LOIS meet Clark. Clark meet the new Lois.

Sultry, hard-as-nails reporter-to-be Lois Lane will pay a visit to The WB’s "Smallville" this fall as a college freshman who has no interest in journalism - yet.

"Of all the different female leads in comics, Lois Lane was always my favorite because she was so involved," actress Erica Durance told The Post yesterday between takes on her first day playing Lane on "Smallville."

"She was always so involved in everything going on - she’s a go-getter, she was really in there, quite tough and kind of a hero in her own right."

Durance, 26, admits that when she was growing up in her true-life Smallville-type town of Three Hills, Alberta - "population 3,541," she says - she regularly read "Superman" and "Archie" comic books.

"I know that Superman was the one who did all the big stuff, but Lois Lane was always in there, she wasn’t just this female waiting for someone to help her - at least that’s the impression that I always got," she says.

As a kid, Durance already had something in common with Lois: "I saw all the ’Superman’ movies and I was in love with [’Superman’ star] Christopher Reeve," she says.

Durance will appear as Lois on several episodes of "Smallville" next season and could return in future episodes.

Durance guest-starred on a few shows like "Andromeda" and "Tru Calling," but never as such an important character - who’s become a part of pop-culture mythology.

"I feel very lucky, very grateful and very excited," she says. "But I know that if I get caught up in what this means to everybody else outside, then I won’t be able to focus on enjoying the actual work."

"Smallville" is one of The WB’s most popular shows, averaging about 5.6 million viewers each week. It follows the adventures of a super-powered, teenaged Clark Kent (Tom Welling) before he becomes Superman.

Among the show’s fans is former "Superman" actor Reeve, who has had a recurring role on "Smallville" as a brainy scientist who has been studying Clark’s destroyed homeworld, Krypton.