Saturday 11 May 2013

Supergirl - in, "Lena Thorul: Jungle Princess!"

Superboy 100 page Super Spectactular DC-21, Supergirl, Lena Thorul, Jungle PrincessHooray! It's the return of the internet's favourite recurring feature.

It's Supergirl Sunday!

Many a moon has hung gibbous in the sky since last I perused the adventures of the Cupidacious Kandorian and, admittedly, it's not Sunday, it's Saturday.

If I had any class at all, I'd respond to that obstacle by doing Saturn Girl Saturday.

But I won't. One, because I can't be bothered. And, two, because Supergirl looks exactly like Saturn Girl, so who's going to notice the difference anyway?

Superboy 100 page Super Spectacular DC-21But of course Saturn Girl isn't the only character Supergirl looks exactly like. Famously, she also happens to look exactly like Lesla-Lar, Kandorian criminal, and Luna Lynai, onetime girlfriend of Superman.

Most of all, she looks exactly like her friend Lena Thorul who's applied to join the FBI. As part of her "Audition" for the job, Lena's sent to interview her brother Lex Luthor in prison.

There're only two problems with this.

One is she doesn't know he's her brother.

The other is that Lena Thorul's psychic.

Needless to say, this means that, when she and he meet, it doesn't take her long to discover the truth.

Superboy 100 page Super Spectactular DC-21, Supergirl, Lena Thorul, Jungle Princess
Blimey! Break it to her gently, why don't you?
And, needless to say, Lena reacts as any of us would - by losing her memory and going to live in Africa, as an animal-controlling jungle queen.

Discovered by an entrepreneur, she comes back to America to perform in his big show but her memory has returned and, traumatised by her knowledge of who she is, she can't go on with the show, meaning her exact lookalike Supergirl has to stand in for her.

Fortunately it's all put right when Lex Luthor escapes from jail by the least likely means possible and uses a special flower to rob Lena of all memory of his true identity, so everyone's happy again.

I've always loved this tale because it's so nice. Lena Thorul's nice. Supergirl's nice. Even Lex Luthor's nice, showing more concern for his sister than for himself. He even escapes from prison nicely. It's winningly drawn by Gentlemen Jim Mooney and it gets through an insane amount of plot in just twelve pages.

Superboy 100 page Super Spectactular DC-21, Supergirl, Lena Thorul, Jungle Princess, Supergirl gets her head chewed by a lion
There's a ludicrous charm to this tale that you simply couldn't imagine being replicated in the modern world. There's also something oddly engaging about the sight of Supergirl, in jungle queen gear, having her head chewed by a lion for the entertainment of others.

So there you have it. A classic feature returned and a classic tale - of sorts - covered. No wonder I couldn't wait for Sunday in order to post it.

1 comment:

Kid said...

When I were but a lad, me and one of my pals decided that, when we were older, we'd invent a potion to turn a couple of Kara lookalikes into real, live Supergirls. We were obviously a couple of thickos, as otherwise we'd have decided to invent a potion to turn us into Supermen.