The Superman Dailies '49-'59: The Wedding of Lois Lane and Clark Kent (Part 2: Meet Mickey Five!)

Above: The debut of Mickey Five.

At the tail end of 1949, the daily newspaper strip has Clark Kent and Lois Lane on the path to connubial bliss. Superman had resolved the problem of his impulsive engagement to Miss Betty Jones, having seen to putting Betty back in the arms of the boy she's truly loved all along. Barring any further complications, it seems like smooth sailing all the way up the wedding aisle. 

When trouble does rear its ugly head, it comes in the form of Luthor -- Superman's greatest foe -- making a rare newspaper strip appearance. Reasoning that a married Lois Lane would reduce her value to him as a hostage in his future plots against Superman, Luthor hits Clark Kent with an unusual scheme -- siccing the sly and sexy Mickey Five on the poor unsuspecting groom-to-be.

Superman doesn't often tussle with a femme fatale. They're a type of character which fits awkwardly with the predominantly chaste nature of the character. So, while he has many female foes, there's not a lot of chemistry going on. With the bulk of Superman's adventures subject to Silver Age prohibitons and a locked-in love affair with Lois Lane, there simply isn't much room in the Man of Steel's rogues gallery for all that many Mata Hari types. 

But one place they did appear was in the newspaper strips! Mickey Five follows in the traditon of The Purple Tigress, who mistakenly blamed Superman for the death of her father, and preceded others like Nicole LaFlamme, who manipulated her way into a relationship with the Man of Tomorrow.

In any case, once Superman resolves the matter of Mickey Five -- in a fashion not too terribly unlike his handling of the Betty Jones affair in the previous arc -- Lois and Clark are finally free to make it to the chapel and officially, for the first time in the character's history, tie the knot. Plus, whatever could that aquatic cliffhanger mean? Read on!

Operation Five

October 24 - December 10 1949

Story: Alvin Schwartz

Art: Win Mortimer and Stan Kaye (credited to Wayne Boring)

*** To be continued ***