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Supergirl: The Silver Age Vol. 1 (Action Comics

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Presented by a team of talented writers and artists such as Jerry Siegel, Jim Mooney, Otto Binder and more is a collection of stories featuring Supergirl at her best in SUPERGIRL: THE SILVER AGE VOL. 1.

For many years, Superman believed himself to be the only survivor of his planet's destruction, until one day a spacecraft crashed on Earth with a young girl inside--a Supergirl from Krypton, possessing all the same powers as the Man of Steel. And this Maid of Might wasn't just any Kryptonian survivor, but Superman's cousin, Kara Zor-El. The story of one of history's greatest female heroes begins here!

Collects Supergirl's backup stories from ACTION COMICS #252-284.

383 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 25, 2017

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About the author

Jerry Siegel

623 books82 followers
Jerome "Jerry" Siegel, who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S. Fine, was the American co-creator of Superman (along with Joe Shuster), the first of the great comic book superheroes and one of the most recognizable icons of the 20th century.
He and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993.

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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
Profile Image for Christopher (Donut).
487 reviews15 followers
August 25, 2018
Well... This might be called Supergirl: the Hidden Years, because her cousin Superman decides she must not reveal her existence until (spoiler) the very last page of this collection.
Actually, he's ready earlier, except that the day that he decides the world is ready is the very day Supergirl loses her powers.. and so the last twelve stories or so actually have a pretty complicated arc.

These silver age omnibuses.. whew. Truth be told, I really don't need to read EVERY silver age Supergirl story. Overall pretty good fun, though.
Profile Image for Sophia.
2,825 reviews386 followers
September 3, 2017
The start of this graphic novel shows us the introduction and first adventures of Supergirl! It was interesting how many times they redid her origin. Most of her adventures were about helping people but also keeping her identity a secret. As I progressed through the stories, they did feel a little repetitive but not enough for me to go, 'nope, I can't read these anymore'. We saw Supergirl grow up and change and that was exciting. We also saw her getting adopted by the Danvers which got me excited although you don't see much of them. They had a couple of story lines that continued through a few of the comics which made it pretty interesting. At the end of the comic, Superman is ready to reveal Supergirl to the world and that is what I am most excited to read about! Unfortunately, that comic is not in this novel so I will have to find it elsewhere! Overall, a good graphic novel for people who are wanting to read about the early adventures of Supergirl!
Profile Image for Zack! Empire.
542 reviews17 followers
October 5, 2020
These are too far off from other silver age DC comics, except in one giant regard. This stories are really SAD! I'm genially surprised at how many of the stories have downer endings! Supergirl must remain hidden as she is Superman's "secret weapon". This means she cannot allow herself to be adopted! Many of the stories deal with Supergirl having to find a way to make sure a couple won't adopt her because it could mean finding out she is Supergirl, and that could hurt her chances of being Superman's ace in the hole. There is also a lot of stories dealing with Supergirl's lack of friends. She is just this lonely girl. I can't believe DC was making a book aimed at young girls that was so relentlessly heart breaking!
Profile Image for Little Timmy.
7,425 reviews61 followers
September 21, 2017
Reading these old stories I see how DC was trying to make more stories for young girls. Supergirl's adventures are much different that her cousin, Superman's. Many of these are more personal dilemma based than superpower based. Nice read of these old stories. Recommended
Profile Image for Scott.
Author 12 books24 followers
December 19, 2018
Surprisingly, one of the better Silver Age books, perhaps because of the consistency of writers and aritsts on it. The first story is by Otto Binder and Al Plastino. Jim Mooney would draw all subsequent issues. Early on the book establishes Superman as a regular character, as Superman demands that she not publicly reveal herself until she has trained. When original Superman writer Jerry Siegel takes over the writing, it seems like Superdickery because he keeps saying she can never be revealed. A two-parter by Binder clarifies this again as being a temporary measure, and Siegel then follows suit. Some changes are made through the stories. In the first, Supergirl doesn't know Superman is her cousin until he mentions he is the son of Jor-El. The original is retold several times through the volume, in which her parents knew all along that he is her cousin. Argo City isn't named until Supergirl builds a model of it for a short-lived Fortress of Solitude, despite the many retellings of Supergirl's origin up to that point.

Much of the book has Kara Zor-El living in Midvale Orphanage as Linda Lee (shocking Supes with an "L.L." choice). Midvale is clearly a suburb of Metropolis, as one prospective adoptive parent is nearly killed by being thrown in front of a subway, and Linda gets sent to the Daily Planet as an intern for Perry White, and later goes there on a field trip. Most of the other orphans who appear are one-offs, though a little girl named Mary Jane appears more than once, and is being taunted by presumably the same Tom. One story has a character called Dick Wilson who tries to prove that Linda is Supergirl. They ask if readers would like to see him again, but he's never clearly identified until he is adopted by the Malverne family and becomes Linda's third love interest late in the book. Previously, she had fallen for Jerro, an Atlantean merman youth known to Lori Lemaris (who appears quite a lot) and Brainiac-5, a new recruit to the Legion of Super-Heroes whom she initially mistrusts. As far as the rest of the supporting cast, there is the headmaster, Mr. Dixon, and the headmistress, Miss Hart, who is later identified as Mrs. Hart, with Mr. Hart being a groundskeeper briefly seen previously.

The continuity and use of supporting characters has the DC typical Silver Age looseness until we come to some multiparters in the second half of the book. First, there is the aforementioned Binder two-parter, a big swipe at Fawcett as Kara goes to the planet Terra, a world nearly identical to Earth down to languages, but with some exceptions. There, she meets Marvel Maid and her secret assistant, Marvel Man, who hides in a prison rather than an orphanage. His only crime is not having legal papers, since unlike Marvel Maid, he does not have adoptive parents to provide them, but he does everything to avoid release until his training is complete. These issues could not be a swipe at Marvel, being dated January and February 1961, placing them well before Fantastic Four #1, when Marvel, to DC, was not a rival, but a small company called Atlas from which to watch for up and coming talent, which it didn't really have, Stan Lee recently having had to release much of the staff talent to keep Goodman Publications afloat.

Mooney's art gets richer as the volume progresses, never to the level of Omega the Unknown Classic but still with marked changes that are readily apparent if one glances at different parts of the book. Early issues don't even have a real consistency to Kara's shape, as though editorial wasn't sure what stage of adolescence they wanted Kara to be in. This especially becomes apparent in the story in which she is denied entry into the Legion of Super-Heroes because red kryptonite changes her into a woman, at which point Kara states her age as fifteen.

Red kryptonite gets its runs as both plot element and red herring in a number of the stories, particularly the final two-parter. Kara gets super fat at a fair and disguises herself as a balloon, blowing dust in Dick's eyes (more Superdickery--very common in this volume, melting people's glasses and other acts of vandalism to keep her secret), and in another turns into a werewolf, giving Conway, a suicidal horror screenwriter, a new idea.

The status quo and attention to continuity of the book shifts dramatically as Siegel gives us a five-parter in which Superman intends to reveal Supergirl publicly, but can't when she suddenly loses her powers. At this point, she allows herself to be adopted by Fred and Edna Danvers, a surname longtime comics fans will recognize in association with Supergirl. Lesla-Lar, a scientist from the bottle city of Kandor who bears a strong resemblance to Kara, develops a ray to switch places with her and steal her powers (while Lesla, being Kryptonian, naturally has them) and forms a temporary alliance with Lex Luthor. Since Supergirl is unaware of what is going on, a lot of story happens as Suprman tries to help her and as she tries to establish her new life. Ultimately, she never--at least in this volume--learns what the reader knows, and she gets her powers (and temporary immunity to Kryptonite) as a trick by Mr. Myxzptlk. After this ordeal, the volume ends with Superman promising to reveal Supergirl to the world, which will happen next issue--not a dream, not a hallucination, and not an imaginary (that is, non-continuity) story.

Fans of Silver Age wackiness will not want to miss the stories of Streaky the Supercat, whose origin, the first contribution by Siegel, is camp gold. In another story, Kara accidentally bathes in the Fountain of Youth and becomes a little girl. I was really annoyed in Doom Patrol when Beast Boy was using "me" as a subject in the flashbacks to his earlier childhood. This is the third time in Silver Age DC that I have encountered this, and it now makes me inclined to write it off as editorial policy at the time to make small children have bad grammar, dumb as it is. I've only heard little kids say this when they're play-acting as Tarzan or subnormal intelligence monster.

Sometimes the book is dated in other ways then camp. Linda seems to have internalized sexism in some of her dealings with Dick, and we seem to get a clear expectation of why Krytonite's radioactivity is described as harmless to humans--in a dream story in which Kara is daughter of Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van and adopted by the Kents, Lex Luthor is a kind youth who often dates Linda despite her attraction to someone else who likes only Supergirl, and his attempt to make that guy like her, he uses uranium dust, which Siegel and the editors also seem to think is harmless.
Profile Image for Jayaprakash Satyamurthy.
Author 43 books518 followers
July 9, 2019
Zany but tedious

The early stories are formulaic, and a bit horrifying as Superman condemns his cousin to live in an orphanage and reject all chances of adoption, while hiding her powers. But there's a few interesting adventures. Then, with the introduction of red kryptonite, Mr Mxyzptlk, and other silver age contrivences, things get, frankly, silly and wheel-spinny. Hopefully, with Supergirl finally going public, the next volume is better.
Profile Image for S.E. Martens.
Author 3 books48 followers
January 20, 2024
This volume collects Supergirl's appearances in Action Comics from May 1959 - January 1962. These are cute Silver Age adventures, so expect a lot of zaniness. Given the time period they were written in, readers should also be aware to expect some cringey and offensive moments. The Superman of this time period is also rather infamous for being kind of a jerk to his friends and allies. If you read it with the right mindset that makes these stories unintentionally hilarious.

Kara Zor-El - traumatized teenage survivor of the destruction of her entire world - is overjoyed to meet her cousin, Superman. . . Only to have Superman immediately dump her in an orphanage and order her to never reveal not only her secret identity (she takes on the human persona of "Linda Lee"), but even her very existence. She is not even "allowed" to be adopted from the orphanage because the parents who adopt her MIGHT learn her secret identity!

I was already familiar with the premise of the early Supergirl adventures going in, so none of this was particularly shocking to me. However, there was one issue in particular that drove Superman's cruelty home in a way that made my jaw drop.

In Action Comics No. 265: The Day Supergirl Revealed Herself, Supergirl gets amnesia and reveals herself to the people of Smallville. Everyone loves her and she even gets adopted by a really cool couple, Ellen and Ralph Evans, who are both scientists. The Evanses learn Kara's secret and are supportive of her superhero career, willing to go to great lengths to help protect her secret identity as Linda.

Well, when Supes finds out what's happening, he gases the entire town (and Supergirl) with special "amnesia gas," wiping the past couple of days from everyone's memory!

In Action Comics No. 275: Ma and Pa Kent Adopt Supergirl! Superman acts baffled that displaying his life-size dioramas of his idyllic childhood with loving parents upsets Kara and makes her cry. That night, Kara dreams up an alternate universe in which she had been the one to arrive first on Earth as a baby and get adopted by the Kents.

This is a really fun issue - instead of Krypto the Super Dog, Kara gets a super-parrot as a pet. Instead of being her enemy, young Lex Luthor is a sweetie who is her supportive best friend, even trying to get her a date with the football player she has a crush on! As always, "good person Lex Luthor" is my favorite thing.

Also - if you are a fan of the live-action TV series Superman & Lois you will see the remarkably silly origins of "X-Kryptonite" as well as Leslie Larr (here Lesla-Lar) in these issues.

Overall, this is a fun (sometimes - okay, often - problematic) collection of Silver Age stories. Kara is such a nice kid and trying so hard to live up to Superman's (often absurd) standards that it's impossible not to root for her.
1,833 reviews7 followers
July 27, 2024
I enjoyed looking back at my youth through these comics. Love the colors, the language. So simple, repetitive, easy to read. Supergirl acting as her cousin Superman's secret assistant fights crime without acknowledgement. She's hiding as Linda Lee at Midville orphanage hoping to not get adopted. Take a journey back in time to the 1960's when the world was very different and is reflected in these stories.
Profile Image for Robert Slack.
78 reviews
May 27, 2024
Took some muscling to get through at times but I’m glad I read it!
Profile Image for Nicolas.
3,138 reviews14 followers
April 10, 2019
I love Supergirl and I love Silver Age comics, but these issues should have stayed tucked away. Buckle up.

Superman's reaction to the appearance of Supergirl, his only living relative from his dead world, is to hide her away in an ORPHANAGE and force her to hide her powers. Oh, also, she's not allowed to be adopted because having a family might reveal her secret powers, so she has to keep making potential families reject her. Then each issue Supes dangles the carrot of her coming put of hiding only to take it away in a didactic and dickish way. She is only allowed to reveal herself in the very last issue. (Maybe volume 2 will be better?)

These stories are not fun to read. The added difficulty of making her adventures secret dampens the plots. All of the orphanage stuff is super depressing. Both she and Superman come across as unlikable characters. The mermaid and Legion of Super Heroes issues work the best, but they don't make this worthwhile.

Mary Marvel would never have put up with this crap.

To hear me tear into further in this episode of the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/ep...
Profile Image for L..
1,505 reviews75 followers
September 26, 2020
Around the mid-20th century Superman was introduced to his cousin, Kara, also known as Supergirl. Superman was so delighted to discover another survivor of Krypton that he promptly dropped Kara off at an out-of-town orphanage and barely had anything to do with her. Perhaps this is a good thing as when Superman does show up he's mainly a dick to his cousin. Kara must now disguise herself, go by the name of Linda Lee, and never disclose her superpowers. She's Superman's dirty little secret.

While her male counterparts would have been tied to a log and fed head-first into a giant saw, Supergirl is a girl and therefore is not allowed to have heavy adventures. Her light duties include helping other orphans to get adopted, struggling to keep her secret identity secret, and punching whales. (Seriously, there is quite a bit of animal abuse in this collection.) The only time she can let loose is in the distant past or future.

Eventually, after a year or two run, Supergirl finally gets her own arch-enemy and the storyline in my opinion finally picks up.
Profile Image for Jameson.
1,036 reviews15 followers
March 27, 2022
Pre-Crisis Batgirl and Supergirl are my favorite iterations of these characters. I like the Bronze Age stories much better but these can be fun, too. In small doses.

Supergirl’s first few years just aren’t very exciting. She spent all of her time disguised as a boring, pigtailed orphan while having lame yet bizarre Silver Age adventures on the down low as Supergirl, Superman’s secret weapon. Read in one sitting the stories are extremely formulaic. Maybe if they included some of her appearances outside of Action Comics this would be less of a problem. For instance, when did she first meet Batman and Robin? They appear briefly here as if they’re already acquainted. With DC’s convoluted chronology it’s not easy to look that stuff up online.

I expect the next volume will be better since it kicks off with Superman introducing Kara to the world.
Profile Image for Fraser Sherman.
Author 10 books33 followers
June 4, 2019
This is either light whimsical fun or silly nonsense, depending on your taste for Silver Age fluff (I'm closer to option A). Supergirl arrives on Earth, meets her cousin, uses her powers in secret while she trains, makes new friends (and eventually boyfriends) and by the end of the book is about to be revealed to the world.
The best bit for me was an arc involving Lesla-Lar, a Kandorian villain who trades places with Supergirl. Unfortunately it gets wrapped up way too abruptly and Lesla-Lar got killed off soon afterwards.
Profile Image for Mhorg.
Author 11 books12 followers
August 12, 2017
Great fun

I've always enjoyed the character of Supergirl. Here drawn by Jim Mooney, are her earliest adventures when she was a secret assistant to her cousin, superman. All fun, all the time!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews

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