' than the Lois from TV (even though that's one of her favorite phrases). Sometimes I give my fanfic Lois some of that extra 'training' which allows her to be less dependant in dangerous situations.
The Lois in the comics did have many 'issues' with men, but we aren't as familiar with the reasons why (other than no one could 'keep up with her') because the comics don't spend a lot of time on the emotional backround unless it directly ties in to the current story line. The series gave us a lot of that, which makes for good fodder in fanfics, which again, lean heavily on the relationship aspect.
Bottomline: as the writer, one can use whatever characteristics one wants to write his/her fanfiction. But when you take into consideration the content of most L&C fanfics, the series just makes a better backdrop to such stories. And, I dare say, it's the versions of Lois and Clark that most of the gentle readers are familiar with.
Tank (who generally ignores the movie versions because all they got right was Superman; Clark, Lois, Perry, and all the rest were written or acted quite poorly)
