ACTION COMICS #287 (1962)
by Jerry Siegel & Jim Mooney
A story by one of Superman’s creators, Jerry Siegel himself. This won’t be the last time we will see him on stories with the Legion, but they are not the main focus here.
Interestingly, the splash page clearly states that Supergirl is as powerful as Superman; years later they will stress that he’s stronger. I didn’t expect 1962 to be so progressive, so good start.
It may be an idea shared by the DC staff, if the letter published in the previous page is to be believed… leaving aside the corny joke about Supergirl’s stories being serialized in this period.
Also of interest: girls in Supergirl’s high school are Superman stalkers.
I hear what you’re saying now: “Stalkers is a little harsh, it’s just a crush on a celebrity”.
But the goddess of stalkers shows up: Silver Age Lois Lane herself.
I love how Supergirl doesn’t give a crap about meeting Lois Lane.
It’s not as bad as it might be: Jerry Siegel is her creator, so he doesn’t write Lois as the crazy person she was in her own book.
She also gets closer to Supergirl’s secret identity than she ever did with Superman’s.
And this has nothing to do with the rest of the story, because Supergirl is summoned by the Legion of Super-Heroes in a rather convoluted way.
I know we take for granted cellphones, but they had phones and answering machines in 1962, right?
The best way to contact her discreetly is a blinking action figure?
It works well enough though, and Supergirl travels to… the 21st century instead of the 30th, when the Legion is typically located in other stories (though it will eventually become the 31st).
The Legionnaires are busy with the very important job of entertaining the audience during “a testimonial in their honor”.
Note the mention of “Earth Police”, a precursor to the Science Police of future stories.
Once Supergirl finds them, they rush to the nearest spaceship to begin the mission.
This is why I question the way the Legion contacts Supergirl (or Superboy for that matter): if she can get to the future on her own and presumably find exactly when to stop… why not tell her to get there earlier and avoid the rush?
Also note the stress about each Legionnaire having only one super-power. Presumably they are not counting Star Boy, and definitely not Superboy.
Now that I think about it… why call Supergirl but not her cousin? Why not both?
Then again, we’re talking about people who use a projector to show Supergirl a mental image of the monster she’s here to fight… when Saturn Girl, a telepath, IS RIGHT THERE.
That monster is the Positive Man, who has a cool origin that has almost nothing to do with his name.
Seriously, could they have picked any name less threatening that “Positive Man” !?
Despite the name, he’s DEFINITELY a major threat, blowing up planets without effort.
And yes, that’s a genocide in a throwaway panel in the DC Silver Age.
Supergirl then recalls a point in the Positive Man’s origin story that could help her defeat it.
If you’re thinking I skipped something, I didn’t: we never see his origin, we only hear Supergirl talk about it.
Also note the coloring error giving her blue leggings. Am I the only one who thinks this actually a better look than her classic costume?
The clue that she recalled is the existence of an equally powerful entity that shares the same origin of Positive Man: the Negative Creature.
Positive Man vs Negative Creature goes exactly as you think.
So… the main threat is defeated. Story over, right?
Not exactly: the Legionnaires have lost their powers.
Uhm… I buy Bouncing Boy and Lightning Lad (still called Lightning Boy in the story) wanting use their powers to celebrate, but… Saturn Girl, WHY did you order a random toad to jump!?
Then Supergirl randomly meets a descendant of Streaky the Super-Cat, who has a FAR worse name than Positive Man… WHIZZY.
Who is a telepath. Despite Streaky not having that specific power.
Whizzy gained this extra power “through the process of evolution”, meaning cats will read minds in about 80 years from today.
Sounds legit.
I shouldn’t be surprised. Whizzy’s collar apparently explains everything.
I think we have a different definition of “everything”, Supergirl.
Here’s an extract about what 1962 thought would be the 21st century.
The android factory is almost robbed by robots, but Supergirl stops them by helping Cosmic Boy pretend he still has his magnetic powers.
And then she does the same for Sun Boy.
But it turns out she wasn’t helping the real Legion, but a race of evil shapeshifters.
Supergirl has already met a member of the Legion with shape-shifting powers, but no connection is made here.
Their plan is both clever and stupid.
They have a gas that can knock out the Legion but not Supergirl. Why use it on them only AFTER she went to the future? Why not wait until she gets back to 1962 and THEN knock out the Legionnaires!?
They do have the good sense to recover the Phantom Zone Projector and exile her there… but if they can get their hands on the projector, why not use it on the Legion itself?
Also note the aliens are called the “Chameleon-Men”. Possibly the first appearance of other Durlans, the race of Chameleon Boy?
How can Supergirl save the Legion when she’s trapped in the Phantom Zone?
With a telepathic cat, of course.
She tells the cat to tell a scientist at the Android Factory to build a fake Chameleon Man:
And that android releases Supergirl.
It’s a clever plan, made somewhat less impressive by the fact that the Chameleon Men are idiots.
Supergirl arrests them, saves the Legion, and goes back to her time reflecting on the crazy adventure she just had.
Just a reminder: we went from a teenage fan club to space genocide to telepathic cats. In the same issue.
Historical significance: 0/10
Sadly, this story will never be referenced again.
Legion significance: 0/10
Completely ignored by future stories, but there are several “missed first”… missed first Science Police, missed first Durlans, even a potential prototype of the Sun Eater.
Silver Age-ness: 4/10
Leaving aside the randomly telepathic cat and the overcomplicated use of Supergirl’s powers, there aren’t a lot of Silver Age tropes.
Does it stand the test of time? 5/10
If the story ended with Supergirl defeating Positive Man, it would’ve been much higher.
But everything gets increasingly silly after that. And it’s quite hard to take the shenanigans of the Chameleon Men seriously when we just had a villain blowing up planets!
We are legion
5 active Legionnaires, including Supergirl.
How much Legion is too much?
The Legion of Superheroes currently consists of 15 people.
Time travel doesn’t work like that
By no means only for this issue, but having to hurry because your time traveling friend is on a short deadline is questionable at best.
A hundred years in the future, you say?
Cats will evolve telepathy in a century. Not that it would be much better with the usual thousand years…