Supergirl #1 (All 8 of Them)

I will preface this by stating I 100% stole this idea from Mike Bailey (of BaileyPlanet.org) who did a similar thing with Superman #1 comics on his podcast a couple months ago. In short, the idea is to take a look at every #1 issue of the character’s ongoing title and for Supergirl that means 8 #1 issues. I will only be looking at the “Supergirl” titles which are numbered vol. 1-8 starting in 1972. This means I won’t be covering her debut in Action Comics (Action 252), nor will I talk about her first issue in Adventure Comics (Adventure 381). I also won’t be covering any Supergirl mini-series (like Cosmic Adventures, Being Super, or Woman of Tomorrow). For the most part these are ongoings, although the 1994 series (Vol. 3) is a 4-part miniseries. Supergirl vol. 2 was initially called “The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl” so it could be argued that this series shouldn’t count but it is universally considered the second volume of Supergirl so I’m counting it. Without further ado, let’s jump right in.

Supergirl’s first issue #1 came in 1972 in a story titled “Trail of the Madman”. Cary Bates was the writer, Art Saaf penciler, Vince Colleta inker, Ben Oda letterer, and Dorothy Woolfolk and Carmine Infantino were the editors. In this story, we get the next chapter of Linda “Supergirl” Danvers’ life after she left her job at KSF-TV in her final issue in Adventure Comics. Here we see her setting up a new life at Vandyre University and taking up studying acting. Supergirl is still living in San Francisco as she was before, but now at University which both harkens back to her Stanhope days, as well as getting her on a new career path. We also get a look at the new supporting cast for Linda, mostly in the form of her new room-mate Wanda Five and the House Mother Aunt Rosie, although Sheila Wong and Terry Blake do show up right at the end. Based on this issue, it seems like the title is set up to be a very action packed book, and the mystery of Wanda Five and her ESP powers definitely intrigues me and piques my interest to the story to unfold. Supergirl only got the first 16 pages of her debut book, while the remaining pages are set aside for Zatanna who would continue on for most of this Supergirl title. Zatanna’s story in this first issue doesn’t do much for me, but the Supergirl feature would definitely keep me coming back for more.

The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #1 from 1982 was written by Paul Kupperberg, with pencils by Carmine Infantino, Bob Oksner inks, Tom Ziuko colors, Ben Oda lettering, and Julius Schwartz as the editor. This tale opens up with Supergirl taking a train to her new home in Chicago, once again setting up a new home base for the girl of steel. We also get a brief re-telling of Supergirl’s origin which is a nice addition to a new Supergirl title. Here we also get a look at a different approach to the maiden of might, this book still has action, but it seems much more character driven and we get a lot more Linda here and we’re able to get more into her emotions and thoughts. With a new Supergirl title, comes a new supporting cast, and also a new college for Linda to enroll in (Lake Shore University this time). The cast shown here seems to have a bit more depth than what we got from the characters in the ’72 series. Joan Raymond is the spunky and sarcastic soon to be best friend of Linda. Joan will help Linda get an apartment in the building she lives with Ida Berkowitz as the land-lord and John Ostrander as another of the tenants in the building. Mrs. Berkowitz is a kind older lady who immediately takes a liking to Linda, and John starts immediately flirting with Linda. While this book is definetley more focused on Linda’s life outside the costume, but we do still see some action as she faces off against a looming threat to be known as Gayle “Psi” Marsh and her mentor Mr. Pendergast, both of which give the reader an amount of intrigue to keep them coming back to find out how Supergirl will approach this threat and the ambiguous threat of “Decay” that Psi keeps mentioning.

Spinning out of the Death and Return of Superman saga, came the “Reign of Tomorrow” which gave Superboy and Steel new ongoing titles, and Supergirl a 4-issue miniseries. Supergirl (Vol. 3) #1 came out in 1994 and was written by Roger Stern, penciled by June Brigman, Inks by Jackson Guice, letters from Albert De Guzman, colors from Glenn Whitmore, and Frank Pittarese and Mike Carlin editors. This book focuses almost as much on Lex Luthor II (Supergirl’s love interest at the time) as it does on Supergirl. A lot of this book is dedicated to explaining Supergirl’s powers and origins which is probably necessary since the specifics of this Supergirl are a bit different than “Cousin of Superman”. Aside from Supergirl and Lex, Gretchen Kelley also has a fairly prominent role in giving Supergirl various medical tests, Sydney Happersen is working with Lex on a secret, and we see quite a lot of Lexcorp throughout this issue since the story centers around Lexcorp testing the limits and specifics of Supergirl’s powers. The Kents show up briefl in the middle, both to call back to them caring for Mae previously as well as Jonathan telling her that Luthor is no good. There are no less than 5 editor notes referencing back issues for the reader to track down to get more context of the character. For the most part however, this doesn’t do much to tell a story past explaining who Supergirl is, what her powers are, and that Lex Luthor has nefarious plans. We do get a cliffhanger at the end of the book with Luthor and Happersen revealing to the reader a room full of Supergirl clones.

Supergirl (vol 4) is a fairly significant departure in regards to Supergirl titles since Supergirl herself is barely in it. The bulk of the story centers around Linda Danvers who has some amount of amnesia which is revealed is due to her merging with the Matrix Supergirl, but this isn’t really revealed in any way until near the end of the issue. With the focus on Linda, we get to meet her friend Mattie Harcort, her parents Fred and Sylvia, and a reporter for the Leesburg Tribune named Cutter Sharp. This issue focuses less on action or character as we’ve seen in prior Supergirl #1s but it makes up for it with mystery and intrigue. The story – by Peter David (writing), Gary Frank (penciling), Cam Smith (inking), Pat Prentice (coloring), Digital Chameleon (seperating), and Chris Duffy (editing) – draws the reader in with the promise of Supergirl, but keeps the reader engaged with the life of Linda Danvers and her cult associations and a mysterious figure who is after Linda for some reason. While only barely being a Supergirl story, and not even the Supergirl I generally prefer, it’s still engaging and keeps me wanting for more.

This book is the first one so far that doesn’t really feel like it’s the start of a new chapter in Supergirl’s life, and more-so feels like just another chapter. Supergirl (vol. 5) #1, is brought to us by Jeff Loeb writing, Ian Churchill penciling, Norm Rapmund inking, David Moran and Beth Sotelo coloring, and Jeanine Schaefer and Eddie Berganza editing. This issue is the start to the “Power” arc and in this issue we see Supergirl meeting and attempting a team-up with the JSA. Part of the reason this story doesn’t quite feel like a brand new era for the girl of steel is because she had her debut in Superman/Batman soon before this and an issue #0 (a reprint of Superman/Batman #19) so those stories did much more to show the new status quo, while this Supergirl #1 gets right into a new adventure. We do get a bit of a recap of Kara Zor-El’s trip from the doomed planet of Krypton to her final arrival on Earth, which is explored as part of Supergirl telling Courtney “Stargirl” Whitmore about her life. The story this time out mostly centers around Supergirl and Power Girl both existing in the same universe and what that can mean for the further ramifications of the universe and further reveals that their similarities could lead to destruction if they were to directly interact. We do get some good interactions between Supergirl and some other heroes of the DC Universe (mostly Stargirl and Power Girl) as well as set up for coming story lines with Lex Luthor and the Calculator keeping tabs on her and a cliffhanger of her going to Smallville to meet Superboy. All this points to a Supergirl book deeply tied to the other heroes of the universe where all the other titles have mostly focused on just the girl of steel herself.

Michael Green and Mike Johnson bring us the next entry with Mahmud Asrar on pencils and inks, Dan Green on inks, Dave McCaig colors, John J. Hill lettering, and Wil Moss and Matt Idelson editing. Supergirl (vol. 6) #1 “Last Daughter of Krypton” seems to do the least in terms of setting up or expanding Supergirl’s new life. As part of the New 52, this book sets up a fresh start for the maid of might as we see her pod crash through the Earth’s core and land in Siberia. After landing, we get to see Kara as lost, confused, and angry and most of what she accomplishes is beating up a bunch of guys in battle suits while displaying some of her new-found powers on Earth. This destruction is breifly halted as the final page reveals Superman coming in to greet this new-comer to Earth. We don’t get a full exploration of this Supergirl’s origin here, but we do get some reference to her former life when she thinks about the costume she’s wearing not being something she should be wearing until after her graduation next year, but otherwise we mostly keep to the punchy-punchy run-run variety of storytelling.

When reading through these #1s, surprisingly I was quite fond of vol. 7. Steve Orlando (writing), Brian Ching (art), Michael Atiyeh (colors), Steve Wands (lettering), Andrew Marino., Paul Kaminski, and Eddie Berganza (editors) fill the issues with quite a lot of information about this Supergirl and her new life in National City, while also sprinkling in a lot of flashbacks to her life on Krypton. Similar to the Vol. 5 #1, this story also had another book that came out just before this #1 to also set up the new status quo (Supergirl Rebirth #1) although I never felt like this was anything more or less than a #1 issue. We get to meet the new supporting cast, see Kara start a new school in her secret identity, and get teased of an upcoming threat. The supporting cast includes Kara’s new adopted parents (Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers), a classmate (Ben Rubel), and a DEO agent named Cameron Chase. Supergirl moving to a new city and starting a new school definitely feels like a return to the first 2 Supergirl #1s although here she’s starting a new High School as opposed to University. The Krypton flashbacks were the most intriguing to me and really helped set this book, and this character, apart from other books we’ve seen up to now. I also like the exploration of Supergirl feeling othered by being from another planet and not fitting in while still trying to save the day.

We now come to our final entry, with Supergirl (vol. 8) #1 from 2025. Sophie Campbell provided both writing and art, with Tamra Bonvillain colors, Becca Carey letters, and Jillian Grant and Brittany Holzherr editing. I’ve talked about this book a number of times mostly due to it starting right around when the blog started. I made a post early on when the book got announced (Supergirl by Sophie Campbell), a post breaking down some of the references (What, Where, and Who? Supergirl #1), and most recently when I covered the first collected edition of this series (Misadventures in Midvale TP). I am quite fond of this book and have been enjoying the series greatly for over a year, but this first issue does seem to lean fairly heavy onto fanservice with the frankly absurd number of references to older Supergirl books (Clarissa Giltedge and Lar-On being particular standouts). The story does still continue the tradition of a new Supergirl book sending our heroine into a new city to start a new chapter of her life and the issue definitely leaves the reader wanting to figure out exactly what’s up with this doppelganger taking her place as both Supergirl and Linda Danvers.

Before closing out, I do want to go over some similarities I noticed in these books and what seems to work best. Nearly all of these books have Supergirl starting a new life in a new city (and 3 of them even have her starting at a new school), and most of them have either an exploration of her origin/past, or a showcase of her powers. Many of these books have a final page reveal, or a major antagonist being introduced as an ongoing threat which help the reader feel invested and coming back for more. The other thing to consider is the cover appeal, where I found some more similarities. 5 of these #1s (volumes 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8) all feature Supergirl posing in the air either hovering or flying, whereas 2 of them (4 and 5) feature a more cropped image of Supergirl where the focus is more on the S-symbol than a full body shot. It’s really just the first #1 that seems to differ from any sort of mold with an action sequence as opposed to a hero shot, although I don’t think this scene is even in the book. Aside from the first #1, the only other book with any sort of real background elements comes from vol. 7 where we see a lot of the supporting cast, as well as National City itself joining Supergirl on the cover. My favorite elements that would make up an ideal Supergirl #1 for me would be a new city, starting at a new school (preferably college or university), and setting up a supporting cast for both the heroic and civilian identities of the leading lady. I also like seeing a re-cap of Supergirl’s origin and a display of her variety of powers would also be a good addition. In a perfect world however, the current Supergirl title would never end and we would never need another Supergirl #1, but I’m sure we will see another at some point in the future.