SUPERBOY 124 (1965)
by Otto Binder & George Papp
Jimmy Olsen isn’t the only Superman supporting character who gets superpowers: Lana Lang is also the horrifying Insect Queen.
And her origin is pretty much the same of Green Lantern: rescuing an alien.
She even gets a super-powered ring out of it!
The ring has some… unusual effects, to say the least!
I can excuse Lana for not freaking out when she meets an alien, considering what she’s already experienced. But growing a giant glowing tail? NO REACTION.
She quickly realizes that the ring gives her the power to duplicate characteristics of any insect IN THE MOST HORRIFYING WAY POSSIBLE.
And add Lana’s rarely seen mother the the list of people in Smallville that don’t give much thought to anything weird.
Is everyone in Smallville blind!?!?
Can you believe that this is NOT supposed to be a horror story?
Lana then takes the identity of Insect Queen, and most of the story is dedicated to her terrifying the criminals. And everyone else.
In a role reversal, Clark Kent is the one to suspect that Lana is Insect Queen.
And she quickly takes the opportunity to tie him up. How is EVERY new form more horrible than the previous one!?!?
Is Clark’s super-identity finally exposed?
Nah. Lana’s an idiot.
And so we end with Lana abandoning her career as Insect Queen.
Because who cares about fighting crime if you can’t expose Superboy’s identity, right?
Historical significance: 2/10
Believe it or not, Insect Queen will join the Legion of Super-Heroes for… reasons. She’ll be a honorary member, like Elastic Lad, but she’ll have a bit of a legacy: in the Legion reboot there’s an extremely minor alien heroine to take her place.
Silver Age-ness: 7/10
Just slightly above average because Lana’s obliviousness to weird things is exceptional even for this era.
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
If it was played like a horror story, maaaaybe something could be salvaged. But this? No. Just no.