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Supergirl Comics: Kara (1959-1985)

Supergirl debuted in Action Comics #252 and starred in that magazine from 1959 to 1969. Supergirl’s appearances began as back-up stories and then quickly expanded to half the issue, sharing the comic with Superman (only a few comics feature Supergirl on their cover). She moved out of Action and into Adventure Comics in 1969, taking over the lead from Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. In 1972 she got her first self-titled series, which lasted 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 got 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.

Downloads

Out of print issues which have not been reprinted in Archives are available for download on this page in CBZ or CBR format, the standard archive format for comics scans. They can be viewed with a reader like CDisplay (Windows), FFview (Mac), Comical (all), or renamed to .ZIP (for .CBZ) or .RAR (for .CBR) and extracted. CDisplay can automatically resize the images to fit your screen and even adjust the color balance (Configuration).

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.

Download unreprinted issues: #286-305 (141 MB) | #306-323 (138 MB) | #324-342 (137 MB) | #343-359 (129 MB) | #360-376 (149 MB). Supergirl also appeared in a number of Lois Lane comics during this period: Download issues (45.1 MB)

Action Comics #252 Scans

If you’ve ever been curious about the debut issue of Supergirl in 1959, here are all eight pages 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/Kara 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”.

Reprints

DC Comics has published two hardcover Archive Editions reprinting the earliest Action Comics stories featuring Supergirl. Archive editions are very good quality but pricey, and only two have been published so far for Supergirl. Considering that the first two volumes together cover only 1959-62, it could be a long time before the rest of the 60’s and the 70’s are collected in this format, and there is no word on whether a third volume will ever be published. I prefer the 60’s/early 70’s stories in Adventure Comics myself, so I do hope those will be collected in colour.

SUPERGIRL ARCHIVES VOL. 1
Amazon.com

The Girl of Steel stars in her first-ever Archive collection, reprinting the Supergirl stories from ACTION COMICS #252-268 (1959-1960). Also included is the “first Supergirl” story from SUPERMAN #123 — a prototype version of Supergirl that the Man of Steel encountered eight months prior to the introduction of Kara Zora-El. Includes the original Silver Age issue covers. 7×10, hardcover, dustjacket, full color throughout. Published November 1, 2001. ISBN 1563897377. List price $49.95 USD OR $32.95 USD on Amazon and other online retailers.

SUPERGIRL ARCHIVES VOL. 2
Amazon.com

Reprints the Supergirl stories from ACTION COMICS #269-285 (1960-1962). Stories include the adoption and world debut of Supergirl, her first romance, her first encounter with the Legion of Super-Heroes, a run-in with the Superman Emergency Squad, an adventure revolving around red Kryptonite, and appearances by Streaky the Super Cat. Includes the original Silver Age issue covers. 252 pages, 7×10 inches, hardcover, dustjacket, full color throughout. Published March 1, 2004. ISBN 1401200001. List price $49.95 USD OR $32.95 USD on Amazon and other online retailers.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUPERGIRL VOL. 1
Amazon.com

Showcase Presents is a line of jumbo black & white paperbacks published by DC Comics that reprints early DC comics from the Silver Age. They provide a great many stories (over 500 pages) at a very low price, but at the cost of not being in colour. The first Supergirl Showcase volume contains nearly as many stories as the two Supergirl Archives combined, plus Supergirl’s guest appearances in other Superman Family books during that period.

Reprints the Supergirl stories from ACTION COMICS #252-281, SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #40, 44, 46, 51 and 52, ADVENTURE COMICS #278, SUPERBOY #80, SUPERMAN’S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE 314, and SUPERMAN #123, 139, 140 and 144. Black & White. 528 pages. $16.99 USD. Published November 28, 2007.

Written by Otto Binder, Jerry Siegel, Robert Bernstein and others with art by Al Plastino, Jim Mooney, Curt Swan, Dick Sprang, Kurt Schaffenberger, Wayne Boring and others.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUPERGIRL VOL. 2
Amazon.com

Reprints the Supergirl stories from ACTION COMICS #283-321. Black & White. 512 pages. $16.99 USD. Published December 16, 2008.

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.

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)

Guest appearances in other series

Download Supergirl’s guest appearances during the Silver and Bronze ages in The Brave and The Bold, Justice League of America, and Super-Team Family (63.6 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)

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).

image: Supergirl Many Happy Returns book cover
#75/Dec ‘02 #76/Jan ‘03 #77/Feb ‘03 #78/Mar ‘03 #79/Apr ‘03 #80/May ‘03 Many Happy Returns
trade: #75-80

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.

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