The Superman Dailies '49-'59: Super Myrtle!
In fact, the newspaper strips beat her to the punch by a solid year!
The comic books frequently explored the idea of a female counterpart to the mighty Man of Steel. A 1940 story by Jerry Siegel and George Roussos in Action Comics #60 is just one of many depicting Lois Lane as receiving unexpected powers and flying into action as Superwoman! (Likewise, there were a few other Super-Women floating around outside of Superman’s inner circle).
The first Supergirl appeared in 1949’s Superboy vol 1 No.5, “Superboy Meets Supergirl,” by writer William Woolfolk and the art team of John Sikela and Ed Dobrotka. Boasting no superpowers of her own, the teenaged Queen Lucy of the fictional nation of Borgonia showed tremendous intelligence, athleticism and courage in helping the Boy of Steel save her beleaguered Latin American nation from would-be usurper, the wicked Duke Norvello. She and the young Superman enjoyed a brief romance, as well, before the Queen’s responsibilities to her nation separated them, seemingly forever.
 |
| Queen Lucy, aka Supergirl |
Superman’s pal Jimmy Olsen wishes the next supergirl – officially “Super-Girl” – into existence in Superman vol 1 no.123 (August 1958, “The Three Magic Wishes,” story by Otto Binder, art by Dick Sprang and Stan Kaye). Finding himself in possession of a magic totem capable of granting its wielder three amazing wishes, the selfless cub reporter decides to repay Superman for all his good deeds by manifesting a super-powered partner who can help with his crimefighting and provide some much needed super-romance. When things inevitably go pear-shaped, Jimmy wishes the short-lived Super-Girl back to the ether.
 |
| Super-Girl pulls a broken-down train |
Between Queen Lucy and Jimmy Olsen’s magically manifested Super-Girl (and well before the debut of Kara Zor-El’s official Supergirl) the newspaper strip had a Supergirl of its very own – and her name was Myrtle Pepper!
In June, 1957, Clark Kent is there when an unconscious woman is brought to the emergency room of a local city hospital. Pressed into service by a hospital administrator, a put-upon Clark finds himself donating a pint of blood to the unnamed patient, with predictable results – when she awakens, she has super-powers!
But worse than a random stranger suddenly developing super-powers, and the hospital administrator becoming suspicious of Clark’s dual identity because of it, the real problem with newly-empowered Super-Myrtle Pepper is … she’s common.
Because of the new supergirl's rough upbringing, her bad manners, and her use of slang, Superman takes it upon himself to not only train Myrtle how to use her powers, but also puts her through a bespoke “finishing school.” By the end of it, the rough-and-tumble Myrtle develops all the refinement of a woman of class – for all the good it does her. As soon as she finds love among Metropolis’ high-class horsey set, her pony-loving paramour is made the target of a criminal mob’s scheme to finish Superman.
If the plot sounds slightly reminiscent of a certain stage musical, there’s a reason. Not only does the story parallel the tale of phonetician Henry Higgins absurd (yet successful) efforts to teach common cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle the finer details of sophisticated society, but the production even becomes part of the story when Superman scores tickets to My Fair Lady near the end!
Myrtle’s finale mirrors that of the Super-Girl who follows her – an unfortunate encounter with Kryptonite puts an end to her caped career, but at least there's a happy ending!
Super-Myrtle
June 17 1957 - October 12 1957
Story: Jack Schiff or Alvin Schwartz (unconfirmed)
Art: Curt Swan and Stan Kaye
Comments
Post a Comment