Since her 1938 debut, Lois Lane has played pivotal roles in an array of comics, movies, and TV shows. Now the heroine steps out from behind Superman's shadow as the star of a new YA series by Gwenda Bond, which launches with Lois Lane: Fallout (Capstone/Switch Press, May). In the series, produced through Capstone's licensing partnership with Warner Bros. Consumer Products on behalf of DC Entertainment, the author reimagines Lois as a contemporary high school student at the start of both her journalism career and her relationship with a certain mystery man.

A longtime Lois Lane fan, Bond (whose earlier YA novels include Girl on a Wire and The Woken Gods) was intrigued by the project when her agent, Jennifer Laughran, approached her. "I have such clear memories of watching the 1978 Superman movie with Christopher Reeve and loving Margot Kidder in the Lois Lane role," Bond recalls. "As a kid, I'd steal my brothers' Superman comic books to supplement my Betty and Veronica comics." A crackerjack reporter, Lois Lane also fueled Bond's teenage affinity for journalism—and served as a mentor of sorts. "I was always the high school nerd interested in reporting, and Lois was the first fictional woman I remember who was famous for her job," she says.

When she was asked about her interest in bringing Lois Lane to the YA page, Bond reports that her first question concerned the level of freedom she'd have to develop the character. "I am lucky that the team at Capstone and Warner Bros. was supportive of the vision I had for the series," she says. "In Fallout, Lois and Clark Kent have a long-distance friendship. She lands her first job in Metropolis, investigating a cyberbullying incident, and he's in Smallville, still discovering his powers."

This is the first year that Bond, who has written for Publishers Weekly and Show Daily, is attending BEA as an author rather than a reporter. "I've only been to the show with a press pass, and I'm thrilled to be here as an author," she says. "It feels like coming full circle in a way. I love connecting with other book people. And everyone seems to have a Lois Lane memory or touchstone, and it's so much fun to hear about those."

Bond signs copies of Fallout today at 3 p.m. at the Capstone booth (2929). 

This article appeared in the May 28, 2015 edition of PW BEA Show Daily.