Well, I've said it before, I've been a Superman fan since 1968, and a Lois and Superman fan since 1969. It was in 1969 that I read that comic book story that convinced me that Superman loved Lois and wanted to marry her. Back then, I thought the wedding would take place really soon. Superman just needed to tell Lois about his secret identity first, because I could see that the secret identity stood in the way of their marriage. So I waited for him to come clean with her. You know what? It never happened.
Okay - it did happen. It happened in Superman II, the movie from 1980. Here Clark accidentally(?) revealed his Superman identity to Lois. And wouldn't you know it, it took them probably less than twelve hours from the revelation until they got naked together.
However, Clark had had to shed not only his clothes but also his powers to make love to Lois. And he soon found out that he had to have his powers back. Which meant he could no longer have any sort of intimate relationship with Lois. Which meant... well, which meant that he decided to wipe her mind clean of any knowledge of their lovemaking and of his double identity. Which meant that I got so angry and devastated that I gave up on anything Superman-related for ten years.
Then in 1990, Clark (not Superman) began courting Lois in the comics. Then he proposed to her, but he didn't tell her about his double identity first. Sound familiar?
Let me just say it... the whole Superman mythos has been a long, long story about his lies to Lois. And I'm so tired of it. So please understand why I never sympathize with Clark for lying to Lois, even when the rational parts of my brain insist that it was the reasonable and sensible thing to do.
Arawn, I agree with you... much of what the writers did to Clark was clearly character assassination. But I will insist that it was also
sticking to tradition. This is what Superman does. He lies to Lois. He keeps doing it. And when he's finally, finally come clean with her, don't expect him to get ready to marry her. In the comics he proposed to Lois in 1990. Lois said yes right away, but they kept putting the marriage off all the time. If I remember correctly, they finally got married in the comics in 1996. And when it happened, the wedding appeared out of the blue, just like that - and the marriage seemed to disappear just like that, too, because after the wedding Clark's life went on as if nothing had happened, and Lois was nowhere to be seen.
All in all, I think we are really, really lucky that the LnC show got Clark and Lois married after all. Yes, the writers did their very best - their very, very, very best - to make sure that the wedding didn't happen, in the best tried-and-true Superman tradition. And when it
did happen, when the wedding couldn't be prevented or undone any more, the writers tried to make sure that Lois and Clark's marriage could not be consummated. It's incredible to realize that in the end, our favorite reporters did end up in bed together. Wow. I guess this is why I'm so obssessed with seeing Lois and Clark make love and really get together, because I feel I've
spent a lifetime waiting in vain for it to happen.
Okay, returning to the show, when should Clark have told Lois about his Superman identity in the show? In my opinion, definitely at the end of TOGOM, if not sooner. How could he pretend that she didn't love him after that episode? How could he tell himself after that that she didn't deserve to know?
Clark has been the perpetual liar, and it's the Superman mythos that decrees that Clark must lie like that. Gaaahh! So why didn't I watch the show? Maybe because I couldn't stand the idea of watching those same old lies all over again. *deep sigh*
Well, thank God for fanfiction. Especially fanfiction of the nth kind, or at least the kind of gfic that tells us that yes, indeed, there is some "n" going on, even if you will have to imagine it yourself. And using my own fantasy to imagine the "n" is something I'm quite happy to do - but please, you wonderful nfic writers, don't ever think I'm not even happier to have you telling me more exactly what Clark and Lois do!
Ann