Author: Kara Lovett

In more recent years and most notably in the Supergirl CBS/CW television show, the general consensus of the Supergirl and Superman relationship is that Supergirl is technically older than Superman. Due to shenanigans in her trip to earth from Krypton proper or Argo (depending on the exact continuity) Kara Zor-El was trapped in suspended animation while Kal-El grew up on Earth and became Superman. With this idea in mind, I’ve been fascinated by the idea of a story where Kara did land on earth before Kal and how that would effect their relationship and the heroic community as a whole. It does seem like we will have some amount of this story told in the upcoming Supergirl: Survive Elseworlds tale, but I was quite surprised to find a story like this had already been told back in the 60s by Leo Dorfman and Jim Mooney across 2 issues of Action Comics in stories titled “How Superwoman Trained Superboy!” and “The Duel Between Superwoman and Superboy!”

Action Comics #332 begins this imaginary tale in what is essentially a story of Jor-El’s family and Zor-El’s family switching places. The first few pages of this issue play out similarly to the origins of Superman and Supergirl that we’ve all come to know aside from the pair swapping places. We see Zor-El as a resident of Kryptonopolis and he is pleading with the science council to take action in regards to the coming destruction of the planet and Jor-El is instead telling his brother about the dome he plns to install over his home city of Argo. It is also shown that Kara had already been born before the destruction of Krypton but Jor-El had yet to meet Lara or even think of having a son named Kal-El. We get a handful of scenes on Krypton where we see the El brothers in swapped positions but it’s during the destruction of the planet where we start seeing some more prominent differences.

When Zor-El is loading his young child into the rocket to save her, he remembers an enlarging ray he had invented which he turns on the rocket which enlarges it to allow for himself and Allura to also be rocketed to safety. Zor-El and his family land in the outskirts of Smallville and begin their lives as the Zorelle’s living as farmers in the small town and would secretly use their powers to help their fellow citizens until suddenly they stumbled upon a chunk of gold Kryptonite.

The Gold-K of course took away the powers of Zor-El and Allura, but thankfully their young daughter was safely away and didn’t lose her powers. Kara, using the alias Carole, would grow up with human parents and in her teen years would patrol Smallville as Supergirl just like Superman of our world did when he was Superboy. Carole would later move to Metropolis after her parents died of old age and would take on the mantle of Superwoman while working as a private investigator.

Around this time we would see Jor-El’s Argo City facing the same fate of Kryptonite poisoning and we see Jor-El send his teenage son, Kal-El, off to earth to safety. Kal lands on earth in a scene that mirrors the origin of Supergirl we saw in Action 252 with the roles of Supergirl and Superman swapped with Superboy and Superwoman.

Superwoman takes Kal to Midvale Orphanage where he adopts a blond wig and the name Cal Ellis. We get a few scenes of Cal at Midvale Orphanage and we see him interact with Dick Wilson (who would later be Dick Malverne) in both a swimming scene, as well as a scene that mirrors one from Action 256, where Cal has forgotten to write a paper and Dick sees that his paper is undone, but Cal super-speed writes his paper and Dick asks him about it and the same excuse of “completed paper in drawer” was used.

We get a few scenes of Superboy being clumsy and misusing his powers before an experiment goes wrong and he exposes himself to Gold-K, or so Superwoman thinks. Before the issue ends, Superboy throws the supposed Gold-K into the sky and reveals that it was all a ploy to get Superwoman off his back.

Issue 333 opens with a bit of a recap and we also get a few more scenes of Superboy acting up before the fake Gold-K scene. We then cut to the Orphanage and Cal trying to get adopted and he ruins 2 other orphans chances of getting adopted before he is taken in by a scientist named Dr Kean. Dr. Kean has a penthouse laboratory which Cal quickly puts to use as Superboy who is putting together a device to free the Phantom Zone criminals.

At this point, Superwoman tells Superboy about a pair of Zoners named Van-Dal, the worst juvenile delinquent on Krypton, and his mother Tir-An. Superboy know having knowledge of these fiends only makes him more eager to get them to earth to help him rid Superwoman from his life. Superwoman returns to her office where she tells Jimmy Olsen of a plan to take care of Superboy once and for all. It is at this point that Carole reveals to her associate that she is in fact the hero Superwoman. Superboy gets his machine working and frees the Zoners who quickly get to work on putting together a potion that would remove their weakness to Kryptonite. While Superboy initially refuses to drink the concoction, after seeing Van-Dal drink it he finally agrees.

To drink the potion he has to turn off his Protecto-Belt and when he does so, Tir-An takes off her mask and reveals she was Superwoman the whole time and it was all a ploy to de-activate his belt and remove his powers temporarily with Red-Kryptonite that was in the cup with the Kryptonite cure. The Red-K didn’t affect Van-Dal because he too was a disguise, this time with Jimmy Olsen under the mask.

It’s at this point the plot gets a bit confusing, at least to me. Superboy is powerless under the effects of the Red-K, so Jimmy punches him out. Then suddenly, even though the effects of the Red-K should still be in effect, Superboy gets his powers back, but they keep going on and off and eventually he is subjected to Gold-K which permanently removes his powers. And to really put a bummer ending on this story, Superwoman hypnotizes the now powerless Kal-El into forgetting everything and she drips him off at an orphanage as a full amnesiac.

I did really enjoy this story and I felt like it really explored how the Silver Age Superman and Supergirl switching places could have played out. There are a lot of references to other stories that I mentioned here, especially the stuff with Dick Malverne that I really enjoyed. They felt like little Easter eggs of Supergirl stories from her previous years in action comics. I will say I wish they would’ve explored Lex Luthor a bit more, he’s shown briefly as a non-villainous friend of Carole and I would’ve loved to see how that would affect Lena, since she and her parents wouldn’t have had to change their name after Lex’s turn to evil deeds. This also confirms that Lex Luthor was only ever a villain because of the actions of Clark “Superboy” Kent and I think that’s fascinating. Also Superwoman placing Cal into Midvale Orphanage felt like readers finally getting justice for Kal doing the same thing to Linda all those years before. Unlike the last story I covered from Supergirl’s action comics back-ups (The Survival Zone Saga), I really think 2 issues is perfectly fine to tell this imaginary story and I wasn’t really itching for more. This wasn’t exactly what I was after in regards to a Kara landing on earth before Kal, but it was a pretty enjoyable story that made Kal-El a pretty bad person all told.

Beginning in Action Comics #309 and the back-up story titled “The Untold Story of Argo City” Supergirl finds out that her Kryptonian parents are not dead as she previously thought but have been safely alive in the Survival Zone. The return of Kara’s Kryptonian parents was not a one and done story, their survival and presence in Supergirl’s life and career was part of Supergirl’s life up until Crisis on Infinite Earths when that version of Supergirl died. Unlike a previously covered Supergirl storyline told across issues of Action Comics, Supergirl Revealed, the story of Lesla-Lar, Zor-El and Allura’s return wasn’t told all at once. There are 5 issues that tell the story spread out across the backups in Action Comics from issue 309 to 316.

All of these stories are written by Leo Dorfman with art by Jim Mooney. Issue 309, “The Untold Story of Argo City”, kicks off this saga with Dick Malverne taking Linda on a date to a reunion at the Midvale Orphanage where they both lived before their adoption. At this reunion Linda expertly rides Comet the Super-Horse, who was also attending the event, before fumbling off the horse to prevent Dick from finding out that she’s secretly Supergirl.

The event ends with a fellow orphan revealing to Linda and Dick that his biological parents found him after loosing him in a flood years before. This exchange leads Linda to remember the tragic fate of Kryptonite poisoning that befell her parents. After this point Linda starts having dreams and visions of her birth parents flooding her mind which leads the maid of might to seek answers in the Phantom Zone. The main Phantom Zone criminals only sought to torment the young girl but one resident, Jem-El, tries to tell her about Argo and informing her that he knows where her parents are before the other fiends block his thoughts and Supergirl is sent out of the Zone without any answers.

This interaction did have Kara take a look at the Chronoscope in the Fortress to view the events of the past of Argo City where she found out about Argo briefly orbiting a yellow star which gave all the residents super-powers briefly and also informed Supergirl of an experiment Zor-El and Allura tried in an attempt to survive the impending doom of Argo. The pair attempt to enter a zone parallel to the Phantom Zone called the Survival Zone. It doesn’t seem to have worked however and the scientists give up on the endeavor. Later, after they launch their daughter into the vast ocean of space, they suddenly vanish into the Survival Zone. This issue ends with Supergirl knowing her parents are alive and out there somewhere but with no idea how to reach them.

Action 310, “Supergirl’s Rival Parents”, shows Zor-El and Allura coming to earth for real. After a quick intro of Edna Danvers telling Fred and Linda that their life is wonderful since their foster daughter is Supergirl. Supergirl then flies to the Fortress and recaps the former issue to the Science Council who point her towards New Krypton to find further answers. New Krypton, as presented here, was an abandoned planet that Supergirl and Superman rebuilt to be an exact replica of Krypton populated by androids. The Zor-El and Allura androids help Supergirl in Zor-El’s laboratory, and a thought casting helmet finally lets Supergirl talk properly with her parents in the Survival Zone.

Zor-El is able to instruct Supergirl on how to construct a portal to allow them to come into the real world and after many years of believing she was an orphan, Supergirl is finally reunited with her parents. Zor-El and Allura move into the Danvers home and everything seems to be going smoothly, but it is soon revealed that the Danvers’ and the El’s are both terrified of loosing their daughter to the other set of parents. The Danvers’ feel like Linda should be with her super-powered biological parents, but the El’s are unable to morally take their daughter away from such loving foster parents. Zor-El tries to take matters into his own hands with some gold Kryptonite (that would take away his powers) but Fred Danvers convinces him not to do so and instead the 2 pairs of parents figure out solution where the Danvers would stay on earth as Kara’s human parents, and the El’s would live in the bottle city of Kandor as Kara’s Kryptonian parents.

The Supergirl stories would continue on for the next few issues without much mention of Supergirl’s Kryptonian Parents up until “Supergirl’s Tragic Ordeal” from issue 314. This issue would be a 3 part story that gives a bit more closure to the El/Danvers feud. Allura is bed-ridden in Kandor without any signs of disease. The Kandorians eventually come to the conclusion that Allura is heartbroken from being away from her daughter. Her heartbreak comes to a head when she kidnaps a young girl’s android doll that looks just like Kara did as a child and this event sends Allura’s doctor into action and he contacts the girl of steel.

However, since Supergirl is off on patrol, the message is received by a Supergirl robot and the Danvers intercept the message before their foster daughter gets home. Instead of relaying the message to Linda, the Danvers instead act like they’re mad at their daughter to send her away and back to her Kryptonian parents, this only saddened their foster daughter and eventually Edna tells Linda her and Fred were only being mean so that Linda would go to her Kandorian parents instead. Supergirl then rushes off to the Fortress and Allura’s doctor encourages Supergirl to use the exchange ray to have the Danvers and the Els trade places.

This change is played out over the next couple issues and seems like it will stick as the new status quo for the girl of steel. The new family of Superheroes starts off their heroic career by building a secret fortress on the side of a cliff and then quickly going into action to take on a race of fire being that are trying to invade Earth. All the while, the Danvers are settling into their new Kandorian life and even start fostering a young Kryptonian girl named Dar-Lin who looks very similar to Supergirl’s Linda identity.

There is a story where Edna has a similar arc of missing her daughter that Allura had before, however this time instead of staying bed-ridden, she gets poked by a Srang which turns her evil and she tries to kil the Els while supposing the identity of Bira. This issue (#315) also has the first instance of Allura’s name being spelled as “Alura” although since it is also written as “Allura” later it’s likely just a typo. “Alura” would become the standard spelling for Supergirl’s mother in the post-crisis era.

The final story of this saga would be in issue #316 titled “Supergirl’s Choice of Doom”. This story has the new Super Family taking a look at their Kryptonian Super-Computer to see what their future might hold. These events include moving an Egyptian pyramid, saving moon-prospectors, and building a glass tunnel so humans can see the majesty of Atlantis. At the end of the tape is a monstrous alien named Zygor that will come to Earth to get his revenge on Zor-El.

We get some backstory of Zor-El vanquishing the monster back on Argo City and the fiend swearing he will take his revenge on Zor-El. The viewing tape showing what the future might hold ends with Zygor on Earth forcing Supergirl to kill either her father or Superman. Supergirl can’t stand watching anymore and destroys the computer. Zor-El tells Kara that the computer was only predicting what would happen if Zor-El and Allura stayed on Earth and if they go back to Kandor this future can never come to pass.

The Danvers and the Els once again trade places and everything goes back to as it was with Supergirl in Midvale with Linda partying with Dick Malverne and Lena Thorul. After Zor-El and Allura return to Kandor, they reveal to the reader that the prediction that the Zygor would come to Earth could never happen since Zygor was defeated when Zor-El sent it to the Phantom Zone. Zor-El fabricated the story so that his daughter would be able to live with the Danvers and have a happy life.

This story did have further repercussions, Zor-El and Allura would continue having a supporting role in Supergirl’s life for the rest of the Silver and Bronze ages and would show up from time to time whenever Supergirl would visit Kandor. They would even be visited by Superman after Supergirls death in Crisis to put her body to rest.

Action Comics #326, in a story titled “The Secret of Supergirl’s Suitor” would reveal a 3rd survivor of the Survival Zone in a man named Al Mintor. Al Mintor is introduced to the reader as a thief and a criminal, but he is undeniably in love with Linda “Supergirl” Danvers and the feelings are mutual. It is later revealed that Al Mintor was actually a living android that was made on Argo City for Zor-El to use in testing his Survival Zone Ray. The android was created by the same scientist who had made a living doll for young Kara Zor-El to play with. The similarities between Kara’s childhood doll and Al Mintor are what drew the 2 together and made them fall in love, and the only reason Mintor was committing crimes was to get money together so he could get back to Kara. Tragically the story ends with him perishing.

I’ve been reading through the 2nd Supergirl in the Silver Age Omnibus recently in an effort to try to read through all the major Supergirl stories I’ve not read yet. While I don’t care as much for Dorfman’s work when compared to Otto Binder, there are still some good stories in this omnibus and I’ve been having a great time, I just wish Comet wasn’t so heavily featured in them. I wish we would’ve gotten more stories on Zor-El, Allura, and Kara being a Super Family on Earth and the Danvers raising the young Kandorian Dar-Lin, but I do think Kara living as the adoptive daughter of the Danvers feels like a better fit for Supergirl stories.