Adventure Comics #410

Adventure Comics #410 (On Sale: July 29, 1971), has a Supergirl cover by Bob Oksner on this the first official post-Sekowsky issue.

We begin with Supergirl in "The Nature of the Beast" by John Albano, Bob Oksner, and Vince Colletta. Linda Danvers is visiting Nasthalthia (Nasty) at her apartment. Nasty is hopeful that Linda will agree to move in with her so that she can keep her under surveillance and prove she is Supergirl. While touring the apartment Linda spots a horrifying scene in the apartment next door, quickly changes into Supergirl, and bursts in next door where a man is being attacked by strange manbird creatures.

She subdues the creatures and pursues them as they fly out the window but she loses her superpowers. Her powers have been coming in and out since swallowing a drug in issue 404. Supergirl falls from the apartment to the street but manages to catch herself. She returns back to the man's apartment dressed as Linda and finds Nasty coddling the handsome young man, Mike Merrick, that had been attacked. Mike thinks that it was Nasty who saved him from the bird creatures. He invites both girls out to dinner and they dine at the Club 500 where Mike devotes most of his attention to Linda instead of Nasty. Mike and Linda spend most of their time on the dance floor and find that Nasty has left apparently out of jealousy and boredom. Mike and Linda leave the club where they are both abducted once again by the bird creatures.

The bird creatures fly them to their island where they are brought before the leader who accuses Mike of stealing jewels. The chief bird explains that they used to be villagers with normal human appearances until a professor came accompanied by Mike and performed bizarre experiments on them. The injections they received from the Professor and Mike altered their appearance into bird-like creatures. The Professor and Mike also stole a jewel from a sacred idol as they prepared to leave the island. The Professor was later found dead on the beach, supposedly murdered by Mike. 

Mike denies the accusations so the bird creatures threaten to drop Linda into a volcano to make Mike confess. At that point, Mike reveals that the jewel is back at his apartment. He and Linda are imprisoned in a cage until the jewel is recovered, but Mike tries to escape by setting a fire. As they escape, Mike is attacked by the bird creatures once more. Linda changes into Supergirl and flies Mike to safety off the island. As she is flying, Supergirls powers fade away yet again. 

She is rescued by Mike who swims her back to the beach. He lays Supergirls unconscious body down and confesses that he knows that Supergirl and Linda are one and the same. He also reveals that he lied about the location of the jewel and admits that Supergirl will eventually have to hunt him down as he walks away from Supergirls unconscious body on the beach.

The reprint backup is the Legion of Super-Heroes in "The Revolt of the Girl Legionnaires" by Jerry Siegel and John Forte and reprinted from Adventure Comics #326 (1964). Saturn Girl summons all the female Legionnaires to the Super-Hero Clubhouse to begin laying plans to destroy the male members. Ultra Boy, Mon-El, Sun Boy, Lightning Lad, Colossal Boy, and Matter-Eater Lad, returning from a mission are diverted elsewhere by Saturn Girl. The remaining male Legionnaires are selected as victims by the various girls, who plan to pair off romantically with each and kill them at the Interplanetary Fair.

The next day at the fair, Light Lass causes Element Lad to be stranded on a mountain peak, while Triplicate Girl, assisted by Shrinking Violet, splits into three girls who use ring devices to reduce Invisible Kid, Cosmic Boy, and Brainiac 5 to a tiny size, and entombs them inside a matchbox. Saturn Girl lures Superboy into fighting a robot lead creature, which bursts open to reveal deadly Kryptonite. Supergirl teases Chameleon Boy into becoming phantom-like, then uses a cancellite spray to keep him from changing back, and Phantom Girl tricks Star Boy into making himself super-heavy so that he sinks into the ground.

Back at the Clubhouse, the girls celebrate their success with a wild party. Queen Azura of the planet Femnaz, a world controlled by man-hating women, suddenly appears on their space monitor and releases them from the super-hypnotic command she'd put them under. She explains that the other male Legionnaires, while on their mission, had saved her people from disaster, and thus changed her attitude toward all males.

Normal once again, the girls release the boys from their traps, and all is explained and forgiven.

We end with Supergirl in "The Ruler Without a Planet" by John Albano, Bob Oksner, and Vince Colletta. Supergirl is on patrol in search of Mike Merrick from the first story. She encounters a huge ape creature causing havoc on the city block below. She notices that the beast is clutching a small boy in its hand. Supergirl quickly subdues the creature and rescues the boy. As she is setting the boy down, Supergirl notices flames coming from a nearby storage room. She tries to blow the flames out using her super-breath but finds that her superpowers have disappeared again. 

Suddenly a young girl appears out of nowhere and seemingly blows out the flames with a super breath of her own. Supergirl is amazed at the little girl's power. The girl explains that she does not have any parents, only a stepfather and that she had accidentally traveled to earth on a spaceship. The craft exploded once she landed and now she is trapped on earth. She demonstrates her powers of flight and offers to help Supergirl fight crime on earth. She also reveals that she knows Supergirls secret identity. The girl's name is Judy and Supergirl allows her to assist in crime-fighting adventures. 

One night Judy receives a telepathic message from her stepfather telling her that she was sent to earth to destroy all superheroes starting with Supergirl. The stepfather encourages Judy to shoot Supergirl with a green death ray gun but she refuses. Enraged, the stepfather attempts to shoot the girl with a death ray of his own but Supergirl blocks it from hitting Judy. In the meantime, the United States Air Force has detected the stepfather's ship hovering in the sky. They shoot it down with their weapons as Supergirl and Judy view the night sky. Judy points to the trailing flames of the craft and remarks that it is a falling star. Supergirl responds by saying it was a falling star that climbed too high and burned itself out.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Adventure Comics #409

Adventure Comics #409 (On Sale: June 29, 1971), has a Supergirl cover by Dick Giordano. This is the only cover of Mike Sekowsky's editorial reign that was not penciled by him. As we will see, he really did not edit this issue despite what the indicia says.

We begin with Supergirl in "Invasion of the Mer-Men Part II" written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Dick Giordano. Continuing from the last issue, Supergirl looks underwater for her co-worker Johnny and her captors, the whole time blaming herself for her co-worker's demise. Finally, she finds the secret base of the Mer-Men and discovers they are loading giant "tanker" space-globes with water to be shipped to their home planet.

In the meantime, a coalition of Earth armies launches attack after attack to destroy the globes, but they have force-fields that resist any attempt Earth makes to destroy them. Supergirl locates Johnny as a patrol of Mer-Men attacks her and she lets herself be captured. Once inside the base, she rescues Johnny, gets him out of the water, and then comes back to smash the globes herself, letting them rain their waters back on Earth.

The Mer-Men leader gives up, telling Supergirl that they couldn't load enough water up in time to save his world, anyway. He and the other Mer-Men depart resigned to their eventual extinction. Realizing this, Supergirl cries.

Next is a story already showing the new direction for Supergirl. "Fight with Fire Drake" is by E. Nelson Bridwell, Artie Saaf, and Dick Giordano. Mr. Stanton, the owner of KSF-TV, is throwing a party on his yacht. Freddy Nero, a party-crasher, tries romancing Linda Danvers, much to Geoff's disgust and jealousy. Minutes later, a scuba-costumed, masked villain called Fire Drake, who "breathes fire" with an acetylene torch nosepiece, loots the yacht and its passengers with his gang. Linda changes clothes and attacks the thieves. Supergirl tries to follow them when they run away, but her powers fail and she is repelled by Fire Drake's flame. 

That night Supergirl's mother, Allura, pays her daughter a visit and both women head to Kandor, where Linda's father Zor-El has some new power-substitution gimmicks for her: a bracelet which can enhance her normal strength when she is depowered, replacing the exo-skeleta cyborg, and her Legion of Super-Heroes flight-ring, to replace her jet-boots.

With her new mechanical powers, Supergirl encounters Fire Drake a second time, captures him, and unmasks him as Freddy Nero.

Our reprint is the Legion of Super-Heroes in  "The Condemned Legionnaires" by Edmond Hamilton, Curt Swan, George Klein, and Sheldon Moldoff and reprinted from Adventure Comics #313 (1963). When most of the female members of the Legion of Super-Heroes (and Night Girl of the Legion of Substitute Heroes) come down with the Crimson Virus, they have to be sent to a quarantine planet. The rest of the female members are hunted down by a mysterious masked villain named Satan Girl, who seems to be infecting the female Legionnaires with the virus.

With the arrival of Supergirl, who is immune to the virus, the male Legion members try to learn the origins of Satan Girl. When she proves immune to Kryptonite, Lead, and an anti-android weapon, the heroes are puzzled to figure out her true identity. Unable to defeat her due to her superior powers, Supergirl has the Legion go and collect the Legion of Super-Pets, as Satan Girl's powers would not affect them. The Super-Pets manage to easily defeat Satan Girl, who is unmasked, revealing that she is really -- Supergirl!? The weakened Satan Girl explains that she is the product of Red Kryptonite, which Supergirl was exposed to upon entering the 30th Century. Knowing that she had only 48 hours of life, she adopted the guise of Satan Girl and created a device that would siphon the Red Kryptonite radiation and infect females with it, in hopes that once she had rid herself of the Red Kryptonite energies she could live past the 48 hour period which Red Kryptonite effects.

With her plan a failure, and the 48 hours running their course, Satan Girl merges with Supergirl. Afterward, the Legion learns that Satan Girl managed to handle Green Kryptonite because she wore a lead suit. After this revelation, although they are victorious and their female members restored to normal, the Legion takes a moment to feel pity for Satan Girl, for all she wanted to do was live.  

Though this book says it is edited by Mike Sekowsky, the internal DC Job Numbers show that only the first story has the  "M-" prefix that designated Mike Sekowsky. The rest of the book, including the cover has a "J-" signifying Joe Orlando who supposedly takes over next issue.

Adventure Comics #408

Adventure Comics #408 (On Sale: May 27, 1971), has a Supergirl cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano.

We begin with Supergirl in  "The Face at the Window" written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Henry Scarpelli. After the case of the "haunted" theater and the arrest of Starfire, everyone in San Francisco knows that Supergirl is now operating in the city. The KSF-TV news crew is agog at the fact that the Girl of Steel has moved to San Francisco and has rescued two of her staff.

Geoff informs them that they have been ordered to do a documentary on some famous old homes of San Francisco. Linda Danvers rushes off home to change into more comfortable street clothes. When she leaves, Nasty hires two persons to snatch Linda's wig off her head and take a picture, but Linda easily foils the unmasking scheme.

After filming several famous houses, the news crew arrive at the old Stanley mansion, a dilapidated building with a spooky reputation, owned by a man -old man Stanley- who inherited it when his nephew and niece died and hasn't left the house in forty years. When they attempt to make a documentary, they are chased away at shotgunpoint by old man Stanley himself.

But Linda sees a little girl standing at an upstairs window, and takes a picture surreptitiously. Then she is told that Stanley has lived alone in the house ever since the deaths of his niece and nephew circa 1918. And when she develops the photos, she sees nothing. Linda decides to investigate.

Supergirl sneaks into the mansion and encounters the little girl, who asks Supergirl's help to find her parents. She says they are both there in the house but have been hidden from her.

At that same moment, Nasty -who had gone to the mansion to spy on Supergirl- gets caught by Mr. Stanley. While the man is busy throwing Nasty out, Supergirl and the child take the opportunity to explore the cellar. Supergirl's x-ray vision finds a lead container hidden behind a wall. She quickly melts away the brickwall and the metal. Before she can look inside, Stanley shows up and starts firing. The Maid of Might overpowers him easily, but then she finds the little child has disappeared.

Supergirl looks for her uselessly. Then she looks into the melted lead-lined chamber and finds two corpses and the doll the little girl was carrying. Mr. Stanley murdered them after their little child died of the influenza and put out the story they had gone to Europe to forget. So he inherited all their money and property, but he was so frightened of being found he never left the house or spent any money.

As old man Stanley is taken away by police, Supergirl sees the little girl in a portrait -- of Cynthia Stanley, the couple's daughter.

Our backup is Supergirl in "Invasion of the Mer-Men" written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Dick Giordano. While spending the day at the beach, Linda and Johnny Drew are confronted by an invading force of alien Mer-Men. Linda runs away in order to get changed and return as Supergirl, but Johnny and their attackers are already gone. Investigating the place, Supergirl finds several tracks leading right into the sea.

Supergirl dives into the waters but her powers -which have been malfunctioning for a while- fail, and she has to go back to the beach. Later, her boss Geoff and a police boat arrive at the spot where Johnny disappeared and look for his corpse, but their search turns up nothing. Supergirl is determined to find Johnny, and she goes to Kandor and has the scientists implant filters in her nostrils that will enable her to breathe underwater or in space.

Meanwhile the Mer-Men appear before an assemblage of Earth's scientists and military men to confirm they are stealing Earth's water to save their own planet. If they succeed, Earth will be a lifeless, dry desert within a year. This story continues next issue.

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Adventure Comics #407

Adventure Comics #407 (On Sale: April 29, 1971), has a cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano.

This issue features "Suspicion Confirmed" written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Henry Scarpelli. Continuing from the last issue, Linda Danvers is lying in the waiting room of the emergency ward of a hospital after walking in and out of a burning building. She is lucky enough to slip away before someone can examine her and discover she is Supergirl.

The next morning she walks into work to find a new mystery: a man called Mr. Renard has come to KSF-TV and tells the news crew that he is reopening a theater supposedly haunted by the ghosts of an old film star and the leading lady he murdered. He thinks some person of flesh and blood is behind those haunts and hopes the modern equipment of the news crew can find the perpetrator in exchange for the scoop of the history.

The crew spends two nights there trying to check things out, resulting in Johnny Drew and Nasthalthia Luthor getting kidnapped by a ghoulish figure. Kara feels mortified because she didn't dare save Johnny out of fear to reveal her secret identity. She decides to act when the strange being kidnaps Nasty, but her powers are still acting out and she is unable to rescue them.

And because she was filmed wearing a new costume, the police think "the crazy red and blue costume is in league with the creature that is behind all this". So, in addition to blaming herself for her early inaction and her failure, Kara is now angry.

Her boss Geoff also blames himself and thinks it is his duty to rescue his employees. He intends to investigate the place alone and armed with a loaded rifle and tells Linda that if she warns the police, she will be fired. Linda warns the police anyway and they stop Geoff.

Even so, Linda feels conflicted. She has to rescue Johnny and Nasty. But what if she slips up and Nasty manages to prove she is Supergirl? Still, she resolves she has to rescue them, no matter what. She let Johnny go to protect her secret identity, and blame is eating away at her. Her secret isn't worth one innocent life.

That night Supergirl suits up and investigates the old theater alone. She discovers the "haunting" has been arranged by Starfire, who survived their latest confrontation. She heard Supergirl was operating on the West Coast and set up a trap.

Starfire captures Supergirl and after confirming the Girl of Steel is temporarily depowered, tries to dissolve her in an acid bath. Nonetheless, Supergirl is vulnerable, but her Kryptonian costume is still indestructible. Supergirl shields herself with her acid-proof costume and lets Starfire believe she has been killed.

Then she emerges, rescues her friends, and captures Starfire and her ghoulish minion. Supergirl turns them in, and then it is revealed Mr. Renard posed as the ghoulish kidnapper. As Renard claims he was blackmailed into it and Starfire complains about gutless and incompetent minions, Supergirl leaves.

Maybe I was the only one, but I loved what Sekowsky was doing with this strip.

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Adventure Comics #406

Adventure Comics #406 (On Sale: March 30, 1971), has a nice Supergirl cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano. Interesting that we had two covers in a row, Action #400 and this, that have characters split in two.

This issue features Supergirl in "Suspicion" written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Jack Abel. The graduation ceremony of Linda Danvers at Stanhope College is interrupted by a demonstration by a group of radicals. During the proceedings, Nasty witnesses Supergirl enter Linda's dorm room. This arouses her suspicions that Linda is Supergirl.

After graduation, Linda has a hard time landing a job. She asks Clark Kent for help. He directs her to a TV station in San Francisco. Nasty who has followed Linda also takes a job at the station. Nasty is looking to prove her suspicions.

When Linda, Nasty, and reporter Johnny Drew are witnesses at a building fire, Linda slips away to rescue people trapped inside as Supergirl. Linda's disappearance is an opportunity for Nasty to get proof. Supergirl sees Nasty and switches back to Linda. The fire crews believe Linda was inside the building and take her to the hospital for treatment. Continued next issue.

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Adventure Comics #405

Adventure Comics #405 (On Sale: February 25, 1971), has a Supergirl cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano.

This issue features Supergirl in "Starfire's Revenge" written and drawn by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Dick Giordano. Supergirl is questioning her own self-worth now her powers are coming and going and she has failed to capture the crimelord known as Starfire. Forcing herself to stop her inner brooding, Kara Zor-El uses her super-senses to scan the city and find Starfire. Sadly, her powers vanish right when she has spotted her enemy.

Starfire and Dr. Kangle take a flight to Paris where Starfire plans to pull off her next heist. Starfire also plots to eliminate Supergirl's powers forever with a stronger dose of Kangle's formula. To get someone to administer it to her, Starfire contacts Derek Ames's brother Rodney. She tells him that Supergirl murdered his brother while maddened by Kangle's serum. Rodney desires vengeance for his brother, and Starfire hands him a gun loaded with capsules of the formula and tells him she will lure Supergirl to Paris. Once de-powered, Supergirl can be killed in any way Rodney chooses.

The next days Starfire makes herself visible in Parisian high society. Kara, seeing photos of her foe and a story detailing Derek's death, reasons that she had Derek murdered. Despite his actions, she can not help but feel sorry for his horrible death. She also thinks if she can prove Starfire murdered him, she can end her criminal career.

Supergirl flies to Paris to capture Starfire, who is executing the theft of the entire fall fashion line of Paul De Paris, a designer. Supergirl fails to capture Starfire, and Rodney fails to de-power or kill Supergirl. But she convinces Rodney to listen to her side of the story, and that he may be in danger for having failed Starfire like his brother did.

When Rodney brings Starfire an apparently unconscious and depowered Supergirl, she has them both thrown in a barred pit and lets in a gorilla to kill them. Supergirl renders the ape unconscious, frees them both, and battles Starfire and her gang. Starfire leaps to freedom from a high window in her castle hideout, landing in the moat. She emerges onshore after Supergirl and Rodney lead Kangle and her gang away.

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Adventure Comics #404

Adventure Comics #404 (On Sale: January 28, 1971), has a Supergirl cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano.

This issue features "Super-Girl?" written and drawn by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Jack Abel. Continuing from Adventure #402, Supergirl awakens after she was nearly killed by Derek and Starfire's men. Her powers have vanished, but they suddenly return. Supergirl visits Kandor where she is examined by Kryptonian scientists. They conclude that the drug given to Supergirl has caused her powers to work only intermittently. To make up for her inconvenient power loss, they equip her with an exo-skeleton to boost her strength and boot jets that allow flight.

Meanwhile, Starfire believes that Supergirl is dead. She rewards Derek for his job by killing him. She then organizes a group of female crooks who commit a string of robberies during a Mardi Gras celebration. Supergirl finds the gang, but she is knocked out during a moment where her powers are not operational.

The gang brings Supergirl to their boss. Starfire then fights Supergirl using judo and beats her. Then Supergirl's powers return. She defeats the gang, but Starfire escapes. Continued next issue.

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Adventure Comics #403

Adventure Comics #403 (On Sale: January 7, 1971), has a Legion of Super-Heroes cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

We begin with "The Stolen Super-Powers" by Jerry Siegel and John Forte and reprinted from Adventure Comics #304 (1963). Saturn Girl is the first to arrive at the clubhouse for the election meeting and sees the arrival of a crystal containing a mysterious message, which she reads and destroys. Later, she uses her mental powers to force each and every Legionnaire to vote for her and then orders them to wear special medallions.

Saturn Girl then "tests" each Legionnaire, and suspends those who fail, which they all do in the face of their new leader’s ridiculously harsh standards. Unknown to them, the special medallions enable her to duplicate their powers, and when the evil Zaryan the Conqueror attempts to attack Earth, she is the only one left to stop him. However, Lightning Lad ignores his suspension and follows her. He destroys Zaryan’s ship but is struck by the villain’s freeze-ray at the same instant.

Saturn Girl brings the dying hero back to Earth, where he explains that Mon-El, watching from the Phantom Zone, had read the note she had received – one sent by aliens, whose computers had predicted that a Legionnaire would die in combat with Zaryan. She had then schemed to become the only one to face him, and thus sacrifice her life for her teammates. She would have succeeded, had not Mon-El telepathically revealed her plan to Lightning Lad.

Unable to join Mon-El in the Zone because of sunspot activity, Lightning Lad dies.

Next, we have "The Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire" by Jerry Siegel and John Forte and reprinted from Adventure Comics #305 (1963). After rejecting two candidates for membership, the Legionnaires meet a worthwhile hero, Marvel Lad, or "Legionnaire Lemon," who demonstrates all the powers of Superboy and Mon-El, but not their weaknesses to Kryptonite and lead. By the end of the day, he passes their initiation by retrieving the rare mineral fluvium, defeating a Sun-Eater, vanquishing the monsters of the planet Brogg, and creating an anti-gravity metal. After being told that they will induct him the next day, he vanishes.

The following day, he appears – and reveals himself as Mon-El. He explains that Brainiac 5 had secretly developed an antidote to his fatal lead poisoning, but thought it best to keep it a secret in case it failed. Unable to resist the joke, though, the two of them concocted a fictitious identity for him to see whether or not he could join incognito.

After a final trip to the Phantom Zone to bid farewell to its criminal inhabitants, Mon-El joins the Legion permanently.

That is followed by "The Return of Lightning Lad" by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte and reprinted from Adventure Comics #308 (1963). While visiting the tomb of Lightning Lad, the Legionnaires watch as their deceased comrade rises from his death-like coma. However, they are concerned that, during this coma, the electrical charge that originally gave him his abilities may have drained away and that, powerless, he will have to resign from the team. The Legionnaires test him during their next mission, but Sun Boy secretly uses his power to cover for his friend.

Before a second test can be done, the team is ordered by the Chief of the Science Police to find the Thieves’ Planet, a refuge for the universe’s criminals. After capturing a pirate ship, in which Chameleon Boy finds and adopts a pet Protean, the team arrives on Thieves’ World. They are captured by its evil master, a being of pure electrical energy. With the help of "Proty", they escape, and with the help of Lightning Lad, who has his powers, after all, they defeat this evil master.

No one is more surprised to see Lightning Lad in action than Sun Boy, who explains that he had suspected from the start that the resurrected Legionnaire was not Garth Ranzz at all, but his twin sister. Exposed, "Lightning Lad" confesses, telling the team that she, too, was present years ago when her brother originally received his powers on Korbal. Later a vote is taken, and Ayla Ranzz rechristened Lightning Lass, joins the Legion.

We end with "The Super-Sacrifice of the Legionnaires" by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte and reprinted from Adventure Comics #312 (1963). The Legionnaires anxiously await the arrival of Mon-El, who has traveled to his home planet to find some way to revive their fallen comrade, Lightning Lad. When he returns, he claims to have failed, but Saturn Girl reads his mind and discovers that he is lying, although she cannot think why.

Refusing to accept defeat, the heroes dedicate themselves to finding a way to return Lightning Lad to life. Unfortunately, although they comb the galaxy for leads, they can unearth no working method. Finally, Saturn Girl confronts Mon-El with her knowledge that he does know a way to bring back their friend. He explains that a device can be built that will channel a lightning bolt through a special steel rod into Lightning Lad’s body and resurrect him, but not without killing whoever holds the rod.

The heroes decide to let fate choose which of them will sacrifice his life. Six Legionnaires bring their comrade’s coffin to Lightning World, and, holding identical rods, wait patiently to see who will be struck. However, Saturn Girl has secretly constructed her rod of duralim, a highly conductive metal. Finally, a bolt strikes her rod, and revives Lightning Lad, just as another Saturn Girl emerges from a nearby cave.

She explains that it wasn’t she who died, but Proty, Chameleon Boy’s pet, who had discovered her plan of sacrifice, lured her into a nearby cavern and then taken her place.

Edited by E. Nelson Bridwell.

Adventure Comics #402

Adventure Comics #402 (On Sale: December 29, 1970), has a Supergirl cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano. 

We begin with Supergirl in "Love Conquers All -- Even Supergirl" written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Jack Abel. Starfire, a crimelord, has successfully amassed a fortune with the help of her con man, Derek Ames, who romanced rich women and fleeced them of their money and jewels. Starfire is now ready to launch a world-conquering scheme, but she needs to destroy all superheroes first. Another of her subordinates, Dr. Kangle, has concocted a power-nullifier pill, and Starfire wants to test it on Supergirl.

Derek meets Supergirl on the Stanhope campus. He romances her but Supergirl feels she can not get romantically involved with him. During a last date though, Derek covertly feeds her the power-negating capsule.

When Starfire's gang attacks with machine guns, Supergirl feels her powers ebbing, and is knocked unconscious by a fall. Derek and the thugs leave her for dead. To be continued. There was speculation at the time that since Superman's powers were being siphoned off by the sand creature in Superman, that DC decided to cripple Supergirl's powers so that she would not be stronger than their main man in blue.

The back-up is Tracey Thompson in "Rat-Race" written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Tony DeZuniga. Tracey Thompson and her friend Betsy are harassed by a group of bikers. An ex-marine called Bob Judd turns up and helps them out. In gratitude, Tracey decides to drive him back home. The biker gang chase after them, but the trio successfully escapes from them. This is the last Tracey Thompson story.

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Adventure Comics #401

Adventure Comics #401 (On Sale: November 25, 1970), has a Supergirl cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano.

We begin with "The Frightened Supergirl" written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Jack Abel. As Supergirl gives a public talk in Stanhope College, Nasty Luthor douses her drink with a "fear serum" concocted by her uncle Lex Luthor that causes Supergirl to rampage through Stanhope, terrified of anything.

Nasty manages to talk a terrified Supergirl into going to her house where she and Lex plan on keeping torturing her. Though Nasty's idea to scare Supergirl further with a toy car backfires when Supergirl brings the house down in her effort to escape.

Then Linda wakes up and discovers to her relief it has only been a dream. Thank god it was not an imaginary story...oh shit, nevermind. 

The back-up features Tracey Thompson in "The Strange House" written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky, with inks by Frank Giacoia. Tracey Thompson decides to investigate an abandoned haunted mansion to prove to her friend Betsy there are no such things as ghosts. As they explore the place, they run into two very real ghosts and several crooks. Tracey and Betsy manage to escape and call the police to get the crooks arrested, but Tracey still wonders who was that couple in the mansion's cellar. She realizes she doesn't need to know.

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Adventure Comics #400 (On Sale: October 29, 1970), has a Supergirl cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano.

Supergirl stars in "Return of the Black Flame" written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Jack Abel. Supergirl is contacted via news station by a mysterious person who asks her to go to a specific address because she is the only person who can help her out. Supergirl heads to the place, not knowing it is a trap of her old enemy, Black Flame.

Black Flame broke out of jail in Kandor and left the Bottle City, managing to enlarge herself afterwards. She then acquired a spaceship, went to a warp portal in the Phantom Zone, and took on three super-criminals from the Phantom Zone: L. Finn (a leprechaun), the Toymaster and the Inventor. She then tricked Supergirl into coming to the house which they use as their headquarters.

Kara realizes too late it is a trap, and is sprinkled with Green Kryptonite. Rather than waiting until the Kryptonite dust takes effect, Black Flame orders her subordinates to take Supergirl to a room where she can torture her before killing her.

Supergirl comes to and sees she has been made to be a "pin" in a bowling alley with Green Kryptonite bowling balls. The Phantom Zone criminals throw ball after ball at Supergirl. However, although she gets hurt, the constant battering shakes the Kryptonite dust off the ropes binding her. Kara manages to free herself and attack, but one of the allies of Black Flame is some kind of sorcerer and freezes her.

Then she is placed in a deathtrap with Gold Kryptonite slowly stealing her powers, and a Green Kryptonite spear is set to be launched through her body once she loses them entirely. But Supergirl manages to reach a remote control for Toymaster's miniature robots and uses them to cut her free. She recovers her powers once she is away from the Gold K, and uses the toys to capture the three Phantom Zoners while she herself takes care of Black Flame. Later, Black Flame is taken back to Kandor and the three other villains are returned to the Phantom Zone.

I think Sekowsky was just new to the Super-mythos, as he gets a few things wrong in this story.  First, Supergirl is exposed to Gold Kryptonite, but somehow instead of immediately robbing her of her powers permanently she retains them claiming that prolonged exposure is needed. This contradicts every other story featuring Gold Kryptonite. Secondly, Black Flame recruits three inhabitants from the Phantom Zone to assist her, but none appear to affected by either Green or Gold Kryptonite. It should therefore be assumed that either not all Phantom Zone inhabitants are Kryptonian, or Sekowsky just messed up. Additionally, Supergirl sends the villains into space at the conclusion of the story. The caption indicates that this is toward the Phantom Zone. No mention of the Phantom Zone projector is made during their release or return which either casts more doubt on whether they are really from the Phantom Zone or Sekowsky once again messed up.

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Adventure Comics #399

Adventure Comics #399 (On Sale: September 29, 1970) has a Supergirl cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano.

We begin with Supergirl in "Johnny Dee -- Hero-Bum" written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Frank Giacoia. 

Johnny Dee, star football player for Stanhope, is threatened by gamblers. If Johnny doesn't throw a game, they will hurt his girlfriend Roxie Thompson. Johnny reluctantly complies to protect Roxie.

When Johnny sits out the next game, Supergirl questions Johnny, but he refuses to admit why he isn't playing. Finally Supergirl and Roxie convince him to tell. However, Supergirl is unable to change his mind about playing.

At the next game, the crooks station sniper's around the stadium to target Roxie if Johnny plays. Supergirl rounds up the snipers, then saves Roxie. Johnny plays and wins the game for his team, while Supergirl apprehends the crooks. However, she is given a ticket for destroying property and blocking traffic to do it.

The back-up story is a unique one. Black Canary stars in  "Television Told the Tale" by Robert Kanigher, Carmine Infantino and Bernard Sachs. This story was written and drawn in the 1940s, but was never published until this issue. It may have been intended originally for Flash Comics #106. This story takes place before Larry Lance knew Black Canary's identity, before he married her and before he was subsequently murdered..  

Larry Lance is hired to guard Mrs. Landall and her diamonds while she displays her collection for a television program. Dinah Drake is watching the program and notices that the cameramen are not focusing on the jewels. She races to the scene as Black Canary.

She is too late to stop the cameramen from stealing the diamonds and arrives just in time to leap onto their getaway boat. Television cameras broadcasting a motor boat race catch all the action and keep the thieves from shooting her, allowing Black Canary to apprehend the crooks. Reprinted in Black Canary Archives Vol. 1 HC.

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Adventure Comics #398

Adventure Comics #398 (On Sale: August 27, 1970) has a Supergirl cover by Dick Giordano. The news here is the new Supergirl logo which dominates the cover  Also, if you don't count the Johnny Double Showcase cover (and you should not), this is Dick Giordano's first  super-hero artwork for DC.  I find it odd that Mike Sekowsky is not yet branding this book with his own covers, but that will come.

We begin with a reprint for some reason. From Action Comics #306 we have "The Maid of Doom!" by Leo Dorfman and Jim Mooney. To prepare Earth for conquest, the Plasmos of the planet Mutor, who have the power to transform their bodies, send their secret agent Sklor to eliminate Supergirl and Superman. First, imitating Supergirl, Sklor tricks Superman, Krypto, Streaky, Comet, and the Kandorians into going to the 40th Century. Then he imitates Superman, Krypto, Streaky, Comet, and Mr. Mxyzptlk in succession, pretends to die and glow blue when Supergirl touches him, and convinces her she has gained the "touch of death" for super-beings. However, Supergirl deduces the truth when she hears Comet speaking to her instead of using telepathy. She forces the Mutorians to sign a peace treaty and abandon war forever.

The back-up is the new material, "Catcher in the Sky" written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Jack Abel. Supergirl, investigating the disappearance of an aircraft carrier, follows two vanishing planes. All of them turn up on the examination table of a gigantic alien child, who has stolen his father's dimensional grappler to bring in objects and tiny people from another dimension. Supergirl gets the attention of the child's father, and, just before they are sent back to their normal dimension, the humans see the child's father giving his son a licking.

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Adventure Comics #397

Adventure Comics #397  (On Sale: July 30, 1970) has a cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano featuring Supergirl.

I gotta tell ya, I admired Mike Sekowsky a lot. He was an idea man that for a while, during these few years of the Silver Age, at least got a chance to put forth his ideas and let the public decide. With this issue Sekowsky is given the reigns of Supergirl, to do with what he will. He definitely had a few ideas regarding this character.

Right off this cover says he is trying to appeal to female readers, with its paper doll convention of possible new costumes. This cover is not aimed at males. I have to tell you though that I was fascinated by all this. Not the new costume, but Sekowsky transforming Supergirl.  I had seen his Wonder Woman, his Jason's Quest and his Manhunter 2070, so I knew I was in for action and adventure (sounds like good names for two comic books!).

I thought of Mike Sekowsky books like a good ride. I get in, I hang on tight and I see where he takes me. I may not be thrilled in the end, but I will have a good time along the way as he takes me someplace no one else would have. So for me, Mike Sekowsky being handed the reigns of Supergirl was a treat.

We begin the Mike Sekowsky era of Supergirl with "Now... Comes Zond." This 14-pager was written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Jack Abel and from the very first page you can tell that this is not Mort Weisinger's Supergirl.  When a girl is found in a zombie-like state on the Stanhope campus, Supergirl goes into a trance and probes her memories. She learns that she was terrified into catatonia by a being named Zond whom she met at a witches' coven.

Supergirl tracks down the coven and confronts Zond, but his magic powers defeat her and shred her costume somewhat. Supergirl consults with Diana Prince, the former Wonder Woman, and has her ask her old foe Morgana the Witch for help. Since Zond is a common enemy, and her mother's former stable-boy, Morgana agrees.

Supergirl gets a new uniform from Wonder Woman's boutique before she goes with the other women to the next coven meeting. Morganna takes care of Zond's magic, and Supergirl kicks him around the block. Morganna leaves with Zond, but not before releasing his victim from her fear-trance.

Our back-up story is "Supergirl Meets Nasty" is also written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Jack Abel and is the first appearance of Lex Luthor's niece, Nasthalthia, or Nasty for short. Lex wants his niece to terrorize Stanhope with her motorcycle gang, Nasty's Nasties. Their objective: flush out Supergirl and discover her secret identity.

It backfires, as Supergirl tracks down Luthor and imprisons him again. Then she takes Nasty and her gang on a harrowing series of carnival rides, hyped by her super-powers. She warns the gang sternly not to try their terror tactics again, but Nasty later promises to strike again in the future.

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Adventure Comics #396

Adventure Comics #396 (On Sale: June 30, 1970) has a Supergirl cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson. 

This is the end of an era, or an error, depending on how you feel about Mort Weisinger. This is the last issue of Adventure that Mort will edit as DC shows him the door. Next issue, editor/writer/artist Mike Sekowsky will take over the helm of Supergirl's adventures in Adventure. We begin with "I am a Witch" by Robert Kanigher and Kurt Schaffenberger.  I tried to reread this story this week, but it is just painful and I will save you from the agony of a recap.

We end with our cover-story "The Mystery of the Super-Orphan" by Leo Dorfman, Winslow Mortimer and Jack Abel. Our story begins with Supergirl waking up in the Smallville Orphanage nd finding herself up for adoption. The people think it must be part of a fundraiser, but Supergirl is unsure, her memories scrambled a bit.  When a family shows interest in her, she appears to be not in full control of her powers and almost ruins their car, but we learn that she did it on purpose, not feeling that the couple were the right people to adopt her. The rest of the people are shocked when she flies off, ignoring the orphanage events.

She sees a storm and when she checks for damage she finds a ruined Supergirl statue in a park. As she looks closer, she sees it is a Superboy statute and wonders why they didn't build it for her. She rebuilds the statute in her image. A visit to Smallville Stadium brings her in contact with Krypto, who wonders why Supergirl is in Superboy's old hometown. Not wanting to deal with a crazy woman, Krypto leaves and Supergirl heads for police headquarters where she quickly solves a crime. As she departs the cops say how it reminds them of when Superboy used to help solve crimes in Smallville. 

She feels compelled to visit the Kent farm and and finds her old room and lab and secret compartment with the Supergirl robots. Only, the compartment is filled with Superboy and Clark Kent robots. When the robots notice what day it is, they head out into the night in search of flowers they take to the cemetery to lay on the graves of Johnathan and Martha Kent, her foster parents. She becomes angry and has to be subdued by the robots. Just then Krypto returns with another Supergirl in tow; the real Supergirl. It seems our Supergirl is a robot, accidently programmed with an old defective memory tape of Superboy's.  As this is being explained and she is being reprogrammed, Superman arrives to lay flower's on his foster parent's graves, on this, the anniversary of their deaths.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Adventure Comics #395

Adventure Comics #395 (On Sale: May 28, 1970) has another Supergirl cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

We begin with Supergirl in "The Rejected Supergirl" by Robert Kanigher, Winslow Mortimer and Jack Abel. When the class at Stanhope College votes for the men they'd most like to be, Superman wins. Supergirl is asked to place capsules bearing the nine winners names on each of the nine planets. On Pluto, she encounters a group of metal lions which resemble the Metal Men. After defeating the lions, she returns to Earth.

When she returns to earth, the class votes for the most admired female and Supergirl finishes last. Linda is surprised and hurt by the results. Despite her bruised ego, Supergirl helps a fellow classmate whose father has gone bankrupt attempting to produce a movie. She then helps a transport ship with a cargo of medical supplies.

When she returns to Stanhope, Supergirl discovers metal in her hair from the alien lions. She suspects that the metal caused the computer tabulating the voting results to fail. The vote is taken again, and this time Supergirl is the winner.

We end with our cover-story, "The Heroine in the Haunted House" by Robert Kanigher and Kurt Schaffenberger. Actor Vincent Sale takes up the challenge of staying overnight in a haunted house that belonged to inventor Amos Ameswell. When Sale is frightened out of the house earlier than expected, Linda Danvers decides to take up the challenge.

The next night, Linda stays in the house. She grows bored and turns on the television before falling asleep. She is awoken by the ghost of Jor-El who mocks her. She is then confronted by a Kryptonian thought-beast. After the beast is melted by the Girl of Steel's heat vision, she begins laughing hysterically. Supergirl has apparently gone mad.

The Phantom Zone criminals then reveal themselves and gloat over Supergirl's mental state. However, she was faking in order to turn off the device which resembled a television. The inventor actually created a device which allowed the Phantom Zone prisoners to appear on Earth. The inventor, wearing a cloak and carrying a scythe, then appears and attacks Supergirl. Continued next issue.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Adventure Comics #394

Adventure Comics #394 (On Sale: April 30, 1970) has a Supergirl cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

We begin with Supergirl in "The Mysterious Motr of Doov" by E. Nelson Bridwell, Winslow Mortimer and Jack Abel. While trying to stop a tornado, Supergirl and Streaky are hurled into another dimension where their powers do not function. Soon after they arrive, they meet a robot, a cowardly creature, and a brainless neon man. The travelers follow the Crimson Trail to the Motr of Doov, a supposed wizard.

The Motr is actually a man from 19th Century Chicago who came to this world long ago but was prevented from returning home by the Wicked One, a flying creature. Supergirl and her companions join the Motr on a trip to a magic geyser which returns them home. When she get home, Linda realizes that the adventure bears an uncanny parallel to the Wizard of Oz. She suspects that the Motr returned to his own time and related the story to author L. Frank Baum. Snooze...wha-? Sorry, I fell asleep.

Next is "Heartbreak Prison" by Robert Kanigher and Kurt Schaffenberger.  Supergirl receives a distress call from outer space which warns of a zenith weapon that must be destroyed. Following the distress call, Supergirl travels to a world ruled by the tyrant Tyrox. She allows herself to be captured in order to find the secret weapon. Supergirl is imprisoned in a colored cell alongside other female prisoners. Tyrox and his guards treat the prisoners with cruelty. Supergirl must refrain from using her powers because the other prisoners will be punished for her actions. Eventually Supergirl discovers the secret of the zenith weapon and begins to oppose her jailor. However, Tyrox uses Kryptonite to weaken her, then turns the planet's sun red to rob Supergirl of her powers. However, the other female prisoner use the opportunity to escape. Each is a heroine from different planets who also responded to the distress call. They take down Tyrox and free Supergirl. The threat ended, Supergirl returns to Earth.

It goes without saying that this mess was edited by Mort Weisinger.

Adventure Comics #393

Adventure Comics #393 (On Sale: March 26, 1970) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

Our cover-story is "The Unwanted Supergirl" by Robert Kanigher, Winslow Mortimer and Jack Abel. The back-up is "The Girl Who Knew Supergirl's Secrets" by E. Nelson Bridwell and Kurt Schaffenberger.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Adventure Comics #392

Adventure Comics #392 (On Sale: February 24, 1970) has a Supergirl cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

This issue begins with Supergirl in "The Super-Cheat" by Robert Kanigher and Kurt Schaffenberger. The back-up story is our Supergirl cover-story "One Hero Too Many" by Leo Dorfman, Winslow Mortimer and Jack Abel. This story guest-starred the Legion of Super-Pets and was reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 9 HC.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Adventure Comics #391

Adventure Comics #391 (On Sale: January 29, 1970) has a Supergirl cover by Murphy Anderson.

This issue begins with our cover-story, Supergirl in "Linda Danvers, Super-Star" by Robert Kanigher and Kurt Schaffenberger. The back-up is Supergirl in "The Super-Exchange Student" by Cary Bates, Winslow Mortimer and Jack Abel.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.