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Wayne Markley
by Wayne Markley
This is my final column for this month (or the first depending on your point of view) and I am going to look at two massive collections of great material that could not be even more apart. Both are hardcover collections of material from the past, and both are amazing reads for very different reasons. The first is the first (and I do hope there is at least one more) of the Supergirl Omnibus. This full color hardcover collection has all of her appearances from her debut in action Comics #252 through action Comics #307. The second is another huge full color collection of Sam Glanzman’s U.S.S. Stevens. For those not familiar with it, U.S.S. Stevens was a short strip, typically four to six pages, that ran in the back of DCs war books in the 1970s (and Marvel’s savage Tales in the ‘80s) and tells true stories about Glanzman’s experiences in the Navy during WW2. often moving and always great, this new collection has every story from he ever did and a tons of extras. and as a bonus I also revue one much more DC renewal title just because I really delighted in it.
Supergirl: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1
The Supergirl you will find in the pages of the Supergirl: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1 from DC Comics is very different than the modern version of the character or of the TV show of the same name. It has a charm and whimsy (and at times just down best silliness) that you rarely, if ever, see in comics anymore. A large part of that is due to the time period it was produced, the late 1950s through the mid-1960s. The origin story was written by science fiction writer Otto Binder who would write all of her adventures (which became an immediate back-up feature in action Comics after her debut) through issue #263. So just over a year’s worth of stories. He was replaced by Superman’s co-creator, writer Jerry Siegel. Seigel wrote Kara’s adventures through action Comics #291 and he introduced a broad variety of characters and concepts that the early stories were lacking. Replacing Siegel was writer Leo Dorfman (who was the main Superman writer, writing Superman, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and much, much more), who wrote all the stories from action #292 though the end of this omnibus, action Comics #307. Amazingly all of the stories in this volume except for the very first story (which was drawn by Al Plastino) were drawn by the underrated Jim Mooney. quite a run. Mooney also continued to draw the character throughout her run in action Comics in stories not collected in this omnibus, until the Supergirl feature was moved over to adventure Comics in the late 1960s.
All of the early stories are 8 pages in length and essentially replaced the series Congo bill in action Comics in 1959. shortly after the strip firtst appeared it shown to be so popular it was expanded to 13 page stories. I suspect the reason for this was Shuster taking over the writing from Binder. another sign of her popularity was she started to regularly appear on the covers of action Comics with Superman, with all the covers were drawn by the Superman artist by this time, Curt Swan.
It is interesting that in the early stories when Supergirl first concerned Earth, Superman wanted to keep her a secret. He enrolled her in an orphanage and she adopted the identity of Linda Lee (following the Superman tradition of women with the initials of LL, Lois Lane, Lana Lang, etc. which is pointed out in the story.) many early stories are 3 events per story. That is in the eight page story Supergirl does three things or good deeds, like rescue a cat from a tree, help a little girl see a rainbow for the first time, or stop a bully. Binder seemed to have this formula and he stuck to it. many of the stories a fun little tales with the most significant drama being Linda trying to keep her identity a secret from the world as Superman did not want to the world to realize Supergirl existed until she was ready to debut. The reason to remain hidden in the later stories changed to Supergirl was Superman’s secret weapon and she would help him get out of binds, such as when Clark Kent was held hostage in a bank robbery. at times they stretch to discuss some of the guidelines they came up with. even more along in the collection they reprint the rare two-part story where Superman introduces Supergirl to the world with great fanfare.
Action Comics #285
Reading these stories it is very clear that Supergirl is just another version of Superman, yet much more lovely and practically softer. as with the main Superman book there are a number of stories with Red Kryptonite; The legion of Superheroes show up a number of times, except in the initial story the legion are the sons and daughters of the original Legion; Krypto makes quite a few guest appearances, and yes at times with Streaky.
Another story element was done over and over, and isa sign of what a simpler time it was. While Linda lived in an orphanage and worked there as she was one of the older children (she was 15) helping out. In numerous of the stories a couple would come and just pick out an orphan to take home. There is even one story where the kids have a talent contest to try and impress perspective parents. Alas, Linda was the orphan who did not want to be adopted as it might reveal her side life as Supergirl. thus there are a few stories where she is adopted and she has to find a way to be sent back.
A couple of other things that stood out to me were that like Superman, she had a robot duplicate of Linda Lee who lived in a hollow tree that would fill in for her so Linda would not be missed at the orphanage. Mind you, this was a thinking robot that would react to Supergirl’s commands and fooled all the humans, and it was long before the concept of synthetic intelligence was a mainstream concept. Actually, robots make up the bad men in a fair number of stories, also science plays a big role, as I suspect this was done as a way to try and make science appealing to their young audience. (Yes, at one time kids were the main audience for comic books.) Also, in the early stories Supergirl is always tunneling somewhere. practically every issue she tunnels to avoid being seen. In one story she tunnels all the way through the earth so the children can see how the other half lives. (Forget the scientific reasons this cannot be done.) In a later story she once again tunnels from one side of the earth to the other but this time she does it at an angle as she “could not go through the center of the Earth”. A different writer who was much more conscious of their facts I guess.
Action Comics #277
Pets were also big part of the Supergirl stories. The first one to show up was streaky the cat who gained his powers through X Kryptonite. Streaky’s powers would come and go and the way Mooney drew him with such large eyes it made the character bit of a joke to look at, but as with a lot of these Supergirl stories they were duplicating what worked in the Superman Comic and because Supes had Krypto Supergirl had to have a companion also. streaky was named that because he had two white “lightning bolts” on his sides contrasting his orange fur coat. The other well-known pet in the Supergirl realm was Comet the Superhorse who was a centaur from ancient Greece and was introduced originally in a Superboy story but the character was moved over to the pages of Supergirl when Leo Dorfman took over writing the stories. These are odd stories in that they are pretty hokey and there is a lot of romance stories as when Comet is human he has a crush on Supergirl, and was her young boy fiend briefly (and let’s not forget he also dated Lois Lane) and he appeared in practically every story after his start for quite some time. As silly as he was he is fondly remembered by fandom even though he was killed in crisis on unlimited Earths along with Supergirl.
Overall this collection is easy to read and charming. From Darwyn Cooke’s cover to the last page I found this book to be a joy. Yes, it is hokey and silly at times, but it is sort of like viewing Leave it to Beaver, a fantasy life that never existed but it would have been good if it had. A great way to escape into a warm and fun place and well worth every penny it costs.
Sam Glanzman’s USS Stevens: The Collected Stories
Sam Glanzman’s USS Stevens: The Collected stories is easily Sam Glanzman’s defining work. It is true stories of what happened in the Pacific in world war 2 on the destroyer U.S.S. Stevens. many of these stories are four to six pages long and appeared as back up stories in Our army at war and G.I. combat by DC Comics (and other places). Dover press has just issued a huge, practically 400 page collection with every U.S.S. Stevens story Glanzman has ever done. These stores are a mix of warmth and worry and some are just horrifying as war typically is. It is amazing how much emotion GLanzman is able to pack into these short little epics. The book is in full color and is stuffed to the gills with extras, such as a new U.S.S. Stevens story, letters from Presidents Obama and Bush, tons of footnotes about each story, Sam Glanzman’s rarely seen war Diary series, and so much more. This book is a great read for its historical value showing life during war is priceless, and it is just an amazing body of work that was done over 30 years in a number of different comics and publishers and it is collected here all in one place for the very first time. I would note though this book may be a challenge to find, as many comic stores were not able to carry it as their distributor cancelled the orders for it. I would recommending asking at your local comic shop first for this book, as it is well worth your time and money, but you might have to find it though another means. but you will be so glad you did once you have readit.
Batgirl #1
Batgirl #1 is by hope Larson and Rafael Albuquerque and it is very different from what has come before. here Barbara Gordon has gone to Japan to research and meet a Batgirl from 1939. While in Japan she goes to a hostel where she just happens to be assigned to a room with her childhood friend Kai, which seems very unusual that they would meet there by accident. I suspect there is much more to her old friend Kai than what has been let out so far. I found this story and art to be both lovely and whimsical and a lot of fun. It is good to see Batgirl out of Gotham and the story moves at a quick pace with both explanations of why they are in Japan and flashbacks to this previous Batgirl and what has happened to Barbara over the years. There are also some very good and funny quite scenes where Babs and Kai are out discovering Japanese food and drink with mixed results. overall I really liked this book and for the first time in numerous years I am looking forward to reading Batgirl.
That wraps it up for this month. There are two collections of amazing material from very different sources, and very different tone. then there is a start of what looks to have the potential to become a popular book on a character that has had her ups and downs. I hope you check out both of these books, as they are both great, even if it may take a little effort to find the USS Stevens book. have you read either of these books? What do you think? Did you delight in them as much as I have? What have you read and are enjoying? I would like to know. I can be reached at MFBWAY@AOL.COM or on Facebook at Wayne Markley. everything I have written here is my opinions and in no way reflect the thoughts of opinions of Westfield Comics or their employees. I look forward to your comments and I will be back soon. As always…
Thank you.
Classic covers from the Grand Comics Database.