As wild as it sounds, the first time Lois Lane! In a short story from Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane, the love-struck Lois is shown forming yet another plan to trick the Man of Steel into falling for her. And in her mind, the ploy works so well that Superman is willing to knock Shazam out cold to make sure he wins her hand.
As one of Superman’s oldest and closest cohorts, Lois Lane has been a major figure in the Superman mythos. In 1958 she received her own series that focused on Lois' adventures as an intrepid reporter but would often feature stories about her scheming in order to win the heart of Superman. As time went on and society changed, the comic shifted away from more outdated plots to more socially conscious ones. The series was also known for featuring the first appearances of several characters, including one that wouldn't make a formal appearance for another ten years.
Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #42 featured the story “The Monkey’s Paw!” by Henry Boltinoff and Kurt Schaffenberger. Lois is given the strange assignment of covering an explorer’s odd collection he bequeathed to the Daily Planet. The collection features a number of oddities such as a unicorn’s horn and a jewel from King Solomon’s mine. The most curious piece of the collection, however, is a supposed wish-granting monkey’s paw. After recognizing the potential power in her hands, Lois has a brief daydream about how wishing Superman to fall in love with her could go. Apparently, her fantasy involves Superman defeating other powerful heroes, one of which is a slightly obscured Shazam!
The crossover featured in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane is notable on its own, but what makes the appearance even more interesting was that it occurred before Shazam was even owned by DC. The cameo took place in 1963, almost right in the middle of a 20-year gap from when Fawcett Comics ceased publication of its superhero titles to when Shazam appeared as Captain Marvel in 1973. The appearance was actually a gag on artist Kurt Schaffenberger’s part, who had previously worked on Captain Marvel before working for DC. While just a brief joke, the image brings to mind the legal struggles Shazam faced over his resemblance to Superman, and the fact that Superman effortlessly dispatches of Shazam evokes how DC easily won their lawsuit against Fawcett. In a way, Lois' fantasy shows that when it comes to what she desires, nothing beats the original.
The relationship between Clark Kent and Billy Batson was sometimes combative, but never to the extent once imagined by Lois Lane. At the very least, when Superman and Shazam did meet, any altercations between the two certainly wasn’t Lois Lane’s doing.
