World’s Finest #169

World’s Finest #169 (1967)
by Cary Bates & Curt Swan

This is the first Supergirl-Bargirl team-up. The two didn’t take long: Batgirl’s first appearance was just 8 months prior.

I wish they had gone with the design of the teaser page.

To put this into perspective after the Supergirl retrospective, this is set during her extremely unremarkable college years.

That’s when she’s attacked by a giant gas hand!

Batgirl to the rescue!

Aaaand she fails. Not exactly the best introduction to Batgirl.

Supergirl’s heat vision couldn’t do anything to the giant hand, but SOMEHOW using X-ray vision alters Batgirl’s chemical bomb enough to work.

The two girls are now getting more and more jealous of all the attention given to their male counterparts.

It doesn’t help that Superman accidentally causes a new building to collapse…

…and Supergirl has to save the day.

You should be proud of her, Superman. She’s pulling the same kind of crap you regularly came up with on the Lois Lane series.

Meanwhile Batman and Robin are fighting a crook on top of an atomic reactor. (WTF???)

That’s one of the most embarrassing moments for 60s Batman.

WHICH IS SAYING SOMETHING.

You’ve probably figured out the formula: Batgirl shows up to save Batman, then reveals to the reader she’s responsible for what happened.

Amazingly, both Batman and Superman figure out something’s wrong!!! Typically it takes them almost the entire issue to get the point.

This is also so far back in Batgirl’s career that Batman doesn’t even know her secret identity.

The girls are thinking big: Batgirl has stolen everything in the Batcave…

…but Supergirl one-ups her by STEALING THE ENTIRE FORTRESS!!!

Not only that: she ALSO steals Superman’s powers!

Despite the setback, Batman and Robin continue their crimefighting.

When Robin goes to call Commissioner Gordon, Batgirl takes him out in a badass panel.

Wait… this is set “the next day” after Superman lost his powers and was rescued by Batman.
So why is Batman picking him up from the street now? Where did he take him the previous day?

If you don’t know, the pre-Crisis explanation for why Superman doesn’t need to shave is that Kryptonians don’t grow beards under a yellow sun.

Sounds legit.

Batman suddenly doesn’t look like Bruce Wayne anymore (!!!), but the situation is a bit different from Superman: he didn’t “lose his secret identity”, all he needs to be Clark Kent is a pair of glasses.

The cover scene makes it into the comic, which is always neat.

I hope you enjoyed that exploration of Superman’s loss of powers, because the plot point is dropped very fast.

This leads into a space fight and the revelation that Supergirl is not who she seems.

Which means that it’s once again time for our time-honored game of “Guess the stupid ending”!
Who is REALLY behind the “evil Supergirl and Batgirl” plot?

A) Mr. Mxyzptlk
B) Bat-Mite
C) Catwoman
D) Someone from Kandor

And the answer is… D) Black Flame from Kandor!
Who apparently was wearing her mask beneath a Supergirl mask!

Fooled you! It’s also C) Catwoman!!!

How the heck did THAT happen? It’s all thanks to Black Flame’s proficiency with Kryptonian Bulls##t Science.

And catnip. (?????)

It took me a while to understand this panel. Then I remembered that Batgirl had an extremely limited number of appearances at this point, so Superman was thinking she was ALWAYS Catwoman in disguise.
Also: he’s not the World’s Greatest Detective, but you’d think the supposedly super-smart Superman would notice such things.

So the real Supergirl and Batgirl are rescued… OR IS IT?

Admit it, you completely forgot about the monster hand at the beginning of the story.

And so we end with Supergirl saving the heroes from one last trap.

Fooled you! ALL THE ANSWERS WERE TECHNICALLY CORRECT!

Yep, this was all just a bet between the two imps.

Bat-Mite is a bumbling idiot, sure, but outsmarting Mxy is not that hard.

So… yeah, Bat-Mite saved the day. Again.

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Historical significance: 4/10
It’s the first time Supergirl and Batgirl meet. They don’t have a ton of team-ups, but eventually they do end up being friends.

Silver Age-ness: 20/10
Double the imps, double the score.

Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
The double reveal is a nice twist on what you would expect from Silver Age shenanigans, and that sort of meta plot would still work today.
But a lot of stuff wouldn’t: Superman losing his powers and Batman losing the Batcave would be treated as much more serious events today.
Plus Supergirl and Batgirl technically only appear at the very beginning and at the very end: everything else is just the two imps in disguise.
Interestingly, Superman treats Supergirl with the utmost respect for her abilities (until she seems to go nuts of course), whereas Batman doesn’t seem to have a high opinion of Batgirl.
Mostly due to her being extremely new at the hero career, but he hasn’t completely left the sexism behind.

Did Robin actually do anything? Take a guess

Did Superman really need Batman? A little
It’s not like Mxyzptlk would’ve let him freeze to death in the Arctic, but Batman does save him.