75 Years Of DC Comics: The Art Of Modern Mythmaking, Courtesy of Mart Gray

One of the things I am most thankful for about this site (and social media in general) is that it has led to many friendships.

One of my closest friends has been Mart Gray, one of the finest chaps on the planet. And certainly one of the most generous. For my birthday, Mart sent me 75 Years Of DC Comics: The Art Of Modern Mythmaking by Paul Levitz.

This is an amazing tome of a book. It is massive and chock full of information, covers, panels, ads, and more. There is a timeline and discussion about the current DC continuity, editorial fiats, and changes in characters.

I mean I have just started to thumb through this book and I know I am going to be amazed when I do a deep dive. It seems like a treasure trove of knowledge and images.

Of course, the first thing I did was hit the index and look up Supergirl. And there is some interesting tidbits, some of which I have covered here. But others were new to me and that made me tickled pink. Figured I'd share a few.

First off, there is a fold out inner timeline of the DCU and there in 1959 is our Kara's debut.

But wait, there's more!

At least in this inset discussion of Action Comics #252, they say that it was sales of Superman #123 (the magically created Supergirl) that led to the creation of the standing character.

I know that often times there were 'tryout' books to gauge audience response. And I know all about Superman #123. But I have never heard definitively that the response to it led to Action Comics #252.

There are a number of little insets about Supergirl throughout the book so I was glad to see this haircut poll shown.

I'm a fan of the campus cuddle bun so glad it won!

And I liked that Mike Sekowsky was borrowing from the Katy Keene gimmick of having readers submit outfits. Adventure Comics #397 started that and is certainly an iconic Supergirl cover.

Certainly the Adventure Comics run has some seriously interesting costumes!

And then they share the infamous Crisis on Infinite Earths note where Jenette Khan checked of 'yes' Supergirl could be killed off in the series.

Always intrigued about the Crisis. Hard to believe that my deep dive into Crisis and Crisis #7 in particular was 5 years ago. Time flies.

But now onto a couple of new things!!

A Supergirl mego doll featured in an ad talking about licensed characters to increase sales?

That is crazy!!!

I guess Mego did dominate the market back then.

But I would have loved to have Supergirl selling peanut butter, bandaids, and other stuff back then!

And then this gag from Plop.

I love the Flash cheating at cards while Batman and Superman are distracted.

But the real treat here is a Murphy Anderson drawn Supergirl. I don't know of any other Kara picture done by just Anderson, at least not off the top of my head.

Anyways, a huge gigantic thank you to Mart for this book which I will be slowly devouring over the next many years! And I am glad Supergirl was featured throughout the book!

Posted in: Reviews