This discussion continues directly from Supergirl Archives, Volumes One & Two.
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This discussion continues directly from Supergirl Archives, Volumes One & Two.
You need to be a member of Captain Comics to add comments!
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Before my post is questioned, notice the time stamps on the replies, above.
Option (b). According to the DC Wiki, Nim-El was Jor-El's twin brother, and appeared in a grand total of four comics: Adventure #304 "The War Between Superboy and Superman", Superman Family #192, and World of Krypton #1 & #2. The Wiki doesn't include this story in the list of his appearances. Does he actually appear, or is he only mentioned without being depicted?
Does he actually appear, or is he only mentioned without being depicted?
Nim-El is mentioned without being depicted.
ACTION COMICS #359 - "The Super-Initiation of Supergirl" by Otto Binder
I don't often mention the artist of these Supergril stories. That's because every single one of them up to this point (except the first, drawn by Al Plastino) has been drawn by Jim Mooney. That changes with Action Comics #359, however, when Kurt Schaffenberger takes over as regular artist for all of the remaining stories in this volume. Schaffenberger's style is quite similar to Mooney's, although he tends to use fewer panels per page with larger figures inside them. OTOH, it may be that the DC's house style is gravitating in that direction, because Mooney's last several stories were trending that way as well.
The story begins with Supergirl's Linda Danvers robot developing a case of writer's fiat preventing it from moving its legs. It has a broken electro-relay, but Linda doesn't have time to fix it just then. From nearby in the woods comes the sound of cruel laughter. Investigating, Linda discovers Joan Bryant tied to a tree, allowing Binder to get his bondage fetish in. She is being hazed by the secret sorority Xi-Pi-Hi-Fi (I am not making that up), but her struggles to free herself (she's on a time limit) dislodge a hornets' nest. As they begin to sting her, Linda changes to Supergirl and tries to shoo the hornets away with her arms. (Why she didn't use her super-breath I don't know.) When that doesn't work, she uproots the entire tree and flies Joan to safety. Brutal hazing and secret sororities are banned at Stanhope, but rather than reporting them to the dean, Supergirl decides to "give them a lesson."
She flies to the clubhouse where Sonya, their leader, is just about to adjourn the meeting. (They all ran away when the hornets' nest fell, so as far as they know, Joan ahs been stung to death.) Supergirl petitions to join or she will report the sorority to the dean. Sonya agrees, but asks for 24 hours to come up with some "special initiation tests." The student body already suspect that Supergirl is a student at Stanhope, so Sonjay orders Doris, who works in the dean's odffice, to get photocopies of all the girls who fit Supergirl's known profile. These records include height, weight, eye color, fingerprints and signature. Only three girls meet these criteria: Janet Berg, Yvonne Chatam and Linda Danvers.
Supergirl's first test is to write the United States Constitution, from memory, in ten seconds. But Sonya tips her hand when she adds the stiulation that "you must not disguise your handwriting! On your honor!" That clues Supergirl in to examine the papers they are holding with her super-vision. When she sees that they intend to complare handwriting samples, she writes out the Constitution in shorthand ("a genuine form of writing"), and thereby squeaks by the first test.
Her second test is to squeeze a lump of coal into a diamond the size of a baseball. Supergirl complies, but stipulates they cannot keep the diamond because she will not use her powers to make anyone rich. after creating a 150 carat diamond, Sonya instructs her to "place it carefully on this velvet cloth, so we can... er... look at it for a while." (Sonya must be as horrible a poker player as she is a human being.) Again suspicious, Supergirl uses her heat vision to fuse an overhead light fixture and smooth it into a mirror. In the reflection, she sees that Sonya and her friends are dusting the diamond for fingerprints. Before they are finished, however, Supergirl forms another piece of coal into a "diamond 'needle' as thin as an invisible wire," which she then rubs in coal dust and uses to alter the record of Linda's fingerprints. Then she gets rid of the diamonds she made. Sonya notices that Linda's prints have been altered and is now convinced that Linda is Supergirl, but she cannot prove it.
For her third initiation stunt, Sonya tasks Supergirl with finding Linda Danvers and flying her around campus three times while we watch. (If anyone other than Otto Binder had written that "while we watch" line I wouldn't have though anything of it.) Supergirl flies to the robot's hollow tree despite the fact it still is afflicted with writer's fiat and cannot move it's legs. (Personally, I don't see why that's a problem to be carried around campus, but it is.) Supergirl sees a girl studying in the woods nearby and sends some intructions to her robot via super-ventriloquism.
Soon, Supergirl is seen flying over campus, apparently looking for Linda. Sonya is confident that Supergirl won't find her because they are one and the same. Suddenly, "Linda" appears, supergirl swoops down and they greet each other as old friends. Explaining that she wants to "practice a new kind of flying maneuver while carrying a load," supergirl picks up "Linda" and advises her to "just hang on and enjoy the trip!" (And again, if this visual were crafted by any writer other than Binder, I wouldn't question it.) "How has supergirl pulled this amazing deception without her Linda robot?" the narrator wants to know. (this is the only appearance he makes during this story so I'll accept it.)
Later, Supergirl reveals (to readers) that she instructed the robot to super-hypnotize the girl who was studying, which it accomplished by opening the dorr to the tree and twirling its necklace. After hypnotizing the girl to be Linda, the robot gave her its Linda wig. "In her trance," we are told, "she immitated Linda's voice, thus furthering the illusion," which... wha--?
Now Supergirl is a member of the Xi-Pi-Hi-Fi sorority and joins them at their cookout, which she essentially ruins through a series of super-stunts. "I get it!" says Sonya, admitting defeat. "You're joining our group so you can spoil our kicks with your super-powers from now on! Okay! I can't fight Supergirl! The Xi-Pi-Hi-Fi secret sorority is hereby disbanded!" Fine, but why did Supergirl have to join the sorority to "spoil their kicks"? And how is this outcome any different from reporting them to the dean? Well, the sorority girls did apologize to Joan give her a necklace with a gold hornet charm, so... yay?
Jeff of Earth-J said:
ACTION COMICS #359"The Super-Initiation of Supergirl" by Otto Binder
In the first panel after the “splash panel,” a nameless student says: “They say Supergirl is secretly one of the girl students here at Stanhope.” (I guess that narrows it down.)
The story begins with Supergirl's Linda Danvers robot developing a case of writer's fiat preventing it from moving its legs. It has a broken electro-relay, but Linda doesn't have time to fix it just then.
She doesn’t have time to fix the relay, but she has all the time in the world to deal with the sorority problems. The robot has a dress identical to Linda’s. Is this because Linda intended to use the robot and wanted them to match?
She is being hazed by the secret sorority Xi-Pi-Hi-Fi (I am not making that up)
Since it’s a “secret” sorority, they probably made up this name to show their disrespect.
(They all ran away when the hornets' nest fell, so as far as they know, Joan has been stung to death.)
Unlike bees, who die when they sting once, each individual hornet (and wasp) can sting multiple times (in case someone reading this didn’t know).
The student body already suspects that Supergirl is a student at Stanhope, so Sonja orders Doris, who works in the dean's office, to get photocopies of all the girls who fit Supergirl's known profile. These records include height, weight, eye color, fingerprints and signature. Only three girls meet these criteria: Janet Berg, Yvonne Chatam and Linda Danvers.
The three were selected because they have the same height, weight and eye color as Supergirl. (Another reason not to make everything in her life a matter of public record.) It’s a little hard to believe that only three girls in the entire college were 5’5”. 110 lbs and had blue eyes.
Her second test is to squeeze a lump of coal into a diamond the size of a baseball.
Like all of the super-squeezed diamonds in these stories, it’s not a raw diamond but one with carved facets.
Soon, Supergirl is seen flying over campus, apparently looking for Linda. Sonya is confident that Supergirl won't find her because they are one and the same. Suddenly, "Linda" appears, Supergirl swoops down and they greet each other as old friends.
Since they meet while “Linda” is walking, that explains why she couldn’t use the robot.
Later, Supergirl reveals (to readers) that she instructed the robot to super-hypnotize the girl who was studying, which it accomplished by opening the door to the tree and twirling its necklace. After hypnotizing the girl to be Linda, the robot gave her its Linda wig.
The hypnotized girl needed the Linda wig, but I was surprised that the robot was as bald as Lex Luthor. I expected to see Supergirl’s blonde hair when it removed the wig.
Well, the sorority girls did apologize to Joan give her a necklace with a gold hornet charm, so... yay?
Suddenly, Joan has brown hair when she had red hair at the time of her hazing. Horrifyingly, Linda says “Like thrillsville, Joan.”
The three were selected because they have the same height, weight and eye color as Supergirl.
But not hair color (otherwise thed've been looking only for blondes). Was this because they anticipated Supergirl's alter ego might be wearing a wig, or because young women that age often change their hair color? (Or was it writer's fiat?) But they didn't anticipate contact lenses. (Did colored contact lenses exist in 1968?)
Since they meet while “Linda” is walking, that explains why she couldn’t use the robot.
As far as using the robot is concerned, that obstacle is not insurmountable. Consider this...
SUPERGIRL (SAYS): "Look, Sonya! I found Linda in the woods!"
SUPERGIRL (THINKS): "And that's not a lie, since the hollow tree is in the woods!"
Suddenly, Joan has brown hair when she had red hair at the time of her hazing.
Huh. I guess college girls really do often change their hair color.
Horrifyingly, Linda says “Like thrillsville, Joan.”
Oh, just wait until #361!
The part that horrified me was that it was Linda who said it!
ACTION COMICS #360:
ACTION COMICS #361 - "Supergirl's Super-Date" by Otto Binder
This story uses computer dating as a springboard... not the internet, of course, but the kind of "computer dating" in which boys and girls fill out information cards and are matched by computer. When I was in college this was still a thing, but one of my psychology classes showed this method was no more effective than random chance (for a variety of reasons which we need not go into here). Dig some of the crazy hip talk as the kids wait in line...
"They say that brain-box matches the right cats with each other!"
"You're my date, chick!"
"Fab! Let's have a ball!"
"Hope I get a swingin' bird! I'm a switched on mod-man!"
... which are words no one has ever stung together in a sentence before or since. In fact, I'd be willing to be that tthe "switched on mod-man" has never had a date in his life.
Linda fills out a questionaire, but Supergirl has also agreed to appear as a "publicity bit."One of the programmers feeds her stats into the computer ("Hmm... blonde and way-0ut... has super-powers... and does a super-go-go dance!") which returns the result: "Undateable." (Obviously the "brain-box" confused Supergirl's profile with mod-man's.) Linda, however, is matched with Duane Todd, who takes her out to the "Dine & Diskothrque" where they play groovy "raga rock." (No, I have no idea what that is, either.) He drops hints that Linda is Supergirl, "But that's ridic!" she tinks. "He can't be hip that I'm Supergirl!" Later, he appears to read her menu (the waitress brought only one) through the back as if using x-ray vision. Or maybe he's reading his order off the menua at the next table... but he'd still need sharp eyessight to do that. Or maybe he's been there before and knows what he wants! His order (a mod-burger and some fab French fies) wasn't all that complicated. The tip he leaves is some sort of coin, "twice as heavy as Earthly coins," with a "sort of space design" on it.
Later, driving back over a lttle-used road, a tree has fallen across a small bridge, and he moves it as if with super-strength. Dropping her off at Stanhope, Duane says some words to Linda in Kryptonese: "By the Fire Falls, you are lovely." the next day, Duane joins Linda in the school cafeteria. She notices that his gelatin has meted. She offers to get him more but he refuses the offer. By the time she returns with hers, he is enjoying "crisp, cool Jello" which she assumes he chilled with a blast of super-breath and accepts that as firther "proof" that he is from Krypton or some other world and has super-powers. That night, Duane takes Linda to see "Feats of the Girl of Steel" at the cinema (which he describes as a "cartoon" for some reason, whereas is obviously a film).
The film depicts Supergirl using her indestructible, stretchable cape to shelter an outdoor dance from a cloudburst, but Duane suggests an alternate way she could have done it which would have saved "the rest of the campus [from getting] soggy with mud!" His idea was for Supergirl to have spun herself like a human fan in order to blow the rain clouds away. "It's a clever feat to think up!" Linda admits to herself. "He sounds like he's had experience using super-powers!" He won't be able to meet her the next day because of his part-time job delivering pizzas. Supergirl sneaks a look at his delivery list and decides she will set a "trap" to reveal his identity. She waits in a pit at a nearby construction site she knows he will pass along with a piece of fake Kryptonite. If he avopid the Kryptonite while helping her climb out of the sheer-sided pit, that will "prove" he's from Krypton. He uses his delivery bike and a rope to pull her up, but I'm not sure that really "proves" anything.
In gratitude, the throws the rest of the pizzas to their delivery addresses, but I cannot guarantee in what condition they arrived. "But I want to do more to repay you!" she coos. "How'd you like to opportunity to date me?" (Supergirl has the idea that it will be easier to prove her theory that Duane has super-powers if she dates him as Supergirl.) But he turns her down cold, saying, "Opportunity? You're pretty conceited, baby! I already have a date with Linda Danvers, and I prefer her to you any day!" The next day, Linda pretends to be conceited in hope that Duane will dump her for Supergirl. While ice skating, she falls through thin ice but Duane cannot swim and she has to save herself (by disloging a log caught on the bottom). Later, Duane admits that he thought she was Supergirl (why, I have no idea) and faked his "superpowers" to get her to admit hers.
For example, he memorized the menu (no surprise there), and the coin he used was a piece of "Supermanium" from his father's metallurgy shop. The "log" he threw off the bridge was made of papier mache, he learned a few words of Kryptonese at the superman Museum in Metropolis, and he "re-chilled" his dessert with a pellet of dry ice. When he helped her out of the pit, he was simply trying to avoid the mud. "You see," he explains, "even when Supergirl caught on that I was faking super-powers, I figured she'd think I was a real brain to fool her for a while! then she'd agree to be my steady!"
Needless to say, Duane and Linda stop dating and, in a typically sexist ending, when he "tries his luck with the computer once more" it matches him up with a real dog.
"The three were selected because they have the same height, weight and eye color as Supergirl. (Another reason not to make everything in her life a matter of public record.) It’s a little hard to believe that only three girls in the entire college were 5’5”. 110 lbs and had blue eyes."
I had to laugh at that.
Remember how, back in the 1980s, DC Comics published a multi-volume comic book series of biographies of its characters? These included physical characteristics, and I'd swear that 70% of the characters had black hair and 90% had blue eyes, including all of the most important ones, like Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman and Lois Lane. Yes, there were some with brown, blonde, white or red hair, but usually with the blue eyes anyway. Mind you, this includes alien species from all over the galaxy in computing those percentages.
I'm not sure that any editor laid that down as a rule, but those probably worked best with four-color printing, and the artists just went with that, even if it wasn't representative of the readership.
In my comics-reading days, it's a good thing that I didn't notice. As a brown haired, green-eyed kid, I'd have felt left out.
Sheesh, that board game. Supergirl loses her powers and you go back one. But Linda gets fat? Lose a whole damn turn.