Back Issue Box: Superman #123 -

I continue to figure out what to cover on this site with a complete dearth of Supergirl material to bolster new input. 

I sometimes am amazed at issues I haven't covered on this site despite this place being around for 12 years. One of those issues is Superman #123, the first appearance of a version of Supergirl. Here we met Super-Girl (notice the hyphen). 

It has always been said that this issue was a sort of trial run for Kara. But I wish some of the folks responsible were alive to discuss this more. 

Was there a discussion where it was said 'we should make a Supergirl but before we bring one into the universe, let's give a dry run to see how people like it'. Was there a discussion where they said 'if there is a big response we should consider making a Supergirl'? Or did they simply read the responses to this one-off character and say 'we should create one'? I know these are minor differences but I wish I could pick the brains of the creators to see if they remembered. This issue was released in June of 1958. Action Comics #252 came out in March of 1959. So we are 9 months away from our Supergirl.

I also wish I could find the letter column covering this issue to see what the letters were like to see if there was a feel about the fans' take from there.

I do wonder if the 'feel' of this story defined how Kara Zor-El would be treated in her own stories. If this was wildly popular, the writers might have decided to continue the relationship we see here between Super-Girl and Supergirl.

Lastly, I am presenting this from my copy of Supergirl Archives Vol. 1. If you see this in reprint form in other comics, they usually color Super-Girl's costume as green and orange and make her a redhead. It differentiates her from Kara and makes it less confusing. But in the original coloring (as presented here) she is in the red and blue. 

On to the story.

This is a three part story but I'll only be covering Chapter 1, The Girl of Steel.

The story is written by Otto Binder, who also wrote Action Comics #252 and Kara's first appearance. He also created and wrote Mary Marvel so certainly someone like Kara would be right in his wheel house.

But what I love here is that the art is done by Dick Sprang. I usually associate Sprang with Batman. So seeing his angular noses and brash style here in Superman is a treat.

The cover, a nice image of Superman teaming up with Super-Girl for a rescue, is done by Curt Swan.

Of course as this is Super-Girl. She isn't Superman's cousin so Lois can worry that Superman is gearing up to marry her.

We start with Superman helping with a tropical storm/flood of some sort. While he is making a giant raft to help clear out citizens, Lois and Jimmy look on in a helicopter.

For some reason, Lois thinks she needs to be closer to the action. So she jumps out of the helicopter to parachute to the surface. There are too many things wrong with that statement to parse out. But to make matters worse, her parachute doesn't open forcing a rescue.

As he cradles Lois in his arm, Superman says that only a 'Super-Girl' could keep up with him.

Later, as is classic in the Silver Age, Jimmy is given a magic totem that will grant three wishes.

Jimmy being Jimmy, he decided to use the wishes to help his friend Superman instead of helping himself.

And his first wish is to create a Super-Girl so Superman could have a companion. 

What a guy that Jimmy is!

Sure enough, the totem works and a Supergirl appears!

Her first act is to save a plane. 

When Superman sees her, he wonders if he is dreaming. That is close enough to the classic 'It must be an illusion' on Action Comics #252 for me to wonder if this was a dry run.

Here is that same panel as done in reprints with the orange/green outfit.

Thrilled to have a new friend, Superman immediately brings her to the Planet to meet his friends.

Jimmy is floored by Super-Girl ... who looks more like a Super-Woman. 

And, of course, Lois is jealous that Superman suddenly has someone powered like him who he could then court and marry without the fears of enemy retribution.

She is rather striking, isn't she.

Unfortunately, she doesn't really know how to use her powers yet. 

She accidentally blows the roof of a building. Her she explodes a safe. She later head butts Superman as they both try to save a falling elevator. It's almost like she needs to be thrown in an orphanage to hone her powers before being able to act publicly. 

And, of course, Superman chastises her and makes her cry.

Can you see how some of the feeling of this evokes those early Action Comics stories with Kara where she is worried about being exiled into space by Superman?

And then Super-Girl calls Clark 'Superman' in front of Lois.

Super-Girl is actually a Super-Nuisance.

Superman is so finished with Super-Girl's "help" that he tells her to never come around him anymore.

Ouch ... 

But once again, it has the feel of those 'you have to be my secret weapon/never show your powers/I'm upset with you Kara' themes of early Supergirl stories.

I really like Dick Sprang's Lois for some reason.

Despite being admonished, Super-Girl does indeed help Superman. She removes a Kryptonite meteor which is putting his life in peril as he tries to save an out of control train.

Initially she says she is immune to Kryptonite having been created magically. But it turns out it is a lie. Jimmy's wish was for a complete copy of a Kryptonian for Superman. So this Super-Girl is susceptible to Green K.

But nobly, she has sacrificed herself.

She crawls back to Jimmy's apartment in her death throes.

We had learned earlier that rubbing the totem again would undo the wish (Lois is tempted to do so but stops herself). She begs to be unmade and Jimmy obliges vowing to never forget her.

So, what do I think of Super-Girl?

Well, she was made to be a romantic companion for Superman which makes her a quite different vision than Kara, the younger cousin. But so many of the worries Super-Girl had of bothering Superman or letting him down carried forward into Supergirl stories that I have to feel this was a template for the future adventures of Kara. 

I would love to own this issue as a Supergirl fan as this is truly a petri dish of sorts for my favorite character. 

Overall grade: B+

Posted in: Reviews