As many Supergirl fans know, in Adventure Comics #313, Supergirl is hit by red K and splits into a second persona, Satan Girl.
What Martin so astutely pointed out to me is that Satan's Girl outfit, all dark purple and magenta with a flowing cape looks like Black Orchid if you squint. I mean a character named Satan Girl should be garbed in reds and scarlets adorned with horns and pitchforks. Instead we get this color scheme.
Even this issue is all about Satan Girl keeping her identity a mystery. Hmmm ...
There is even something about the body language that read familiar.
But putting them side by side, you really see the sort of resemblance that seems uncanny.
Could it be that Black Orchid is Supergirl? That when crafting her costume, she returned to a sort of similar color palette to the one her doppelganger did?
I mean, I know this is a stretch. But this is what fan theories are about, looking for clues.
So is the color scheme of another Supergirl identity being purples and magentas a coincidence? Or a clue?
If you are building a case as I am, it definitely is a clue.
If you are building a case as I am, it definitely is a clue.
I have a few more Black Orchid posts planned ... just a matter of getting to them!
And thanks again to Mart Gray for putting on his thinking cap and sending me this idea!
Thanks for doing this one! I am so looking forward to hearing about the remaining PS strips.
ReplyDeleteYou involve Red K and Black Orchid could even be a seperate personality Linda was unaware of.
ReplyDeleteThis opens up an entirely new vein of Super Speculation in respect of the “Black Orchid is Supergirl’s Idea of Cosplay” argument...the potential for Clones, Magical Duplicates, a Repentant Satan Girl somehow recalled to life...let us also recall that the Kandorian “Supergirl Fan Club” formed their own “Supergirl Emergency Squad” who all donned blonde wigs for the occasion (paradoxically it was an all female club for some silver ageish reason:), it could be one of them getting a taste of the heroine life in the big world.
ReplyDeleteOR
Anyone remember “Dar-Lin” Linda Danvers brunette doppelganger from Kandor? She figured in several stories circa Action Comics #314,315 or so, maybe she “ankled the joint” dyed her hair and gave the super heroine racket a go?
:)
JF
Since you're writing about all the Black Orchid appearances in comics, are you going to write about her appearances on video? I know she appeared in the "Batman: the Brave and the Bold" cartoon series. A database for that series said she was in the "The Mask of Matches Malone" and "Mitefall" episodes.
ReplyDeleteIt's doubtful that Joe Orlando or Sheldon Mayer would have known anything about Satan Girl. DC editors didn't pay much attention to their fellow editor's books back then, and there was a full 10 years from Adventure 313 and Adventure 428. Maybe the similarity was just coincidence.
ReplyDeleteBut there is something else to consider. Nelson Bridwell would have known, and he was assisting Orlando on those early Black Orchid stories, so maybe....
“The Condemned Legionnaires” (Satan Girl’s debut and seeming finale) however was reprinted in Adventure Comics #409 back when Supergirl was headlining therein, and under the editorship of Joe Orlando as well...:)
ReplyDeleteI still say its “Dar-Lin” on a lark...
:)
JF
Are you going to review Black Orchid on video? I know she was in the "Batman:the Brave and the Bold" cartoon series. According to a database for the series, she was in two episodes: "Batmite" and "The Face of Matches Malone".
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the excellent comments and for humoring this side mission.
ReplyDeleteLove that Joe Orlando might have seen Satan Girl just before the Black Orchid series! Amazing.
Not necessarily planning to look at the cartoons as this was mostly to look at the pre-Crisis stuff. But you never know!!