SUPERMAN FAMILY 206 (1981)
by Jack C. Harris & Win Mortimer
There are way too many Supergirl stories in the Superman Family anthology for me to cover, so for the rest of the series I’ll have a look at the final appearances of some of the characters we’ve met in the retrospective.
Starting from who SHOULD have been the Supergirl nemesis: super-scientist Lestla-Lar.
We begin with Supergirl having a nightmare (and showing she’s all grown up now) when she’s awakened by a phone call.
It’s a call from her adoptive mother. Nice moment both for the mother having a sense of humor and for the understated detail of Supergirl putting on her wig as soon as they talk, as if she’s instinctively putting on her secret identity.
Definitely not for the fanservice. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
There’s also some stuff about her supporting cast, with some of her friends getting married. This is possibly setting up the change in the status quo that will come in a few issues.
Supergirl thinks the “surprise” mentioned by her mother is the fact that Superman shows up…
…except this is just an actor who is apparently playing Superman in the movies.
This is a very emblematic moment: nobody is paying attention to Supergirl because they’re too obsessed with Superman, even a fake version of him.
That’s very meta! And sadly rather accurate.
Then her parents visit her at work. She was expecting her Earth parents, but it’s actually the Kryptonian… who think they’re human!
At this point Kandor had been returned to its regular size on a different planet in another dimension (in an genuinely good 1979 Superman story), so it’s been a while since she’s seen her parents.
It’s kind of a mind trip, to the point I’m actively suspecting Supergirl didn’t actually wake up from her dream at the beginning of the story.
Then without ANY warning, Lesla-Lar shows up in her mind!!!
No, I didn’t skip a previous appearance: she WAS disintegrated in Action Comics #297.
…but SOMEHOW “she evolved” into an energy being (WTF!?) and has been possessing several minor threats throughout the recent run. An just in case you’re wondering no, there was no indication that all of these were actually Lesla-Lar. Or if there was I missed it.
And to top it all off, Lesla-Lar is actually… Supergirl’s twin sister!?!?
Except… THIS MAKES NO SENSE. To the point that it’s spelled out NEXT PANEL!!!
I don’t understand why this twist is here. It’s not like Lesla-Lar needed a new motive to go after Supergirl! Is it to highlight that she’s insane? That doesn’t add anything to her character.
Also why would you bring up the fact that these two look identical (which was actually a thing in her previous appearances) like it’s an uncommon thing among Kryptonians? We’ve seen time and time again that Kandor is populated by lookalikes of everybody!!!
*groan*
Can you believe this is actually the first time these two actually fight each other? Yeah, in all her previous appearances Lesla-Lar managed to defeat Supergirl without ever being in the same room!
Still, even in her currently botched version, Lesla-Lar is competent enough to steal Supergirl’s body.
It’s a good thing General Zod never learned this trick or we would’ve gotten a vastly different story, isn’t it?
Considering she’s impersonated Supergirl before, it’s disappointing that Lesla-Lar gets caught IMMEDIATELY.
And that’s enough to punch her out of Supergirl’s brain!
Supergirl’s adoptive parents return to normal, and we leave with the possible cliffhanger of Lesla-Lar returning in a different body.
She won’t: this is her very last appearance.
Historical significance: 0/10
I would rather remember Lesla-Lar from her fantastic 60s appearances rather than this.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
Lesla-Lar evolves into an energy being after being disintegrated because ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It does lose some points because both Supergirl and her parents are surprisingly smart enough to respectively avoid believing the idiotic retcon or recognize their own daughter.
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
The first half of the story is a good mystery. But as soon as Lesla-Lar shows up everything goes downhill.