ACTION COMICS 317 (1964)
by Leo Dorfman & Jim Mooney
Somehow I keep forgetting that Lex Luthor had a telepathic sister.
We begin with Lex in prison, building a device to stalk his sister. Just in case if you’re wondering if he’s still a bad guy.
Lena scheduled a double date with Supergirl’s secret identity of Linda Danvers and her kind-of-boyfriend Dick, but her plot sense is tingling.
Ah, the Silver Age. When this caption was all you needed for an origin.
Lena’s boyfriend Jeff is saved by Supergirl, but for some reason he keeps it a secret.
Thanks to her super-senses, Supergirl discovers that Jeff is a bad guy.
Since Lena is a telepath, Supergirl wonders why she didn’t pick up that he’s a spy.
Uhm, if she was that good of a telepath, wouldn’t she also know that you’re Supergirl?
This is page 5 of 11, so things move quickly!
Unfortunately Supergirl isn’t the only one to know something about Jeff.
Supergirl decides to investigate by hypnotizing Jeff (WTF!?).
Note that she shouldn’t need any space jewel: she has demonstrated “super-hypnotism” before.
And we’ve reached the point where the so far innocent girl has been thoroughly corrupted by the true evil that is her more famous relative.
No, not Luthor’s sister. I’m talking about Supergirl.
THIS WAS SUPERGIRL’S FIRST CHOICE, BY THE WAY.
Only then Supergirl contacts the FBI to tell them about Jeff, and…
Whoops.
Unlike Superman, at least Supergirl feels bad about it. Enough to consult with her foster parents, which I guess either aged extremely fast or were confused for Ma and Pa Kent by the colorist.
Yeah, uhm, I can see how telling your best friend “I hypnotized your fiancé to break up with you” might be kind of awkward.
Supergirl’s solution? A robot!
Sounds legit.
And that’s how Luthor’s sister got married to an FBI agent!
If this was Superman, you know he’d find a way to break them up.
Historical significance: 7/10
While Lena is by no means an important character, she was among the most consistent members of Supergirl’s supporting cast. She has a couple of appearances later on (she even has a son with telepathic powers!), but this is pretty much the last time she’s a supporting character.
Silver Age-ness: 5/10
Pretty average for the time. Yes, even the random robot double and the hypnotic jewel.
Does it stand the test of time? 3/10
Supergirl’s serial usually does a better job with slowly changing the status quo, but at this time the series was going a little downhill. The mystery is rather bland, the reader isn’t given enough clues to even attempt a guess, and while she does regret her actions there’s no denying that Supergirl behaved horribly with Jeff.