A character published by
DC Comics.
Lori Lemaris first appeared in
in
Superman #129 in 1959.
Superman through the years has had relationships with the women who
have all had the initials L.L. Lana Lang was his main squeeze when
he was growing up in Smallville. Lois Lane is his former girlfriend
and now wife in Metropolis. But in college there was another woman,
Lori Lemaris.
Clark Kent met Lemaris during their studies in college and even through
she was wheelchair-bound, they formed a tight bond that eventually
turned to love. Clark never took into account that his old girlfriend
had a ring that turned her into a human sized insect and therefore he
might want to check this girl out a little bit. And he was not at all
puzzled by the giant treasure chest in her apartment that opened and
closed at regular intervals, that she had an aversion to the combination
of french fries, coleslaw, and tartar sauce, or that she kissed funny
with her mouth all puckered up. Eventually, however, Clark discovered that
Lori was a mermaid, dooming the relationship to never getting beyond
second base.
Lori was from one of the undersea cities that survived the sinking of Atlantis.
After Tritonis sunk, the inhabitants were given a serum that allowed
them to breathe under water. A number of questions and observations arise from this
fact. First, did the scientists already have this formula in the works
or did they begin after the city was three miles under the ocean?
Also, we have to assume that sea water was one of the main ingredients
for the formula, as it would have introduced itself in to process
rather thoroughly.
Due to the pressing need for the new serum, proper clinical tests were
not followed, what with the entire population of Tritonis holding their
breath and treading water. The serum was administered and though it
allowed them the ability to breath, it had one minor side effect in
that it turned the lower half of the entire population into fish, giving
them the look of the legendary mermaid. Oddly enough, this situation
also corresponds to the rise in civil lawyers in Tritonis, the
closing of the Atlantis Drug Company, and the filing of the single largest
class action suit in history.
Though Clark still loved her, despite their incompatability, Lori realized
that they could never have a lasting relationship and returned to the
sea. Years later after Clark had become Superman, the two met again
to talk and Lori was critically injured by a crazed old sea man who was obsessed
with mermaids, rather like Eugene Levi's character in Splash only
darker. Superman rushed her to Tritonis, because they could best
help her and her HMO would not authorize treatment in Metropolis. There
she was treated and eventually recovered. Unfortunately, Lori fell in
love with her doctor, a healer named Ronal who loved her in return, though
he may only have wanted to spawn her brains out.
Lori Lemaris was killed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths as she
and others defended Tritonis from the shadow demons of the Anti-Monitor.