Amazing Heroes #18 (1982)

Amazing Heroes #18 included the second part of the 'Supergirl in Action' character retrospective. I wrote about the first part of this article here. As I said there, Amazing Heroes was one of the first ways I got to learn about the 'behind the scenes' stuff of comics, hearing from the creators for the first time.

This Supergirl article is a bit limited. And while the first part of the article included some more historical elements that were interesting, this part is more of a listing of the stories. I suppose that back in this time, these stories weren't collected and reprinted like today. Those stories appeared occasionally in Superman Family. So this run-down probably served a better purpose back then.

And I suppose I should take this article's title to heart. The title is Supergirl in Action which I suppose means that the writer, Dwight Decker, only wanted to review her time in Action Comics. The secondary title of A Heroine Herstory (ugh) implies more that this would be a true look at all of Supergirl's history to that point (which was early on in the Daring New Adventures time period).

I do find it interesting that Decker, all the way back in 1982, is asking for a more in depth look at Kara's loss and how grief would be a big part of her life. I suppose he was prescient and 30 years ahead of his time. That sounds a lot like what Mike Johnson and Mahmud Asrar are doing now.

Decker does point out that changes are made in Supergirl's history when some of her stories were reprinted in Action Comics and other spots. The details of Argo City slightly change. And there are more severe ones like seen above. Originally Supergirl meets the children of the Legion that met Superboy. Later, when reprinted, they become the actual Legion.

I was hoping for more than a blurb about the stories in each issue of the first couple of years of Action Comics in this second installment. Much of the later Action issues are just glossed over.

Even more disappointing than that was that the entire run of Adventure Comics, her first solo title, and all the Superman Family stories, are reviewed in a cramped short paragraph. I was hoping for more of her story (not Herstory) and how those titles were done.

I have come to believe blog friend Diabolu Frank that the pictures by Jaime in the article are bu Love and Rockets' Jaime Hernandez. I had to post this nice piece showing Supergirl's original costume and the then current hotpants look.

If I had to pick one of these issues to look for, I would definitely pick Amazing Heroes #17. Supergirl is on the cover, looking all 80s snazzy by Kevin Nowlan, and the article is a better historical retrospective.

Happy hunting!