DC Comics · Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #106 · November 1970 · 15¢ · 52 pages
Grade: F- 5.5
Edited by Dorothy Woolfolk.
Cover by Neal Adams.
“I Am Curious (Black)!” — written by Robert Kanigher, penciled by Werner Roth, inked by Vince Colletta. Lois Lane uses a Kryptonian transformation device borrowed from Superman to temporarily become a Black woman, then walks through Metropolis's Black neighborhood — called Little Africa — attempting to report on the community's experience. What she encounters is housing discrimination, poverty, and distrust from residents who have seen plenty of white reporters come and go. The story pulls no punches about who gets believed and who doesn't. Superman appears, as does a young Black man named Dave Stevens whose death in Vietnam closes the story on a deliberately unresolved note. The title is a direct reference to Vilgot Sjöman's 1967 Swedish film “I Am Curious (Yellow)” — DC in 1970 was not being subtle about its ambitions.
The issue also carries a Rose and the Thorn backup — the second feature that had been running in the book since #105, written by Robert Kanigher with art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. Rose Forrest's dual-identity as the vigilante Thorn continues here, a genuinely dark psychological premise for a DC comic of this vintage.
This issue lands about two years before O'Neil and Adams put Green Lantern/Green Arrow on the map for social relevancy — Kanigher and Woolfolk were doing it here first, in a book that collectors routinely underestimated. It gets cited constantly now in histories of Bronze Age social-issue comics, and copies in any grade have real demand. Dorothy Woolfolk, notably, was one of the very few Black editors working at DC at the time, which adds another layer to why this issue exists at all.
Condition F- 5.5 — .
We use what the scientists are calling artificial intelligence to research and write our descriptions — it gives us more time to add books to our website and provide you with a wider array of inventory. We think Klaatu would approve. Details are verified but the robot does slip up. We're not infallible. Every book is graded by a human collector who has actually held it. If anything ever looks off, reach on out at robopictocomics@gmail.com.
DC Comics · Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #106 · November 1970 · 15¢ · 52 pages
Grade: F- 5.5
Edited by Dorothy Woolfolk.
Cover by Neal Adams.
“I Am Curious (Black)!” — written by Robert Kanigher, penciled by Werner Roth, inked by Vince Colletta. Lois Lane uses a Kryptonian transformation device borrowed from Superman to temporarily become a Black woman, then walks through Metropolis's Black neighborhood — called Little Africa — attempting to report on the community's experience. What she encounters is housing discrimination, poverty, and distrust from residents who have seen plenty of white reporters come and go. The story pulls no punches about who gets believed and who doesn't. Superman appears, as does a young Black man named Dave Stevens whose death in Vietnam closes the story on a deliberately unresolved note. The title is a direct reference to Vilgot Sjöman's 1967 Swedish film “I Am Curious (Yellow)” — DC in 1970 was not being subtle about its ambitions.
The issue also carries a Rose and the Thorn backup — the second feature that had been running in the book since #105, written by Robert Kanigher with art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. Rose Forrest's dual-identity as the vigilante Thorn continues here, a genuinely dark psychological premise for a DC comic of this vintage.
This issue lands about two years before O'Neil and Adams put Green Lantern/Green Arrow on the map for social relevancy — Kanigher and Woolfolk were doing it here first, in a book that collectors routinely underestimated. It gets cited constantly now in histories of Bronze Age social-issue comics, and copies in any grade have real demand. Dorothy Woolfolk, notably, was one of the very few Black editors working at DC at the time, which adds another layer to why this issue exists at all.
Condition F- 5.5 — .
We use what the scientists are calling artificial intelligence to research and write our descriptions — it gives us more time to add books to our website and provide you with a wider array of inventory. We think Klaatu would approve. Details are verified but the robot does slip up. We're not infallible. Every book is graded by a human collector who has actually held it. If anything ever looks off, reach on out at robopictocomics@gmail.com.
