ACTION COMICS #295 (1962)
by Leo Dorfman and Jim Mooney
The introduction of Lex Luthor’s sister in Lois Lane 23 proved popular enough for her to show up again… but in Supergirl stories.
We begin with Supergirl, in her secret identity as Linda Danvers, attending a science club where they are doing experiments in ESP.
Which doesn’t sound particularly scientific, but in a world where telepaths DO exist, it makes perfect sense.
That’s where Supergirl finds Lena Thorul, who apparently has ESP…
…though someone is trying to hide it from her.
I wonder if this Lena is supposed to be exactly the same that Lois met, or if this is a reboot.
In that story Lena was working as a librarian; while I suppose there were no explicit indications of her age, I though she was an adult woman. Now she’s in high school.
Lena demonstrates her psychic powers by foreseeing a bridge collapsing.
Supergirl saves the people on the bridge and befriends Lena.
We learn that Lena has applied to join the FBI, but her application is rejected.
Maybe because she addressed it to the Federal Bureau of Intelligence instead of the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
Supergirl feels bad for Lena, thinking that her ESP would make her invaluable to the FBI. That would absolutely be true if she applied to become an agent… but Lena wants to be a secretary. Not that ESP wouldn’t be useful in ANY job, but still!
Since Supergirl apparently has worked closely with the FBI several times, she tries to pull some strings to get her friend a job.
The FBI is skeptical about Lena, though, since her past is a blank slate.
Interestingly they DO mention that she “worked as a librarian in a small town”. This can only be a reference to her first appearance, so I suppose that she’s retroactively a teenager in that story.
Supergirl investigates by traveling back in time to the day when Lena’s parents were killed. (!!!)
You might wonder why she doesn’t try to save her parents, but by this point in the Silver Age the rule that you can never change history was well established.
Supergirl then discovers that Lena is Lex Luthor’s sister by checking the car’s license.
That makes A LOT more sense than how Superman figured it out by just checking the anagram of her current last name!
Supergirl then goes back a little more, when young Lena was in her brother’s laboratory.
I wonder if that giant space brain is related to those from Adventure Comics 293 ? It was set later in time, but maybe this one was the first one to reach Earth.
Anyway, Lena gets zapped by the alien brain…
…and that’s how she got telepathy!
Supergirl informs the FBI about her discovery. It’s understandable that they would hesitate to hire the sister of the most wanted man in the world… but come on, can’t you even TRY to see if you can use her powers for good!?
Although they might be onto something, considering that Lena jumps at the first occasion to become a criminal.
Meanwhile, someone has FINALLY learned to stop giving Lex Luthor access to any kind of electronics while he’s in prison.
It took what, four separate times of Luthor using a radio to build a time machine before they finally got the message!?
Not that it matters: Lex Luthor can build a radio out of anything.
I’m kind of surprised he didn’t use the mattress to build a teleporter or something.
Lex is using the radio to get information from his gang, and that’s how he gets the news that Lena Thorul has joined another gang.
Luthor calls Supergirl to his cell, telling her everything about Lena.
Luthor tells her his pre-Crisis origin and includes further details from Lena’s past.
Note the reference to the mounting-climbing accident. I guess this is the final proof that this is exactly the same Lena of her first appearance.
Lex tells Supergirl about the robbery and asks her to keep his little sister away from crime.
But it turns out that Supergirl doesn’t need to do anything.
That’s right, Lena was actually working against the robbers the whole time!
And that’s good enough to let her join the FBI.
Historical significance: 4/10
Lena will return several times to Supergirl stories.
Silver Age-ness: 3/10
Far lower than expected. Lex building his radio out of springs is far more believable than him building a time machine.
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
The story holds surprisingly well. While Lena’s identity is spoiled at the first page for people who haven’t read her original story, the twist about her double crossing the criminals is well placed and genuinely still works.