ACTION COMICS 280 (1961)
Jerry Siegel & Jim Mooney
Continuing Supergirl’s first storyline about her first supervillain, Lesla-Lar.
To recap, Supergirl has been adopted and *choke* lost her powers.
Is there ANY teenage protagonist that isn’t late for school?
Her class is assigned a visit to the Daily Planet, where she gets to meet Clark Kent in secret.
It’s so rare to see him without a tie…
…that he’s back to wearing it the following panel, where he gives Supergirl the news that there are no news.
Just like last time, Lesla-Lar switches places with Supergirl and brainwashes her.
I don’t know why, but I always thought that the skirt in Supergirl’s original costume was a different piece of clothing. Apparently it’s a one piece.
Disguised as Supergirl, Lesla-Lar once again joins forces with Lex Luthor, this time to design a Kryptonite ray to stop Superman.
Considering that last issue she came up with a ray to disable Supergirl’s powers, I have no clue why she doesn’t use it on Superman as well.
Supergirl, believing she’s actually Lesla-Lar, consults Kandor’s brains-in-a-jar. (WTF!?)
And she watches a movie that retells the origin of Supergirl.
This comic is way too into the word “ironically”.
Lesla-Lar, disguised as Supergirl’s secret identity, comes up with a ridiculous explanation for how she can regain her powers.
This time the explanation is nonsensical on purpose.
Then there’s an earthquake, and Lesla-Lar shows off how even a fake Supergirl can be a better hero than Superman.
Even Superman is impressed!
And so we end with Lesla-Lar being this close to her actual goal: becoming the only superhero on Earth after killing Superman.
She wouldn’t need Luthor if she just took away Superman’s powers like she did with Supergirl, but that’s not a bad plan!
Well, it’s very bad, but in a good way. You know what I mean.
Historical significance: 2/10
It’s hard to give individual scores to Supergirl stories since they’re heavily serialized, but this one doesn’t really add all that much to the overall story.
Silver Age-ness: 3/10
The brains-in-a-jar and people just accepting an earthquake randomly arranging giant stones like that are really the only major tropes.
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
There’s a lot of padding and the whole switched identities can be somewhat confusing, but Lesla-Lar’s plan is really solid and for once Superman isn’t awful.