Silver Age Super Girls

I've been thinking about starting a thread devoted to the supergirls and superwomen who appeared from time to time in Silver Age comics. Most of these were either one-shot characters or regular supporting characters who gained temporary super-powers. Maybe some of them will inspire our writers to come up with sequels!

First up (for no particular reason) ...

1. LLELA LLARK

Appeared in "The Weakling from Earth," Superboy 81 (June 1960)

Superboy is stranded on the planet Xenon, a Krypton-sized world where he loses his powers -- but whose inhabitants have super-strength and the power of flight. He's taken in by a kindly couple who pass him off as their nephew and caution him not to let anyone find out that he's a "weakling," since the planet's dictator has decreed that non-super Xenonians be exiled to the "weakling world" (presumably to remove them from the gene pool).

Just as Clark Kent had a pretty neighbor who was always trying to prove that he was Superboy, "Jal Quorz" has a pretty neighbor who tries to expose him as a weakling. (Lana may have been a pest, but Llela is trying to get him exiled!)







"Jal" manages to outwit Llela ...





... but eventually he's revealed to be a weakling and sent to the weakling world. He gets his super-powers back through a typical Silver Age plot contrivance and returns to Xenon to take down its dictator, who ill-advisedly unleashes a "uranium ray" against the Boy of Steel. The explosion sets off a chain-reaction that envelops Xenon in a cloud of "purple xenonite" which nullifies the Xenonians' powers.

Llela seems pretty matter-of-fact about it:



"So long, Llela. No hard feelings about trying to get me arrested and exiled."

Here's an idea for a sequel: The cloud of purple Xenonian eventually begins killing off the Xenonians. Llela's father builds a rocket to send his daughter to Earth. Since Llela had super-strength on a Krypton-sized planet, it stands to reason that she'd be far more powerful than Superboy once she arrives on our world ...

This post is a trial balloon. If you liked it and want to see more, leave a "thank you." Suggestions are welcome!

Where did you find this? I have never seen it before.

ace191 wrote: Where did you find this? I have never seen it before.

Gee, I thought you of all people would have known about this story. (I scanned the panels from my copy of the comic, if that's what you mean.)

I think I have or have seen all the super Lois and Lana stories, but I have never seen this one. I was not a huge Superboy fan, but
I did collect some with Supergirl stories like the Big Fall and mighty girl.

It looks like quite a few of you would like to see more of these blasts from the past -- so here's Super Lady Blackhawk!

2. LADY BLACKHAWK

Appeared in "Lady Blackhawk's Super-Powers," Blackhawk 151 (August 1960)



The Blackhawks are pursuing a gang of bank robbers along a mountain trail when the thieves send giant boulders raining down at them. "We're really in a tight spot!" says their leader.

But not to worry --





Later, Lady Blackhawk tells her teammates how she acquired her super-powers:







Later, when the Blackhawks try to stop Baron Brane from robbing a bank, the super-powered "criminal genius" hurls an armored truck at them -- but once again Lady Blackhawk swoops in to save the day:



The Baron manages to get away, so Lady Blackhawk flies her teammates to the Baron's island hideout. Her powers fade away, but so do the Baron's, so the Blackhawks are able to capture him and his gang.

Presumably the Baron's "super-ray" was still on the island. I wonder if Lady Blackhawk ever tried to recharge her powers?

The story features an eye-opening splash page, which shows how Lady Blackhawk flew her teammates to the Baron's hideout:



"Mustn't ... look ... up!" you can hear the guy holding on to her right leg thinking.

That is AWESOME!
I love lady Blackhawk and her costume.
To see her with superpowers is just icing on the cake!

Yea, that was a great tale. Thanks for sharing!

This was one of the comics I had to track down and get into my collection.

it was a bit before my time the first time around, but once I found out it existed I had to have it. I've similar tracked down most of the Super-Lois stories (though have them digitally too).

Though I have to say, probably my "oh yeah" Super Femme comic is Superman Family 165: Tlaca Princess of the Golden Sun (vs. Supergirl). I think it's what started it all for me.



I've commissioned her:

cerebus873.deviantart.com/art/Tlaca-by-soniamatas-559909080

cerebus873.deviantart.com/art/Tlaca-vs-S...arpokrates-635020914

(Sorry for the links, I need to get moving and have little time)

I bought that Superman Family issue with Superior Girl comic many decades ago, and yes, it's very inspirational. Tlaca was seriously kick-ass. That whole time period was fun. Also, some of the other Superman Family issues over the years have also been my favorites.

Set halfway outside the canon, they allowed the writers to have some fun that the ongoing series somehow had lost.

That whole time period was fun... here's a panel from Superman Family 182 that captures my perspective on Jimmy Olson (definitely not the James of the TV show). He and Kara worked together from time to time and he had some thrills that were the stuff of dreams. Anyone want to go flying?



Shadar

Tlaca and '70's Supergirl are great, but let's get this thread back on topic.

3. NIGHT GIRL

First appeared in: "The Legion of Substitute Heroes," Adventure 306 (March 1963)

Night Girl was a member of the Legion of Substitute Heroes, a group of teenagers whose powers weren't deemed "Legion-worthy," but who banded together to form an unofficial auxiliary Legion. (Considering that the Legion included Bouncing Boy and Matter-Eater Lad, you'd think that Polar Boy and Chlorophyll Kid might have made the cut.)

Here's her back-story:



In addition to being the team's strongest member (as long as she stayed out of the sunlight), she also appeared to be the tallest (not even counting her "beehive" hairdo):



The Substitute Legion gets off to a discouraging start, but just as they're about to disband, they succeed in stopping an invasion of plant-men. Night Girl's strength comes in handy:





Unlike most of the "one and done" super girls who showed up in Silver Age comics, Night Girl had staying power. She and her fellow "Subs" were regular supporting characters throughout the Legion's pre-Crisis continuity, and she's appeared in a few of the Legion's numerous post-Crisis reboots:



You can quite a lot of Night Girl fan art on-line. TwiceOnThursdays shared a beautiful commissioned portrait of her on the "Sthenolagnia vs Cratolagnia" thread, and here's one by Brendon and Brian Fraim:

Sorry I haven't updated this thread in a while. My scanner broke down and I had to replace it.

Here's something for you "super bad girls" fans!

4. SUN WOMAN

Appeared in: "The Legionnaires' Super-Contest," Adventure 315 (December 1963)

At first, the Legion of Substitute Heroes (see my previous post) operated in secret; not even the "real" Legion was aware of its existence. But when the Substitutes went into action to capture a gang of space-raiders (and doing a good job of it, too, despite their supposedly second-rate powers), their secret was out.

The Legionnaires are impressed by the Substitutes' dedication and offer to induct one of them into the Legion. But how to decide which one? With a contest, of course! Each of the Substitute Heroes is assigned a task and their performances are rated.

Here's Night Girl's challenge:









And a very pissed-off-looking Sun Woman is taken into custody!

I like Sun Woman's "hands-on" approach to urban demolition.

Night Girl and Sun Woman are an interesting reversal of a comic-book trope, in that the heroine wears a black costume and derives her power from darkness, while the villainess wears primary colors and draws her power from light.

You'd think Night Girl could have come up with a more environmentally-friendly way to shut out the sunlight. It would have been fun to see her toss a mountain into orbit (from the planet's dark side) to create an eclipse.

A gentle reminder: If you'd like to see more of these, take a moment to leave a "thank you." That's how I know whether there's enough interest in this thread to keep posting.

I always liked a Shadow Lass/Night Girl Team Up. Great powers synergy.

I'm going to have to add #315 to my list of comics to get.

Need to do Action #395 next.

(I have a copy & scanner. OTH your scans are really pretty. I'm not a Graphics oriented person -- I get all high bit maps and dots, I really liked how you smoothed out the coloring in the Night Girl story, pages look gorgeous.)



or one of my favorite covers. (I probably should commission an Homage to it.)

TwiceOnThursdays wrote: I really liked how you smoothed out the coloring in the Night Girl story, pages look gorgeous.)

I can't take credit for that -- I scanned the Night Girl pages from a volume of the Legion Archive (a hardcover reprint series).

You could dedicate a separate thread just to the "super Lois Lane" stories that appeared during the Silver Age. I hope to get to all of them eventually (at least the ones in my collection), but for starters, here's a delightful daydream sequence from a story about a magic object that grants its owner three wishes.

5. SUPER-LOIS (1)

Appeared in: "The Monkey's Paw," Lois Lane 42 (July 1963)



Make it so, Lois!

I love the way she casually outclasses Superman in each panel while making sure she rubs it in: "They don't bother me at all, ha, ha!" (Did anyone else imagine that "ha, ha!" in the cadences of Nelson Muntz, the bully on The Simpsons?)

I will NEVER understand (or forgive her) for not not making that wish! Instead, she wishes that Clark Kent would get superpowers.

ace191 wrote: I will NEVER understand (or forgive her) for not not making that wish! Instead, she wishes that Clark Kent would get superpowers.

Well, it's established at the end of the story that she never actually used any of her wishes, so maybe she could retrieve the paw and make that wish. That sounds like some of your stories!

there a smilliar story where superman was weaking I remember where woman in story loved superman for being weakling on her home planet and broke out jail I think action 321iishif I remember right

I'll do that one next.

Action-Comics #321 Comic Panel.

I read this a long time ago. Superman got stuck on a planet where he lost his powers. Everyone on the planer had power, but only in the sun light. A lady falls madly in love with Superman. Reason why was he was so weak compared to everyone else on the planet.

He and she did something that got them banished to the dark side of the planet. The same side of the planer always faced the sun. So the lady lost her powers. Forget how they got back to Earth where they were both super. She ended up leaving superman for Earth's weakest man. Last page you see her flying with the weak guy in a space suit away.

6. LAHLA

Appeared in: "Superman--Weakest Man in the World," Action 321 (February 1965)

Superman is stranded on a planet with a red sun, where he loses his powers -- but which is inhabited by a race of super-people called the Thorones. He's arrested and interrogated ...



The Thorones are intrigued to learn that the stranger comes from a planet of "weaklings," and begin making plans to invade Earth. Superman is put into prison to await further questioning. (It only occurs to me now to wonder what's the use of a prison on a planet where anyone can easily break out.)

Superman is visited by Lahla, the woman who'd pleaded in his behalf earlier. They do a little smooching ...





... and then Lahla breaks him out of prison and flees the city with him.



But they're captured and sentenced to exile on the planet's dark side, a bleak wilderness where Lahla has no powers. (The Thorones derive their powers from direct exposure to sunlight.) With no tools and few raw materials, Superman MacGyvers a plastic bubble to hold Lahla and himself, and a giant robot to toss it into space, away from the Thorone world's red sun.

Superman returns to Earth, bringing Lahla with him, and leaves her on the roof of the Daily Planet building while he pushes an uninhabited moon into orbit around the Thorone world, permanently eclipsing is sun and shutting off the Thorone's super-powers. Then it's back to Earth.

It's not clear how long that job took, but it probably wasn't more than an hour or so, because Lahla is still hanging out on the roof of the Planet building when he returns. Jimmy and Lois have joined her, and Lois wants to know what's the deal with this woman.



Well, that was fast. And who's her "new sweetheart"?



Who is this guy? Is he someone from the Planet's accounting department who just happened to wander up onto the roof during his lunch hour? And yes, Lahla has a "thing" for weak men, but there's a whole planet full of them that she could choose from, so why does she latch on to the first one she meets?

One thing is for sure: She's already got this guy totally whipped. "Get your spacesuit on, darling!" "Yes, precious!" And Lahla and her sweetheart are off to another world (though it's not clear why they don't stay on Earth). We can only speculate what their life together was like ...

That ending is hysterical!

So Lalah has powers anywhere there's sunlight? I'm guessing by the wording that she's near Kryptonian levels as she's not in the dark, which means she'd be stronger than pretty much most males anywhere with few exceptions.

She's almost like Maxima except searching for the weakest man to mate with.