ACTION COMICS #297 (1963)
by Leo Dorfman and Jim Mooney
Cover by Curt Swan
Get ready: this story is only 13 pages long, but it’s PACKED. Even when 2 pages are devoted entirely to tell us what happened last issue.
Despite being a continuation, this story has practically nothing to do with the previous one: in fact, we start in Kandor with its greatest criminal mastermind: Lesla-Lar.
In fact, it was Lesla-Lar who made Lena lie about being Supergirl, with a mind control device.
Talk about random!
Not only that, but Lesla-Lar is able to brainwash Lena into believing she’s actually the Kryptonian girl, and the two switch places!
Okay, first: if this device exists, why are the people of Kandor still stuck inside the bottle city!?
Second: there is no mention of Lesla-Lar using any disguise on herself or on Lena… the two are obviously perfect lookalikes.
We’ve already seen that Krypton has more than one Superman lookalike, but at least they’re all Kryptonians. Lesla-Lar is apparently indistinguishable from a human girl!
Also, it’s kind of interesting that Lesla-Lar is the Lex Luthor of Kandor in absolutely everything except gender and age… which makes it even more incredible that she’s identical to Lex’s sister!
Kandor doesn’t learn about the switch because of Lesla-Lar’s invention: the Anti-Monitor Bomb ™.
It’s probably a one-off thing. I’m sure Supergirl won’t have to worry about any other kind of Anti-Monitor menace.
(too soon?)
Supergirl confronts Lena, not knowing that this is actually Lesla-Lar.
Despite the fact that she has met and fought Lesla-Lar in previous issues. Come on, she’s not even wearing glasses!
“Lena” gives an explanation for her sudden super-powers: Lesla-Lar has learned everything about Lex and his sister because she secretly watched everything.
Okay, it’s official at this point: ALL Kandorians are stalkers.
Once Supergirl leaves, Lesla-Lar changes into her costume and builds a Phantom Zone Projector by modifying a television screen. (!!!!)
As you might imagine, her plan involves releasing all major criminals from the Phantom Zone.
We have General Zod (who doesn’t need much introduction), Jax-Ur (who despite being a contemporary of Zod is a slightly lesser known Superman villain), and… Kru-El.
Despite his stupid name, Kru-El is might be the most dangerous of the three.
And yes, he’s one of Superman’s relatives, specifically he’s Jor-El’s cousin.
Which ALSO makes him a relative of Supergirl, but this isn’t mentioned in this issue.
Even Mon-El makes a cameo!
Kru-El has devised some incredibly deadly weapons, which luckily for the villains haven’t been destroyed with Krypton… because Jor-El shot them into space.
Is there ANYTHING that Jor-El won’t shoot into space!? His son, his dog, his cousin’s weapons…
What kind of weapons are we talking about? A force field that can stop both Superman (who is currently in a mission in space) AND the Legion’s time machine… and a gun that can kill superpowered Kryptonians!
How did Zod get to be one of Superman’s greatest enemies while Kru-El was forgotten!?
I blame that stupid name.
As for that gun… IT WORKS.
Yes, Lesla-Lar was just disintegrated!
She’ll come back eventually (this is comics after all), more than a decade later… as some kind of energy being because of this super-gun.
Which is powerful enough to kill a Kryptonian AND cause an earthquake AND almost sink Atlantis!!!
Well, this being Atlantis, it’s not sinking: the problem is that the earthquake made it rise out of the ocean (WTF?), something that Supergirl fixes easily.
Supergirl learns about the villains and tries to flee to space to seek help, but the barrier stops her.
So it’s one girl against three men. All four of which have superpowers.
As if he still needed to demonstrate he’s dangerous, Kru-El infects Supergirl with “the dreaded Plant Scourge”…
…which turns every animal you meet into a plant!!!
THAT’S TERRIFYING.
To recap: Supergirl is facing three Kryptonians and can’t call for help. There’s only one person who can save the world now…
Lex. F#cking. Luthor.
Talk about a cliffhanger!!!
Historical significance: 1/10
The only slight impact is the “death” of Lesla-Lar. That’s too bad… she had about a dozen or so appearances in total, but she was an extremely effective and ruthless villain! As mentioned she’ll eventually return, but generally speaking nothing’s really done with her. The only interesting idea with her return is the tease about her being Supergirl’s twin… which is cute and explains the resemblance and her strange name (Kryptonian women have a first name and the complete hyphenated name of the father, but Lesla-Lar is just Lesla-Lar)… and also makes no sense since both were born after Krypton exploded, but Supergirl was born in space while Lesla-Lar was born in the bottle city.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
Uncanny Kandorian resemblance! Kandor-switching rays! The Phantom Zone criminals! The Plant Plague! Jor-El and his rocket obsession! This should be utter silliness from start to finish… but it’s balanced by villains that are ACTUAL threats and a fantastic pace.
Does it stand the test of time? 9/10
HOLY CRAP. I did NOT expect this to be the follow-up to a silly story about Supergirl’s boyfriend being a Dick!