15 Most Inappropriate Comics Storylines Of All Time‏

6. Lois Lane Goes Black, Then Goes Back

The sixties were a landmark era in the struggle for Civil Rights, as the protests by racial minorities became part of the mainstream cultural conversation. DC Comics, who would later tackle the same issues with the left-leaning Green Lantern/Green Arrow series, decided to add its voice to the conversation with an issue of Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane where the titular reporter, erm, goes into a magic box in the Man of Steel's Fortress of Solitude and comes out as a black person.

Look, they probably had good intentions. Lois is given the assignment of writing about Metropolis's black community (who live in an area of town called, ahem, Little Africa), only to be ostracised when she goes there. By transforming herself into a black woman, though, she gains acceptance from them and begins to sympathise with their plight, even becoming the victim of racism herself.

In theory, the story would give the white readers a similar insight into how it was to be a person of colour in seventies America. In practice, it's a pretty bad taste fable where Lois gets to be white and privileged again at the end.