Lana Lang

Lana Lang is a fictional character who appears in the Superman stories published by DC Comics. Lana's first appearance was in 1950 in Superboy #10. Her traditional role in the comics was as Superman's romantic interest when they were teenagers, and as good friends when they became adults, especially once Lois Lane entered the picture. In the modern comics, she was married for a time to Pete Ross, Clark Kent's best friend as a youth. She is traditionally depicted with curly red-hair.

Original version

In the original Superboy stories, Lana was the girl who lived next door to the Kent family in Smallville, and was a romantic interest of Superboy. In the Silver Age stories, Lana often behaved like a younger version of Lois, spending much of her time trying to prove that Superboy and Clark Kent were one and the same.

Related Topics:
Smallville - Superboy - Silver Age

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At one point, Lana once rescued an insect-like alien trapped by a fallen tree in Smallville. In gratitude, the alien gave her a "bio-genetic" ring which allowed Lana to gain insect (and insect-like, such as arthropods) characteristics. Lana created a yellow honeybee-like costume and mask, and took the name "Insect Queen", under which identity Lana had several adventures.

Related Topics:
Alien - Arthropod - Honeybee

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Lana also had various adventures with Superboy, and several with the futuristic superhero team the Legion of Super-Heroes. Also appearing in some Silver Age stories was Lana's uncle, Professor Potter, an eccentric inventor who had inadvertently created the first Bizarro.

Related Topics:
Legion of Super-Heroes - Professor Potter - Bizarro

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After Clark and Lana graduated from high school, Lana went to college, and eventually became a television reporter; as an adult, she became a rival to Lois Lane for Superman's romantic affection in various 1960s stories, often appearing in the title Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane.

Related Topics:
High school - Television - 1960s

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During the 1970s and early 1980s, Lana became an anchorperson for WGBS-TV's evening news in Metropolis, as a co-anchor to Clark Kent. Her attraction to Superman during this time had also died off, leaving Superman to Lois.

Related Topics:
1970s - 1980s - Metropolis

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In the early 1980s, with the use of the multiverse system DC had in place, Lana Lang was also shown in one story to have had an "Earth-Two" counterpart (Earth-Two at the time the home of the Justice Society of America and DC's Golden Age versions of its characters, versus its mainstream universe of "Earth-One"). In this story, Lana wound up becoming an Insect Queen like her Earth-One counterpart; in this case, Lana had received a mystic amulet from her archaeologist father, said amulet having been created to allow a Pharaoh to control and divert the locust hordes that threatened ancient Egypt. Unfortunately, the charm associated with the amulet was set to be energized by the sound of approaching insect wings; the next time an insect flew by, Lana was compelled to create a chitinous golden-brown costume (woven by silkworms under her control) and adopt a villainous alter ego, the Insect Queen. Earth-Two's Superman was able to locate an antidote to the spell, which Lois Lane used to remove the compulsion. (Superman Family #213, 1981)

Related Topics:
1980s - Multiverse - Justice Society of America - Golden Age - Pharaoh - Locust - Egypt - Chitinous - Silkworms - Antidote - 1981

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