Insect Queen (DC Comics)

Insect Queen
Lana Lang as Insect Queen. From Superboy #124 (October 1965). Art by George Papp.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Superboy #124 (Oct. 1965)
Created by	Otto Binder (writer), George Papp (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Lana Lang
Supporting character of	Superman, Superboy, Legion of Super-Heroes
Abilities	First: Bio-genetic ring grants ability to gain powers/bodies of insects/arachnids Second:Mystical scarab grants ability to gain powers of insects/arachnids

Insect Queen is the name of several fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.

The first Insect Queen was Lana Lang, Superman's romantic interest from his youth in Smallville. In Superboy #124 (Oct. 1965), Lana rescues an insect-like alien trapped under a tree. In gratitude, he gives her a bio-genetic ring that allows her to gain the powers of insects or arachnids (by giving her lower body the form of a particular bug; each form could only be gained once per day, however.) She decides to use it to develop the costumed identity of the superheroine Insect Queen. Lana does not pursue the career for long, though she did gain reserve status in the Legion of Super-Heroes (in Adventure Comics #355, April 1967).

The second Insect Queen was also Lana, but the one from the parallel universe of Earth-2. In The Superman Family #213 (1981), she as an adult receives a scarab found by her archeologist father in an Egyptian tomb, not realizing that it was magical. Possessed by it, Lana became a supervillainess called Insect Queen, with the ability to control and enlarge insects. She briefly worked with the Ultra-Humanite, while the latter's mind was housed within a gigantic ant, until she was saved by the Earth-2 Superman and his wife Lois Lane. Later, she became an occasional superhero, aiding Superman on at least one occasion. Note that in the reality changed by the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Lana never became either Insect Queen.