Cover Date: January 1962 | Written by Jerry Siegel | Art by Jim Mooney
Read on DC Universe Infinite | NOTE: These commentaries are going to be very spoiler heavy.
Before going into this issue, I did want to mention that in the gap between the last issue I read and this issue, poor Linda Lee finally got adopted by the Danvers. Which is good, no more sad endings of Linda watching all her friends go off andĀ have happy lives while sheās stuck in the orphanage.
The Supergirl story in this issue is calledĀ āthe Strange Bodies of Supergirl!ā and itās all about everyoneās favorite Super random plot generator,Ā red kryptonite!
(For those that donāt know, unlike green kryptonite, which weakens and hurts Kryptonians, red kryptonite affects them in random and odd ways, usually by causing some sort of temporary physical mutation. No two pieces of red kryptonite are the same, meaning that every time a Kryptonian comes into contact with a piece, thereās no telling what itāll do or for how long. Itās a really easy way of putting your characters into some interesting situations.)
Right off the bat, weāre teased with a two-headed Supergirl. Strange bodies indeed. Weāre also told that in the previous issue (which I wasnāt able to read) Supergirl already went through three transformations after being exposed to six pieces of red kryptonite, leaving three more transformations to go.
So to take her mind off of the dread of whatever impending body horror thatās in store for her, she does what any of us would do if we were waiting for our bodies to spontaneously and physically transform, she goes to the Midvale Fair. Iām not sure if going to a public, busy place would be my idea, but Iām not Supergirl.
While at the fair, Linda feels bad for theĀ ācarnival freaksā, such asĀ āthe bearded ladyā, a woman with a hairy face, andĀ āthe human needleā which is literally just a really skinny dude. OOF, yeah sometimes poor aging of the cultural norms of the time period these books were made really smacks me in the face.
Moving on from that uncomfortableness.
Linda goes to the ladyās room to freshen up, and wouldnāt you know it, she starts tingling, which is usually the warning that a red kryptoniteās effects will soon take effect. And suddenly, POP! Linda has a second head.
The new head isnāt wearing a brownĀ āLinda Leeā wig, making it easy to tell them apart. Also itās a totally sentient being of its own, and very confused about suddenly popping into existence. Thankfully Linda explains everything to... Iām just going to call this new headĀ āNo. 2ā³
Linda wants to go home immediately so theyāre not seen, but No. 2 wants to see the fair first because of course she does.
No. 2 gets her way, and they go back out to the fair. Thereās a lot of staring and gawking, but everyone thinks sheās just part of the freak show and using a fake head. They get approached by the head of the freak show about getting a job, which they turn down. Then they get watermelon, which No. 2 absolutely loves.
After that they leave the fair and go window shopping. The two compare which hats in the window each like. No. 2 likes a hat with flowers on it, and Linda likes one with a feather. Really driving home that these two arenāt one consciousness in two bodies, but for real two wholly separate people.
Then Linda decided to show No. 2 their superpowers by burrowing a tunnel all the way to the Air Force base. No. 2 is astonished at their abilities.
Also while theyāre there, an Air Force jet is passing overhead, but their H-bomb accidentally gets dislodged, which, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? The Air Force is so shoddy that they just have hydrogen bombs randomly fall off their planes??
The Supergirls spring into action, catching the bomb and making sure to move so quickly that no one sees them, and takes the bomb to a remote desert where they safely detonate it.
I love how Kara is just showing off to No. 2 at this point.
Itās not to last, though. Almost new sooner were they done with the bomb that head No. 2 began to disappear. No. 2 pleads with Supergirl to save her, which honestly just seems so sad! Itās all for naught, though, as the head disappears. Kara is thankful to have her solo-head back, but says that she will miss No.2, thinking of her almost like a sister.
Honestly, thatās kind of messed up! A sentient creature just appeared out of nowhere and then died like a couple hours later. Red kryptonite is weird and traumatic.
Once again possessing the standard number of heads, Supergirl changes back into her Linda Lee disguise and returns home just as her parents return from an emergency trip to Europe. I wonder what the emergency was?
Anyway, some time later, Linda looks at the flower in her room and the thing instantly wilts in front of her. (Thereās these brown lines coming from Lindaās eyes that are there to tip off the reader whatās happening, but Iām assuming that theyāre not actually visible in-universe.)
Linda then turns her attention to her goldfish, who instantly dies in its bowl. And then the Danvers walk in and as soon as Linda looks at them THEY BOTH DIE ON THE SPOT!
SUPERGIRL JUST KILLED HER PARENTS OMG! Thatās so horrific!
At this point Supergirl puts it together that this red kryptonite has given herĀ āFatal Visionā, which will kill any living thing she looks upon.
Distraught, Supergirl decides that the only thing she can do is to fly out into space and be alone.
She changes into her Supergirl outfit and flies out the window, accidentally killing the mailman on the way out, which OOF, poor guy.
When Supergirl gets to space sheās immediately met by Krypto, whoās probably likeĀ āhey Supergirl, letās hang out.ā But he canāt because KRYPTO IS NOW DEAD.
So Supergirl breaks down crying while she flies through space, proclaiming herselfĀ āThe Most Dangerous Girl Alive.ā
The narration then refers to Supergirl as theĀ āGirl of Doomā, which, letās be honest is a badass nickname.
The Girl of Doom decides that if all she can do is cause death, she might as well go to a planet thatās populated by evil monsters and destroy them. She heads to a planet full ofĀ ājet-propelled monstersā that look like spikey basketballs with angry faces and tentacles and lays waste to them.
After destroying them all, Supergirl sits down on the planet and begins crying about how much she loved her mom and dad and Krypto and how guilty she feels.
Then suddenly, Linda wakes up in her room in the Danversā household back on Earth. Her parents, her goldfish, and her plant (and presumably the mailman and Krypto) are all fine. Thatās when Linda realizes that the actual effect of the red kryptonite was that it caused her to hallucinate the entire thing.
WHEW. Like, I knew that most likely Kryto and her parents werenāt actually dead, theyāve been around a lot longer than just until 1962, but still, what a traumatic hallucination!
At the beginning of the story we were promised (threatened with?) three remaining red kryptonite effects, meaning that weāre down to the last one, but letās be real, what could be worse than hallucinating that you killed a bunch of people you loved and had to seclude yourself into the desolate, dark reaches of space?
Nothing could be worse, and thankfully they donāt even try to one-up that, instead ending with something fun.
Trying to take her mind off of the impending effect of the sixth red kryptonite piece, Linda turns on the news and hears about a drought thatās hurting farmersā crops. So she changes into Supergirl and blows rainclouds into the region.Ā
(And weāre going to ignore just how many things about this donāt really work and the implications of changing a regionās entire weather pattern.)
As Supergirl flies through the rain that sheās caused, the sixth transformation occurs, turning Supergirl into a mermaid! A SUPER-mermaid! Their words, not mine.
And since sheās a mermaid she figures she might as well go and visit her mer-friend Jerro, who lives in Atlantis.
While Supergirlās traveling to see Jerro, we get a brief lesson about Atlantis, in case any of us werenāt up-to-date with it. Apparently, when the ancient city of Atlantis was starting to sink into the ocean, their scientists built a huge dome around it to protect it as it sank, keeping the water out and the air in. Then, years later they figured out how to change themselves into merfolk, and smashed the dome since they didnāt need it.
Wait. The merfolk of Pre-Crisis Earth-One DC were just humans that figured out how to science themselves into fish people? Thatās... Huh. This is odd to me.
Anyway, Supergirl finds Jerro working on a marine-farm with his friend Lenora. Jerro is immediately smitten by Super-Mermaidās beauty. He introduces Supergirl to Lenora, and the two swim off to show Super-Mermaid around, leaving Lenora alone.
(Side note, I love how they get around theĀ āhow does speech work underwaterā question by having all merfolk be able to read minds and project their own thoughts into others.)
Then we start following Lenora for a brief time. Sheās devastated to see Jerro so openly into Super-Mermaid. Lenora herself is madly in love with Jerro, even though sheās hid that from him (well thereās your problem).
Lenora follows them around as Jerro shows Super-Mermaid around, introducing her to people, taking her to a museum, until she overhears Jerro profess his love and ALSO MARRIAGE to Super-Mermaid!
Slow down buddy! You two were just friends like an hour ago! Kara is caught off-guard by the sudden proposal, and Jerro tells her that he knows that even though he telepathically learns that Kara is attracted to her friend Dick Malverne (hey first Dick mention... That came out wrong, and obviously Iām not erasing it), heās still in love with her.
Super-Mermaid does the polite thing and tells him that sheāll have to think about it, but by that point Lenora has swam off, heartbroken. She goes and cries to her sister, who encourages Lenora be assuring her that Super-Mermaid wonāt be staying long, and that Jerro could still learn to love her.
Bad advice, by the way. You really shouldnāt try to make peopleĀ ālearn to love youā. If you have to, that personās not for you.
A little later, Jerro and Super-Mermaid are still hanging out, but Lori (Lenoraās sister) shows up and informs them that Lenora has run away (swam away? Iām... Iām not sure what the proper term is in this instance). Lori has a feeling that Lenoraās in danger, when when Super-Mermaid uses her telescopic vision to track Lenora down, they learn that Loriās feeling was right.
It seems that Lenora has wandered into the theĀ āValley of the Handsā, which is a section of the sea floor with giant hands sticking out of the ground. What are those hands? Theyāre the hands of giants from outer space that invaded Atlantis but the giants sank into the bogs of the valley so deep that only their outstretched hands remain above ground. And also the giants are still alive, just trapped in those bogs for thousands of years.
...OKAY. Thatās... Thatās certainly quite the set-up for this random location that is shown in all of two panels. JEEZ. I kind of feel bad for the alien giants. I mean, just stuck down there? For centuries? I guess they donāt need food to live?
Setting ALL the questions I have about these giants aside, Super-Mermaid goes and saves Lenora from the Valley of the Hands, and as soon as she does the effects of the red kryptonite wear off and Super-Mermaid reverts back to Supergirl.Ā
Now that Kara has legs again, she decides to itās time to leave and promises Jerro sheāll think about that proposal (Iād be shocked if this was ever brought up again). Lenora is happy to see Supergirl leave, proclaiming that she may still win Jerro.
You um, you do that, Lenora.
Kara flies out of the ocean and as soon as she does she a piece of green kryptonite streaks by, hurting her, which confuses Kara a great deal since she thought she was invulnerable to green kryptonite.
Also Superman literally appears out of nowhere.
Turns out Superman was coming back from visiting the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th century.
He explains to Supergirl that it turned out that Mr. Mxyzptlk had secretly given her superpowers, which is why Supergirl was invulnerable to green kryptonite for a time, but theyāve apparently worn off now, so it affects her again.
This is a really random thing to tack onto the end of this issue. Iām assuming that her invulnerability to green kryptonite came up in one of the issues I missed. I wonder if we actually saw Supergirl and Mr. Mxyzptlk interact or if this is just some random retcon to a decision the writers no longer liked. I might look into it, but I donāt currently know.
This issue ends with Superman promising that heās going to announce Supergirl to the world, finally allowing her to step out of the shadows.
Thereās a text panel next to this promising that this isnāt some sort of ruse or misdirect.
As Kara says, this is wonderful. Poor Karaās been learning and practicing and doing as much as she can to help people, all while having to go through some effort to conceal herself entirely. Iām glad Superman finally came to his senses and is letting Supergirl have her day.
Which I sadly wonāt get to read, as the next issue isnāt available to me.
Still, great stuff for Kara!
For my readthrough of past issues, this issue was the first appearance of Karaās parents, the Danvers, as well as the first mention of her frequent love interest, Dick Malverne. I do wish I could have read the issue where the Danvers adopt her, but I am so happy that they did.
