Review: Adventure Comics #291 (redux)

In the DC Comics December 2025 solicits, the plot of Supergirl #8 is shown to be our hero going up against her abandoned Linda Danvers robot duplicate. It is a story I can't wait to read. But it made me wonder when was the last time a Linda Lee robot had been seen in continuity. 

Now I freely admit that I didn't do a deep dive scrub of every comic but Adventure Comics #391 was the last story I found a Linda robot in. And boy what a story it is. The robot bit is the smallest part of a 12 page story that has planetary student exchange programs, a deeper dive into another world's culture than I would have expected, a deeper dive into alien anatomy than I would have expected, and more twists and turns that even the most wacky Silver Age story. It even has a college protest in it so it remains relevant today! So settle in! More plot and info is dumped in this back-up story than in many current comic 6 issue arcs.

But it is also one of those overly elaborate plots that makes little sense if you think about it too hard.

This issue also was a bit of a throwback for me to read again. Hard to believe but 10 years ago, I reviewed the cover story 'Linda Danvers, Super-Star' . That review was spurred on by Melissa Benoist talking about wire-work on the Supergirl show. That feels like a lifetime ago!

Anyways, this was a bonkers fun story to review and I promise that the destiny of one Linda Lee robot is definitively met in this story. If anyone knows of a later appearance of a robot double, please let me know and I will cover it here with full recognition.

On to the book!

"The Super-Exchange Student" was written by Cary Bates with art by Win Mortimer. 

The semi-splash page teasing the story shows some of the plot elements that play out.

One, a Linda Danvers lookalike leading a campus protest on Stanhope College.  Meanwhile, on another planet, Supergirl looks on at someone besmirching her reputation. But she is unable to head back to Earth and stop it. 

How does all this happen and get resolved in a mere 12 pages? With rapid fire story-telling.

The story opens with Supergirl speeding off Earth to Thetoa, a faraway planet, to spend some time as an exchange student. She passes the Thetoan ship flying to Earth. Keep that in your head dear reader ... we come back to that.

The Thetoan student lands at Stanhope and it is shown that she has had plasma-surgery to become a 'dead ringer' for Linda Danvers. She even has special tech to mirror mod clothes so she can slip right into Linda's identity. 

I have lost count of how many people look exactly like Linda Lee/Danvers at this point. 

But Supergirl was not dressed like a Thetoan student. She was in her costume. So already something is suspicious.

Bates immediately gives us lots of interesting info to mull over, albeit briefly. 

Thetoa is a world which bases its entire culture on Earth. More interesting, each area has chosen a time period on Earth to mirror, from the distant past to the future (using time-scopes of course). So there is a Middle Ages city, a Legion-esque city, and one from the current days complete with an exact replica of Stanhope College. That is an info dump given in one panel, a tossaway idea I suppose to explain the Earth-like stuff Supergirl does on this alien planet.

Meanwhile, our Linda duplicate walks into a peaceful campus protest asking for a professor to be reinstated.   But there is evil afoot. She pulls out a 'Neuroscon', a handheld device which makes the emotions of the protestors ramp up to the point they are about to riot. It is only the arrival of the true Linda's roommates that makes the imposter give up the experiment.

Based on Supergirl's dialogue, she wasn't expecting 'Euora' to be welcomed at Stanhope. But she doesn't mention that Enora will be Linda. So that seems like part of this plot. And why is this Thetoan using a device to incite violence in Earth students?? Hmmm ...

It turns out that the duplicate Linda is part of the 'Disruptor League', a group looking to incite civil disobedience and violence. (Check out their nifty costumes, complete with raygun logo!)  

Meanwhile, Supergirl is taking in the standard classes where she learns, again in a little throwaway fact, that Thetoans have three brains each with a different function. 

I have to say that Supergirl's terran anatomy isn't 100% right.

On Earth, the Linda imposter can't attend class because the Linda Danvers robot is already sitting in the class. So now it is clear that our hero wasn't expecting Enora to replace her.

But our doppelganger wants to attend those classes. She calls 'Linda' over and disintegrates the robot with a 'Zota Gun'. 

Goodbye Linda Danvers Robot ... we hardly knew ye!

And then the true plot is revealed. The 'Disruptor League' wants to test to see if their Neuroscon device will incite violence in Thetoan students. So to test it, they kidnapped Euora the Thetoan exchange student, had one of their members have surgery to look like Linda Danvers, replace her at Stanhope, and test it on Earth people. The hypothesis is that if it works on one-brained kids, it will have three times the effect on three-brained kids.

But couldn't they have just kidnapped someone on Thetoa and just tested the device on one of their own? They already have shown they can kidnap people. Why not just test it on Euora? Or any other student? Doesn't this seem like an overly elaborate plan? How do they know that an Earth brain responds similarly to theirs?

There is Euora, locked up in the Disruptor League HQ. She could be the test subject?

Supergirl discovers that Enora is still on campus when the 'mini-computer' on the Asborg School says the number of students is the same, not one down. 

But the microscopic vision Supergirl used to scan the computer shorts it out.

Crazy riot mind-control? Micro-computers? Computers burned out by microscopic vision?

To figure out where Enora is, Supergirl has to fix the alien micro-computer. 

She creates an enlarging ray to make the computer big enough for her to work on.

We are only eight pages in!

I can barely keep up with the review because I need to give enough synopsis to keep people up to speed.

With the computer fixed, Supergirl can pinpoint Euora's position and capture the Disruptor League.

But what about Earth?

Well Linda Danvers (or a perfect facsimile) is about to lead a riot on Stanhope campus. And the real Linda will be blamed! Linda will be 'disgraced'!

Given the last several years on American campuses, she would be disgraced in the eyes of some, lionized in the eyes of others. 

Still, it will be no problem for Supergirl to fly to Earth and stop the protest.

Unfortunately, she can't fly off of Thetoa!

Remember that passing spaceship? It put a post-hypnotic suggestion in Supergirl's mind forcing her to remain on the Thetoan campus.

Now we are really getting into a hyper-elaborate plan. A duplicate created, a student abducted, a post-hypnotic suggestion all so that an alien device can be tested on Earth minds. It seems overwhelmingly  complex. There must be a simpler way to test the Neuroscon.

And yet, Supergirl appears on Earth to stop the riot.

How?

She traveled in time but maintained her static position such that the campus left her instead of the reverse. So just like that, she can fly home and end things.

Perhaps the best thing about the whole story is the simple 'BAH!' the Linda duplicate spits out in the last panel. 

It is funny how these reviews come into being. I did this review because of the possible last appearance of a Linda Danvers robot. But that is just an afterthought as I waded my way through this amazing 12 issue story filled with plot and detail. Is this an important Supergirl issue? No. But is it fun and a good example of compressed story-telling? Yes. 

Overall grade: B (for batty)