Supergirl Comics: Kara (1959-1985)

Supergirl debuted in Action Comics #252 in 1959 and starred in the back-up until 1969, at which point she was promoted to the main feature in Adventure Comics (taking over from Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes). In 1972 she received her first self-titled series, which ran for 10 issues. At that point the Supergirl, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olson series were all cancelled and merged into the new 100-page Superman Family comic (which continued its numbering from Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olson). In 1982 Supergirl again starred in her own series, the Daring New Adventures of Supergirl (shortened to Supergirl in issue 13). Supergirl’s adventures came to an end in 1985 with her death in Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 (although she had a few guest appearances post-death in 1986). Visit Mike’s Amazing World of DC Comics: Supergirl Index for all of Supergirl’s appearances from 1959 to 1986.

Reprints

See Trade Paperbacks and Hardcover Collections.

The comic downloads offered here are in archive format. See Wikipedia’s list of comic book archive readers.

Action Comics #252-376 (May 1959-May 1969) – Cover Gallery

The Cover Gallery includes only covers featuring Supergirl. See the Comics Database for all covers and issue details.

Here you can see the eight-page introduction of Supergirl from Action Comics #252. The Action Comics issues were split between Superman and Supergirl, each story usually between 12 and 14 pages. This first story has just enough time to introduce Supergirl and have her explain her origins before Superman summarily dumps her in a down-at-the-heels orphanage, with instructions to keep her offworld origins and amazing powers a secret. What an overbearing patriarch Superman is! Nevertheless, Kara plans to watch over her new hometown as its “guardian angel”.

Download Action Comics #252-376 [new higher quality scans as of May 2, 2010]

Adventure Comics – Cover Gallery

Supergirl was the headliner for Adventure Comics #381-424 (June 1969-Oct 1972), but she also guest-starred in a number of issues prior to that. Covers and downloads are available for all. See the Comics Database for all covers and issue details.

[April 9, 2010: Higher quality scans will be added to the site shortly. You may want to hold off on downloading these issues until they're replaced.] Download these issues: Guest Starring: #278-376 (85.0 MB) | #381-396 (93.5 MB) | #397-411 (89.7 MB) | #412-424 (91.2 MB)

Supergirl #1-10 (Series I: 1972-1974) – Cover Gallery

Download these issues (63.6 MB)

Superman Family #164-222 (1974-1982) – Cover Gallery

See the Comics Database for all covers and issue details. Superman Family ran from April 1974-Sept 1982 and primarily focused on Supergirl, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olson. Series numbering continued from Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olson. Other featured characters included

  • “Superboy” – The adventures of the Earth-One Superman as a teenaged super-hero.
  • “The Private Life of Clark Kent” – The adventures of Clark Kent in which he uses his powers and skills without becoming Superman.
  • “Mr. and Mrs. Superman” – The adventures of the Earth-Two Superman and his wife, Lois.
  • “Krypto” – the adventures of Superman’s dog
  • “Nightwing and Flamebird” – the adventures of the second Nightwing and Flamebird team of heroes (Van-Zee and Ak-Var) in the Bottled City of Kandor.

The series was bimonthly for issues #164-#206; it went monthly in 1981 with issue #207. The early years (issues #164-181) featured one new story starring one character and the remainder of the issue contained reprints from Silver Age adventures of the other characters. Supergirl would appear in a new story every three issues during this period. Starting in #182, the book began featuring all new content and the page count was reduced to 68 pages of actual story (whether it said “80 pages” or “68 pages” on the cover). The series was cancelled in 1982 to make room for Daring New Adventures of Supergirl, which featured a Lois Lane back-up series.

The complete Superman Family set comes to 1.66 GB. You can skip the issues containing reprints of Supergirl stories or download them all. These are the full issues. Download: #164-170 (SG reprints, 234 MB) | #172-181 (SG reprints, 199 MB) | #165-183 (new SG stories only, 247 MB) | #184-190 (262 MB) | #191-198 (247 MB) | #199-207 (263 MB) | #208-222 (250 MB)

Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #1-23 (Series II: Nov 1982-Sept 1984) – Cover Gallery

Download these issues: #01-07 (101 MB) | #08-14 (88.6 MB) | #15-23 (90.6 MB)

Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985-1986)

Amazon.com: Trade Paperback
Amazon.com: Absolute Edition

In 1985, DC Comics ran a 12-issue crossover storyarc called Crisis on Infinite Earths which was designed to reduce the increasingly complicated DC superhero multiverse, which featured multiple versions of the same characters on Earth-1, Earth-2, etc. into a single, streamlined universe with one, revised timeline. The Crisis was a critical turning point in all of DC’s books, and is particularly important to Supergirl’s history as it was the event in which she died. Available in softcover trade paperback and in a hardcover Absolute Edition with ancillary materials (see DC book page for details). This is one book DC continues to keep in print, as it reinvented the entire DC Universe, for better or worse. Supergirl appears in issues 4-7.

LEGENDS OF THE DCU: Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 (February 1999)

This story takes place between Crisis on Infinite Earths #4 and #5, or rather during issues #3-5. Features pre-Crisis Supergirl and Supergirl of Earth-D.

Supergirl: “Many Happy Returns” (2002-2003)

image: Supergirl Many Happy Returns book cover

Kara returned for a six-issue storyarc at the end of the 1996-2003 Supergirl series with Linda Danvers. In this story Kara’s rocket is diverted from its journey to the Earth of the Silver Age and crash lands on the modern day Supergirl’s world. Therefore this story is not strictly speaking part of the original Supergirl’s continuity, but represents a nice alternative view of how her life might have turned out, had DC allowed the series to continue. (The cancellation midway through the arc necessitated a rewrite of the ending. The series would have continued with Kara as a permanent member of a trio along with Linda Danvers as Superwoman and Power Girl).

DC Solo

Solo is an anthology series that was published bimonthly from 2004 to 2006 for a total of 12 issues. Each issue spotlights the work of a different artist, contains 48 pages plus covers, and is ad-free.

  • Solo #1 – includes the Silver Age-set story “Young Love” (8 pages) featuring Supergirl (Kara) and Robin
  • Solo #7 – includes the Teen Titans story “Doom Patrol vs Teen Titans” (8 pages) with appearances by Supergirl (Kara), Streaky, Comet, and other Silver Age teen heroes like the original Bat-Girl and Wonder Girl. Supergirl appears on page 11 and page 12.

Sources and Related Links