Superman Family 168

SUPERMAN FAMILY 168 (1975)
by Elliot S! Maggin & John Rosenberger
cover by Nick Cardy

I’m sure reprinting 100 pages of older stories was great for readers, but it makes for awful covers.

Just look at poor Supergirl!

Which really is a shame because the story isn’t bad, and it’s a chance for Supergirl to meet one of the few recurring characters that actually managed to stick through her various serials: Lena Luthor, last seen in Adventure Comics #388.

The mini-flashback to Supergirl’s high school years is kind of hilarious.

You might remember that Lena has psychic powers, and she’s working at a university to discover (and presumably help) other telepaths.

However her top candidate, Jan, thinks she’s in the Marvel Universe and that being a telepathic mutant is dangerous.

But don’t worry, people can also be awful in the DC Universe as well.

Repeatedly trying to kill herself (!!!!) is a bit much, though.

So far so good, right? A pretty basic but competent little story.
Then it goes completely insane.

Yep! Lena’s student is having telepathic visions of an evil wizard trying to force ANOTHER woman to commit suicide, in order to make himself more immortal.
WTF!?

Then the student is visited by a ghost…

…and she IMMEDIATELY figures out it’s Supergirl!!! I literally laughed out loud at this.
I don’t know if Maggin is deconstructing the Silver Age tropes or if he’s playing them straight, but it’s still absolutely hilarious to me.

I’ve said before that I consider Maggin’s Superman stories overrated, since I find his Superman to be rather boring. But he does have a good grasp of Supergirl, as demonstrated by her thoughts during a flashback to her origin story.

That’s what you get for not visiting the Legion more often, Supergirl.

Thanks to the help of Lena and the student, Supergirl rescues the hostage and defeats the wizard (who also transformed some guys into gargoyles, because why not).

And it turns out that the centuries old wizard wasn’t even a real wizard to begin with. (?????)

And so we end with the story suggesting that Supergirl, Lena and Jan might end up being a real team.

The student won’t ever appear again and Lena won’t be seen until 1981.

What, it’s the 70s Supergirl, did you seriously expect ANYONE to have more than a single appearance!?

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Historical significance: 0/10
Which is really a shame, because the dynamic between the three girls COULD work very well… Lena is the oldest and wisest, Supergirl is the one with more experience, and the student is, well, the student.

Silver Age-ness: 8/10
This would’ve been much lower if it wasn’t for the wizard. WTF was up with that!?

 Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
This is not a bad story, but it’s quite meandering. The whole wizard thing doesn’t really fit well… and I’ve skipped some parts: it takes up a significant part of the story, and it really doesn’t need to.