DC; cover price 10¢

Supergirl flew into comics – quite literally – nearly 70 years ago in Action Comics #252 (May 1959). Her first appearance starts with a cover by Curt Swan and Al Plastino that shows the Girl of Steel triumphantly emerging from a rocket while her cousin, Superman, looks on in surprise. Those perspectives carry on through the rest of her origin story in this issue written by Otto Binder and with art by Plastino.

The issue begins with Clark Kent at his desk, when his super-hearing warns him that something is falling from the sky at a very fast rate. When he finds the rocket, Superman is shocked to see a teenage girl emerge wearing a costume similar to his own. Supergirl takes over the narrative at this point to tell him how she and others survived the destruction of Krypton and her journey to Earth.

Binder and Plastino succinctly tell the story of Kara’s life before she arrived on Earth while also laying the foundation for more stories involving Kryton and Kryptonian characters. Ever the prudent hero, Superman cautions her against using her newfound powers in a superhero capacity before she has learned how to control them. It serves as a good introduction for the character and fertile ground for future stories in the vein of Superboy tales in which she must adjust to her abilities and think carefully about how she uses them.

Not only is this the key first appearance of Supergirl, this issue introduces the first major character from Krypton after Superman debuted in 1938. The book opened the door to create more survivors from the doomed planet, including Superman’s great enemies Zod and Doomsday. It also marked the debut of Alura and Zor-El, Supergirl’s parents and Superman’s aunt and uncle.

The creation of Supergirl is an important moment in comics history, because the medium needed more female heroes. She started out mostly appearing in back-up features, but as comics have evolved, Supergirl has been shown to be very smart, brave, strong, and powerful. She has starred in several of her own series, taken on some of the worst DC villains, and helped save worlds. And it all started with the story of a girl following in the giant footsteps of her cousin, Superman.

-Amanda Sheriff