Author: Kara Lovett

Supergirl (Vol. 5) #55 “Fakeouts” was written by Sterling Gates, pencils by Jamal Igle, inks by John Dell, Richard Friend, and Marc Deering, Colors from Jamie Grant and Jim Devlin, and Jared K. Fletcher on lettering. The middle part of the Bizarrogirl storyline (which I covered a couple months ago here)

As we hop into the 6th installment of my random look at a single issue of my Supergirl collection we land on “Fakeouts”. This was the middle part of the Bizarrogirl storyline (I covered it a few weeks ago here). This was the 55th issue of Supergirl’s 5th series and came out in 2010. It was written by Sterling Gates, with pencils by Jamal Igle, inks by John Dell, Richard Friend, and Marc Deering, Colors from Jamie Grant and Jim Devlin, and Jared K. Fletcher on lettering. With the initial face off between Bizarrogirl and Supergirl happening last issue, this issue works as a stepping stone to set up Supergirl recognizing Bizarro-World is in trouble and having her head off at the end.

The issue opens with a flashback to the Anti-Arctic of Bizarro-World having a drastic seismic event and Bizarro-Jimmy and Bizarro-Lois walk in on Bizarro #1 loading Bizarrogirl into a rocket that he also planned to be on in an attempt to escape from the turmoil all around them. Due to Bizarro-Jimmy and Bizarro-Lois however the rocket gets sent off with just Bizarrogirl inside. Shifting back to the present, Supergirl is still in the metallic state she was left in last issue after getting hit with Bizarrogirl’s solid-vision. Really impressive full page art here that really sells the fact that Supergirl has been turned into metal.

Thankfully, as we soon find out, Supergirl had learned from the Flash how to vibrate her molecules through solid objects. Back in the game now, Supergirl continues the fight with her imperfect twin and is eventually able to get her away from citizens that could be in harms way. Before she rushes off after her, Supergirl does check in on Gangbuster and lets him know he’s got a couple busted metacarpals but is otherwise in alright condition. The panel layout in this particular issue is quite good, Kara’s flashbacks are shown with rounded corners and it’s done like this a few times throughout the story. In contrast, the Bizarrogirl flashback at the start of the issue had really ragged edges. I’m not sure who in the line of artists would be responsible for choices like this but it’s a really great visual shorthand to differentiate from the square edges of the main story.

We get a quick couple pages here of Cat Grant building up to the Toyman arc coming up, and we build on Cat’s continued plot of trying to badmouth Supergirl in the Daily Planet when we see “Does Supergirl Have a Daily Planet Informant?” typed up on her computer. Supergirl literally crashes back into the story and puts her best effort into a quip, “Me have a fight to get back to”, and then flies to the outskirts of the city and freezes Bizarrogirl to get her back for the solid state she was in at the start of the story.

This is all just a distraction however and the real plan is soon revealed. We get a nice look at Kara being well versed in science with her plan to de-power Bizarrogirl with similar radiation to that of a K-Class star as provided by Dr. Light. Along with the K-Class radiation, the plan also included Bizarrogirl being taken to S.T.A.R. Labs to be studied. Supergirl, after learning Bizarrogirl is a refugee like her, decides to take matters into her own hands and snatches Bizarrogirl away from Dr. Light and back to the rocket that brought her to Earth. The issue ends with Supergirl and Bizarrogirl in a rocket headed back to Bizarro-World.

I mentioned the art earlier with the page of solid-state-Supergirl and the use of panel borders to differentiate flashbacks, but I also want to applaud Jamal Igle for some really exceptional compositions throughout the whole book. There are quite a few 2 page splashes in the book that are all used quite effectively in a lot of cool and exciting action sequences. There’s also a moment this issue where Bizarrogirl gets punched out of one of her boots. There’s really good continuity of the boot being missing through the rest of the story. All around really great art from the whole creative team.

While I’ve been looking at the ads in the books for all the Supergirl Surprise books I’ve covered so far, this was the first entry where I found just a bunch of ads that I wanted to talk about. First up was this Journey’s ad for some DC Comics branded converse that I would absolutely go for. Then I wanted to mention the weird dichotomy of the anti-weed ad and the 5 Gum ad that reads “Everyone experiences it differently” both showing up in the same book. While we’re on it, the Above the Influence ad features a bunch of odd sayings but my favorite is “5 ft 10 and a whole lotta attitude”. The Hero Factory ad is only getting included this time out because I think I’m still a little bitter about Hero Factory replacing Bionicle even 15 years later. To close out I wanted to show off a 2 page ad for Metroid Other M, a game which I’ve not played but I love Samus’s vibe and the ad definitely makes me want to check it out. I think the main reason I got so much out of these ads was because in 2010, while I wasn’t buying these comics, I was getting targeted ads for a lot of these products in a lot of other ways.

Thanks for sticking around! I hope you had a fun time taking a look at this book from my collection, and I hope you come back for more! If you have any thoughts or suggestions for Supergirl content for me to cover feel free to email me at daringnewblog@gmail.com!

Superman compliments of Radio Shack was a trilogy of promotional comics put out by Radio Shack to promote their new product, the TRS-80 Computer. The second of these books was titled “Victory by Computer” and of course starred everyone’s favorite girl of steel. Really killer creative team for this free promotional book, Cary Bates is writing, and Curt Swan & Vince Colletta on art, the book was published in 1981 and is a continuation of the previous year’s “The Computers that Saved Metropolis” but most of the references boil down to Alec and Shanna (the TRS-80 Computer Whiz Kids) briefly mentioning their previous tale with Superman and the story does a solid job of telling a complete story on its own, and how could you not with 32 pages and no ads.

As I mentioned, the story is 32 pages and there’s a lot of story jam packed into it. we open with Ms. Wilson’s class in an elementary school on the outskirts of Metropolis and we are soon introduced to our titular heroes, Superman and Supergirl. The pair of Super Cousins present the class with a brand new product called the TRS-80 Pocket Computer which fits snuggly into both hero’s cape pockets. After briefly going over what the pocket computer can do, Superman takes off to take care of a threat which we find out is a threat by Lex Luthor saying he plans to break out of prison by Superman’s hand.

Supergirl, now alone with the class, goes on to tell Ms. Wilson’s class about some of the functions of the TRS-80 computer and she is helped by Alec and Shanna who starred alongside Superman in the last Radio Shack giveaway book. After a few pages of promotional dialoge, Supergirl has the idea of a race. Supergirl vs the TRS-80 computer in a competition to see who could learn about Lex Luthor faster. The kids of course use the computer to access the Daily Planet online archives while Supergirl goes to the planet building itself to look through their paper archives. This race showed that using a TRS-80 lets you research just as fast as Supergirl can at super-speed.

With their in classroom education taken care of, Ms. Wilson takes the class on a field trip to the Metropolis Museum of Science and Industry where they’re able to explore and learn more about computers and how they work. Promising to meet the class there, Supergirl takes a quick patrol where she finds an odd building emmiting dangerous microwaves and takes a detour to investigate. The microwaves are a trap however, and red solar lamps quickly turn on taking away Supergirl’s powers and trapping her.

Superman checks in on the class and is surprised to find out Supergirl isn’t with them. A discussion with a concerned Ms. Wilson leads Superman to go off in search of his cousin. Switching back to the maid of might, she awakens powerless and in a locked room with a “PP” on the doors. Without powers, she’s forced to use her wit and intuition instead. Through one door she hears faint noises alerting her to a guard stationed outside. She then turns her attention to the other door, and with a paperclip and her leftover super-senses, she picks the lock to uncover a TRS-80 computer setup. She uses some of the features of the computer that were discussed at the start of the book to contact Ms. Wilson’s class. The Whiz Kids help Supergirl use the “PP” clue she found to figure out she’s been trapped at the old hideout of a crime organization called the Purple Palace. Supergirl uses this information to think up a way out. Meanwhile, Superman shows up at Ms. Wilson’s class where they tell him where Supergirl is trapped. Superman rushes over, but Supergirl has already gotten herself out thanks to reading up on the Purple Palace’s secret smuggling tunnel thanks to the TRS-80. Criminals captured, Supergirl saved, and the Whiz Kids learning more about the TRS-80 we come to a close on the story with Alec calling them “a pretty sensational super-team.

Promotional giveaway comics are generally pretty hit or miss, and the absurdity of them has always interested me. I’ve collected quite a few of these including the whole trilogy of these Radio Shack books, all 3 of the Drug Awareness Teen Titans books, a couple Supergirl specific books promoting safe driving practices, and a Batman Onstar comic. While this issue really leaned into the promotion of the computer it was advertising and a lot of dialogue felt unnatural because of the specific branding they were forced to use, the story was actually pretty decent. Supergirl was also able to shine in the story and it felt more like her book than Superman’s a lot of the time. Supergirl thinking her way out of a sticky situation as opposed to just waiting to be saved was really good to see. One point of the story that feels pretty out of place however is the Lex Luthor sub-plot. Lex mentions near the start that he’s going to escape, and it’s kind of implied at the end that Lex set up the plot to capture Supergirl, but it doesn’t add to the story at all. I guess it was there to give a named villain to the story and to give Superman a reason to head out of the classroom, but to me it just distracted from the plot. Also at the start it seems like this whole issue would be about the Pocket Computer, but that’s quickly brushed aside and the main plot revolves around the main TRS-80 instead.

Supergirl’s costume and her mention of working as a student advisor puts this story specifically in the early Superman Family era which is accurate to the time this book came out. One odd incosistency I noticed was that sometimes Supergirl’s shorts were depicted as a skirt instead. I feel like this is probably an inking oversight because they usually look like shorts and only a couple panels look like a skirt, but I could be wrong.

While there aren’t any page ads in this book, the inside front and back covers both have advertisements for Radio Shack products. The inside front shows off the TRS-80 itself, and the inside back gives you a look at some science fair kits. The back cover reads: “Now… Radio Shack brings you the fun way to learn all about microcomputers!” it shows off an educational programs catalog, “My TRS-80 Likes Me”, and the comic that’s already in your hands. It seems weird that they aren’t instead advertising the previous issue but maybe it’s meant for teachers to request more for their class.

One more little bit I want to show off before signing off this time is this glossary of terms that were used throughout the story given to us on the last page. None of these terms seem like anything too crazy but its a fun time capsule of the 80s era of computing. Thanks for reading! If you liked this and want me to look at other promotional or PSA books let me know by emailing daringnewblog@gmail.com and keep checking back for more posts!