Action Comics 252
Binder/Pastino

Pretty much just the origin story.. and boy it it a whopper... check your logic and scientific nature at the door for this one!

So a small bit of Krypton (or maybe no so small a bit... at different points it's called a 'street', a city, or 'Argo') gets thrown from the explosion unharmed, and takes atmosphere with it.. so the people on it are just fine.. except for that their zooming through space.   

But oh no!  It's Kryptonite! (because.. radiation.. I never thought about how silly the fact that radioactive pieces of one's home planet were deadly was).  But wait, Zor-El has a giant roll of lead, so they can cover the whole chunk (using.. something to get it under buildings, I guess).. so all is well!  They have a food machine, afterall.

Many years later, a meteor shower punches holes in the lead, and they're doomed again.  Zor-el sees Superman on Earth, and decides to send his daughter there to so Superman can take care of her.  Little did he know that's actually his Nephew!

Kara gets to Earth, and a shocked Superman sorta welcomes her, then dumps her in an orphanage and tells her to keep herself secret... she picks, of course, an LL name (Linda Lee) and Superman leaves.
that's probably not going to go well.

The nonsensical nature of the whole things is just so Silver Age DC, it's awesome.  I sense we're going to get a decent dose of Super-Dickery before we're through, too.

Action 253
Binder/Mooney

So people are coming to adopt the orphans, so Kara acts like a stuck up rich girl to make sure she doesn't get picked, but not before she fixes up her room (apparently she doesn't think people will notice the fixed bed and mirror, as long as they don't see her actually do it).  She feels bad for Jimmy, who wants to get adopted by a farming couple who the agency says don't have the money.

So she does what any Super-person would, she drills a hole through the Earth on  the farming couples property, so they can charge admission for people to look at the Leaning Tower of Pisa (Which is leaning right over her hole).   

Sadly, her plan backfired, as the farmers made too much money and moved to the city, so poor hard working Jimmy wasn't who that wanted anymore.

So, at the talent show (because if I'm adopting a kid,  how well they SING is the top criteria) Kara uses her powers to have him fake a magic show and trick the couple into still adopting him.. the end!

So, yeah, so far Kara feels alot like Lois personality wise... with all her thoughts and actions based on what Superman would think... then causing trouble anyway.  She's just alot better at it.

OMG! Supergirl: The Midvale Orphanage Years are just about the best comics ever!

Action Comics #254
'Supergirl's Foster Parents'
Binder/Mooney

Wow, is this a doozy!  So, Supergirl has some people stop by to adopt her (I see a theme developing), but of course she doesn't want to blow her cover, so she burns dinner to try to dissuade them from picking her.  Of course, the couple love burnt pot roast, so she gets 'adopted' for a trial period.  (I'm pretty sure that's not what Foster Parents means... did that change?  Or am I just wrong).

She's surprised to see they live in a tent at the 'circus', and they want her to do a 'Strong Girl' act with gimmicked stuff.   The props are all actually pretty clever (and mildly realistic), but what they don't tell our heroine is that they're really snake oil salesmen swindling people with 'power tonic'.

When she finds out, she is trying to figure out how to save the day when an elephant used in the show falls on her foster parents, and she has to use her actual Super Strength to save them.   Thinking quickly, she convinces them that the power tonic really works, and they makes her own gimmicked props (mostly using heat vision) to make her foster dad think it worked on him, too.  

The con artists go racing to their chemist for the formula, which he sells them, but, alas, it doesn't work.  Supergirl out flies them to the Chemists house, gets him to leave with a 'fake phone call',  replaces him with a life size marionette she makes herself (with her super-carpentry, apparently) and uses super-ventriloquism to mimic his voice.  Yeah, she sure need to work on her powers, Clark... good call!   
She then gives all the money back secretly (by blowing into peoples windows.. of course her super memory allowed her to know who everyone was and apparently, where they live).  Her evil foster parents are now broke, so they can't adopt her, so Linda goes back to the orphanage.  

Oh, and she also prevented a Rocket from crashing and helped light a runway nearby in between scenes... yup, definitely needs to work on her powers.. sure does.




Action Comics #255
'Supergirl Visits the 21st Century'
Binder/Mooney

I was wrong, Superman IS paying attention!   While on babysitting duty, Linda is hanging out reading the paper (I guess she doesn't have super-babysitting skills), sad about the Venus probe that misses it's mark, when she gets a message from Superman!  Who, as people do, throws a spear from Metropolis against the tree Linda is sitting next too (yikes!) with a microscopic note, tell Supergirl to try out her time travel powers.

She does so, going to a space orphanage in the 21st century, where an orphan named Tommy saves the day before she can from the lost Venus probe from 1959, then saves Linda after she stumbles into some random KRyptonite.  She follows Tommy around some to save him back, but his ray guns and other inventions are so awesome he doesn't need saving.

Finally, his potential parents do, so Linda gets to even the ledger by saving them from a mirror-meteor storm so Tommy can get adopted.   Tommy, of course, was Tommy Tomorrow of the Planeteers, long time back of series in Action (It seems before Supergirl replaced him) and World's Finest.   Nice cross promotion, DC!

Not nearly as good as the previous story, though granted snake oil salesman and super puppetry were going to be hard to top!

Action Comics 258
Binder/Mooney
'Supergirl's Farewell to Earth'

After saving some kids from a falling tree secretly (as she does) Krypto pops by!  Supergirl makes friends and plays with him, until the Big Blue Party Pooper comes by to yell are her... he afraid Krypto will reveal her existance, and in a massive case of Superdickery, banishes her to an Asteroid!   

Supergirl builds herself a tree house and eats space coconuts (girl Robinson Caruso is the them... and has soon very cool art), and pines about Earth, using telescopic vision to peep at her buddies... she even puts out a fire hurling icicles at it!
(yeah, Silver Age DC superpowers were WAY out of control).

Finally, Superman tells her she has to come back for a day to avoid a Kryptonite storm, so she does.   She realizes though, that she has to explain why Linda Lee has been gone for a week  (no mention why she didn't know they were looking for her while she was watching from space).  She muddies herself up and claims to have been wandering in the swamp.

Ace reporter Clark Kent can't be fooled, though!  He asks her if she's some kind of Girl of Steel because she doesn't have any mosquito bites (and in front of others, too.. way ot follow your own rules, Supes).. and Linda shockingly say yes!

She figured out Clark was Superman when she tried to mess with his glasses, and connected the dots.  Superman is very pleased, but still wants her to keep secret.  He approved of her actions at least.

'

Lois Lane #83
'Witch on Wheels'
Robbins/Novick/Eposito 

Wow, this one has me flying in all different directions.  First, the plot.  Lois is trying to do a story on 'Youth on Wheels', but can't get close enough to the bikers, so she joins the gang.   

HOW she joins is something, though.  First, the Bikers find her, and run her off the road (accidently).  Superman saves her, but scolds her for getting into trouble like he's her dad.

Back at the Planet, the head bier for the Maniacs, Kaiser Bill (he wears a WWI german helmet), crashes the office, and bullies Clark.   We get some awesome internal Clark thoughts, where he wants to impress Lois, but can't blow his secret identity..so he sorta splits the difference.. he stands up for her, but them lets Bill take him out.

Lois goes to a fancy sporting goods boutique and buys a totally out of place outfit and 'bike' (here's is more Vespa then Hog) and goes to the Maniac HQ.. she his a bump  and accidently does a wild wheelie off a parked car and into the bar, which impresses them enough to let her join.

She then helps the Maniacs put their Flag in Superman's hand (a statue, that is), which is apparently a huge deal.  Superman decides he's seen enough, and enters the scene as 'King Cross'.. a rival biker.

He shows up Bill and then vanishes, but they all learn a good lesson..Bill at the end actually says out loud he should act big instead of talking big.


So, yeah, it's something.  Clark's thoughts are awesome, he goes from treating Lois like a rebellious teenage daughter to trying to impress her and back again in a flash. and Lois has some real humdingers that set back the women's lib movement 1 day every time someone reads them.  OTOH, she handles her bike pretty well.. doing some crazy stuff to distract security at the statue, and the beating Kaiser Bill (with Superman's secret help) in a race.  I think I'd give it a A+ for craziness if there wasn't a heavy-handed moral at the end.

Notes:   The editors felt the need to note what 'Wheelie' and 'Hog' meant, which was hilarious.   It makes me wonder if they had to do research to find the 'hip biker terms'

There's a letter column response that stats sternly that Superman will never have long hair (well, not for 18 years or so at least).    Was there really a giant Superman statue on the outskirts of Metropolis is the 60s?  Or was it just for this issue?  Seems odd.



Anyway, good book... Kaiser Bill was pretty awesome.

I remember this issue well--I think it's the first (only?) issue of LL I bought off the stands, looking for it after it appeared in house ads.

It's an interesting period in the title. It attempts to be "more real"--hoof-and-mouth disease rather than lovesick aliens--but still with a fair amount of coincidence, conspiracies, and superman-ex-machina.

Shaffenberger is gone, but his style wouldn't've fit, and Novick does a very good job on the book.



No reason why he should, though.

Action Comics #259
'Cave-girl of Steel'
Binder/Mooney

Much to my disappointment, no Supergirl in a jungle outfit or anything crazy like that.   We start out with a PSA about not letting babies have plastic bags... Supergirl uses her x-ray vision to rip a hole in a bad from a distance to make sure a baby doesn't choke, much to his(her?) nanny's relief.   Linda then gazes at her cousin fighting a shark, and is bored and jealous, so she goes back to caveman times and protects some Neatherthals from a variety of dinosaurs and a firebreathing Sea Monster, which he chains up to be their own personal zippo lighter.  

Happy with the adventure, she gets home only to see a cave painting of herself, but luckily no one supects it's legit, so the end.

Not much of a story, but you don't need much of a story when you get dinosaurs:





Action Comics 260
'The Girl Superbaby'
Binder/Mooney

Me hate when Silver Age DC has Babys talk funny!   

Ugh... Supergirl accidently finds the fountain of youth trying to save an old guy that falls into it, and turns into a Superbaby.  She then proceeds to save Superman from a Kryptonite Meteor and stop some jewel thieves through a ridiculous set of co-incidences that can only happen in poorly written comics targeted at 6 year olds.  This is definitely not the fun part of the silver age, right here.

Action 261
'Supergirl's Superpet'
Siegel/Mooney

One cannot begin to compare the awesomeness of this story, as compared to the previous one....Streaky the Supercat!   By far the best part (even better than a cat flying around in a super cape) is Streaky's internal monologue.. it's pretty much exactly what you'd expect, and is amazingly fun.   

How did it happen?  Well, Supergirl found a small bit of Kryptonite, and decided to expiriment on it to see if she could fix her (and her cousin's) weakness to it.  Because, you know how every Orphan has a science lab of her own?   Anyway, she fails, but the Kryptonite mutates into Kryptonite-X.  Later, the stray cat she found finds the K-X, and Streaky the Supercat is born.  Good thing Superman had just donated some action figures, so there was a cat-sized cape on hand!

Sadly, the powers wear off by the end of the story, but there's no way readers won't demand more Streaky!