Supergirl

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Superman's cousin

After positive fan reaction to Super-Girl, the first—and still most familiar—version of Supergirl debuted in 1959.

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Superman's secret weapon

The character of Supergirl was introduced in Action Comics #252 http://superman.ws/supergirl/introducing/ (May 1959) as Kara Zor-El, the last survivor of Argo City of the planet Krypton, which had survived the explosion of the planet and had drifted through space. When the inhabitants of the colony were slain by Kryptonite, Kara was sent to Earth to be raised by her cousin Kal-El, known as Superman. Fearing that she might not be recognized by Superman, Kara's parents provided a costume based closely on the Man of Steel's own. This uniform served as her crime-fighting attire for the first decade of her adventures in print.

Related Topics:
Action Comics - 1959 - Krypton - Kryptonite

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Upon meeting Kara—who on Earth now had superpowers identical to her cousin's—Superman decided she would become his secret weapon, and explained that her presence on Earth must be kept confidential while he trained Kara in the use of her new powers. Kara adopted the identity of Linda Lee, an orphan at Midvale Orphanage, hiding her short blonde locks beneath a brunette wig. Her adventures often accompanied the main Superman story in issues of Action Comics. They typically revolved around secretly helping fellow orphans, although occasionally she was allowed to play a small role alongside her famous cousin. She also became a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes alongside Superboy, the teenage incarnation of her cousin.

Related Topics:
Earth - Legion of Super-Heroes - Superboy

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Superman permitted Supergirl to reveal her existence to the world in Action Comics #285 (February 1962). In the same story, Linda was adopted by Fred and Edna Danvers, to whom she revealed her secret identity. Changing her name to Linda Lee Danvers (later known as just Linda Danvers), she became a student of Midvale High School.

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Besides her heroic feats, Kara juggled several beaus, including Jerro, Brainiac 5, and Dick Malverne, a former fellow orphan, and gained Streaky, a pet cat that also possessed superpowers.

Related Topics:
Jerro - Brainiac 5 - Dick Malverne - Streaky

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On her own

Graduating high school in 1964, Linda left home to attend Stanhope College on a scholarship. Supergirl won the lead slot in Adventure Comics #381 (June 1969), trading Action Comics with the Legion. During her Adventure run, Supergirl—mirroring the fashions of the times—began to experiment with a wide variety of costume and hairstyle changes; her best-known outfit from this era, which remained through much of the 1970s and into the 1980s, can be seen in the Alex Ross illustration shown here. Although Superman became only an infrequent visitor in her adventures, Kara maintained close ties with her cousin while pursuing her own career as a superhero. Her term at Adventure ended when Kara received her own title in November 1972, which ran for only ten issues before being rolled into Superman Family, alongside other Superman-related supporting characters' titles.

Related Topics:
1964 - Stanhope College - Adventure Comics - 1969 - Alex Ross - Superhero - 1972 - Superman Family

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Throughout the 1970s twists and turns in Kara's career as Supergirl ran parallel to changes in her civilian life. As Linda, she moved from student, to television reporter, to student counselor, to actress on the TV soap Secret Hearts.

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Back to school

In November 1982 Supergirl again received her own title, The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl (later simply Supergirl). DC intended to return the character to her roots, and by implicitly ignoring the previous 18 years of stories, Linda again became an 18-year-old student, this time at Lake Shore University in Chicago, Illinois. During its 23 issue run, Supergirl adopted her final costume (originally designed, but not used, for the Supergirl movie) and finally discarded the brunette wig, in favor of a special comb which changed her hair color and style.

Related Topics:
1982 - Chicago, Illinois

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When DC canceled Supergirl in 1984, the company intended to start a new title starring both Supergirl and Superboy. However, fate took a different path.

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A heroic death

One of the ways DC intended to demonstrate the epic nature of its 12-issue miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths (April 1985-March 1986) was the deaths of important characters. In #7 (October 1985), Supergirl—in one of the most memorable moments of the series—bravely sacrificed her life to save her cousin, and the multiverse, from destruction. Ironically, one of the Crisis' effects on the DC universe was that Supergirl, as readers knew her for almost 30 years, now had never existed.

Related Topics:
Miniseries - Crisis on Infinite Earths - 1985 - 1986 - Multiverse

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