The Super-Men (and -Women) of All-Planets

[Jim Kelly]

SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN 51 (March 1961)--2nd story, "The Girl with Green Hair" by Binder, Swan and Forte; cover art by Swan and Kaye:



Once again Lucy Lane gives Olsen the cold shoulder after meeting her latest crush on an intercontinental flight--Lucy being a stewardess and all that. This time it's chart topping crooner, Ricky Avalon. When they arrive at the airport Lucy drives off with the teen heart-throb, ignoring the red-headed reporter, who follows in his own broke-down auto.

But hovering above the highway, they see a flying saucer and, as it lands, a green-haired girl springs forth. The amiable alien claims to have come from another solar system and learned their language on the way. She wants to take in the sights and needs the handsome Earthboy to show her around. She doesn't mean Avalon; she means Olsen.

Jimmy is taken with the green-haired girl, who has many super-powers. She says everyone on her planet has such powers. Her name: Ka-Ra--for in reality she is Kara from Krypton. Her ruse is intended to make Lucy jealous, so the blonde will stay true to Olsen.



Ka-Ra pursues Jimmy to the point of suggesting they could share a life together. Maybe Linda Lee's interest in Jimmy isn't completely altruistic.



Note: "The Girl with Green Hair" likely is meant as a nod to the 1948 movie, THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR. The directorial debut of Joseph Losey, the movie featured a young Dean Stockwell in the title role, playing a war orphan. Requiescat in Pace Al.

[Jim Kelly]

ACTION COMICS 278 (July 1961)--1st story, "The Super Powers of Perry White" by Coleman, Swan and Kaye; r. SUPERMAN 227 [G-72] (June-July 1970):

After eating the fruit from an unknown plant in his garden, Perry White develops super-powers. He creates a costume and calls himself Masterman. Unlike the Caped Kryptonian, he's invulnerable to green K.



However a plant intelligence soon takes possession of White's body. This is Xasnu, who reports to Y'Trom on the homeworld of Zelm.



The Man of Steel attempts to defeat the body snatcher, going to the lengths of hypnotizing himself into feeling no pain from Kryptonite. When the Action Ace fails, Supergirl succeeds in driving out Xasnu by using white Kryptonite which is lethal to all plants.



Note: His cousin's heroism impresses him so much that Kal-El is determined to let the world know about Supergirl . . . very soon! Which is a long story, to be covered . . . soon.

[Jim Kelly]

ACTION COMICS--all stories by Siegel and Mooney
278 (July 1961)--2nd story, "The Unknown Supergirl"
279 (August 1961)--2nd story, "Supergirl's Secret Enemy"
280 (September 1961)--2nd story, "Trapped in Kandor"
281 (October1961)--2nd story, "The Secret of the Time Barrier"
282 (November 1961)--2nd story, "The Supergirl of Tomorrow"
283 (December 1961)--2nd story, "The Six Red 'K' Perils"
284 (January 1962)--2nd story, "The Strange Bodies of Supergirl"
285 (February 1962)--1st & 2nd story, "The World's Greatest Heroine" & "The Infinite Monster"; cover art by Swan and Klein:

The Supergirl stories from ACTION COMICS 278 through 285 are all one arc by Siegel and Mooney. An abridged version is collected (with ACTION 281 and 282 mostly missing) in ACTION COMICS 360 (March-April 1968)--80 pg. Giant G-45--advertised on the cover as "A Comic First! A Complete Book-Length Novel!"; with cover art by Curt Swan and George Klein.



Warning: Some alterations were made to the stories in that collection and it seems that subsequent reprints have used those altered panels rather than the work as it originally appeared!

[Jim Kelly]

In issue 278's "The Unknown Supergirl," Kara mysteriously loses her powers. As issue 279's "Supergirl's Secret Enemy" reveals, this is all a plot by Lesla-Lar, a scientist in Kandor--it is she who has de-powered the Girl of Steel with a ray she invented.

Because Linda is no longer Supergirl, there's no reason for her not to be adopted. Fred Danvers and his wife take in Linda--just as Kara's biological mother hasn't got a name (as yet), neither does Linda's adoptive mother. Fred has a creepy fascination with his new daughter's hair and insists she should change it; to please him, Linda styles her wig in the Campus Cuddle-Bun that got the most votes from readers (to be shown in issue 281).





Streaky goes with Linda to their new home, but like her the pussy-cat is powerless. Neither Streaky nor Linda realize that the source of the Super-Cat's powers--the X-Kryptonite inside a ball of string--remains in the cellar at the Midvale Orphanage.

Lesla-Lar is able to exchange bodies with Linda Lee Danvers, with Linda believing she is Lesla-Lar inside Kandor, while Lesla-Lar reveals herself as "Supergirl" to Lex Luthor and aids him in his crimes.

[Jim Kelly]

In 280's "Trapped in Kandor," Linda as Lesla-Lar goes to a Kandorian movie theatre where a newsreel shows the origins of Superman and Supergirl. In this account, the name of her birthplace is finally given as Argo City. Meanwhile, Lesla-Lar as Linda hoaxes Superman into believing his cousin has regained her powers.



ACTION COMICS 281 (October1961) has the results of the readers' votes for the different wig designs. It wasn't even close. The Campus Cuddle-Bun was the winner with 10,112 votes. In second place, Pony-Tail Sophisticate was well behind with only 5,442 votes.



"The Secret of the Time Barrier" in this issue has the Man of Steel take the fake Supergirl to the Fortress of Solitude. While the Action Ace is in another room, Krypto realizes that this is not the Girl of Steel and that Kara is actually in the bottle city of Kandor. At that moment, Linda as Lesla-Lar has been cast as Supergirl for a Kryptonian science fiction movie.

Krypto uses the Exchange Ray to switch their places, so Lesla-Lar goes back in the bottle and Linda returns to the outer world. Although the Super-Dog knows what happened, neither Supergirl nor Superman are aware that Lesla-Lar had taken her place. If only there were some way for the Canine of Steel to communicate with these stupid humans.



As it's the actual Linda again, she has no super-powers, so they're back to square one. However, when the Action Ace takes his cousin into the distant past, they discover that her powers return. She still just doesn't have powers in the present.

[Jim Kelly]

Likewise in the next issue, "The Supergirl of Tomorrow," when Linda takes a time bubble several thousand years into the future, her powers return.



There she finds that the Earth has repelled a Martian invasion, but giant birds from Mars called Angark were left behind. Other animals on Earth have been changed into strange creatures by the Martian evolution-bombs. There's a bust of Supergirl that proclaims her "More Powerful Than Even Superman."



Gizmak-Ral and his underground fighters called the Unconquerables are in resistance to the new regime in power, the Clan of Censors, led by the All-Seeing Eye. The Clan have ordered that all books be banned, so people will not learn about freedom. With Supergirl's help, the Unconquerables overthrow the All-Seeing Eye.

[Jim Kelly]

Back in the present, Linda goes to the beach with her new parents where she sees a boy she knows from the orphanage: Dick Wilson--now having grown a bit. He has also been adopted and his new name is Dick Malverne.

At the beach, Linda roasts hot dogs on a barbeque and goes for a swim with that Malverne boy. Dick is surprised Linda can roast weenies. Linda believes men enjoy feeling superior to women.



Later that same day, Linda plans to throw her Supergirl costume down a well, but puts it on one last time for the memories. But then she realizes her powers are back. Not only that but she's now immune to Kryptonite. She is more powerful than even Superman.

Meanwhile, in Kandor, Lesla-Lar is arrested by the police. And Lex Luthor is left to stew in prison, not knowing that his Supergirl accomplice is never coming back

What no one knows is that Mr. Mxyzptlk gave Linda super-powers and immunity to Kryptonite, purely on a lark not knowing that the girl in the super costume had actually been a Supergirl.

[Jim Kelly]

SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN 57 (December 1961)--1st story, "Jimmy Olsen Marries Supergirl" by Siegel, Swan and Kaye; r. ACTION COMICS 351 (June 1967) - 352 (July 1967); cover art by Swan and Kaye:



As events head toward a conclusion in ACTION, over in JIMMY OLSEN's mag, a what-if story supposes what could happen if Jimmy and Linda were to marry. This is set in a possible future, but it has to be in an immediate future, given Linda has her new haircut and is adopted by the Danvers, but she's not yet been revealed to the world.

Red K. makes Linda lose her powers and forget she is Supergirl. She falls for Jimmy and marries him. When she gets back her powers and memory, she conspires to make her husband fall in love with the Girl of Steel--even though this would mean he was cheating on his wife.



Jimmy encounters Supergirl for the first time (because he didn't believe she existed when he met her previously) and falls for her.

The Maid of Might takes Jimmy to another planet where a green giant uses him like a yo-yo



Olsen is torn because he loves two women, but Linda is happy because she made him fall in love with Supergirl and cheat on her.

[Jim Kelly]

SUPERMAN 150 (January 1962)--1st story, "The One Minute of Doom" by Siegel and Plastino; r. BEST OF DC [Blue Ribbon Digest] 59 (April 1985):

In this story, the Greatest Super-Dog in the Universe, Krypto, erects his Doghouse of Solitude somewhere in outer space. This will be shown in many subsequent stories.



But the Dog Knight of Steel must leave his newly established headquarters to join Kara Zor-El and Kal-El at the Fortress of Solitude on Earth. There they stand in front of the bottle city of Kandor and pause for one minute of silence.

This is their memorial day, the anniversary of Krypton's destruction. Along with the people in Kandor and even those in the Phantom Zone, they all reflect on the tragic death of their home planet.



Overcome with grief, this memorial doesn't seem enough for the Man of Steel. In another solar system, the trio of Caped Kryptonians find a planet that resembles Krypton. There, according to Clark's photographic memory, they erect "an exact duplicate of Krypton, down to the slightest detail!"

They then populate the planet with android duplicates of Kryptonians--including copies of Jor-El, Lara, Zor-El and his still nameless wife. The Super-Family make a pact to return to this planet on every Krypton memorial day.

[Jim Kelly]

Returning to the perils of Linda Lee Danvers.

In "The Six Red 'K' Perils" (ACTION COMICS 283), believing herself immune to all forms of Kryptonite, the Action Amiga destroys a swarm of six red K. meteoroids in outer space, so they will not harm Superman or Krypto.

However, Mxyzptlk only made Linda immune to the green stuff. Thus Supergirl suffers six different effects of the red rocks, each in turn. First she becomes the size of a blimp, then a wolfgirl, then she is an incredible shrinking woman.



Shrunk down to microscopic size, Supergirl saves the life of Dick Malverne's father, when Mr. Malverne is dying from a rare ailment. Inside his bloodstream, the Maid of Might subdues the germs infecting the Malverne patriarch.

[Jim Kelly]

Two heads are better than one

In the following issue, Linda suffers three more body altering transformations beginning with growing a second head. Everything is new to the second head, so Linda has to explain it all to her other head. When the second head fades away, Linda is sad to see her go, since she was like a sister to her.







Next, the Danvers girl finds she has fatal vision. She kills every living thing with just a look. But this turns out to be a red K. induced hallucination.

Finally, Linda becomes a Super-Mermaid. This suits her as she has a crush on Jerro the Merboy and goes to Atlantis to show off her new tail for this sometime boy friend. There she meets Lenora, the younger sister of Lori Lemaris. Lenora is in love with Jerro, but he's not into her, because he wants to marry Super-Mermaid. Lenora is distraught and swims into the valley of hands, before being rescued by her rival.

When, Supergirl loses her fishtail, she returns to the surface world, but Mxy's magic has worn off and, although she retains her super-powers, she is no longer immune to green K.

[Jim Kelly]

The cover for ACTION COMICS 285 has the names of the cover artists--Curt Swan and George Klein--hiding in the background. For some strange reason I haven't been able to find out, later reprints of that cover have replaced Supergirl's original head with a different head--mainly it's the hairstyle that's changed.



The whole of ACTION 285 is dedicated to Supergirl's coming out to the world and to the universe.

The Super-Cousins plan to reveal the truth to the Danvers first. Mrs. Danvers is given a first name and it's Enid. Linda is forced to come out to her parents ahead of schedule, when the old bridge gives way as their car passes over it, and their daughter must save them.

Linda Lee Danvers alias Supergirl gives her folks the latest version of her origin story.

Next, from their Arctic Fortress, the Man and Girl of Steel break in to all broadcasts around the world (probably against many international laws) to air their propaganda video about Supergirl. They then take a round the world tour so the public can stare up at them in awe.



They go to the White House, in Washington, D.C., to meet President Kennedy and then to the United Nations building, in New York City, to present the Maid of Might to the General Assembly. Of course, Kandor (but presumably not Lesla-Lar) approves, even if Kara Zor-El is from another city.

And the Caped Kryptonians use their telescopic vision to witness the celebrations on other worlds, including the duplication population on Nyorp and the Flame-People on Mringa.



Note: Not only is the cover altered for modern reprints, they also use the altered panels from ACTION COMICS 360. So, for example, when Linda recounts her origin to the Danvers, in the original Argo City still has an air pocket, while in the Giant reprint that's changed to a plastic dome. Check your ACTION COMICS 80 YEARS OF SUPERMAN: THE DELUXE EDITION (2018)--that reprint is wrong!

[Jim Kelly]

In the next part, when the Man of Tomorrow is away on a mission in the 50th century, the Action Amiga must step in to handle the Infinite Monster. On account of a rip in space, the Infinite Monster drops down onto Earth--but because the giant is so big, only its scaly, red legs appear through the space warp.



The Girl of Tomorrow sends a capsule through time to the Legion of Super-Heroes, asking them to send her something that will defeat the Infinite Monster. When Brainiac 5 reads the message, he reminds the other Legionnaires that he fell in love with Kara when they first met. With Brainy's help from the future, Supergirl is able to construct a device that shrinks down the Infinite Monster so she can put him in a bottle and keep him as a trophy.



As the Legion observe Supergirl with their time viewer, Cosmic Boy notes it's time to reveal the lettering on their bust of Supergirl, which has been hidden with a lead plate so the Girl of Steel could not read it. The inscription says:

YEAR OF
SUPERGIRL'S
ARRIVAL ON
EARTH
1959

YEAR SUPERGIRL'S
EXISTENCE WAS
REVEALED ON
EARTH
1962



When Superman returns from his time trip, he dedicates a whole wing of the Fortress to Supergirl as her annex.

Note: They don't show the reverse side of the Legion's bust of Supergirl--I wonder if it said:

YEAR OF SUPERGIRL'S
DEATH IN CRISIS
ON INFINITE
EARTHS
1985

I pity the poor Infinite Monster. It seems like it just accidentally fell through a hole in space and had no way to get out of the hole. Now it's trapped in a bottle--as a mere trophy for some girl's vanity.

[Jim Kelly]

Laws of Robotics

ACTION COMICS 286 (March 1962)--2nd story, "The Death of Luthor" by Siegel and Mooney; r. ACTION COMICS 355 (October 1967)
SUPERMAN 152 (April 1962)--1st story, "The Robot Master" by Siegel, Swan and Klein
ACTION COMICS 287 (April 1962)--2nd story, "Supergirl's Greatest Challenge" by Siegel and Mooney; r. ACTION COMICS 373 [G-57 ](March-April 1969)
ACTION COMICS 289 (June 1962)--2nd story, "Superman’s Super-Courtship" by Siegel and Mooney; r. ADVENTURE COMICS 390 [G-69] (March-April 1970)
SUPERMAN 155 (August 1962)--1st story, "Superman Under a Green Sun"/"The Blind Superman" by Finger, Boring and Kaye:
ACTION COMICS 292 (September 1962)--1st story, "When Superman Defended His Arch Enemy" by Hamilton(?) and Plastino
SUPERMAN 157 (November 1962)--"Superman's Day Of Doom" by Siegel, Swan and Klein.
ACTION COMICS 294 (November 1962)--1st story, "The Kryptonite Killer" by Hamilton and Plastino
ACTION COMICS 299 (April 1963)--1st story, "The Story of Superman's Experimental Robots" by Siegel and Plastino

The Girl from Argo City must collect isotopes to reverse "The Death of Luthor." One isotope is in another galaxy, on a planet with a crystalized atmosphere. Guarding the planet is a rocket ship manned by robot soldiers left over from the space war that transmuted the atmosphere to crystal. By flipping a switch, Kara Zor-El restores the planet to its natural state.

[Jim Kelly]

One day at the Daily Planet, Clark Kent encounters four robot duplicates of himself, Lois, Jimmy and Perry. They tell the Man of Steel that they were created by "The Robot Master," whose identity is a mystery.

Kal-El contacts his cousin by super-ventriloquism. In the Danvers home, Linda can hear his voice, but her parents seem oblivious. Joining him as Supergirl, the two fly with the robots to the Fortress of Solitude.



After seeing the rooms dedicated to their biological counterparts, the Perry, Jimmy and Lois robots fight amongst themselves over which one Superman loves more, until they are reduced to a pile of junk.

Only the Clark Kent robot remains functioning. And as the Super-Cousins go to bed in the Fortress, this robot prepares for a special surprise. Awakened by alarm bells, the Caped Kryptonians discover "Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy and Sun Boy--they're the Robot Master!"





They have travelled in a Time Bubble from the future to celebrate the anniversary of Supergirl's arrival on Earth.