Panel Vision - History of Lois Lane

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Yesterday, Noel Neill tragically passed away at the age of 95.  Though Ms. Neill enjoyed a long and storied career, her most famous role was as the very first actor to play Lois Lane, appearing initially in a pair of serials and on the Superman radio program.  Later, Neill would continue her role on the first live action Superman television series The Adventures of Superman and cement her place as one of the most iconic figures in comic adaptations. 

Seriously, alongside Dana Delany on Superman the animated series and Margot Kidder in the 1978 film series Noel Neill is one of the three women who define Lois Lane as a character and helped shape her history in the comics and the public eye.  Given that, and the fact I haven’t seen The Adventures of Superman, I thought I’d focus in on that history and break down the strange evolution of Lois Lane from girl reporter to the wife of Superman. 

Static Thoughts - Batman Mask of the Phantasm

There’s been a lot of superhero media these days focused on the well-worn trope of the murderous vigilante.  Batman: Arkham Knight’s titular antagonist is essentially a militarized version of Batman who’s willing to kill his foes and it was just recently announced that Punisher will be the main villain of Netflix’s Daredevil season 2.  With all that in mind now seems like the perfect time to revisit Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, the hands down best iteration of this particular storyline as well as probably the best Batman film all around.  For those of you unfortunate enough to be unaware of this film, Mask of the Phantasm was a 1993 animated feature that spun out of Bruce Timm’s award winning Batman the animated series (which is why this is a Static Thoughts article.)  The film deals with a mysterious new vigilante named the Phantasm who’s been killing off Gotham mobsters and letting Batman take the blame.  That’s the outward plot anyway; the deeper focus of the film is on the very definition of Batman and how he relates to personal loss, revenge, and justice.