Joanne Siegel

Joanne Siegel ( ; born Jolan Kovacs; December 1, 1917 – February 12, 2011) was an American model, who in the 1930s worked with Superman artist Joe Shuster as the model for Lois Lane, Superman's love interest. She later married Superman's co-creator Jerry Siegel and sued for restoration of her husband's authorship copyright in the Superman character.

Life and career Siegel was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1917, the daughter of Hungarian immigrants. The New York Times wrote, "Ms. Siegel was the first in a long line of Lois Lanes, who have included Phyllis Coates, Noel Neill, Teri Hatcher, and Erica Durance on television, as well as Margot Kidder in the movies."

Following her modeling work for Shuster, she worked as an artist's model, sometimes using the professional name "Joanne Carter". She worked for a ship builder in California during World War II. After the war, Siegel moved to New York, where she ran into Jerry Siegel at a costume ball to raise money for cartoonists.

Despite the success of Superman in comic books, television and motion pictures, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster had sold the copyright to Detective Comics for $130. In 2006, Siegel won a partial summary judgment in a lawsuit with DC Comics. The Court found that Joanne Siegel and her daughter had successfully recaptured the Superboy copyright in 2004 and opined that the television program Smallville was infringing the Siegels' copyright. In 2008, Siegel secured a further ruling from a federal court in Los Angeles restoring her husband's co-authorship share of the original Superman copyrights. In a 72-page decision, the Court ruled that Jerry Siegel was entitled to claim a share of the United States copyright to Superman while leaving intact DC Comics' international rights to the character.

Upon hearing this, Siegel commented in an interview with People, "Beauty is valueless if you're not sending a message. Being associated with such a role-model as Lois Lane is the greatest honor that could've been bestowed upon me."

Death Siegel died on February 12, 2011, at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica. Following her death, Siegel's lawyer noted, "All her life she carried the torch for Jerry and Joe — and other artists. There was a lot of Lois Lane in Joanne Siegel."