#im not going to include the 'lois turns into the goddess of integrity' story even though i wanted to because the premise is cool but i

[thekidthesuperkid]

Lois Lane reading recs?👀

Sorry it took me a while to respond, I had to go back and skim read some of these comics to be sure I was remembering them right and some of them i ended up rereading for real lol. I am going to preface this by saying I'm still working my way through the Superman ongoings so that's a blind spot in my knowledge of any of the characters there. That being said, here is my list, ordered vaguely in order of relevance...

Lois Lane Vol. 2 (2019) - I literally cannot emphasize this one enough, it's so good. If you only ever read one thing about Lois please read this. You might need a basic understanding of the Rebirth timeline changes to follow some of what goes on in this series, but to get that you just need to read the wikis, ask someone for a summary, or go read The Final Days of Superman and Superman: Reborn and maybe Convergence Superman too. This series is twelve issues long which is an easy length but not too short, it's written by Greg Rucka who's a pretty good writer in my opinion, and it's just such an engaging story overall. It features Lois investigating corruption, a team-up with Renee Montoya aka the Question, a discussion of the ramifications of timeline changes, Perry despairing at Lois' typos, gay flirting, and Clark dropping in every so often to be adorably married. Also Rucka so clearly likes and respects Lois as a character and it comes through in the story. I almost want to call this series a love letter to Lois Lane.

Action Comics #1, 2 - the first ever story about Superman and Lois Lane. Every comic since then has been built off this one.

Action Comics #6, Superman (1939) #29, 33, 34 - these are some classic Golden Age Lois Lane stories. They're all collected in the Lois Lane: A Celeblation Of 75 Years volume and that's where I read them. These stories are all really fun to read, they show the original characterization of Lois: headstrong, stubborn, determined to prove herself, and very intelligent. They tend to follow a similar format to each other where her male coworkers heckle her or make fun of her or attempt to sideline her and she goes out and proves them all wrong. That 75th anniversary collection has some other good stories too.

The Death of Superman, Funeral For A Friend, Reign Of The Supermen, Return of Superman - the Death of Superman stories may not be primarily focused on Lois, but they were a huge event for Superman comics as a whole and therefore are important to Lois too. She has an important role here, she does in most Superman comics, but this one brings a big change in her life so it's good to read this. It's super easy to find reading lists for these, it'll come up as soon as you google it, but I can absolutely put one together for you if you need it.

Superman (1987) #50, Action Comics #662, 720, and Superman and Lois Lane: The 25th Wedding Anniversary - the first three are the issues where Lois and Clark get engaged, Clark tells Lois his identity, and Lois breaks off the engagement, respectively. The last is the collection of the five issues where they get engaged again, get married, then go on their honeymoon. I unfortunately don't have a more detailed list about that era but hopefully I will soon.

The Chris Kent comics - these are pretty good for Lois, they feature a full character arc for Lois about her decision on whether or not to adopt Chris. Lois and Clark have a whole dilemma on whether they should become parents, so its an important story arc both for their relationship and for their personal feelings towards family and parenthood. It's also just really sweet because Chris is literally the sweetest kid ever. This is a link to a post that has the list of comics:

New Krypton era - if you can, I definitely recommend you read this, because several parts of it are important for Lois. I can't give you a detailed list on this because I read it like two years ago all at once so there's a bunch I don't remember and it's a huge storyline so laying out the reading order is going to take more time than I have right now, but I know there are New Krypton reading lists out there, and I'm going to try to make a list myself sometime in the near future. The post I linked in the previous paragraph also has a link to a post that lists Chris Kent's stories in that era. Chris' stories have Lois show up sometimes and have important further exposition on their relationship. And in addition to that, there are also parts of New Krypton where Lois' father is involved, one issue where he dies, and a few parts where her sister is involved as well. It's a pretty big and important era for the whole Superfamily.

Wonder Woman (1983) #170 - Lois spends the day with Diana to write an article about her. It's great because it establishes a connection between Lois and Diana. It's really interesting because it's examining Diana's character through the perspective of an outsider, and filtering everything Lois learns about Diana through the lens of Lois' biases and preconceptions. Lois' reflections on Diana end up being a reflection of herself as well as being about Diana. Also I just really like Lois and Diana being friends.

Mysteries of Love in Space #1 - possibly my favourite Clois comic of all time. Literally amazing, no notes.

Lois Lane Vol. 1 (1986) - this is one of those comics where the writer decides to talk about a social issue they're thinking about and uses comic characters to do it. In this case it's about children being kidnapped and trafficked, and it follows Lois trying to write a story about the issue. It's honestly not very important in terms of getting to know Lois, and I don't even know if it's part of main continuity, but it's nice to have a story that focuses exclusively on Lois doing her work.

Superman (1987) #88 - a story where Lois gets very angry about the mistreatment of Bizarro by Luthor and Lexcorp. Idk I read this a couple days ago and enjoyed it so I wanted to put it in. Its not really important but if you want to read the full story arc it's titled Bizarro's World and the issues are Superman (1987) #87, Adventures of Superman #510, Action Comics #697, Superman: The Man of Steel (1991) #32, Superman #88.

Superwoman (2016) #1-8 - this one actually has very little Lois in it, and the Lois that's talked about most in it is New52 Lois who you may or may not be able to call the same character as pre-Flashpoint/post-Rebirth Lois, but she persistently haunts the narrative in a way that's really cool to me. Also the other Lois shows up too, if briefly. The story is about Lana Lang being Superwoman while also kind of having to step into the shoes of Lois who was also briefly Superwoman. In general its a great series and has really pretty art so even if the lack of Lois disappoints you its still really good on its own, especially given that its written and drawn by Phil Jiminez who's really solid. You will probably need to read the Final Days of Superman and Superman: Reborn to understand this though.

Superman Smashes The Klan - this is a retelling of an early Superman story that's not in-continuity. It's a really really good story though and i do recommend you read it even if its not for Lois.. It doesnt have much Lois in it, it mainly focuses on a pair of children caught up in some racist attacks, but it does have one of my favourite Lois moments ever...where she's shown to be one of the very few people who aren't afraid of Superman when they find out he's an alien.

There are also a couple books that are for a YA/preteen audience that are exclusively about Lois, Girl Taking Over, and Lois Lane and the Friendship Challenge. Both are pretty cute easy-to-understand stories about Lois as a kid if you're interested in that.

Also like...a lot of Superman comics are going to have Lois in them and she often has a supporting role if she's not in a main role. If you read these comics and you like them, you can use them as a jumping-off point for getting into more Super comics which are going to have more Lois in them! And if you're hesitant to dive into the endless Superman ongoings, there are several retellings and reinterpretations of the Superman origin (like Superman Smashes The Klan) that tell the stories without being bogged down by the dense lore of the ongoings...Superman Secret Origins, Superman For All Seasons, All-Star Superman, American Alien, and John Byrne's initial Man of Steel comics from the 80s are some popular ones. If you do want to get into an ongoing, the current Superman series that started this year is good.

Let me know if you have questions or need clarification on something and enjoy your reading! Also if anyone with better knowledge of Lois is reading this please feel free to add on!