Supergirl: Kara of Krypton (Silver Age)

Supergirl made her debut in DC comics in 1959 in Action Comics #252. Supergirl was Superman’s cousin Kara from Argo City, a city which had survived Krypton’s explosion when it was hurtled away intact with a convenient bubble of air attached. When Argo’s inhabitants began to fall prey to the deadly Kryptonite radiation emanating from their planetoid, Kara’s parents Alura and Zor-El constructed a supersuit and a rocket for her to escape Argo City’s doom. Thankfully her parents and Argo City did survive, but Kara would not learn of this for a number of years.

According to The Great Superman Book:

On Earth, like any Kryptonian survivor, Supergirl acquired super-powers identical to Superman’s. Kara assumed the secret alternate identity of Linda Lee, an orphan at the Midvale Orphanage, concealing her blond hair beneath a brunette wig and functioning as Supergirl only in secret (at Superman’s insistence) until 1962. She made her debut to the world in Action Comics #285. Adopted by Fred and Edna Danvers, she attended Midvale High School as Linda Lee Danvers, graduated in 1964, and then went on to attend Stanhope College on a scholarship, graduating in 1971.

Supergirl’s alternate identity is a closely held secret, but it is known to Superman, to her foster parents the Danverses, and to the Legion of Super-Heroes, of which she served as a member until resigning her membership at the age of twenty-one. Supergirl is fully aware that her cousin Superman is secretly Clark Kent. Like all Kryptonian survivors, Supergirl is vulnerable to kryptonite. Comet the Super-Horse is Supergirl’s pet and equine companion. Streaky, the orange cat that acquires temporary super-powers as the result of its exposure to ‘X-kryptonite’, is Linda Lee Danvers’ pet cat.

Kara had a very full career as Linda Lee Danvers: after graduating from Stanhope University with an unknown degree, she took a job as a camera operator and part-time journalist at a San Francisco TV station. Her relationships at that job were certainly a challenge, especially with Lex Luthor’s niece Nasthalthia “Nasty” Luthor as a coworker! A year later she went back to school as a grad student to study drama. Her next and longest position was as a student counsellor at a progressive high school – perhaps her undergrad was in social science? She made use of her drama training when she quit that job too (she somehow always quit her jobs due to poor working relations), upon receiving an offer to star in daytime television.

Surprisingly, Supergirl’s last series had her returning to college once again, this time studying psychology. After 23 issues the second Supergirl series was cancelled, only a few months before her theatrical debut in 1984. DC intended to place Supergirl in another series, but some members of the editorial team disliked her, so she was shockingly killed off in the Crisis on Infinite Earths which heralded the end of so many female heroes. But Kara had far too strong a presence in DC comics to ever be forgotten.

Milestones

  • Action Comics #252 (May 1959) – Supergirl lands on Earth. Placed in Midvale Orphanage by Superman under strict orders not to reveal her superpowers or secret identity. She adopts the identity of Linda Lee and hides her blonde hair beneath a pig-tailed, brunette wig.
  • Action Comics #276 (May 1961) – Supergirl joins the Legion of Super-Heroes. She would leave at age 21 (the normal age limit for members is 18).
  • Action Comics #279 (Aug 1961) – Kara’s superpowers are stolen by Lesla-Lar of Kandor, who is her physical double. No longer needing to protect her secret identity, she allows herself to be adopted (permanently this time!) by Edna and Fred Danvers, becoming Linda Lee Danvers. She also changes her hair style in this issue.
  • Action Comics #280 – becomes a student at Midvale High School.
  • Action Comics #283 – regains her powers thru magic by Mr. Mxyzptlk. Her powers permanently returned on their own by the end of Action Comics #284.
  • Action Comics #285 (Feb 1962) – Kara’s secret identity as Supergirl is revealed to her foster parents, and then to the world.
  • Action Comics #309-310 (Feb-March 1964) – Discovers her Kryptonian parents are still alive in the “Survival Zone” and builds a machine with the help of Fred Danvers to bring them back safely. Alura and Zor-El settle in Kandor, a bottled city that Superman keeps in the Fortress of Solitude. When the city in the bottle is later enlarged, they resettle on New Krypton/Rokyn.
  • Action Comics #318 (Nov 1964) – Graduates from Midvale High School, winning a four-year scholarship to Stanhope College. She leaves home to study at Stanhope, joining the Alpha Lambda sorority soon after she arrives. Her major is never revealed.
  • In 1969 Supergirl “graduates” from her back-up strip in Action Comics (final appearance in issue #376, May ’69) and takes over top billing in Adventure Comics #381 (June 1969). With more pages to work with, and a company-wide move towards more character development, Adventure marked the beginning of more complex Supergirl stories.
  • Adventure Comics #379 (Nov 1970) – Supergirl changes her costume for the first time, when her uniform is damaged. She will switch costumes a number of times over the next year and a half, before settling upon the classic 1970′s costume (later with boots and altered shorts).
  • Adventure Comics #404 (March 1971) – Supergirl is given a pill that is meant to render her powerless, but instead her powers begin to malfunction intermittently, leaving her powerless at the most inopportune moments. Supergirl’s problem with her “come-and-go powers” would continue for the next two years.
  • Adventure Comics #406 (May 1971) – graduates Stanhope College and moves to San Francisco to take a job at KSF-TV as a camerawoman and freelance journalist. Quits in her final appearance in Adventure (#424, Oct 1972).
  • Nov 1972 – Supergirl gets her first self-titled series (with Zatanna starring in a back-up strip). In Supergirl #1 she leaves San Fran, after quitting her job, to enroll in nearby Vandyre University (which is stated as being 10 miles away) as a graduate student in drama. Takes up residence in the Delta-Zan dorm.
  • The Superman Family series debuts in May 1974, continuing the number from Jimmy Olson with the first issue being #164. Reprints of Silver Age Supergirl appear in the book; Supergirl appears in new stories starting with issue #165, June-July 1974. This takes place between Supergirl #9 (Jan 1975) and Supergirl #10 (Sep-Oct 1975), which would be the final issue of that series.
  • Superman Family #165 (June-July 1974) – completes her drama course at Vandyre and moves to Florida to begin her new job as student advisor at the New Athens Experimental School.
  • Superman Family #208 (July 1981) – Supergirl quits her position at New Athens to become an actress in the TV soap Secret Hearts, in New York City.
  • Sep 1982 – Superman Family is cancelled to make way for Supergirl’s second series, Daring New Adventures of Supergirl. Lois Lane appears in a back-up strip.
  • Nov 1982 – Supergirl begins her second self-titled series, Daring New Adventures of Supergirl, by going back to college in Chicago to enroll in the psychology department at Lake Shore University. The series is retitled Supergirl with issue #13.
  • Sep 1984 – Supergirl vol. 2 is cancelled with issue #23. DC intended to start a new title starring Supergirl and possibly Superboy. The final page features an epilogue in which Dick Malverne makes a surprise return, with promise of romance to come. An editorial note promises the reappearance of Supergirl in a new series, but sadly this was not to be.
  • 1985 – DC Comics publishes the 12 part series Crisis on Infinite Earths. Supergirl heroically sacrifices her life to save Superman and, by extension, all of existence in Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 (Oct 1985).

The Crisis on Infinite Earths

In 1985 DC Comics ran a 12-issue maxiseries called Crisis on Infinite Earths, which was designed to reduce the complex DC superhero multiverse, which featured multiple versions of the same characters on parallel Earths, into a single streamlined universe with one, revised timeline. Superman’s story in particular was to be simplified: he was to once again be the sole survivor of Krypton. No other Kryptonians, not even Supergirl. Supergirl was editorially mandated to die, in one of the most shocking character deaths of the maxiseries. At the end of Crisis the multiple Earths were merged into one and many characters died and memories of them erased in the minds of the survivors. History was retroactively rewritten, and while some characters who died were remembered by those who survived the Crisis, all memories of Supergirl’s existence were erased.

References

Footnotes

Silver Age/Bronze Age: Supergirl debuted during the “Silver Age” of DC Comics and this original version of the character is frequently referred to as the “Silver Age Supergirl”, although her 1970′s-80′s adventures took place during the Bronze Age. The first appearance of Superman in 1938 marked the beginning of the first, so-called “Golden Age” of American superhero comics. The term Silver Age places a character and her stories within a specific period in American culture. The DC Comics “Bronze Age” lasted from 1972-1986, and ended with the history-changing “Crisis on Infinite Earths”. The Modern Age (1986-2011) marks a distinct break with the ages that preceeded it, as DC Comics officially relaunched their comicbook line and began revamping and reintroducing old characters into the “new” continuity.