ACTION COMICS 301 (1963)
by Leo Dorfman & Jim Mooney
Every Super-Pet is extremely silly, but Comet the Super-Horse is something else.
We begin with Superman telling Supergirl about Zerox, the sorcerer’s planet.
Just your regular throwaway planet, right? Not this time!
Zerox is Mordru’s planet, although he won’t appear until Adventure Comics #369 five years after this story was published.
Who would’ve though that the planet of one of the Legion’s greatest enemies first came up in a story about Super-Horse?
The problem is extremely specific: the prince of Zerox needs to ride on a flying horse during a parade to keep his reign (!!!), but some evil wizards have grounded his pegasus.
When the Legion cartoon used the Sorcerer’s Planet, they made it a point that they follow rules that make no sense. I see where they got their inspiration.
Apparently every mythological hybrid comes from this planet.
According to this story, these are all sorcerers who originated on Earth. This will be completely dropped when Zerox is used in Legion stories.
Since Comet helps the prince in the parade, he’s offered a reward.
Comet is not actually a horse but a centaur cursed by Circe the sorcerer, but apparently “magic has advanced since her day”.
Not enough to make the transformation permanent, though.
Once he’s been turned into a human, Comet saves Supergirl’s life from the evil wizard.
The writer of this story is Leo Dorfman, who we’ve mostly seen in some of the worst Lois Lane stories.
Clearly he really wanted to write female protagonists.
Well, I didn’t say he wanted to write them WELL.
Speaking of bad writing: Comet was turned into a human, but then he turns back into a horse, and he’s warned that he’ll turn human AGAIN once he’s back on Earth.
All these complicated passages because we just had to have Supergirl faint for all this excitement.
I thought that Comet was called Comet because he turned into a human whenever there was a comet nearby. But no! He just took that name for no reason and he just HAPPENS to run into a wizard that makes a comet-related spell!
And as soon as he’s back to Earth, a comet just HAPPENS to fly near Earth.
The spell lasts long enough for Comet to take the identity of “Bronco Bill”.
With Comet nowhere to be seen, Supergirl asks her telepathic friend to look for her horse’s mind.
I can’t believe I just typed that sentence.
Looking for the horse, Supergirl saves Bronco Bill’s life from a raging bull.
What, she’s not going to faint because she saw a scary animal?
Supposedly Bronco Bill has the same mark on his back as Comet. Too bad that:
1) We never get a good look at Comet to see the mark
2) Bill is shown with such a tiny mark that if it wasn’t for the dialogue I would’ve missed it
Supergirl and Bill are crowned “king and queen of the rodeo”, which apparently means they have to kiss.
And yes, technically speaking she’s kissing her horse.
Time is short, however, because the comet that keeps him human is about to leave the Galaxy (!!!!!!)
He begins to turn back into a centaur, and that’s when he’s kidnapped by criminals who were actually planning to steal a horse from the rodeo.
But we’re already at the last page, so Comet completes his transformation and gets his powers back.
The kidnappers’ boss reacts in the best possible way.
And that’s the end!
As you can see the scan is pretty bad, but somehow I doubt the horse is saying something profound.
Historical significance: 4/10
It’s the first appearance of Zerox, but other than the name and the idea of a planet of wizards nothing from this story will stick. Comet, on the other hand, gets at least half of his origin in this story.
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Need I remind you about looking for a horse with a telepath?
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
Dorfman isn’t very good at writing women, to say the least.