Brian Truitt

USA TODAY

Kelly Sue DeConnick used to rock a necklace that spelled out "LOIS" and back in the day she ran a 'zine called Lois Slain.

So writing a story centered on comic-book icon Lois Lane is right in her wheelhouse. Debuting Monday, DeConnick's chapter for the digital-first series Adventures of Superman — the title's 50th — finds the intrepid reporter with a Valentine's Day mystery gift for her super man.

Meanwhile, the story illustrated by Valentine De Landro has the Man of Steel speculating with his pals about what it could be and fretting about what to get Lois in return.

"She exists so fully in my head it wasn't like I had to bump into a bunch of walls finding her voice. I know her. I've known her since I was a kid," says DeConnick, who also writes Marvel Comics' Captain Marvel series and Image Comics' Pretty Deadly.

In writing Superman and Lois officially for the first time, DeConnick found that bits of actors Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve are in her take on the characters — the 1978 film Superman "was really important to me as a kid," the writer says. "She's also got Rosalind Russell in her DNA, though."

And Superman's partly inspired by her grandfather, DeConnick adds. "How I imagine him when he was a young man."

One of her favorite things about the dynamic between the two characters is that no matter powerful he is, "she's an equal partner," DeConnick says. "She's every bit as interesting and exciting."

She might be a better gift-giver, though. DeConnick loves the idea that part of herself might be helped by her observation skills.

While Superman seems like a guy might try too hard to get the perfect present, he says, "his heart is so big you'd forgive him for it."