Sometimes She's Blonde: Disguises in Comics

In the spring of 2003, I started getting back into comics in a big way.  As a grade schooler I had grown up on traditional Iron Age Superman stories such as the Reign of Supermen and The Wedding Album, while the 'college-aged' me got more and more interested in the Pre-Crisis Superman.Superman's Girlfriend: Lois Lane #086, cover

It started off when I checked out Michael L. Fleischer's "The Great Superman Book" and started working my way through it. My local library also had a small but decent selection of comics.  Most were graphic novels of Iron Age classics, but they also had 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' and a few other single issues that had been donated.  Upon googling, I ran into sites full of information from talking in generalities about Superman Canon Superman.Nu, to taking it very studiously across all of DC Comics like the DCU Guide, to making it all a joke like the aptly named Super Dickery which focused on how horrible our Superman could be back in the 1950's.

The Silver Age reused plots jumped out at me immediately. A plethora of story cliches, the true root of "crack fic" showed up nearly every time I got my hands on a Pre-Crisis comic: sudden temporary super powers, kryptonite in every color of the rainbow, things happening by "magic," imaginary stories; time-travel, famous guest star cameos, tons of exact lookalikes, face masks that could fool your closest friends, animals that turned into people, people who turned into monsters. The cliches showed up in issue after issue, and while the stories were usually short - cute, even - they often stretched the limits of readability unless one reminded one's self that these stories were aimed at grade schoolers.

The one good thing about the Sliver Age is that this repetition (which was most likely caused by needing to fill seven comic books' worth of material) resulted in patterns that quickly emerged upon reading them. One of the more obvious patterns that was particularly intriguing to me was 'Lois Lane Alters her Appearance'. It makes some amount of sense, what with her two main roles as The Reporter and as The Girl After Superman; we see her change her looks to get ahead in one or both of those areas.  It was the choice of how she altered her appearance that stuck out to me as a Chloiser.

Golden Age

• Superman #007

  Superman #007, page 54The earliest issue of the name/hair change I can find was in the seventh issue of Superman. In the story, Lois and Clark have to go undercover to figure out how a competitor keeps beating the Planet on stories covering the Black Gang. 
  
  However, they're not just posing as a wealthy couple; Lois takes it one step further and disguises them.  She takes Clark's glasses and dyes her hair blonde in hopes that no one will recognize them.  They take up fake names (he is Ralph Carlson, she is Kay Andrews) and of course expose a fellow reporter of being crooked.

• Superman #021

  Superman #021, page 42Lois decides to go undercover to clear a girl she knows named Lucy Trent, who works at a local department store.  Lois sets up a false ID as Miss Andrews, and goes blonde again.  Superman spies on her and decided to pose as Jim Saunders - which is him without the glasses - to see what Lois is up to.
  
  Inside, Lois works at one of the department store counters and tries to make friends with various employees to see what is going on.  She runs into Clark, and threatens to expose him - but he does the same back to her, saying if she's there for a story he has just as much right to try to scoop her.
  
  Lois does end up clearing her friend when they find out about another co-worker at the store whom decided to take what was 'his' and sent her stolen merchandise because he was sweet on her.

• Superman #061

  Superman #061, page 21Lois is feeling a bit lovelorn about Superman, and after seeing a blonde girl kiss him, she goes back home to the flat she shares with her best friend from high school, Helen, and they think that perhaps Superman prefers blondes to brunettes.
  
  So Lois dyes her hair, and immediately no one recognizes her -- not Clark, not Perry White, not two goons who try to kidnap her thinking she's a girl set to testify against the mob. After that fiasco, Lois attempts to dye her hair red - but ends up again with disastrous results of mistaken identity.
  
  She of course returns to her normal hair color by the end because of all the problems the alternatives caused.

• World's Finest #064

  World's Finest #064, page 08Lois, hot on the trail of an insurance fraud scheme, realizes that she is in their crosshairs.  Lois is not at all happy that she's always being used as a hostage against Superman, and she decides the only way to keep from being used against him is to cease to exist.  So Lois fakes her own death. 
  
  However, she can't just walk away from the people she cares about.  Instead, she dyes her hair blonde and comes up with the alternate name Priscilla Rhodes.  She gets a job as a file clerk in the Daily Planet - not as a reporter, but that way she's around to plant clues for Superman and Perry White  to help them take down the scam artists.
  
  Superman finds an old hat of hers at the crime scene and deduces that Lois might not actually be dead (after all, no woman would ruin a new hat), and has 'Priscilla' help him trap the insurance artists.  He praises her quite highly for helping him and thinking about him, and says he'd much rather have her around, and that she needn't worry about being a drag on him.

Silver Age

• Lois Lane #013

  Superman's Girlfriend: Lois Lane #013, page 15In Lois' serial book in the Silver Age, she had many disguises.  Here, she dyes her hair blonde while in Hollywood working on another story and takes up the name Sadie Blogett.  However, while walking down the street she gets picked up by two members of the "Anti-Superman Gang" who think she's a mole. Lois plays along with them, pretending to be a criminal who will take their job.
  
  The job of course is, to dye her hair black and to learn all about how to be Lois Lane.  Included in the training is studying about Superman, and how to walk, talk, and dress like Lois.  Lois keeps deliberately faking her accent and picking clothes that aren't her "usual conservative attire."  Eventually she was told that she failed being Lois Lane; she ends up helping to stop the criminals anyway.

• Lois Lane #024

  Superman's Girlfriend: Lois Lane #024, page 05The story starts with Lois talking to a parole board about a man convicted of theft.  Lois makes the case that his stealing was merely to feed his family and that the man could be rehabilitated should a job be provided for him. The man is granted his parole due to her influence.
  
  He comes to her in thanks with a tip: a local gambling racketeer is after Superman and plans to kill him via imported Kryptonite for shutting down his illegal business. Lois, unsure of the plot's authenticity, decides to go undercover anyway and dons "glad rags" and a blonde wig to fit in.
  
  Lois reuses the name Sadie, the fake criminal background ID she had established earlier, and gets taken to the mob's headquarters - only to find that the plan was really more about kidnapping her to use as bait. The plan works; Superman rushes in only to get stopped by Kryptonite. The day is saved via a plot hole from the bottle of Kandor and a sudden switch out of Lois for a superpowered look-a-like whom is able to get rid of the kryptonite.

• Lois Lane #050

  Superman's Girlfriend: Lois Lane #050, page 07Lois gets a pet bird that can talk because of a sacred feather and predict the future (supposedly) and tells her that three days from now she will die. Thinking her death is imminent, we see her dismantle a bomb threat and go over Niagara Fall's in a barrel within three days  - both signs, she believes, that the prediction was right.  She gives a few of her things to Lana without telling Lana what is going on, and tries to mentally prepare herself for the end.
  
  On the third day she gets taken hostage in a car, where at gunpoint she is asked to spray paint her hair yellow, which she does.  The gunman thinks it will make the cops think they're a married couple.  Lois spells out S-O-S with the break lights of the car, which gets the police to follow them.  The gunman wrestles for control of the car and drives them off a cliff.
  
  Lois wakes up two days later to Superman and Lucy waiting on her.  Lois is confused until the bird shows up again to say that the feather broke prior to the end of his statement and cut him off - that in three days she was to dye her hair. Lana decides not to return Lois' gifts.

• Lois Lane #086

  Superman's Girlfriend: Lois Lane#086, page 33Lois adopts a blonde wig and the fake identity of Lorelei Larue after getting a tip off from an informant that the Society Bandit was going to pull a job at a local nightclub; knowing Superman wouldn't want her to risk herself, she comes up with the alternate ID.  However, as Lorelai she gets cornered after unmasking the Bandit and Superman saves her.  Superman also falls instantly in love with "Lorelei."
  
  As Lorelei, she agrees to out with him twice, upset at how he can "drool" over Lorelei but ignore Lois entirely. Lois tries to come up with a few plans to get Superman to dump his "dream girl" - all of which backfire.  Superman proposes to her, and says he doesn't care about the danger that it might put her in, that he'll find some way against it.
  
  Lois calls Lana to tell her about the nuptials and even gets down to the courthouse where Lois tricks Mxylptlk into exposing himself.  She breaks his spell on Superman and says the proposal was the tip-off; since there was no Kryptonite, it had to be magic that was making Superman loathe her and fall for her alter-ego.

• Lois Lane #095

  Superman's Girlfriend: Lois Lane #095, page 03For her birthday (and because Superman wants to see how she'll deal with it) Superman gives Lois Lane temporary super powers and charges her with being the city's hero while he goes on a 'faraway mission'. He also gives her a cute superhero outfit.  Lois adopts the name 'Superwoman' and dons a long blonde wig in order to help keep her identity a total secret. She knows how much hassle she would get if everyone knew that Lois Lane was Superwoman.
  
  Superman however, doesn't really leave, but instead monitors her  - and gives her a little bit of a snoopy pay back - as Clark Kent. He tries to cut her hair, and she has numerous really ingenious saves by covertly eating bullets, super clapping, and generally making Lois appreciate Superman's work to hide his alter-ego.  By the end of the issue, Lois ends up revealing "her secret" that she is Superwoman before going off to save Clark's life; of course that's right before her powers go out.

• Lois Lane #122

  Superman's Girlfriend: Lois Lane #122, page 37Lois once again dyes her hair blonde for a story Perry puts her on; this time she adds glasses to the mix and goes undercover as reporter Sheila Dexter.  She even fakes all the credentials.  However, on the way to her assignment, she has an accident, wrecks her car and gets amnesia.
  
  "Sheila" acts differently than Lois did - she's not impressed with Superman, she doesn't care about learning his secret, and she thinks Lois Lane was stupid for being in love with him.  Clark and Perry keep trying to come up with solutions to make her remember (including dyeing her hair black again and having her pose for a picture as Lois Lane.)  Eventually Clark turns into Superman before her eyes and back to Clark, which cures it but conveniently she doesn't remember anything about having amnesia in the first place.

• Superman #128

  Superman #128, page 29Lois wins an auction on props from a movie made about Superman, and launches a plan to pose as his old Kryptonian babysitter in order for Superman to tell her his secret.  Lois dons a kryptonian dress, a blonde wig, adopts the name "Rama" and concocts a story about following after Superman in a rocketship.  Superman tells her that he's really Clark Kent - and then deduces the plot hole in "Rama's" story.
  
  Lois feels guilty about what she did, and decides to tell him the truth the next morning, that she doesn't plan on publishing it and that she loves him. Superman launches his own plan against Lois the next morning, pretending to be in love with Rama.  Lois gets upset and points out that she is his dream girl - only for Clark Kent to walk past.
  
  Lois isn't to be fooled quite that easily, at first believing Clark just to be another Superman Robot. Eventually she deduces that Clark is human, that Clark wasn't Superman because any actor playing Clark would have to know his secret, and that Superman was playing a trick on her for her trick on him.  At the end it is revealed that it was Bruce Wayne wearing a Clark Kent mask to help his friend out.

Bronze Age

• Superman Family #191
  

  Superman Family #191, page 44

  Lois is working on a case of people who are kidnapping babies, then selling them on the black market. She runs into the Human Cannonball who eventually ends up helping her on the case. After talking with a source, Lois decides she needs a better disguise for this story - and turns up on Jimmy Olsen's door.
  
  Jimmy comes up with a disguise for her - it consists of a short blonde wig, and a pair of wire rimmed glasses  Lois goes undercover to talk to the man her informant tipped her off about; she meets Mr. Feeney who is selling babies for $15, 000 dollars (cash).  She uses Human Cannonball to pose as her husband, gets the money in trackable bills, and works with the police.  HC nearly fowls them up, but in the end Lois is able to reunite the stolen children with their biological parents.  She's shown as very compassionate, and upset at what is happening through the entire issue.

• Lois Lane #084

  Superman's Girlfriend: Lois Lane #084, page 06Lois Lane is going on vacation to a ranch, and planning to stay with a college buddy named Coral.  However, on her way into town, she realizes that the ranch is deserted.  She goes back the next day disguised as a blonde, but unbeknownst to her, Coral's husband alerts people that she is coming in disguise.  She uses the alias Ann Lacey, a cover identity that she keeps on her at all times - complete with wig, apparently.  Lois borrows a car from Coral and rents a horse - only to get thrown from the horse and accused of rustling, and thus railroaded.
  
  Lois makes friends with her cellmate, a girl named Maisie who believes that there is no way Lois did her crimes.  Maisie sneaks Lois some food and helps her sneak out of the prison in her stead, and Lois goes to find Superman to help her. They uncover the truth - the farms are suffering an outbreak of hoof and mouth that they were trying to keep quiet. Lois promises to keep Coral's secret, and Superman cures their cattle.

• Lois Lane #133
  

  Superman's Girlfriend: Lois Lane #133, page 02A woman from the Red Cross pushes her way onto a plane; in truth this blonde woman is Lois Lane who is in competition with her good friend, co-worker and roommate Melba for a story to give to Perry White.  Lois is meeting with Greg Benton and Bette Mason, two film stars who never give out interviews.  Greg agrees to give one to Lois if she helps them sneak Bette out through the reporters; Lois complies.  She takes a car with Greg, only to have someone try to run them off the road.  When Lois meets up with Melba at the DP, it turns out that Melba's subject switched her tape, making Lois the winner.  She gets to house-sit for Perry and be working editor-in-chief while Perry's out of town.
  
  While watching Perry's place, a young chemist named Ronald Devon, who the news has led people to believe to has stolen a new explosive, climbs up to Perry's penthouse to give Lois an interview/get her help. He claims he's being framed, and threatens to blow himself up if he doesn't get help clearing his name. He handcuffs himself to Lois and demands they move, telling her his next explosive would take out everyone but him & Lois herself because she would be with him; meanwhile Superman has gone looking for the person whom Devon feels betrayed him. 
  
  Lois finds ways to leave Superman clues as Devon takes her from the aquarium to the ballpark and back to Perry's penthouse where Lois turns on the Nobel prizes; it turns out the betrayer was his boss getting awarded for Devon's creation. Devon snaps back to reality and turns himself in, and Lois has 59 more days to live 'the high life' in Perry's stead.

• Superman Family #219
  

  Superman Family #219, p 22Earth-2 Feature
  
  In the 1970's, they also brought back the "Golden Age" versions of the characters in a combined book that took a lot of their prior serials and supersized them into one issue that featured Supergirl, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and others.  One of the new features was called "Mr. and Mrs. Superman" which followed Kal-El/Clark Kent, his wife Lois, and their careers at the Daily Star where he worked as an editor.
  
  In this issue, one of his past alter-egos starts committing crimes.  Together, Lois and Clark realize it must be an imposter and figure out it's a old foe of his named Funny Face, a villain literally come to life from cartoons. They have Lois don a blonde wig and pose as Kitty, the girlfriend character Lois played to Superman's alias last time.  Funny Face takes the bait and kidnaps her, while Superman uses kryptonite on the come-to-life-cartoon character which somehow works.  Funny Face attempts to turn "Kitty" into a cartoon only to have Superman stop and restore her.
  
  Superman Family #219, page 38Lois Lane Feature
  
  In the Lois Lane feature of this comic, they brought together a completely new kind of Blonde Lois: she's literally a separate person!  Lois's co-worker, Mark, finds Blonde!Lois and introduces them. Raven-haired!Lois takes Blonde!Lois out for lunch and finds out her counterpart's story - Blonde!Lois is starting college in the fall and is visiting Metropolis when she gets mugged.  Raven-haired!Lois wants her to go to the police, but the younger girl bolts.
  
  Superman Family #219, page 46Raven-haired!Lois tracks her down to where she's gotten a job at the press club; Blonde!Lois noticed a man hold up the owner with a gun and together they work to save the owner.  It turns out the man was the former part-owner of the club, but got caught for embezzlement.  Blonde!Lois decides to take our Lois's advice and call her parents because she realizes they love her and are worried about her.
  
  Raven-haired!Lois is impressed, more so when she finds out that Blonde!Lois intends to be a reporter after she finishes school; our Lois is very excited and day dreams of the day when two Lois Lane's will be able to hold Pulitzer Prizes in both of their hands.

Post Crisis

• Son of Superman
  

  Son of Superman, page 19Son of Superman is what DC calls an Elseworld - it's a universe/story that has never happened in main continuity.  In this story, Superman is presumed dead for several years and Lois raises their son all by herself.  She moves to California and becomes a screenwriter, once again going blonde. The JLA teams up with the government.  Lois and Clark's son, Jon, is in high school when the story starts, and in love with a blonde (who actually goes to the movies with him), and is clueless as to what is going on - even going so far at first in assuming that Lois had an affair with Superman.  Lois sets him straight about Clark and notes that Jon was just human at first, and tries to help Jon connect with the geek that was both sides of Clark Kent.  She tells him he can't be a hero at this point, that he can't misuse his powers, and that his gifts come with great responsibilities.
  
  Son of Superman, page 45On his date, Jon gets stopped by hero work on the sly - only to run into the JLA (who realize who he is) and he gets low-jacked by Pete and Lana.  Lois calls Bruce to find Jon, while Jon gets filled in by Pete on how after Clark died new drugs hit the streets, technology growth, and subversion of the Constitution.  Lana and Pete had found that Clark wasn't really dead - he was captured and held by Lex Luthor; Jon, with a proto-super suit, goes with them and helps break Clark out. Jon ends up taking Clark to his house, and Lois & Clark have a touching reunion complete with a "No, he's more like you!"-off.
  
  Son of Superman, page 70We find out that through J'onn and the government that Lex has fundamentally influenced the JLA.  Clark starts trying to reconnect with the world, the JLA, and bond with his son. He chews out Pete & Lana for committing terrorist acts in his name, and father & son try to figure out their next move (and have a big fight).  The black/white outfitted JLA joins up and stops a hurricane in Florida.  Bruce starts putting puzzle pieces together, and Clark's ship gets stolen by Lana & Pete - who decipher fields that say Lex is behind everything (before the ship self-destructs).  Clark finds that the Fortress of Solitude has been raided and is completely gone.  Bruce confronts Diana for financially supporting Pete & Lana. 
  
  Son of Superman, page 95Lois forces with Jon and Clark to start talking to each other again.  Together, they piece together that Lex found the Fortress and cut a deal with the government so Lex ends up being the most powerful man in the world.  They get Bruce to team up with them to take down the remaining JLAers, back in their traditional outfits. Bruce and Clark fight the JLA, while Jon takes on Lex - who seems to have given himself superpowers too.  In the end, Lana & Pete get caught, the JLA steps down, Lex gets investigated for fraud, Bruce decides to run for office, and Jon smoothes things over with Karen, who decides to be his girlfriend after all.  Clark tells Lois that their time apart gave him perspective on who Superman needs to be, and he decides to step down and spend time with his son (who still can't handle flying). Lois dyes her hair back, and they decide to travel the world together.  And Jon's life is finally the way it was meant to be.

• Superman: Secret Origins #03
  

  Superman: Secret Origins #3, page 19Lois Lane meets Clark Kent' has happened a few times, but the most recent re-telling has been done by Geoff Johns in 'Superman: Secret Origins 2009'.  In it, Lex has become the god of Metropolis with his technology, and has basically taken over most of the media - except the Daily Planet, which he's tried to financially ruin.  Lois, Perry, Jimmy and a few others are working for a paper that is clearly circling the drain when Clark Kent gets a job there precisely because he's the kind of reporter that Perry can afford.
  
  Lois offers to show Clark around and runs to her desk to get together a disguise - a blonde wig and a pair of sunglasses.  She practically lives at her desk and is continually working to expose the truth about Lex, LuthorCorp, and the corruptness of the city. 
  Superman: Secret Origins #3, page 21
  She takes Clark with her in an attempt to sneak into a LuthorCorp press conference - which the Daily Planet has been barred from.  She tells him that she realizes his whole geeky persona is an act and that he is her new wingman, as she prepares to sneak in.
  
  Lex is announcing his Metallo project when Lois gets recognized by Lex's goons, and ends up getting chased right off the building.  Her cry for help gets picked up by Clark's superhearing and he bursts onto the scene, realizing he's exposing himself to the world to save her life.  Reactions vary from fear to acceptance, and Lois the cynic sees pure wonder in him.  Clark of course, begins to wonder what exactly he just did.

At the moment, those are all the issues I've found with Lois going undercover as a blonde.  As you can see, it's happened enough in the past seventy years to set a precedent, as well as current writers purposefully bringing the trope back from the dead.   The timing on Johns' addition is especially interesting, given that he's actually written for Smallville before.  Does that mean she has to be blonde?  No.  But it means being blonde, especially in the form of hair dye as Chloe Sullivan happens to be, is no longer a valid reason to discount someone from being Lois Lane either.