The Best of Supergirl

[Flash's Lightning]

I want to read up on some classic Supergirl. I remember growing up reading Adventure Comics and that she appeared in that. I don't know the issues.

Was her first appearance golden or silver?

Does she have a Showcase or trade or something?

What are the absolute best pre-crisis Supergirl stories?

And a bit of a side question, who created her?

[Mon-el]

Was her first appearance golden or silver?

Silver


Does she have a Showcase or trade or something?

Yes they do, 2 I believe


What are the absolute best pre-crisis Supergirl stories?

That question is left for discretion....personally....I enjoyed all the Action Comics and Adventure comics days...but that's just me.


And a bit of a side question, who created her?

Otto Binder and Curt Swan

[Flash's Lightning]

Silver

Cool. Did she come about the same time as the superpets, before, or after?

Yes they do, 2 I believe

Awesome. I'll see what issues are reprinted and maybe order one.

That question is left for discretion....personally....I enjoyed all the Action Comics and Adventure comics days...but that's just me.

I remember I liked Adventure, but never read Action. It'll be fun to track those issues down again.

Otto Binder and Curt Swan

Curt Swan was amazing. He passed away about ten years ago, right? I've never heard of Otto.

[Rik Levins]

As usual, Mon-El has the scoop. I might add a couple of minor details:

A "Supergirl" first appeared in Superman Comics #123 in 1959. This wasn't the "real" Supergirl but a magical creation, the result of Jimmy Olsen wishing on a mystic totem artifact. That character died in-story, but the concept proved popular enough with readers that a few months later, the real version (Kara Zor-El) was introduced in Action Comics. She looked almost exactly like the magical Supergirl (although that character was not mentioned ever again and was seemingly completely forgotten after the story in which she appeared.)

In both cases the covers were drawn by Curt Swan. However, the interior art was by Dick Sprang (magical Supergirl), and Al Plastino (Kara Supergirl).

She then became the backup feature in Action for some years, in stories mostly illustrated by Jim Mooney. There were plenty of good ones, including her battles with villainesses Black Flame and Lesla-Lar, and her nightmarish encounter with the evil sorcerer Drang the Destroyer.

Both origin stories were, as Mon noted, written by Otto Binder, who was also a well-known science fiction novelist. He was the author of I, Robot, which is considered a classic in the SF genre (and should not be confused with the book of the same title written years later by Isaac Asimov--or the recent movie, which bore no resemblance to either.) I highly recommend tracking down a copy of the original novel if you can find it.

[marshal99]

I have always enjoyed those old 80 page giant reprints in action comics which is something like a best of supergirl.

http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/01062288700.347.GIF

http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/01062288700.360.GIF

http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/01062288700.373.GIF

http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/01436986896.390.GIF

[dan bailey]

Great seeing those covers! When I returned to collecting about 5 years ago after a quarter-century layoff, one of the first things I embarked on was amassing every single 80-Page Giant, since those had been some of my favorite comics from childhood.