Our recent discussions of Supergirl have made me want to re-read these. i'm not as good at this sort of thing as Jeff is, but I'll try my best.
We start with Volume One:
The cover art isn't bad, but I have to say that Miller isn't who i would pick to draw an Adventures of the Silver Age Supergirl book. (I mean because I don't think that his art style suits the character, not for any other reasons that you might not want to hire him.)
We begin with a foreword by Diana Schutz. I'd never heard of her, but she seems to have been an editor for Dark Horse. She talks about how she loved Supergirl when she was little, at a time when there were few good role models for little girls in superhero comics. She also mentions meeting artist Jim Mooney, and claims that she was one of the driving forces behind getting DC to publish Supergirl Archives (which would explain why she was asked to write the foreword, i suppose), and that she persuaded Miller to do the cover art. If so, good for her, I guess.
Next: Supergirl β
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Action Comics #283 (December 1961)
“The Six Red ‘K’ Perils of Supergirl!”
The Baron said:
In the Fifth Dimension, Mr. Mxyzptlk gloats over his hilarious joke, which I don’t think is really all that hysterically funny, but what do I know?
If you were from the Fifth Dimension (I’m assuming you’re not) you might find it funny.
…..and apparently have no problem leaving Linda at home alone. (I’m sure that she could take care of herself, but I always thought that there was legal issues with leaving an underage kid at home alone like that.)
She’s sixteen. Laws in different states will treat this issue differently. In many states, a sixteen-year-old has more rights (and we have no idea which state we’re talking about).
The first Red K meteor affects Linda by making her get really large and fat. (It also affects her clothes!)
It affects her clothes because of the Comics Code isotope in the Red K.
The doctor says, “The (miracle drug) Sparacolicin serum was successful! What a shame our supply was the only amount of it in existence, and the formula has just been destroyed in a fire!” Oh, come on!
This may have been bending over backwards to make Mort happy. They didn’t want Supergirl to be accused of misleading medical researchers about whether or not a drug worked.
Jeff of Earth-J said:
Mrs. Fred Danvers gets a first name: Edna. (No wonder she goes by "Mrs. Fred.")
The convention of a woman calling herself “Mrs John Smith” has generally gone out of fashion. When I worked in the voter files section of the Registrar of Voters, they would have to write letters to women who filled out a registration form in this way. They are required to use their own names, at least in California.
To be fair, it was a female werewolf. After several rewrites, it was eventually released as...
…… My Mom’s a Werewolf. I recently watched this and enjoyed it. This being a Crown International feature, I guess it was brought to my attention by you, Jeff, on the Movies thread.
Action Comics #284 (January 1962) “The Strange Bodies of Supergirl!”
Writing by Jerry Siegel
Art by Jim Mooney
1) Linda is in front of the Midvale Fair’s freak show when she grows a second head. (Side Note: You’d think that she’d stay home if she knew that unpredictable stuff was going to happen to her.) The second head is almost like a “grown-up newborn”. wanting to try everything for the first time. Fortunately, everyone thinks it’s a really convincing phony. (It’s pretty lucky that she didn’t run into anyone she knew!) The freak show manager even offers her a job! She/they stop an H-Bomb from going off in a densely populated area, and then the second head fades. It’s actually a little poignant, as the second head begs Supergirl to save her.
2)Back home, Ma and Pa Danvers have returned (No word on the inheritance!). Linda realizes that she has developed “Fatal Vision”, killing a flower, a goldfish, the Danverses, the mailman and Krypto. She goes to a distant planet, where she uses her new power to slaughter invading aliens. “Suddenly, amazingly”, she finds herself back at home, with everyone still alive. It was all a Red K-induced hallucination! I’d never heard of that happening before, but a helpful footnote says that it’s happened a couple of times.
3)While she’s interfering with the weather, Supergirl turns into a mermaid. She goes to Atlantis, where she has a rival for Jerro’s affections, a mermaid named Lenora. Jerro proposes to Supergirl, who says that she’ll think it over, rather than just saying, “You know this is only temporary, right?”, or even just “No!” Lenora flees to the Valley of Hands, which is fairly creepy, only to be rescued by Supergirl. Kara heads home, only to find that she is once again vulnerable to Green K. Superman appears and tells her about Mr. Mxyzptlk’s “joke”.
4)Cliffhanger: Superman says, “We’ve milked this long enough! Next issue, you get to go public for real!”
Overall: An OK second part. Red Kryptonite sure is wacky, though.
Next: Supergirl goes public!
"I’d never heard of that happening before, but a helpful footnote says that it’s happened a couple of times."
A reprint of "The Orphans of space" was one of my first comics, and I have always wondered where it first appeared (Superman #144).
"...a mermaid named Lenora."
...who happens to be the sister of Lori Lemaris.
"...rather than just saying, 'You know this is only temporary, right?', or even just 'No!'..."
...or "You know I'm only 16, right?" or "You know I've just been adopted, right?"... which he certainly would know because he admits, "I've been telepathically aware of your attraction for your friend on the surface works, Dick Malverne." These "Atlantides" have no boundries whatsoever.
"...the Valley of Hands, which is fairly creepy..."
"Centuries ago, we were invaded by giants from outer space! Our weapons couln't destroy them, but the giants sank into the valley's bogs, only their upraised hands remaiing in view. They'll live in that trapped state for a thousand years more!"
"While returning to the present, I overshot my mark and arrived a few days in the past! I observed Mr. Mxyzptlk secretly giving you magic super-powers."
He should not have been able to "arrive" a few days in the past because, according to the rules of DC time travel, he wouldn't have been able to materialize until his past self left the present for the future. But that's he he observed Mr. M.'s shenannigans as a phantom. That still doesn't explain the bust in the future which proclaims she was "More Powerful Than Even Superman."
These "Atlantides" have no boundries whatsoever.
A race of telepaths might very well not have any mental boundaries,
True, however Lenora does think, "Little does Jerro know how often I've shielded my thoughts so he wouldn't know how hopelessly I love him..." from which I conclude their "boundries" applies only to themselves and not each other. IOW, if you don't shield your thoughts it's your own fault if someone else reads them. And non-Atlanteans may not even have that ability, so too bad for them.
Good point.
Action Comics #285 (February 1962) “The World’s Greatest Heroine!”
Writing by Jerry Siegel
Art by Jim Mooney
1) “After all, you are the world’s greatest heroine!” I wonder how Wonder Woman felt about that?
2)We begin with Superman reiterating that he is going to announce Supergirl’s existence to the world. Soon afterwards, we see Linda riding with Ma and Pa Danvers. A bridge they’re crossing collapses, forcing Linda to use her powers to save them. As she stammers out a non-explanation, Superman arrives and lets her know that it’s OK for her to tell them who she is. She tells them her back story and Superman swears them to secrecy, like they were gonna say “no” with Superman right there. He observes as she digs a tunnel from the Danvers house just like the one Superboy had. I’m assuming that he made sure that she didn’t damage the foundation or whatever.
3)Superman interrupts every telecast on Earth to announce Supergirl’s existence, and immediately gets thousands of angry letters saying, “God damn it, you interrupted The Defenders!” It might have been more diplomatic to ask for airtime, Supes. I’m sure that every network on Earth would accommodate you if you asked for time to make a vital announcement. We see reactions from a random woman, an actress, a circus strongman, Khrushchev, some crooks and some prisoners. You have to imagine that Dick Malverne is yelling at his TV now. “So, there is a Supergirl! I bet it was Linda, too!”
4)Superman and Supergirl tour the world, meet with JFK and go to the U.N. , where she is empowered to enter and make arrests in any member country. Really? Did the Reds actually go for that?
5)She receives congratulations from the Kandorians. She also receives congratulations from to alien planets. On the planet Nyorp, they all turn themselves into duplicates of Supergirl. A planet full of me would creep me out. One of me is enough. Possibly even too many. The fire people of Mringa build a statue of her, leading Kara to fantasize that they might someday worship her as a goddess. The Atlanteans build a statue of her as a mermaid.
6)Superman takes off on a mission to the Fiftieth Century (I feel as though it’s a bit much to ask even of him to patrol all of spacetime.), leaving Supergirl to mind the Earth.
7)Cliffhanger: Not really a “cliffhanger” as such, but we are left with this question: “Will she make good on her own, while operating openly…or will she disgrace herself by failing miserably?!” The comic where she disgraced herself by failing miserably would have made for an interesting read.
Overall: An OK story, about what one would have expected. Interesting how they depicted the actual JFK and not a generic or “sitting in shadows” president that you sometimes see.
Next: “The Infinite Monster!”
Interesting how they depicted the actual JFK and not a generic or “sitting in shadows” president that you sometimes see.
Aye, Kennedy broke the mould on that tradition. Mort Weisinger was so fond of using JFK in his stories there was no way around it, really.
I discussed it in my Deck Log Entry, "Superman's Pal, President Kennedy", here:
https://captaincomics.ning.com/profiles/blogs/deck-log-entry-148-su...
Superman and Supergirl tour the world, meet with JFK and go to the U.N. , where she is empowered to enter and make arrests in any member country. Really? Did the Reds actually go for that?
Sure. Cincinnati is a hotbed of criminal activity.
Put it this way; if there were a crisis or catastrophe, would you want to prevent entry by a super hero to save the day? Or would you want Supergirl to save a critically sinking ad damaged submarine, save 30 lives, and damn the consequences?
Okay, that was the Soviets; maybe 30 lives wasn't much of a price to THEM.
4)Superman and Supergirl tour the world, meet with JFK and go to the U.N. , where she is empowered to enter and make arrests in any member country. Really? Did the Reds actually go for that?
At the time of this writing, the Allies that won WWII served as the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Any one of them had veto power over any vote. The USSR could have vetoed this, as could the US, the UK, France and the Republic of China (today’s Taiwan). Today, the defunct USSR has been replaced by Russia and the ROC/Taiwan has been pushed out by the People’s Republic of China.
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