First Attempts

Few people know that Lois was actually the first likely to be Superwoman. In 1943, Action Comics #60, Lois received a transfusion from Superman giving her super powers. She even donned a similar costume to the famed Man of Steel.

The idea surfaced again in Action Comics #156 when Lex Luthor accidentally gave Lois powers. The Lois turned crime fighter actually wore a blond wig to conceal her identity! Then again in 1960, writer Jerry Siegel gave both Lana Lang and Lois Lane super powers so they could fight each other in attempts to gain superman's affection!

The Original Supergirl

The first Supergirl as we know her, Kara Zor-El from Krypton, arrived on earth in May 1959 in Action Comics #252. She was the sole survivor of the doomed Argo City which was destroyed in a Kryptonite meteor shower. Her father, Zor-El sent her to earth where she could be raised by her cousin, Superman.

Kara was not completely ignorant of the ways of earth though her naivety gave her a certain kind of charm. She had watched earth through a giant telescope and this is how her parents knew to out fit her with the blue and red cape as they feared she wouldn't be recognized by her cousin.

At Superman's bidding, Kara, hid her powers and lived secretly in Midvale orphanage where she wore a brown wig. She had roles in various episodes with Superman and became a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

But in February 1962, Action Comics #285, Kara was adopted by Fred and Edna Danvers who were told of her secret identity. She also revealed her existence to the world. Her name was changed to Linda Lee Danvers and eventually shorted to Linda Danvers.

This is when Streaky the Cat came in as well. A super-powered pet cat who didn't always get along with Krypto, Superman's super-powered pet dog.

Linda's professions went on from being a high school student to a college student to a TV reporter to a student counselor to an actress on a TV soap called "Secret Hearts."

In November of 1982, Supergirl history was reset as she received her own comic book series, The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl. For the one year anniversary, she received a new costume as well as the name of the comic being shortened to simply Supergirl. She became a 21 year old student at Lake Shore University in Chicago, Illinois.

Supergirl was canceled in 1984 and the Crisis of Infinite Earths was set to come out the following year.

The 12 book series known as DC's reboot came to address the issue of multiple versions of earth which in turn had been used to create multiple versions of DC's heroes. For example, one universe had Jonathan and Martha Kent both being alive while Clark served the world as Superman.

In book 7, Supergirl heroically sacrifices herself to save Superman and the multiverse but to the shock of many, the conclusion of Crisis involved a total wiping of all the other universes and their memories. So as DC had wanted, Superman was now the sole survivor of Krypton without even a single memory his cousin, Kara's existence.

In a quirky comic loophole, the never had existed Kara made an appearance in a 1988 Christmas with Super-Heroe's #2 with Kara's noteworthy quote:

"We don't do it for the glory. We don't do it for the recognition... We do it because it needs to be done. Because if we don't, no one else will. And we do it even if no one knows what we've done. Even if no one knows we exist. Even if no one remembers we ever existed."

Post-Crisis history

How long can a Supergirl stay dead? Not very. Within 3 years, DC had brought her back. But the Supergirl that appeared in Superman (2nd Series) #16 in 1988 was not a Kryptonian. She was an artificial life form created of protoplasm by none other than Lex Luthor! This Lex belonging to a parallel Earth and a full head of hair!

She was sent to Superman's dimension in order to recruit him to bring an end to the escaped criminals of Planet Krypton, General Zod, Quex-Ul and Zaora. But their attempt failed and Superman returned to his dimension bringing the wounded protoplasmic female with him.

Supergirl, referred to as Matrix, had unique powers such as shape-shifting, telekinesis and invisibility as well as some of the powers that belong to the famous superman crest including flight and super strength.

Matrix's psyche caused many interesting problems for Superman and the Kent family as she at one time took over Clark's life while he was away from Earth. She did so generously in order to preserve his secret identity but actually came to believe herself to be the real Clark Kent. She disappeared for a while and upon returning came to accept herself as Supergirl again.

And as luck would have it, perhaps explained from remnant memories of her creator, Supergirl fell for the brain transplanted Lex Luthor. Lex had engineered his own death in a plane accident but not before moving his brain into a new body and calling himself his deceased father's long lost son.

The relationship between Luthor and Supergirl ended in a 1994 mini-series where Supergirl learned of Lex's real plans for her and his inability to actually love someone like her even though she practically worshipped the ground he trod.

Then in September of 1996, writer Peter David began a new Supergirl series with the merging of the Protoplasmic being Supergirl and a young woman named Linda Danvers.

Supergirl's powers changed here inhibiting her from vanishing and limiting her shape shifting powers to only be able to switch form Linda back to Supergirl.

Peter David brings the union of the two as a brilliant story telling basis allowing Supergirl to have what she always wanted, namely a humanity she couldn't possess as Matrix and also giving Linda a chance to live a new life and make up for certain sins.

Supergirl became one of the world's Earth-born Angels fighting the forces of evil including demons one of which finally managed to break her. Supergirl's fall from grace came about at the hands of Carnivore but she was able to set back in balance, the powers of good and evil with the help of the other two Earth-born Angels.

Stripped of her Angelic powers, she still served as Supergirl, until her powers were restored in the arc where she stopped the demon mother Lilith with Buzz's help. Twilight became the new Earth-born Angel of Fire and using her healing powers, she blessed Linda with Supergirl's power of flight and strength as well as her telekinesis.

And if some were beginning to believe that Kara Zor-el was gone forever, David surprised us all again. In Supergirl 75, Linda Danvers met a young girl who fell to earth in a purple rocket ship. She called herself Kara from Krypton.

Upon finding out about Kara's tragic fate, Linda took the girl's place returning to a pre-crisis universe where she would die in Kara's stead. But life in the pre-crisis universe wasn't as she expected. She met and married Superman and had a daughter, Ariella. Ultimately however, fate had to have its course and Kara had to assume her rightful place in the universe so she could sacrifice herself to ensure the survival of all.

Upon returning to her own dimension, the forever changed Linda Danvers sent Clark a box of memories to cherish and a letter explaining that it was time for her to disappear not wanting to be found again.

David's conclusion of Supergirl tying in Linda Danvers character with a pre-crisis Kara Zor-el created a test for the market allowing DC to experiment with the idea of a real Krypton born Kara. Something they decidedly did not want in the mid 80's. And while some things change, others don't. And one of those is that readers want Supergirl - the Kara from Krypton!

And so the test proved successful. If a Kara from Krypton could exist in another dimensional earth, why couldn't there be a Kara in ours?

Present Supergirl

From the pages of Superman/Batman Kara Zor-El, from Krypton was re-introduced to the DC world. This six book series (8-13) starts out with Kara coming to earth as a 16 year old girl with no knowledge of human beings or the earth. She and Superman hit it off well, him immediately believing her story while the skeptical Batman could not be won over by her tale.

Kara trained under the experienced Wonder Woman and the Amazons to use and control her powers. She begins to live and meet friends on Thymiscira. But the villain of the plot does finally make his move. Darkseid attacks kidnapping Kara and bringing her to Apocalypse where he brainwashed her into believing Superman is her enemy.

With the help of Superman and Batman, Kara is safely returned to earth. A trap is set as they know Darkseid will retaliate for losing his Kryptonian slave girl and it plays out as planned by the good guys, however readers are lead to believe for a short while that Supergirl actually sacrificed herself to save Superman!

Michael Turner's stunning artistry graces this series along with the writing genius Joseph Loeb. Although Turner's girls all have a certain tendancy to look like a certain Aspen Matthews, the series is excellently written and drawn and the joy of having Kara Zor-el from Krypton back in the universe is wonderful to be sure.

Supergirl went on from the pages of Superman / Batman to have her own series which explores a dark side of the Girl of Steel touched on by Darkseid as well as explores a new history for certain Kryptionian patriarchs.