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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"Cliffhanger: Lesla reiterates her plan to destroy Superman!"
NOTE: Lesla's "tell" in that last panel.
If I didn't expect a four-parter, I certainly didn't expect a five-parter.
"We get the results of the Hair-Style Poll."
If you tally the results of all votes cast, it's 20,477 (respectable by today's standards), but that's not total circulation, only those who voted.
You go, (Super)-girl!
Action Comics #282 (November 1961) “The Supergirl of Tomorrow!”
Writing by Jerry Siegel
Art by Jim Mooney
1)We begin with Lesla oversleeping and missing her chance to switch places with Linda. Guess they don’t have alarm clocks in Kandor.
2)Superman gives Supergirl a duplicate of a Legion time-bubble. Lesla is frustrated because her time-viewer can only see into the past, but not the future. Supergirl uses it to travel thousands of years into the future, where she has her powers back. She arrives on a future Earth which had been invaded by Mars, driving the Martians off after a hard-fought battle. She then helps some resistance fighters overthrow a tyrant called the “All-Seeing Eye”. She learns that the future people think of her as more powerful than Superman. She returns to her own time, where she loses her powers again. Well, it was nice seeing her being heroic again.
3)On a visit to the beach, Linda encounter Dick Wilson (Wow! Never expected to see him again!), who is now Dick Malverne, and seems to have grown up a bit. We see a potential romance developing between the two. During a swimming race, Linda thinks, “Even if I still had my super-powers, I wouldn’t overtake him! Men enjoy feeling superior to women!” OK.
4)That night, while she’s trying on her Supergirl costume one last time, Linda discovers that her powers have mysteriously returned. She races to tell Superman. When they encounter that month’s Green Kryptonite meteor, Superman is affected by it, and she is not.
5)In Kandor, Lesla is arrested by the KPD, who have detected her using forbidden rays. So, Supergirl never meets her enemy, who is eventually just arrested. Kind of an anticlimax, there. In prison, Luthor is frustrated because Lesla has apparently ghosted him, leaving him without the vital element he needs to complete the Kryptonite Ray.
6)Somewhat insecurely, Superman wonders if he should become Supergirl’s assistant. I’m pretty sure that your years of experience would leave you in the senior position, Clark.
7)We learn that Mr. Mxyzptlk had decided to humiliate Superman by giving a mere girl greater powers than he has. By an astonishing coincidence, he saw Linda trying on her costume and chose her.
Overall: Kind of a “nothing” wrap-up, but there were some good bits to it. I’m fine with this story finally being over.
Next: Supergirl vs. Red Kryptonite!
"We begin with Lesla oversleeping and missing her chance to switch places with Linda."
NOTE: Lesla's "tell" (page 2, panel 2). Also, Linda contemplates being "super" in the past, but "non-super" in the present, a state of affairs she describes as "bitterly ironic." (She should have been named "Alannis.")
"Supergirl uses [the time bubble] to travel thousands of years into the future..."
It's probably just as well that Jerry Siegel didn't specify whether this was before or after the 30th century LSH, because it would have undoubedly come back to bite him in the arse. As it is... alternate future, Pocket Universe, take your pick.
A bust of Superman is labeled "Super-Powerful Hero" and a bust of Supergirl "More Powerful Than Even Superman."
"She then helps some resistance fighters overthrow a tyrant called the 'All-Seeing Eye'."
The "all-Seeing Eye" who controls "The Clan of the Censors." Heady heady stuff stuff, indeed indeed for such a young audience. We can all be thankful that, here in the 21st century, we are far too sophisticated to engage in book banning and censorship.
"Dick Malverne... seems to have grown up a bit."
Yeah, he "pubered."
"During a swimming race, Linda thinks, 'Even if I still had my super-powers, I wouldn’t overtake him! Men enjoy feeling superior to women!' OK."
I thought that was fairly forward-thinking.
"So, Supergirl never meets her enemy, who is eventually just arrested."
...and probably sent to the Phantom Zone. Or maybe not since the KPD destroyed all the evidence.
"In prison, Luthor is frustrated because Lesla has apparently ghosted him"
But he is left with the knowledge of Supergirl's existance (an imposter Supergirl, but he doesn't know that).
"Kind of a 'nothing' wrap-up, but there were some good bits to it. I’m fine with this story finally being over."
Is it over, though? It ends with Supergirl being "More Powerful Than Even Superman." Even if the next story undoes that somehow and restores her original powers (instead of the magic powers granted to her by Mr. Mxyxptlk), there's still that bust of her in the far future. Or maybe time travel works in the pre-Crisis Earth-1 DCU the way it does on Dark Shadows.
Action Comics #280:
"Luthor really should be a lot more suspicious of Lesla than he seems to be here."
...and vice versa.
Luthor probably thinks he’s using her, thinking “I know how to kill a Kryptonian when the time comes” even though he’s never succeeded.
The Baron said:
Action Comics #281 (October 1961)
“The Secret of the Time-Barrier!”
The director is dressed like a caricature of a Hollywood film director. Maybe they saw footage of a Hollywood director and decided that’s how directors are supposed to dress.
….or a Bugs Bunny cartoon?
Krypto uses Superman’s “Exchange-Ray” to switch Kara and Lesla back. (So, he’s smart enough to operate this machine, but not smart enough to make sure that his master is aware that something funny is going on?)
If he’s that smart, Superman and Krypto should have a “barking code” or something to let them communicate. Not having a human voice box shouldn’t impede a creature who can understand advanced machines.
I know that he’s no Batman, but I feel as though Supes ought to be looking into this a little more than he does.
This is writer’s fiat. Superman is as clever or not-clever as the story requires.
He flies her back to the year 1692, and her powers return. She messes around for a while, inadvertently becoming the Legendary “Golden Witch”. However, when she returns to the present, her powers are gone again.
Do they try to explain why her powers are only gone in her present day?
We get the results of the Hair-Style Poll. The “Campus Cuddle-Bun” won, as we already knew.
Is it me, or does “cuddle-bun” sound naughty? Are we supposed to think that a wig can be easily restyled? Well, I guess Superman provided the wig, so it’s special.
Action Comics #282 (November 1961)
“The Supergirl of Tomorrow!”
Jeff of Earth-J said:
"We begin with Lesla oversleeping and missing her chance to switch places with Linda."
If Luthor hadn’t messed up his prison alarm clock she could have borrowed it. (of course the way Kandor/Krypton calculates time is probably different.)
"In prison, Luthor is frustrated because Lesla has apparently ghosted him"
But he is left with the knowledge of Supergirl's existance (an imposter Supergirl, but he doesn't know that).
In a few more issues this will be moot because the whole world will know about her.
"Kind of a 'nothing' wrap-up, but there were some good bits to it. I’m fine with this story finally being over."
Is it over, though? It ends with Supergirl being "More Powerful Than Even Superman." Even if the next story undoes that somehow and restores her original powers (instead of the magic powers granted to her by Mr. Mxyxptlk)
Your comment about Zor-El being Lesla’s father caused me to look at the DC Fandom Wiki summaries before I realized you were joking. She will be dealing with her Imp-induced powers for at least the next two issues.
Do they try to explain why her powers are only gone in her present day?
I think the idea is that she's only powerless when she's in range of Lesla's ray, which only exists in the present.
Action Comics #283 (December 1961) “The Six Red ‘K’ Perils of Supergirl!”
Writing by Jerry Siegel
Art by Jim Mooney
1) 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?
2)Back on Earth, Linda fantasizes about being able to tell her parents her secret. She goes on a date with Dick Malverne, who suggests that they go to the Midvale Fair the next day. This suggests that the Danverses live in or near Midvale, and since they just went on a beach picnic last issue, this suggests that Midvale is at or near the coast, unless, of course, it’s like Springfield in The Simpsons, and it’s wherever the writer needs it to be.
3)Ma and Pa Danvers are suddenly called off to Europe about an inheritance (Doubtless they have to spend a night in creepy old Uncle Vlad’s haunted castle!) 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.) Superman is off to visit the Legion in the future. (Shouldn’t he be able to return from the future immediately after he left? He should be all, “Wait here, I’ll be back in a minute?” I suspect that he was just trying to get rid of her.)
4)Supergirl is bored, so she decides to go into space to find some Kryptonite to destroy. She finds six Red K meteors, mushes them into a ball, and smashes them. She then decides to go join Dick at the fair.
5)The first Red K meteor affects Linda (So, they affect her one after the other in succession, instead of all at once? How does that work?) by making her get really large and fat. (It also affects her clothes!) She poses as a balloon until it wears off. Also, Dick Malverne does not know how binoculars work.
6)That night, she goes to the movies with Dick and overhears a director berating a horror movie writer for no longer having good ideas for new movie monsters. At that moment, she turns into a wolf-girl. Summoning her robot to take her place. She stops the writer from taking a long walk off a short pier and leaves the writer believing that he has an idea for a hot new idea. We see that the director, who has bought into this instead of saying, “Dude, even back now, a werewolf isn’t that astounding of an idea!”
7)Linda learns that Dick’s father is dangerously ill. At that moment, Supergirl shrinks to microscopic size. Taking advantage of the situation, she flies into Pa Malverne’s bloodstream and fights the bacteria herself. 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!
8)Cliffhanger: Supergirl wonders what will happen next!
Overall: An OK story. I have a feeling that the Red K was cut with a little Plotconvenienceite.
Next: Supergirl gets a head!
Ma and Pa Danvers are suddenly called off to Europe about an inheritance (Doubtless they have to spend a night in creepy old Uncle Vlad’s haunted castle!)
"And I vould have gotten avay vith it if it hadn't been for those kooky kids and dat mangy hundt!" The missing episode of "Scooby Doo and Guess Who?"
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.)
If it had been the adoption agency in the Lois and Clark adopt Kara story, that snoopy agent would have been all OVER this!
Superman is off to visit the Legion in the future.
Oh, he could've been off to a mission in another dimension too.
Shouldn’t he be able to return from the future immediately after he left? He should be all, “Wait here, I’ll be back in a minute?”
There's a law of time travel that you can't cheat like that. You have to come back to your time of departure plus exactly the duration you spent in another time. It was not a natural law; it was used to explain why the Legion couldn't call for help in a desperate situation from yesterday's Legion (who COULDN'T die since they made it to today and you can't change the past.)
...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.)
Maybe this is one of the things thst's changed in our society when I wasn't looking, but I'm surprised that this even rated a mention. There's nothing unusual in my eyes at a sixteen-year-old being left home alone. When I was a youngster, it wasn't uncommon for a twelve- or thirteen-year-old to be left alone at home. We were left with phone numbers to call if an emergency arose (and even first-graders knew to dial "O" for help, in those pre-911 days). If the folks were gone for more than a day or so, a neighbour would drop by to check on us. And none of this raised an eyebrow or sent someone grabbing for the phone to call Child Protective Services.
A sixteen-year-old alone at home wouldn't draw a second thought. (Though I'd make sure the liquor cabinet and gun boxes were locked up.)
I guess parents taught their kids to be more competent in those days.
The Baron said:
Action Comics #283 (December 1961) “The Six Red ‘K’ Perils of Supergirl!”
Superman is off to visit the Legion in the future. (Shouldn’t he be able to return from the future immediately after he left? He should be all, “Wait here, I’ll be back in a minute?”
I’m sure they considered this but:
1.They needed Superman to be out of the story temporarily
2,They didn’t want to confuse their childish readers
Whenever the splash page says, "We'll bet you'll never guess!" rest assured something implausible is about to happen.
The whole Lesla-Lar thing turned out to be a Hitchcockian MacGuffin.
Mrs. Fred Denvers gets a first name: Edna. (No wonder she goes by "Mrs. Fred.")
It will be interersting to see how (or if) this "inheritance" sub-plot plays out.
Superman really did seem as if he were blowing her off. Not only could have have returned at any time, he could have left at any time.
As soon as Jerry Seigel introduced six Red-K meteors I knew it was going to be a tow-parter.
“Dude, even back now, a werewolf isn’t that astounding of an idea!”
To be fair, it was a female werewolf. After several rewrites, it was eventually released as...
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