It’s not just you. That does appear to be Lois Lane about to whip a bound Superman. And it looks like that because it was drawn by Superman’s creator, Joe Shuster.
Everybody knows the story of how DC Comics fucked Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel out of all the profits from their massive contribution to American pop culture, but did you know that Shuster made ends meet in the 50s by drawing fetish art? I sure as hell didn’t. And from the looks of it, more than some of the illustrations resemble his most famous creations. Was this a coincidence, a part of the Shuster style? Or was Shuster working out some issues of his own?
There’s a book out now that explores this side of Shuster’s career: Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-Creator Joe Shuster. You can order a copy of the book from CHUD by clicking here. I’m really curious to check this out.