My Adventures With Superman is not everyone’s cup of tea. The anime-inspired series does itself no favors when it changes well-known characters to suit the times and the writers. For better or worse, we’re going to see more of that in the second season — the makers promise it. So, don’t bank on revamps stopping with Jimmy and Lois.
In her case, we have a better understanding of why showrunners went with the alterations they chose, from her new Asian heritage to her redone hairstyle. Producer Josie Campbell explained the rationale for Lois’ Vidal Sassoon cut was motivated by two factors. One is current-day sensibilities, but the other, which might surprise you, attempts to stay true to the source material.
“Yeah, it’s John Byrne and then also like a little Gen Z, because there’s a lot of Gen Z-ers who have the kind of…the short hairs coming back,” Campbell said speaking with The Comics Cube YouTube channel. “And then also, we kind of based it a little bit off of somebody we knew, who has that energy.”
She continued, “But yeah, that John Byrne era, where she’s got the short hair, and she’s lifting up the weights herself, it’s a big influence for us.” Lois has always been far from a damsel and has shown off a daring and independent streak. Her character traits became more pronounced under Byrne and others over time, but they typically had more hair to work with.
Although that might not be a big deal, Josie Campbell and her team have been changing as much as they can about Lois and the rest of the cast. Their mission began once the show began development and the goal was to reflect a more cosmopolitan world. Though there are departures, Campbell claims they want to be true to the lore.
“At the end of the day, it’s also a very classic interpretation of Superman. Who Jimmy is, is the funny guy. who’s Superman’s pal, who gets kidnapped by gorillas, and is the photographer. That’s Jimmy Olsen,” she said. “But yeah, who they are as people is exactly the same. It’s this classic version.” But still…
“The only thing we’ve done is try to make our show look like reality, look like the world around us, and look like the world around the audience who’s watching,” Campbell explained.