The First Girl of Steel

“Twice Told Tales” or “Haven’t I seen this character before?”
A "double-header" review by Emsley Wyatt

Superman #123  (August 1958)
"The Girl of Steel"
Writer: Otto Binder
Cover Artist: Curt Swan
Artists. Dick Sprang, Stan Kaye
Recently I’ve done a series called “Twice Told Tales” looking at recycled stories which, in their second incarnations, introduced the Legionnaires Mon-El and Star Boy.  But did you know that another Legionnaire had a precursor character?  None other than Kara Zor-El; that’s right, Supergirl herself.  The character of Kara Zor-El debuted in Action Comics #252 in the story “The Supergirl of Krypton” published in May 1959. However, nearly a year earlier a story was published about another “Supergirl.” It was called “The Girl of Steel” and was an attempt by DC management to see if a female super character would, err, fly.
As you can see, there’s a strong resemblance between her and her successor.

So where did this Supergirl come from?  Well, it begins, as so many stories do, with Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen.

Lana Lang's Two Alien Boy-Friends

“Twice Told Tales” or “Mars and Stars”
Another  "double-header" review by Emsley Wyatt

“Lana Lang's Romance On Mars”
Adventure Comics #195 (December 1953)
Writer: uncredited
Artist: Curt Swan & Stan Kaye
Cover: Win Mortimer

"Lana Lang and the Legion of Super-Heroes” 

Adventure Comics #282 (March 1961)

Writer: Otto Binder

Artist: George Papp
Cover: Swan & Kaye

I’ve done a couple of these “Twice Told Tales”, one involving Mon-El, and one involving Sun Boy.  Well, it had slipped my mind that there was a third such pair of stories, this one involving the initial appearance of yet another Legionnaire, Star Boy.  Thanks to “Anonymous” for reminding me of this fact.  OK, here we go.  First, here are the covers.  As previously, the older story is on the left and the newer on the right.

The Two Two Clark Kents!

“Twice Told Tales” or “Haven’t I read this comic before?”
Another "double-header" review by Emsley Wyatt

“The Two Clark Kents”

Adventure Comics #191 (August 1953)

No writer named

Artists: Curt Swan & Sy Barry

Cover: Win Mortimer

“The Secret of the Seventh Super-Hero”

Adventure Comics #290 (November 1961)

Writer: Robert Bernstein

Artist: George Papp

Cover: Curt Swan & Stan Kaye

Presenting another “Twice told Tale”, an example of “recycled story lines” for which DC was notorious back in the day.  These stories were published eight years apart.  

Adventure 290 represents the second appearance of Sun Boy although, as regular visitors to this blog are aware, the “Sun Boy” in this story is, for the most part, an impostor.  His first appearance was as a Legion applicant in Action #276 (May, 1961).  

Imposture is definitely the theme of these stories as each features an impersonation of Clark Kent and one features an impersonation of Sun Boy as well.  But enough, let’s get to the stories.  

Following the pattern established in the last episode of this two-part series, the older story excerpts are presented first, then the newer, sometimes in two panel segments, sometimes with side-by-side panels from each story. 

Superboy's Brothers Halk Kar and Mon-El

“Twice Told Tales” or “Haven’t I read this comic before?”
A "double-header" review by Emsley Wyatt

“Superman’s Big Brother”
Superman #80 (Jan/Feb 1953)
Writer: Edmond Hamilton
Artist: Al Plastino

"Superboy’s Big Brother” 

Superboy #89 (June 1961)

Writer: Robert Bernstein

Artist: George Papp

It was not uncommon back in the early days of comics for stories to be, err, recycled after a period of time.  The thinking was that folks only read comics for a period of a few years and that nobody would ever notice and so what if they did.
The idea that the ephemeral medium of comic books would ever be subjected to in-depth analysis would have been inconceivable to the publishers and editors of the Fifties and Sixties.  Usually the “in house plagiarism” was limited to plot points or story elements but you would get those instances where the entire story was retold with only minor changes.  A couple examples of this involved the initial featured appearances of two members of the Legion of Super Heroes, Mon-El and Sun Boy.  This review concerns the former; we’ll get to the latter on another occasion.