Storyline
Though Lois Lane was never depicted as being particularly close to either of her parents, both had the occasional appearances.
Ella Lane’s first significant appearance was in Superman: The Wedding Album, where she is shown helping Lois plan her wedding. It becomes clear that Lois is very different from her mother when they attempt to pick out wedding gowns and agree on nothing.
Ella and Lois began to become closer after the death of Sam Lane during the Our Worlds At War event.
The two traveled the world together for a time, attempting to cope with his death. After spotting Lois with Superman one night, Ella began to suspect that Lois was cheating on her husband.
This prompted her to confess to her daughter that she had cheated on Lois’s father. This stunned Lois, who had never suspected such a thing.
In an effort to convince her mother that she was not cheating on Clark and make sure that she did not suspect that her husband was secretly Superman, she, Clark, and the Martian Manhunter disguised as Superman met to reassure Ella. Their attempt worked.
When Superman: Secret Origin was created as Superman’s new “official” origin, it was revealed that Ella Lane died when Lois was still young, making the former history between the two discontinuity.
Lois tells Clark that:
“I have pictures of together, when I was young. But I don’t remember her. She’s basically a stranger to me, as sad that sounds.”
This change was presumably enacted to make Lois’s back-story more similar to that of her popular counterpart’s in Smallville.