One of my closest friends has been Mart Gray, one of the finest chaps on the planet. And certainly one of the most generous. For my birthday, Mart sent me 75 Years Of DC Comics: The Art Of Modern Mythmaking by Paul Levitz.
This is an amazing tome of a book. It is massive and chock full of information, covers, panels, ads, and more. There is a timeline and discussion about the current DC continuity, editorial fiats, and changes in characters.
I mean I have just started to thumb through this book and I know I am going to be amazed when I do a deep dive. It seems like a treasure trove of knowledge and images.
Of course, the first thing I did was hit the index and look up Supergirl. And there is some interesting tidbits, some of which I have covered here. But others were new to me and that made me tickled pink. Figured I'd share a few.
First off, there is a fold out inner timeline of the DCU and there in 1959 is our Kara's debut.
But wait, there's more!
At least in this inset discussion of Action Comics #252, they say that it was sales of Superman #123 (the magically created Supergirl) that led to the creation of the standing character.
I know that often times there were 'tryout' books to gauge audience response. And I know all about Superman #123. But I have never heard definitively that the response to it led to Action Comics #252.
There are a number of little insets about Supergirl throughout the book so I was glad to see this haircut poll shown.
I'm a fan of the campus cuddle bun so glad it won!
And I liked that Mike Sekowsky was borrowing from the Katy Keene gimmick of having readers submit outfits. Adventure Comics #397 started that and is certainly an iconic Supergirl cover.
Certainly the Adventure Comics run has some seriously interesting costumes!
And then they share the infamous Crisis on Infinite Earths note where Jenette Khan checked of 'yes' Supergirl could be killed off in the series.
Always intrigued about the Crisis. Hard to believe that my deep dive into Crisis and Crisis #7 in particular was 5 years ago. Time flies.
But now onto a couple of new things!!
That is crazy!!!
I guess Mego did dominate the market back then.
But I would have loved to have Supergirl selling peanut butter, bandaids, and other stuff back then!
And then this gag from Plop.
I love the Flash cheating at cards while Batman and Superman are distracted.
But the real treat here is a Murphy Anderson drawn Supergirl. I don't know of any other Kara picture done by just Anderson, at least not off the top of my head.
Anyways, a huge gigantic thank you to Mart for this book which I will be slowly devouring over the next many years! And I am glad Supergirl was featured throughout the book!
6 comments:
Glad you like it. And if you hadn’t, well, the world always needs doorstops.
What a great gift! That's a book I've been meaning to get for some time, but never seem to get around to it. I WILL get it some day.
About Superman #123. It's too bad there are no sales figures available for individual issues. It would be interesting to know if that issue sold considerably more than the issues surrounding it. The story itself seemed to indicate that a Supergirl would be more of a hinderance than a help to Superman (maybe that's why he stuck Kara in that orphanage).
What about the mail? The first "Metropolis Mailbag" was in Superman #124. But in checking the earliest letter columns, I found NO letters commenting on Superman #123. Most of the early letters concerned general questions such as where Superman puts his Clark Kent clothes when he changes identities, and why his x-ray vision doesn't melt his glasses. Two letters asking for a Supergirl were printed in Superman #126, and 1 in Superman #128, and another in Superman #129, but none of them mention Superman #123. The letter in issue 129 is interesting. It's from Susan Anne Howalksy of Baltimore, Maryland:
"Why can't there be a Supergirl? Girls are sometimes helpful, you know, and not always trouble makers!"
Maybe Susan was thinking of the magic totem Super-Girl when she wrote that. Also the full page ad announcing Supergirl that appeared in Action Comics #251 was in Superman #129 as well.
Kudos to Martin Gray for supplying you with that worthwhile volume. I love these Levitz Taschen comics revue books...still need to get the Bronze Age DC Comics volume, but I have the Silver Age era one that was published a couple of years after 75 Years of DC Comics originally came out. Some really informative anecdotes of the times that were throughout, from trusted source(s).
"At least in this inset discussion of Action Comics #252, they say that it was sales of Superman #123 (the magically created Supergirl) that led to the creation of the standing character.
I know that often times there were 'tryout' books to gauge audience response. And I know all about Superman #123. But I have never heard definitively that the response to it led to Action Comics #252."
Oh, I thought that was common knowledge. DC also published several "Lois as Superwoman" tales beforehand as further tryouts for a Supergirl-type concept. Obviously, Lois couldn't stay Super forever, as it would have thrown off the character balance of the Daily Planet dynamic. But the publisher had always toyed for years with the idea of a female character that could rival Mary Marvel in sales (since at the time, Mary's stories often outsold those of Wonder Woman).
Congrats on receiving your new gift, Anj!
KET
Sounds awesome anj!
Cant beat some sekowski art of a morning!😊
Hello from a french fan of supergirl,
Happy birthday anj ! with a little delay ...
You gave us a nice gift with all your review on this week :)
I'm fine with anything that reminds us of all the great artists who worked on Supergirl in the Silver and Bronze Ages.
JF
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