The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2084: Adventure Comics #409, August 1971

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 Late Silver Age finds us in an era of Supergirl that I really love, even though quite often the stories are kind of lame. One part of these tales that tickles me is that they dress the Maid of Steel in fan-submitted costumes, occasionally, like this crazy get-up on the cover. Now, it looks a bit crazy to us, but considering the fashions of the early 70s, it's not that far a stretch. Is it utilitarian? No. But in these stories, Supergirl often seems as concerned with looking good as she is with doing good.

Though there are some times that a writer gets their hands on the character and does something interesting. I spoke about a sort of neo-gothic sensibility in some Supergirl stories at the Fan Expo a few years back, but those cool tales are definitely interspersed in this era with some cheeseball romance stuff.

However, the backup story, a reprint from 1963, tells the story of Satan Girl, who claims to be the equal and enemy of Supergirl, and who incapacitates the female-identifying members of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Who turns out to be a Red Kryptonite duplicate of Supergirl who was trying to kill her way to retaining her existence, and who fades out and recombines with Supergirl at the end of the story! Fucking dark.

I love 1970s Supergirl. She's unfailingly good, interestingly flawed, and really sexy, as Kara or Linda, really. Worth checking out for an interesting perspective on the DC universe.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1183: Action Comics #563, January 1985

We come to the end of our Action Comics reading today with an amusing issue, the pro- and antagonists of which you can see on the cover here. It's really a showcase for the three in the foreground, with Superman popping in and riding herd on the chaos that ensues.

There's mention in the letters pages of these issues of a switch in format which must have come slightly before this run of issues, and I think it's referring to the division of stories in the title, as well as the tone of those stories. Everything's a bit more light-hearted than contemporary Superman tales. And while there seem to have always, or almost always, been multiple stories in Action Comics, these stories all feature either Superman or members of his supporting cast, rather than B-listers like The Atom or the Human Target. I'm torn as to whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. I'm finding the Superman stories to be less-compelling than the ones that were being told in the more anthology-style issues from about 10 years earlier. This line of thought definitely looks ahead to the weekly anthology that starts in issue 601, which we'll get to eventually.

It's been nice getting back into Superman, and I imagine I'll hit him up a bit more once July rolls around. I have a big project in mind for June, but until then we've got a few days of random bits and pieces from the collection to look at.

More to come...

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1181: Action Comics #561, November 1984

Let's add this one to probably one of the most misleading covers we've seen thus far. Nothing even remotely like this scene happens in the issue. In fact, Toyman appears to have actually gone straight (a contentious phrase in our gender-nonconforming era), though he does use his newfound wealth for his own selfish purposes. However, as a collector, I totally understand his desire to track down the first toy he ever made. That's important.

Superman's role in this story is really that of observer, which is a nice way of parsing stories about an alien trying to fit in on Earth. But he also play peacemaker between Toyman and his nemesis, evincing a bit of the Christ metaphor that people seem so quick to lay over top of Superman. I'm more of the opinion that we have a Moses metaphor going on, but that's just me.

The second story is a nice example of the wackiness that Superman often encounters, especially in terms of his exposures to Red Kryptonite. This time, it splits the Man of Steel into his much younger counterpart (on the cusp of revealing himself as Superboy), and into a future version of himself that has a ridiculous array of powers, including splitting his secret identity off from the body so that both can function at once, or turning himself into an actual man of steel. The story is silly and entertaining, which is not a bad thing for a holiday Monday morning read.

More to come...