"Superman: "The Superman Super-Spectacular!"": When Our American Heroes, a TV show honoring great Americans by reuniting them on air with their old acquaintances, honors Superman in its inaugural program he is perplexed as to how he will find someone to portray Clark K

Mother! Father! I know you're close by! I can sense your presence somehow! I don't know how can I reach you... How can I help you escape the Zone? — Supergirl

Action Comics #309 is an issue of the series Action Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of February, 1964.





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Appearing in Superman: "The Superman Super-Spectacular!"

Featured Characters:

Superman (Flashback and main story)

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

Synopsis for Superman: "The Superman Super-Spectacular!"

When Our American Heroes, a TV show honoring great Americans by reuniting them on air with their old acquaintances, honors Superman in its inaugural program he is perplexed as to how he will find someone to portray Clark Kent and thus throw suspicion off his double identity. President John F. Kennedy agrees to do so, and, in a Clark Kent mask and make-up, shakes Superman's hand on the air. Later, Superman tells JFK that he knows his secret identity is safe with him.





Appearing in Supergirl: "The Untold Story of Argo City!"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:

Phantom Zone Projector

Chronoscope

Zone-o-phone

Vehicles:

Synopsis for Supergirl: "The Untold Story of Argo City!"

Linda Danvers and her boyfriend Dick Malverne attend Midvale Orphanage's Annual Reunion. While giving a lecture, Linda finds out an orphan kid has been reunited with his birth parents, who weren't dead after all, and can't help but remember her own parents, Zor-El and Allura In-Ze, who got killed together with all the other Argonians when a meteor shower damaged the shielding covering Argo City's Kryptonite soil.

For the next nights, Linda is troubled for weird dreams from her parents floating in a blank space and begging for help. Feeling extremely disturbed, Linda starts wondering if they may be still alive and trapped in some kind of dimensional trap like the Phantom Zone. Finally, she decides she can't rest easy until she has checked. Linda changes into Supergirl, heads towards the Fortress of Solitude and activates a device which monitors the Phantom Zone. Nevertheless, she can't find her parents in there.

Berating herself for holding onto a foolish hope, Supergirl is leaving the Fortress when she bumps into Comet. Comet confirms she's getting faint telepathic messages. Thanks to Comet she mentally sees her parents telling her they're alive and in the Zone. Supergirl thinks that message may mean her parents are alive in the Phantom Zone... or the Phantom Zoners are setting a trap for her. Needing confirmation, Supergirl grabs the Phantom Zone Projector and streaks back to Midvale.

Supergirl asks her adoptive parents Fred and Edna to send her into the Zone to perform a secret mission, adjusting the controls so she'll be out of there in ten minutes. As soon as Supergirl emerges into the Zone, she bumps into four Phantom Zoners. Dru-Zod, Kru-El, Va-Kox and Jax-Ur probe her mind telepathically and state that her parents are indeed in the Zone but they'll never reveal their location. Supergirl scours the Zone, trying to ignore their taunts and gloating. Finally, she runs into an inmate who is willing to help her. Jer-Em blames himself for the demise of Argo City and wants to make up for his crime by telling her where her parents are. Sadly, Zod and his cohorts make sure to scramble Jer-Em's thoughts out of spite. Supergirl can barely understand the word "Survival".

Unfortunately, the ten minutes are up, and Supergirl is pulled out of the Zone by her adoptive parents. Supergirl is afraid of telling them about her birth parents' survival out of fear to hurt them, and flies back to the Fortress accompanied by Comet, intending to use Superman's Chronoscope to see images of the past.

Supergirl beholds her father and uncle talking after the latter builds a dome protecting Argo City, several months prior to the explosion. When Krypton exploded, only her cousin's rocket and Argo City made it out of the planet. Zor-El was chosen leader of the survivors, and he made sure that the food and water replicators worked and the now-radioactive soil was lead-shielded. Later he married to Allura, and Kara was born.

Still Zor-El was aware they couldn't wander around the galaxy indefinitely. He designed a jet-drive to guide Argo towards some habitable planet. When Argo came near from a yellow star, the Argonians discovered they developed powers in presence of a yellow sun. Zor-El was aware of it, having observed his nephew Kal-El on Earth. Zor-El planned to move the whole city to Earth and establish a race of super-beings.

Nevertheless, Jer-Em was incensed, thinking Kryptonians weren't meant to fly. He slipped out of the dome and guided the planet away from the yellow sun. The Argonians lost their powers and they couldn't guide their city back to the yellow star because the jet-engine was nearly out of power. Jer-Em was apprehended and banished to the Phantom Zone by the angry Argonians.

Soon afterwards, a meteor shower smashed holes in the lead shielding, and Kryptonite radiation started leaking out. Zor-El had discovered the existence of a pocket dimension which he called Survival Zone, so he developed a ray gun to teleport people in there. Zor-El and Allura tested the ray gun, but it apparently failed, so Zor-El destroyed the device, and he and Alura devoted their energies to save their daughter's life.

After Kara Zor-El was blasted off into space, Zor-El and Allura set up a disaster headquarters. Kryptonite radiation slowly killed every man, woman and child in Argo City until only Zor-El and Allura were left. Both spouses were waiting for the end in their headquarters, when their bodies started to fade. Zor-El realized their ray gun actually worked, but K-radiation caused a delayed reaction.

Supergirl turns off the Chronoscope. Now she knows her parents are alive after all. Kara wonders, though, why her parents waited years to contact her. Comet theorizes the Survival Zone drifts away and it hadn't come near from Earth until now.

Supergirl heads out of the Fortress. Somehow, she can feel her parents now. Supergirl doesn't know how she can reach them out and get them out of the Zone, but she promises to bring them back.

Meanwhile, her parents are watching her, longing for the day when they are together again.





Notes

Trivia

This issue retcons some parts of the origin story told in Action Comics #252, which had Argo City surviving thanks to an air bubble, and Zor-El not knowing about Superman's existence -and their blood relation- until after the meteor storm.









See Also