The Daring New Blog of Supergirl

Author: Kara Lovett

  • Supergirl in the Multiverse: Earth-10

    Earth-10, otherwise known as Earth-X and Earth-Quality, is home to characters originally appearing from Quality Comics. Some of the titles published by Quality were; National Comics, Military Comics, and Police Comics. They published from 1940-1956 and were responsible for many major characters that now fall under the DC brand including Plastic Man, The Ray, Uncle Sam, Black Condor, and the subject of today’s post Miss America.

    Earth-X is most notable difference from Earth-0 is that WWII continued on to the present or that Germany won the war. Fighting against the Nazi Regime is a team of American heroes called the Freedom Fighters. At the forefront of this team, representing the spirit and beliefs of America, is Uncle Sam. To me the embodiment of this universe and the most important hero is Uncle Sam and would be my choice for this universe’s Superman. And for the Supergirl analog I, of course, had to go with Miss America.

    Miss America first appeared in Military Comics 1. This story was an anthology book that also featured the first appearance of Blackhawk. Miss America shows up about halfway through the issue in a brief 6 page story in which Joan Dale, a newspaper reporter, goes to Bedloe’s Island to follow a story. Bedloe’s Island, now mostly known as as Liberty Island, is of course the home of the Statue of Liberty. Joan Dale’s contact doesn’t show up so Joan decides to take a short rest near Lady Liberty and in her brief rest she witnesses a vision of Lady Liberty coming down and bestowing her magical powers onto Joan. Joan, now awake, is in disbelief of what she just witnessed and initially doesn’t believe she has magical powers but soon comes to realize the magic is real. She quickly gets to action as a hero stopping a couple thugs on a ferry by turning them into doves. A bystander nearby mentions she is “the real spirit of America!! You’re the real Miss America!!” This would be how Joan decides on her heroic alias and would continue on for the first 7 issues of Military comics using the Magic of Lady Liberty to fight crime and right wrongs. After this first stint in Military Comics Miss America would remain absent from comics until she showed up (now in DC) in All Star Squadron #31 along with Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters. Miss America would continue showing up periodically since then accompanying the Freedom Fighters.

    As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork and it depicts Miss America standing in the foreground holding up the American flag. In the background you can see the Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island. A motif in the top right shows an American flag and a 10 on top of it.

  • Dick Malverne

    Dick Malverne is among the first in recurring supporting characters for our heroine Supergirl. First appearing in the story The Great Supergirl Mirage from Action Comics #256. This story, by Otto Binder and Jim Mooney, features a young boy who also lives at Midvale orphanage with Linda (Supergirl) Lee named Dick Wilson. Dick, through the course of the story, suspects Linda is Supergirl after seeing a flying girl early on in the story. He tries in many ways to expose Linda as the girl of steel but is constantly thwarted by Linda’s quick thinking and super feats. Dick in this story fills the role that Lana Lang often filled in the Superboy stories set in Smallville. Lana often tried to expose Clark as Superboy and reveal that he has super powers. Linda even refers to Dick as a “Boy “Lana Lang”.”

    Although Dick filled a crucial role in helping Linda be more careful with her powers, He would not show up again until Action Comics 282, a story set in the middle of the Lesla-Lar arc (which I may cover at some point). During the events of this arc, Linda is left powerless and since she has no powers and can no longer risk revealing Kal-El’s secret she finally feels comfortable enough to be adopted by the Danvers. On a trip to the beach with her adopted parents, Linda notices a familiar face. None other that Dick Wilson who exclaims “The name is now Dick Malverne! I’ve been adopted too!” The two then go on to have a wonderful time at the beach together both mentioning how attractive one another is and thus begins the romatic stories between the two characters.

    Dick Malverne would show up frequently in the next few years in Action Comics and Adventure Comics often serving as a romantic interest for Linda, but Linda would continue to keep her identity secret from him. While being present throughout Linda’s time at Midvale Orphanage, Midvale High School, and even Stanhope College, Dick would eventually stop being a recurring character and wouldn’t show up again until Supergirl 23 from 1984. This was the last issue of Supergirl’s until after the Crisis and only shows up briefly as once last goodbye and a callback to Linda’s long history as Supergirl.

    This would not be the end of Dick Malverne though as he would appear, in a slightly different way, during the 1996 Supergirl comic. Once again he would be a frequent love interest for Linda but would be a casualty in Linda’s constant struggle against the demon Buzz.

    After this, the story briefly told at the end of Supergirl 23 in 1984 would be picked back up again in the first issue of Solo. This story Young Love written by Diana Schutz with art by Tim Sale and Dave Stewart, would briefly recap some of the highlights of Dick and Linda’s life and expand on the scene from Supergirl 23. Dick in this story promises to see her again later after having a kiss that literally lifted them off their feet. Dick wouldn’t make it back to see Linda however as he was bedridden in a hospital with cancer. Dick, from his hospital, calls for Supergirl. This next interaction reveals that Dick had always known that Linda was Supergirl and wanted one last goodbye. The two share one more goodbye kiss before we see Supergirl, with her faithful cat Streaky, sitting and thinking about how hard it would be to find her inner strength again.

    Dick Malverne also showed up briefly in a Season 1 episode of the 2015 Supergirl Series where he is shown as an antagonist and former love interest of Alex Danvers. An interesting new take on the character that would go on to have a few appearances in the series.

    With the new Supergil Series coming out this Summer being set in Midvale I would love to see Dick Malverne return and possibly explore the “boy Lana Lang” a bit further.

    Thanks so much for reading my blog! If you have any thoughts, questions, comments, or corrections about any of my posts feel free to contact me via email at blogofsupergirl@gmail.com

  • Supergirl in the Multiverse: Earth-9

    Earth-9, sometimes Earth-Tangent or Earth-97, is home to the Tangent Universe. A universe described as “You know their names. You don’t know these heroes.” on the back of one of the collected editions of this series. A series that was initially a series of 9 one shot issues in 1997 that would get an additional 9 one shots the next year. The universe and some of the characters would go on to appear periodically in the main DC Universe and would get a new miniseries called Tangent: Superman’s Reign in 2008.

    The Earth-9 Supergirl is Powergirl. A Chinese experiment made as part of a government operation trying to create superheroes called the Supergirl Program. The Supergirl Program was created in an attempt to try to compete with the American superhero craze started by the first Atom. Powergirl posses energy manipulation powers that give her many abilities including strength, flight, energy blasts, and healing among others.

    The Supergirl Program’s initial attempt at a superhero was Supergirl, a failed experiment that ultimately perished. A new attempt was started and the Metal Men, including President Sam Schwartz, attempted to infiltrate and recover Powergirl before the Chinese Government could begin training her to their cause. After being found by the Metal Men in a Chinese government facility, Powergirl leaves to go find her own path and her own life that isn’t tied to either the Chinese or American government. She would later show up during the events of Superman’s Reign as Superman’s right hand and lover. It is unclear how she got involved with Superman or how he convinced her of his role in ruling the world after seeking independence after we last saw her. She would continue to stay by his side until the heroes of New Earth defeat them and send them back to Earth-9.

    As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork and it depicts Powergirl floating and projecting an energy blast from her left hand. In the background is the city of New Atlantis as it exists on Earth-9. A motif in the top right shows Powergirl’s symbol (the Hanzi character 力 which can be translated as power) and an 9 on top of it.

  • Superboy meets Supergirl & The Girl of Steel

    Supergirl as we know and love her first appeared in 1959 in the pages of Action Comics #252. This was Kara Zor-El and the cousin of Superman. You can read more about that story here, but today we’re talking about the Supergirls that predate her.

    Superboy #5 from 1949 was a collection of 4 stories, the first of which was Superboy Meets Supergirl and it was written by William Woolfolk with art by John Sikela and Ed Dobrotka. This was the first attempt by DC to create a female companion for Superman, or Superboy in this case. The Supergirl from this story is Lucy Regent from the kingdom of Borgonia in Latin America. She is the child queen of this kingdom, but because of her young age the Duke Norvello instead rules the kingdom. Lucy is an accomplished athlete and very intelligent but isn’t happy because the duke prevents her from appearing before the people of her kingdom. Seeing her sorrow, her caretaker Elena takes her away to the city of Smallville, USA. Lucy soon meets Superboy and even helps in stopping a crime which brings her to the attention of the whole city. This leads to an article about her great deeds making its way all the way back to Borgonia where Norvello realizes where she’s run off to. In the meantime Lucy is invited to show in a parade fpr the people of Smallville as a Supergirl. Lucy, while being quite a good athlete, is still just a human. However, with the help of Superboy, she preforms a handful of super-feats to present to the people of Smallville. During this scene she is wearing a Supergirl costume that still has the iconic S symbol and red cape. However, instead of the classic blue her Supergirl dress is orange with a white trim. after her presentation at the parade she is kidnapped and taken away back to Borgonia. Back in Borgonia, Norvello traps her in an iron mask and tries to discredit her in front of the people of her kingdom. Superboy soon arrives to discredit Norvello and save Lucy. Lucy, now rightfully in charge of her country, is no longer able to stay with Superboy in Smallville.

    Moving on almost a decade later we are brought to Superman #123 from 1958. This story, The Three Magic Wishes, is written by Otto Binder with art by Dick Sprang and Stan Kaye. The story is novel length taking up the whole 32 page issue and split into 3 chapters. The first chapter is al that will be discussed here as it where The Girl of Steel makes her debut. The story opens with Superman preforming various super saves and is accompanied by Jimmy Olsen. Superman saves an archeologist from a landslide and, as thanks, gifts Jimmy with a magical totem. This totem grants Jimmy 3 wishes, the first he uses to find Superman a supermatch with a Super-girl. This magically created Super-girl has all the powers of Superman and wears a costume that is much closer to how Kara would appear in her first appearance, however this Super-girl instead wears a red skirt which Kara wouldn’t adopt until much later. The story then follows a commedy of errors as Superman and Super-girl both try to preform saves at the same time, often creating disaterous results. The story comes to a climax as Superman, during a save, is thwarted by Kryptonite. Super-girl, saying she is immune to Kryptonite because she was magically created, saves Superman from the green rock. It is however revealed that she is weak to Kryptonite because Jimmy wished for her to be just like Superman. This heroic save ended up being Super-girl’s last and she would tragically perish because of her prolonged exposure to the Kryptonite.

    Both of these stories set up Supergirl to be a romantic interest to Superman which makes her actual debut as Superman’s cousin a weird departure. I think it is also interesting to note that the first iteration wasn’t super powered at all, and I liked the contrasting orange of Lucy’s costume to Superboy’s blue. Also the blundering of Super-girl from Superman #123 may be why Superman would later require Kara to undergo such a long training process before her official reveal to the world. While I enjoy these early proto Supergirl stories, I much prefer the Kryptonian born origin of Kara Zor-El.

    Thanks so much for reading my blog! If you have any thoughts, questions, comments, or corrections about any of my posts feel free to contact me via email at blogofsupergirl@gmail.com

  • Supergirl in the Multiverse: Earth-8

    Earth-8 is the designation in the DC Multiverse for Marvel’s 616 universe which is the main universe of Marvel and is home to many of the well known characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, and Captain Marvel.

    The Earth-8 Supergirl is Captain Marvel. Carol Danvers is the current Captain Marvel although the name Captain Marvel was first used by a hero named Mar-Vell, a Kree soldier who would also sometimes use the name Walter Lawson on Earth. The Kree are a alien race in the marvel universe that come from a planet named Hala.

    Carol Danvers first showed up in Marvel Super-Heroes #13 as a member of the US Air Force. It wouldn’t be until nearly 10 years later in the pages of Ms. Marvel #1 where she would become a full fledged superhero. Since then she has used many superhero names until she finally took on the name Captain Marvel in Avenging Spider-Man #9. While believing for most her life that she was a human, she later found out, in the pages of The Life of Captain Marvel, that her mother was also Kree. This revelation came with Carol learning her Kree name, Car-Ell. Captain Marvel is a hero who has often been a member of the Avengers and is known as one of the most powerful individuals in the 616 Marvel universe.

    As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork and it depicts Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel flying through space. In the background is a large planet, a handful of moons, and stars. A motif in the top right shows Captain Marvel’s star symbol and an 8 on top of it.