The Forbidden Box!
Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane #37 (Nov. 1962)
brings another chapter in "comics' greatest romance"
as the Man of Steel sets out to prove Lois is an insufferable
snoop who can't be trusted, and instead merely proves he's
a colossal jerk.
The fun begins at the Daily Planet, where Lois is sneaking
a peek at some papers on Clark Kent's desk
just as Superman flies in the window. Hoping he didn't notice
what she was doing ("I don't want him to think I'm
a snoop!"), she "sidles over" to
listen in on a conversation between Superman and Perry
White.
Wow, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed today,
huh? Honestly, I don't know why so many people talk up the
Superman/Lois relationship as some kind of great romance,
when most of the time he treats her as at best a pain in
the neck and at worst some kind of crazed stalker. And just
for the record, any time someone starts a sentence with
"Don't be offended," you can be sure he's about
to say something offensive. And that he's a jerk.
Anyway, Superman proceeds to dress down Lois in front of
her co-workers for being "over-inquisitive," and
when she insists she can control her curiosity when she
wants to, he vows to subject her to a test that will prove
otherwise. Then he flies off, leaving Lois to sulk while
Perry and Jimmy stand right behind her and talk about her
in the third person. And you thought your office
sucked.
A few hours later, a mysterious box arrives for Lois, generating
an odd response.
Honestly, not another time bomb! That's the third one this
week. Oh well, file it under "B" with the others
and I'll get to it later.
A note on the box reads, "Do Not Open! Hold for Superman
Till 3 PM." As it's already 4:30, Lois reasons the
note means 3pm the next day (thus passing up a perfectly
justifiable "out" if she wants to open it now).
Realizing the mystery box must be part of Superman's promised
"test," she vows to control her curiosity. Jimmy
points out that her vow would be easier to take seriously
if she weren't shaking the box next to her ear as she said
it.
Heading home for the evening, Lois takes the box with her
and tosses it on her kitchen table to prepare dinner. To
her surprise, it takes flight and starts talking (Well?
Wouldn't you be surprised?).
The talking box points out it has no air holes, proving
it can't contain a talking bird. (Aw, that was my guess;
a bird that makes a box fly from the inside and is able
to carry on a two-way conversation. Oh well...). Lois says
maybe Superman's built an "anti-gravity box" and
is projecting his voice with ventriloquism. The box says
"open me and find out," but Lois is determined
to prove Superman wrong, so she resists temptation.
There you go, kids. Drugs can fix anything. Seriously though,
if a flying box starts talking to you, drugs probably won't
make things much worse.
As soon as Lois falls asleep, Superman shows up to check
on the box.
Okay, am I the only one who has a problem with Superman
flying into a sleeping woman's bedroom in the middle of
night? Why do I feel like this isn't the first time he's
done this? Lucky for Lois she favors modest nightwear. If
she wore a teddy to bed, Supes would bring along half the
Justice League to spy on her.
Chatting with the mystery box as Lois lies deep in her
drug-induced slumber, Superman lets us readers in on the
big secret.
Superman tells his Kandorian pal Ber-Tal to keep up the
good work: "When she wakes up, promise her anything
if she'll open the box!" Way to play dirty, pal. For
a half-second his conscience kicks in as he notes "If
Lois finally releases you, she will never forgive me..."
No kidding; I imagine any gal would have a hard time forgiving
you for smuggling a strange man into her apartment overnight...one
who can watch everything she does with x-ray vision. Broads
can be funny that way.
At dawn, Lois wakes to find her bed levitating off the
floor, because the box is lifting it. "If you free
me," says the voice inside, "I'll reward you beyond
your wildest dreams!" Lois is steadfast in her resolve,
grabbing her ear plugs to block the voice's pleas. The box
knocks the plugs out of her hands and keeps harassing her.
A bit of a break comes when Lana Lang arrives for lunch
and greets Lois in her own sweet way.
Wow, sweet little Lana of Smallville grew up to be Alexis
Carrington, didn't she? What kind of shrew shows up to bum
lunch off a friend and says hello with an insult? And just
to be extra rude, she brings a pet along unannounced. If
you ask me, Superman should save a little of his bad attitude
for the redhead in his life.
At exactly three o'clock, Superman flies in through the
kitchen window (in a neat touch, Curt Swan draws Lana primping
her hair at the sight of him). Lois tells him he can find
his box in the living room, unopened. Instead, he finds
it ripped to shreds and assumes she's failed the test (Lana
is shown smirking).
Ber-Tal clears things up by producing the real culprit:
Lana's cat, who smelled the Kandorian inside the box and
ripped it open to get to him. Superman apologizes to Lois
(though not too heartily) and rewards Lois with the box
she initially saw him giving to Perry White.
Haw, haw.
You know, it occurs to me that for a site with "fan"
in the title an uncomfortable percentage of my reviews end
up feeling like they should be on the Superdickery
site, but what's a guy to do? Superman is a real jerk in
this story, right down to that last twist of the knife.
In fact, just about everyone in this story is hateful to
Lois in some way or other, which is almost enough to make
me feel sorry for her.
We're left to imagine Ber-Tal's reaction when he learned
the nature of the "special mission" he'd volunteered
for. Surely even in Kandor people have lives to lead, and
more important things to do with their time than play pranks
on Superman's friends. How would Superman even approach
the issue? If he just says "I need a volunteer,"
he risks being yelled at when the volunteer realizes what
a stupid mission it is, but if he says up front "I
need someone to hang out in Lois Lane's apartment all night...and
you'll have x-ray vision", then it's a given most of
the applicants will be perverts. The least he could have
done was ask for a female volunteer.
I'm still not even sure what kind of "lesson"
he's trying to teach. Come on, it's a floating, talking
box that begs you to open it in exchange for anything you
desire! Opening it wouldn't make you a snoop; on the contrary,
not opening it would demonstrate some kind of superhuman
restraint. Superman stacks the deck against Lois, and when
he loses his bet anyway he can't resist getting in one last
dig. Jerk.
Anyway, if Lois clears herself for now on "snoop"
charges, she does reveal herself as something of a narcissist.
I mean, how many people know exactly how many days it is
til their birthday, if it's more than a month?
By the way, I guessed the wrong writer for this story.
With the ham-handed (and largely failed) attempts at humor,
I felt sure it was a Jerry Siegel job, but it turns out
the writer was Leo Dorfman.
At least I was curious enough to look it up.