I love it when small pieces of Supergirl's mythos pop up in unexpected places. It is this dissemination of information that might bring new fans into the fold.
Imagine my surprise when an old seldom seen villainess from Supergirl's Silver Age showed up in Super Friends #19, written by Sholly Fisch with art by Dario Brizuela.
In the book, a villain named Headmaster Mind opens up a school for teens to train them how to be super-villains.
And look at how one of his proteges is ... a Kryptonian called The Black Flame.
So let's take a look into the back issue box at Action Comics #304 and review one of Supergirl's original rogues ... The Black Flame!
Released in September 1963, the Supergirl story was the back-up story, written by Otto Binder and drawn by Jim Mooney.
Released in September 1963, the Supergirl story was the back-up story, written by Otto Binder and drawn by Jim Mooney.
"The Maid of Menace" opens up with a great panel of Black Flame lording over a powerless Supergirl, denying her water, as the Phantom Zone villains look on in delight. "More cunning than Lesla Lar, more evil than Luthor", somehow the Black Flame has exposed Supergirl to Gold Kryptonite, vanquishing the Maid of Might.
The issue starts with Supergirl perplexed by the sudden arrival of a new super villainess who begins thwarting international police and going on a crime spree. She even has some serious technology with her. For example, she has a mind ray which can control Comet, forcing the super-horse to destroy some monuments of popular heroes.
Calling herself the Black Flame, she taunts Supergirl into following her so she can reveal her origin.
Black Flame shows Supergirl a time bubble that includes a 'mento dome' which can download historical data into a person's mind.
When Kara dons the helmet, she learns how The Black Flame is from the future and in that time she is the evil ruthless queen of a pirate planet, the head of an intergalactic crime empire. What's worse ... she is the descendant of Supergirl. And since the Black Flame is universally hated, Supergirl is as well. Black Flame is currently hiding out in the present to avoid a police sweep on her planet.
Devastated at how she is ultimately perceived in the future, Supergirl flies home despondent.
Luckily, Edna Danvers gives Linda some good advice. She tells her super daughter to stop moping about this story and investigate it instead.
Flying into the future, Supergirl finds no evidence of Black Flame in any historical documents. And Supergirl is even able to see that she is still a beloved figure, even in the future.
Realizing that the Black Flame is lying, Supergirl begins to investigate what her origins can be in the present.
Since she displayed Kryptonian like powers, she might be from Kandor. There is a good suspect on Kandor ... a girl named Zora who was a friend with Lesla Lar no less. Unfortunately, Zora is shown at her job in Kandor during Black Flame's day of destruction. She can't be in two places at once, can she?
Heading back to Earth, Supergirl finds Black Flame and decides to take matters into her own hands.
In order to stop the Black Flame from developing super powers in the future, Supergirl exposes herself to Gold Kryptonite. By stripping herself of her superpowers, Kara cannot pass any of them on to the next generation. But wait ... didn't Supergirl learn that Black Flame isn't really from the future?
Once Supergirl is powerless, Black Flame reveals her true origins.
She is indeed Zora from Kandor. The Zora in Kandor during Supergirl's trip was a robot double. Zora was Lesla Lar's friend and vowed to take up Lar's quest to belittle and defeat Supergirl.
To achieve her ends, Zora flew through a red Kryptonite cloud which luckily restored her to normal size. She then concocted the whole future story to trick Supergirl into removing her own powers.
With the Phantom Zone villains looking on, Supergirl slips into quicksand and drowns.
At the same time, Zora's shrinks back to Kandorian size, the 48 hours of red K induced size suddenly over.
Well, it turns out that Supergirl was faking the whole time. The chunk of gold Kryptonite is actually a regular rock wrapped in her gold belt (check out the above panel again and note to lack of a belt on her costume). By faking the gold K incident, she was able to trick Black Flame into revealing who she really was.
When she tunneled out from the quicksand into the ocean, Supergirl found some minute grains of gold Kryptonite. Too small to effect Kara, she scoops them up and exposes Zora to their radiation, turning the tables on her enemy. Now Zora is powerless.
How did Supergirl realize that the future story was fake? She noticed a filling in one of the villainess' teeth. Why would an invulnerable supervillain have a cavity. Of course, in Kandor, the Kryptonians are powerless and can succumb to poor dental hygiene. Zora is returned and placed in the Kandorian jail.
Black Flame was seen a couple of time after this. In Adventure Comics #400, she nearly defeats with Supergirl with Gold K again. That issue reads like a drug trip with Zora teaming up with a Kryptonian leprechaun, using giant bowling balls to try to crush Supergirl who is trussed up as a giant headpin, and ultimately being defeated by toys that Supergirl is mentally controlling. Bizarre! She also tries to trap Supergirl on Rokyn as it is phasing away in The Krypton Chronicles.
Since Black Flame is a recurring Supergirl villainess, I would rate this issue of medium importance to a Supergirl collection. It can probably be purchased for around $20 in decent condition.
Overall grade: B+
Realizing that the Black Flame is lying, Supergirl begins to investigate what her origins can be in the present.
Since she displayed Kryptonian like powers, she might be from Kandor. There is a good suspect on Kandor ... a girl named Zora who was a friend with Lesla Lar no less. Unfortunately, Zora is shown at her job in Kandor during Black Flame's day of destruction. She can't be in two places at once, can she?
Heading back to Earth, Supergirl finds Black Flame and decides to take matters into her own hands.
In order to stop the Black Flame from developing super powers in the future, Supergirl exposes herself to Gold Kryptonite. By stripping herself of her superpowers, Kara cannot pass any of them on to the next generation. But wait ... didn't Supergirl learn that Black Flame isn't really from the future?
Once Supergirl is powerless, Black Flame reveals her true origins.
She is indeed Zora from Kandor. The Zora in Kandor during Supergirl's trip was a robot double. Zora was Lesla Lar's friend and vowed to take up Lar's quest to belittle and defeat Supergirl.
To achieve her ends, Zora flew through a red Kryptonite cloud which luckily restored her to normal size. She then concocted the whole future story to trick Supergirl into removing her own powers.
With the Phantom Zone villains looking on, Supergirl slips into quicksand and drowns.
At the same time, Zora's shrinks back to Kandorian size, the 48 hours of red K induced size suddenly over.
Well, it turns out that Supergirl was faking the whole time. The chunk of gold Kryptonite is actually a regular rock wrapped in her gold belt (check out the above panel again and note to lack of a belt on her costume). By faking the gold K incident, she was able to trick Black Flame into revealing who she really was.
When she tunneled out from the quicksand into the ocean, Supergirl found some minute grains of gold Kryptonite. Too small to effect Kara, she scoops them up and exposes Zora to their radiation, turning the tables on her enemy. Now Zora is powerless.
How did Supergirl realize that the future story was fake? She noticed a filling in one of the villainess' teeth. Why would an invulnerable supervillain have a cavity. Of course, in Kandor, the Kryptonians are powerless and can succumb to poor dental hygiene. Zora is returned and placed in the Kandorian jail.
Black Flame was seen a couple of time after this. In Adventure Comics #400, she nearly defeats with Supergirl with Gold K again. That issue reads like a drug trip with Zora teaming up with a Kryptonian leprechaun, using giant bowling balls to try to crush Supergirl who is trussed up as a giant headpin, and ultimately being defeated by toys that Supergirl is mentally controlling. Bizarre! She also tries to trap Supergirl on Rokyn as it is phasing away in The Krypton Chronicles.
Since Black Flame is a recurring Supergirl villainess, I would rate this issue of medium importance to a Supergirl collection. It can probably be purchased for around $20 in decent condition.
Overall grade: B+
3 comments:
Nice to see Supergirl use a library to solve a mystery.
To a modern aud this is a silly story, nonetheless I've always liked it mostly because Supergirl completely outwits her opponent and metes out a appropriate punishment as well.
the better silver age Supergirl stories generally spotlight her deductive skills and make her out to be a thinking heroine always striving to put the facts into a logical framework.
And Jim Mooney's art is soooo preemo!
:D
Wouldn't mind seeing a new version of Black Flame going forward, Reactron can't shoulder the nemesis burden indefinitely.
John Feer
To a modern aud this is a silly story, nonetheless I've always liked it mostly because Supergirl completely outwits her opponent and metes out a appropriate punishment as well.
the better silver age Supergirl stories generally spotlight her deductive skills and make her out to be a thinking heroine always striving to put the facts into a logical framework.
I agree that the best stories show Kara using brain and brawn. She rarely simply punched her way out of a problem.
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