Adventure Comics and Supergirl

The Adventure Comics run of Supergirl is… pretty terrible.

It is, in fact, FAR too dull for my tastes and therefore it’s not covered by the retrospective.

The one addition to the Superman lore is Luthor’s niece: Nasthalthia Luthor, almost universally called *sigh* Nasty Luthor.

Created by Mike Sekowsky in Adventure Comics #397, she’s a recurring presence within the rest of the run, both as a villain and as a supporting character (she’s a friend of Supergirl’s secret identity).
She is such a minor character that her only other significant appearance is, of all things, in the EXCELLENT “All Star Superman” by Grant Morrison.
She’s more interesting in 2 pages of that comic than in her 20+ Adventure Comics appearances.

But the funniest thing about this run is that it’s when they experiment with Supergirl’s costumes.

So, without further ado, let’s go over some of the costumes she wore during this run!

Starting with the high boots costume, debuting in Adventure Comics #398 and lasting until #407.

The “I can’t find a decent picture of this one” costume, appearing only in Adventure Comics #407 and #408.
(seriously comic, your title character changes costume and you don’t give her a single good shot!?)

The fanservice costume that she wears only in Adventure Comics #409.

This is BY FAR the most risqué costume Supergirl has ever worn, by the way.

By this time they were willing to get into some more fanservice moments, like this moment from Adventure Comics #413 demonstrates.

Then we have the hot pants costume, debuting in Adventure Comics #410, will be her default for a while. I’m not talking about it since you’ve probably seen it a lot.

But she still tries some other costumes, including one of my favorites: the fullbody one that appears only in Adventure Comics #412 and #413 .

I really really like this costume. I totally understand Supergirl having a skirt is iconic, but she looks just fantastic in this one.


Unfortunately readers preferred the hot pants, so she  stuck to that version.

With one exceptions,  the “what the heck are you wearing!?” costume from Adventure Comics #415.

No wonder she’ll keep the hotpants costume until her own series. It’s not a BAD costume at all, but I could never get past the shoes… she just looks silly with those.

And that’s about all I have to say about Supergirl’s run in Adventure Comics.

Oh, yeah, she works for a news station in San Francisco during the latter half of the series.
Considering that THIS is the last panel of the last issue (Adventure Comics #424), it’s not going to be relevant

Whenever a run falls outside of the scope of my project I recommend to read it for yourself, but you can safely skip this one.