ACTION COMICS 311 (1964)
by Leo Dorfman & Jim Mooney
This is supposedly the story where Supergirl dates her horse.
Yep. We’re going there.
It’s Valentine’s Day, and Supergirl is the most popular girl both in her public and secret identity.
Even the normally super-boring merman Jerro gets some action, much to Comet the Super-Horse’s jealousy.
This makes Comet realize that he misses being human (JUST NOW!?), so he goes back in time…
…to the one who turned him from centaur to horse, Circe the Sorceress.
After narrating Comet’s origin… to Comet (???)… Circe reveals that she’s come up with something that can turn him into a human.
Wait, let me get this straight. Both Circe and Comet come from Ancient Greece, and he’s been transported into the future. Okay, standard Silver Age stuff.
But Comet has ALWAYS had time travel powers (even in his first appearance)… and this is the first time he tries going back to Circe to see if she can cure him!?
Then again, I don’t know if I can trust a woman who turns a lamb into a child to give him into adoption. WTF!?
Comet returns to the present, but Circe’s spell makes him temporarily dizzy so he falls into a pool of oil. He also gets amnesia for no reason.
Now that’s a completely random thing, but I’m not complaining because it means that when Comet meets a criminal that attacks him with fire we get this AWESOME panel:
Dude, “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” doesn’t mean “shoot him in the face”!!!
We need more evil horses in superhero comics. Just saying.
Circe’s potion takes effect only after he’s committed a few crimes.
Was this entire part of the story there JUST to come up with an excuse on how Comet was able to find clothes once he turned back into a human!?
Only in the Silver Age, folks.
“I’ve heard you like white horses, so I put your white horse on a white horse”.
We are now at page 10 of 13. Is there going to be any Supergirl in this Supergirl story?
Comet, posing as “Bronco Bill” once again, saves Supergirl’s secret identity from falling into the canyon. Leading to her second kiss with her horse.
Supergirl immediately falls for him. Did I mention she was 16 at the time?
She takes him to the Rainbow Waterfalls, where she creates a rainbow with her heat vision (HOW!?) just so that she can kiss him more romantically.
Turns out there WAS a reason for the whole “supervillain horse” thing: having Supergirl think that Bronco Bill is a bad guy.
To get away from Supergirl, Comet calls Circe who is watching this live from the past (wait, what?).
She turns him back into a horse by dropping a potion on her crystal ball.
Sounds legit.
If you were wondering “wait a minute, how was the powerless Comet able to escape from Supergirl?”, it turns out that SUDDEN KRYPTONITE!
The true villain is captured, Supergirl will have to live with the guilt of having accused an innocent man, and Comet will stay the hell out of her romantic life.
Or at least I pray he will.
Historical significance: 0/10
This has basically zero impact, so you can easily skip this one. But why would you!?
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Comet alone is a bunch of nonsensical Silver Age tropes on a normal day!
Does it stand the test of time? 2/10
As hilarious as this story can be… adapting it to today’s standards would be quite a challenge.
Doing a story on Comet where Supergirl is a supporting character is fine, and relatively unique for the times. Him being mistaken for a bad guy is fine, but the entire part with him having amnesia and being exploited by a random criminal doesn’t really mix well with the rest of the story.
“Bronco Bill” not telling Supergirl that he’s Comet feels really weird, and while the time travel stuff makes things more complicated… it’s better not to think too much about the fact that Supergirl is sixteen.