Supergirl and Batgirl came in to prominence and popularity fairly quickly in the silver age and while Supergirl had a few years head start, both characters would come to be some of the more well known super heroines in comics. The 2 issues of World’s Finest that I’ll be covering today are the first and second meetings of the pair although neither of them are quite team-ups in the strictest sense. Supergirl showed up a few times in World’s Finest prior to 169, and while I’m sure to cover them at some point, this is just a look at the Supergirl/Batgirl meetings in the title.
Both of these stories feature some kind of twist at the end and this will be a synopsis of the stories so if you do not want to be spoiled on either of these stories, maybe read the books and come back. Unfortunately these books are not on the DC Universe Infinite app so you’ll have to find some back issues or some of the collected editions that feature these stories. World’s Finest 169 from 1967 was written by Cary Bates, had pencils from Curt Swan, inks by George Klein, and letters from Joe Letterese. The story was titled “The Supergirl-Batgirl Plot” but we’ll come to find out that title may be a bit misleading.
Jumping right in, the splash page shows Superman and Batman pretty down on their luck, while the young female heroes are bragging about it to one another on the phone. The story then begins with Supergirl flying “somewhere between Stanhope College and Gotham City” when she is suddenly attacked by a giant cloud hand! She is unable to break free and Batgirl happens to see this unfortunate attack taking place and tries to lend a hand. While both girls are then captured and the hand is unbeatable by either party, a little bit of teamwork, radiation from Sueprgirl’s x-ray vision, and a bomb from Batgirl’s bag, the pair are able to break free.
We then see Superman and Batman in Gotham attending a celebration and being recognized by having their costumes and other paraphernalia put into a time capsule to be opened again in 500 years (see you again in 2467). Both Linda (Supergirl) Danvers and Barbara (Batgirl) Gordon see this ordeal on television and make a mental note to themselves that there will be some changes to make the male heroes stop looking so much better that the equally fantastic Supergirl and Batgirl.
From here we get a bit of a montage of Superman and Batman appearing a bit less heroic in times of needs and the girls picking up the slack. Superman and Batman seem to suspect the pair of super heroines at this point but are un-prepared for what happens next. Supergirl has stolen the Fortress of Solitude (and apparently Superman’s powers) and Batgirl has emptied out the Bat-cave leaving the man of steel and the dynamic duo helpless.
Chapter 2 of the story, Clash of the Super-Teams!, continues right after. Batman and Robin have found the Bat-Plane stashed outside of the Bat-Cave which they fly to the arctic and find Superman stranded. Batman and Robin seem to still be able to continue on in their crime fighting ways, but on a mission Robin seems to disappear with the Bat-Plane leaving just the caped crusader by himself.
Batman, now on his own, passes the powerless Superman hitch-hiking outside Metropolis and the pair set to work together to finally put a stop to those conniving females. Unfortunately they soon blow out a tire on the batmobile and are quickly approached by the heroines who are there to have a showdown. Pairing up, Superman (with his powers restored) faces off against Supergirl who hurtles a Kryptonite asteroid at him while Batgirl attempts to take out Batman with a large pair of scissors.
Superman and Batman are able to take out these foe-ish super gals only to find out that they’re Black Flame and Catwoman in disguise (as Supergirl and Batgirl respectively). The fiendish pair of villainesses explain their plan to the World’s Finest pair and show the real Supergirl and Batgirl tied up nearby. But it isn’t actually the real Supergirl and Batgirl. The real Supergirl and Batgirl come in to reveal the second twist of the story.
The imposters weren’t actually Black Flame and Catwoman, they were none other than Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite who are revealed to have been taking bets on which of their hero’s would solve the mystery first. Mxy wins the bet and instead of Bat-Mite actually giving him the earned 100 Magic Units, the fiendish imp instead tricks Mxyzptlk into saying his name backwards thus banishing him to the 5th dimension for 90 days. Bat-Mite reveals he only did all that to get rid of Mxy for a while and everything will be back to normal as if the past 18 pages had never happened.
A particularly wacky story, and while I did enjoy the premise of Supergirl and Batgirl teaming up to usurp their male counterparts, the plot gets a bit ruined for me personally by the reveal that Supergirl and Batgirl technically don’t actually do much in the story. I do have another minor gripe, although this time it’s not the fault of the story. For those who may remember, I did a post about Black Flame a few weeks ago where I thought I had read all her appearances, but this issue was not included in the list I looked at for my research. I understand that it wasn’t actually Black Flame, but rather Mxy in disguise, I do think this should still count as a cameo by Black Flame at the very least. If nothing else this just gives me further cause to do a follow up Black Flame post in the future.
Moving into our second feature, The Superman-Batman Split, from 1968. This story was written once again by Cary Bates, this time with penciling by Neal Adams, inks by Dick Giordano, and letters by Gaspar Saladino. This story thankfully does feature Supergirl and Batgirl, although I wouldn’t necessarily count it as a team up between them, and they are treated more as supporting characters this time as the story features Superman and Batman much more prominently.
Getting into it, Clark (Superman) Kent is on assignment for the Daily Planet and we seem him starting up an interview with one of his favorite actors Ronald Jason. Terror soon strikes as the actor reveals to the intrepid reporter that he knows Clark Kent is Superman and proves it by launching a chemical bomb at the reporter which leaves him in just his indestructible Superman costume. This isn’t the only reveal however, as the actor too removes his clothing to reveal he is an alien from the Sirius System named Dur and he needs Superman’s help.
Meanwhile in the Bat-Cave, Batman encounters an uninvited guest in his private quarters named Tiron. Tiron too is an alien from the Sirius System and lets the caped crusader know that Superman has been tricked by Dur and we find out that Dur isn’t an official of the planet but instead a killer and Tiron needs Batman’s help to stop the threat.
Batman seeks to even the playing field a bit with his own Kryptoinan that he seeks out at Stanhope College. Batman and Supergirl think together and come to the conclusion that surely Superman must be keeping Dur at the Fortress of Solitude and head straight there. The man of steel is waiting for them however and a tussle between the 2 most powerful being ensues. Batman uses this opportunity to sneak in and find Dur. Superman too quickly takes out Supergirl and easily cages the dark knight and is able to relocate Dur to another secure location. Supergirl has now freed Batman and Superman has re-secured Dur promising to get a partner himself now.
Part 2 of the story, A Tale of 3 Teams, opens with Superman fulfilling his promise and we find out the partner he had in mind was none other than Batgirl. His method of contacting her, dressing up as a statue gone wild, is a bit odd, but I do like this story teaming up Batman and Supergirl and Superman and Batgirl in a subversion of expectations so I’ll let it slide. Batgirl gets filled in on the goings on and we are introduced to the aforementioned 3rd team which is Robin and Jimmy Olsen.
Jimmy and Robin, using hidden cameras, apparently find out the real secret of the 2 aliens and attempt to rush to the scene when they are met with a sleeping gas putting them out of commission.
From her the real battle that was teased on the cover comes to a head as Superman, Batman, Supergirl, AND Batgirl all begin battling it out. Batman dons some Kryptonite gloves to take on Superman while Supergirl is momentarily thwarted by some goo from Batgirl’s bag. The tables turn as Supergirl uses her heat vision to burn off the sticky substance and Superman gets Batman tied up with his cape. This all comes to a stop however when Tiron, watching the battle unfold on the sidelines, collapses.
From here we get the major twist of the story. Tiron reveals that he isn’t an alien at all, but Ronald Jason in disguise and furthermore Dur doesn’t exist either and was another of Jason’s acts. Ronald Jason tells the gang of heroes of his brother Desmond, who was a scientist that made many gadgets and gizmos, but more startling was the fact that his brother found out that Batman had the same voice print as Bruce Wayne, and Superman had the same voice print as Clark Kent. Soon after this discovery, an explosion at the lab occurs leaving Desmond dead and Ronald exposed to enough radiation that he too will soon perish. Instead of pulling a fiendish act now knowing the greatest secret of all, Ronald instead thinks of a character he can play. Using some of the recovered gadgets from his brother’s destroyed lab, Ronald invents 2 new roles and attempts to have his final act be “the greatest performance of all time”.
After Ronald Jason reveals his story, he then passes away and Robin and Jimmy finally show up on the scene and we find out that this is the secret they discovered earlier before getting hit with sleeping gas. Once again there is a twist as we find out Superman knew all along and simply played along with Jason so he could fulfill his final acting role. Superman used his knowledge of the planet Dur told him about and his x-ray vision revealed that the alien face was just a mask. Superman also filled Batman in on the goings on at some point but the two decided that it would be best if they continued on to let Jason have his final wish. Supergirl and Batgirl however weren’t told of this and they were rightfully pissed since they had been fighting for real.
I do much prefer this latter story to the first, but the last page where Superman tells everyone he knew the whole time really undercuts it. It somewhat takes away from Ronald Jason’s story and turns him from a clever and effective actor to someone helpless that Superman is just playing along with. I feel like Jimmy and Robin’s involvement in this story is also unneeded since they really didn’t do much and their removal wouldn’t really change anything. Everything up to and including Jason telling everyone it was all an act was a really engaging story to me and felt like a perfectly reasonable plot line that could get Superman, Batman, Supergirl, and Batgirl to fight each other. I do wish that at least one of these stories had Supergirl and Batgirl actually working together, but there is an issue of Adventure Comics that is a more proper Supergirl/Batgirl team as well as a Superman Family issue so the duo do get their time to shine as a team. Let me know what you think of these stories and if you think I should cover the other Supergirl/Batgirl stories!
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