Supergirl Deceased! NOOOOOO!!!

ADVENTURE COMICS Vol.1, No.383, August 1969; Cover Art:Curt Swan, Neal Adams; Writer: Robert Kanigher; Penciler: Win Mortimer; Inker: Murphy Anderson

In a somewhat convoluted first story that owes a bit of inspiration to the classic television series, The Twilight Zone,  Supergirl is thrown by the unexpected explosion of a mysterious UFO into a strange parallel reality in which the Super-Pets ignore her,  but a very alive Abraham Lincoln acknowledges her presence.  Eventually,  she pieces together that she’s in a “negative world” with negative duplicates of everyone on our Earth;  when one of our people dies, the negative becomes a positive.

Kara makes her way home,  and in the next feature,  a botched experiment intended to temporarily imbue a wrestler named Tony Walston with Supergirl’s powers results in the two of them being linked psychically.  When Tony is roughed up by hoods that want him to throw a match,  Kara is nearly knocked out herself,  so she has to save Tony in order to protect them both.

Kudos to Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg for his expert commentary above and to the talented artists and writers of DC Comics who captivated and inspired millions of readers during this magical Golden Age. 

Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg is an educator,  publisher,  author,  comic book and pop culture historian, and former museum curator.  He is the author or co-author of Zombiemania,  The Big BIG LITTLE BOOK Book,  and Howe’s Transcendental Toybox.   He was the editor of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide and also wrote for Cinescape,  The International Journal of Comic Art,  Fandom,  and IGN.com.  He holds a doctorate in Communications Design from the University of Baltimore and teaches courses in everything from comics and superhero mythology to zombies to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  You can find him on Twitter at @DoctoroftheDead.