Supergirl in "All Men Are But Slaves!" (Not as exciting as it sounds.)

[skjam]

Wrapping up the scans of Adventure Comic #417 with 4 1/3 pages from the thirteen page Supergirl story, "All Men Are But Slaves!"



This scene does not appear in the story.



We open with a young woman begging her father to not grab a rifle, as there are no intruders in the house. The man realizes that Dorothy, his daughter, must be in the conspiracy too, and knocks her out. He runs to the library, apparently does see some intruders,and shoots. The bullets have no effect, and he sees the intruders advancing.

At the hospital, Dorothy is visited by her brother Johnny Drew and his friend Linda Danvers. Dorothy and Johnny's father had been moody lately, and paranoid of all women. He was nowhere to be found when a neighbor investigated and found Dorothy on the floor.

Johnny and Linda investigate the library, discovering the recently-fired rifle and where a stray bullet hit. Linda notices that there's quite a few books on magic. Turns out Mr. Drew was big into mysticism until a short while ago--just about the time he turned paranoid. Linda worries about the possibility that she'll have to deal with magic, one of her major weaknesses. Johnny finds one of the mystic books out on the desk, unusual since his father had stopped reading them. There's a note inside.

As soon as Johnny reads the note, he vanishes. Linda switches to her Supergirl outfit and also reads the note. It whisks her away to another dimension, possibly a mystical one.

Supergirl sees a city off in the distance, but is unable to look closer with her telescopic vision. Her other powers still work, though. She almost flies past the city, which was much closer than it looked--apparently the normal rules of perspective don't apply in this world. In the city, Supergirl is given no more than casual glances by the all-female population.





Yeah, I'm going to presume that Johnmy managed to tick somebody off and was being punished for the day. Because tiny standalone cages in the public square with no toilet facilities? Aren't where you'd keep slaves for more than a few hours. Maybe if you were having an auction?

Supergirl engages the guards, only to have her powers abruptly turn off (as was a recurring problem for her back then. She has some artificial powers thanks to a bracelet created by Zor-El, but they aren't nearly as strong.) Despite her limited powers, Supergirl is still too strong for the guards in hand-to-hand, so they go to their backup plan, summoning a giant monster. It's a tough fight, and Kara barely triumphs over the unnatural beast. And now that the guards have caught their breath, it looks like the finish.




True to her word, the queen banishes the three intruders back to the Drew library on Earth, then burns the note with the secret of dimensional travel. Supergirl leaves quickly, without bothering to tell Johnny about the time differential (but his father should be able to fill him in.) She wonders if Earth will end up that way if its male leaders continue to be warlike polluters. Hint, hint.



Your thoughts, comments?

suggested tags
char: Supergirl/Kara Zor-El/Linda Danvers
creator: Joe Orlando
creator: Steve Skeates
publisher: DC Comics
theme: sexism
title: Adventure Comics

Comments

[silverzeo]

Anyone else that Supergirl's red undies were red-panties in one pannel?

[skjam]

The hotpants were admittedly not one of her better costume choices--she's had so many dubious uniforms over the years...

[crinos]

Now, see, its that kind of thinking that will allow the women to conquer us one day.
Do you want to end up in a cage? Surrounded by beautiful women?

Actually, now that I think of it that might be fun! Sign me up!

[icon_uk]

Hot guys in go-go dancer cages? Count me in! :D

[jlroberson]

Seems like DC had a LOT of stories like this in the 70s, especially the early 70s. Fear feminism much?

Seems that just as the love comics taught girls to think about nothing but GETTING THE MAN, the few superhero comics geared toward girls--who, judging from the artists, were possibly under the same editors--tried to balance any potential feelings of empowerment with stories like this. "Hey fish! You can't live without that bike!"

[cmdr_zoom]

It really is fascinating to see the reaction and fear and projection.
"But, if women have rights, surely they'll enslave us!"

[jlroberson]

It's not unlike the shadow of guilt that lies at the heart of racism of whites against blacks in the US: the realization that something bade WAS done, and the knowledge that if it were they(the previous ruling group) that had been so wronged, THEY'D take revenge.

Notice, though in an incredibly twisted way, the awareness of what is actually just that lies at the heart of the fear. Which implies a deliberate attempt, out of perceived self-protection, to subvert what they themselves know is just. Deliberately going against what you know is right is the strict definition of "perverse."

So measures are taken out of this fear to pre-empt it. Whether psychological or legal or whatever. That's what lies at the heart of it, I think. I say this as someone whose direct ancestors actually DID own slaves, and throw Irishmen off Ulster cliffs.

[thandrak]

Wasn't someone in Kandor randomly stealing her powers at this period? I never got the full story.

[skjam]

I think that at this point the power loss was caused by drugs fed to Supergirl by Nasthalthia, niece of Luthor.

[thandrak]

You know what this reminds me of? No, not Wonder Woman, though it does. That one Fantastic Four story about the teens versus the adults.

[magnetic_regina]

I'm just here to say I love this version of Supergirl's outfit. ♥

[skalja]

Soooo much better than what she has now, seriously.

..

[thepinkperil]

I like this outfit too. Just change the poofy hot pants into regular shorts, ditch the pixie boots and it's be near perfect.

[leikomgwtfbbq]

I like it a lot, too. Except the little pixie shoes. I think it'd look really great with, like, red go-go boots. :D

[joasakura]

what made this post for me was your title (Not as exciting as it sounds) :GRINS:

[halloweenjack]

Am I the only one who thinks that Skeates wrote this the same day he read "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?"?

[skjam]

Given the timeline, yes. Also, I think the story would have been a lot creepier if he had.

[halloweenjack]

*makes note to check publication dates in the future*

[blake_reitz]

Clearly the cage is just a temporary holding area for your men while you go shopping.

What?

[cmdr_zoom]

The hitching post didn't provide enough security; they kept untying their leashes and scampering away.

[lencannon]

I love her old outfit.

[jlroberson]

Sad man is sad.

[eightleggedbeast]

I like the bit with the 'very, very little pollution'.