"Victory by Computer" was a 1981 Radio Shack Superman giveaway comic written by Cary Bates and penciled by Curt Swan. Guest starring Supergirl and the Tandy Computer Whiz Kids, it was basically an ad for the TRS-80 Computer.
Superman and Supergirl visit the class of the Tandy Computer Whiz Kids to give a lecture about computers. Superman must leave in the middle of the lecture because Lex Luthor has spread word that he will soon break out of his jail...and it will be Superman himself who let him out. Superman visits the prison and checks Luthor's cell. Every safety mechanism seems to be in order, but Luthor keeps gloating that Superman will help him escape.
Meanwhile, Supergirl leaves the school kids and starts patrolling Metropolis while Superman is dealing with Luthor. She is flying around the outskirts of the city when a strange building catches her attention: dangerous aircraft-damaging microwaves are being beamed from a giant transmission antenna on the roof. Supergirl flies down to tear the antenna apart, when the solar panels on the roof suddenly begin emitting red light. Supergirl's power fails and she falls into a trap door.
Superman returns to the school and finds out that Supergirl left a while ago and has not yet returned. Fearing something bad has happened to his cousin, Superman takes off to look for leads around Metropolis.
Later, Supergirl comes around, finding herself in a weird room where her powers do not work. She tries and fails to knock a door down, but she can hear steps out of the door. Guessing a guard has been posted out of the door, Supergirl checks the second door. It is locked but she cannot hear anything, so she decides to try to force it to hopefully find a way out. Kara manages to unlock the door using an improvised picklock and slips inside, finding something very interesting.
Tropes:
- Alliterative Name: The Purple Palace, an illegal gambling parlor where Supergirl is momentarily held hostage.
- Big Bad: Lex Luthor gets Supergirl kidnapped to blackmail Superman.
- Blackmail Backfire: Lex Luthor plans to blackmail Superman into breaking him out of jail by trapping Supergirl in a secret location. However, Supergirl finds a way to escape before Superman realizes that his cousin has been kidnapped. Luthor's reaction when Superman and Supergirl visit him in his cell to tell him firsthand that his scheme has failed is priceless.
- Brought Down to Normal: Lex Luthor's gang use red solar radiance to nullify Supergirl's powers and imprison her in their lair.
- Captain Obvious: When Superman and Supergirl capture Luthor's goons, one of them exclaims that... Supergirl escaped! And they are being captured by Superman and Supergirl!
- Continuity Nod: Supergirl tells the teacher she is comfortable in front of kids because her day job is in a classroom, a reference to her tenure as a student advisor in New Athens Experimental School.
- Evil Laugh: After boasting that he can force Superman to break him out of prison, Lex Luthor lets out a loud "HA, HA, HA, HA!".
- Damsel out of Distress: Supergirl becomes trapped in the Purple Palace, a mob hideout where her powers have been nullified by Luthor's technology, but she manages to relay her location to Superman. When Superman arrives, though, Supergirl is waiting him outside after having found an unguarded escape tunnel.
- Didn't Think This Through: Luthor's goons manage to imprison Supergirl in a locked room in their lair...forgetting that room has a door that leads to their storage room, where they built an emergency escape tunnel.
- Evil Plan: Lex Luthor plans to escape from prison by having his underlyings to kidnap Kara and then blackmailing Kal-El into breaking him out.
- I Have Your Wife: Lex Luthor's jailbreak scheme consists of trapping Supergirl in a secret location to force her cousin into getting him out of prison; though, Supergirl is able to escape even before Superman learns she has been kidnapped.
- Historical Domain Character: During the school trip to Metropolis Museum of Science and Industry, Ms. Leigh introduces the kids to William Shockley, Walter Brattain and John Bardeen, the transistor's inventors.
- Improvised Lockpick: Supergirl manages to break out of a locked room by using a paper clip which she found and straightened to unlock one door.
- Lured into a Trap: As she is flying around Metropolis, Supergirl spots a strange solar-powered house whose transmission antenna is beaming dangerous microwaves which could potentially damage the navigation instruments of any plane passing through. Supergirl approaches the house to neutralize the antenna when the solar panels begin emitting red solar radiation. Supergirl falls into a trap door, becoming imprisoned in a Kryptonian-proof trap built by Lex Luthor.
- Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: Luthor declares he will force Superman to break him out of jail, but he has already contacted and hired a criminal gang and has had them to retrieve, assemble and activate one of his devices at the right moment to capture Supergirl without even leaving his cell.
- "Open!" Says Me: Subverted. After waking up in a strange room, Supergirl decides to smash her way through a locked door. When she flattens herself against the door, sliding down to the floor as the door remains locked and undented, Kara realizes she has lost her super-strength.
- Or My Name Isn't...: After Superman has made sure that his cell is still safe, Luthor tells: "Don't relax too much, Superman...unless you are naive enough after all these years to believe that Lex Luthor makes threats he cannot keep! I said you would personally free me from this cell later today...and free me today you shall— Or my name isn't Lex Luthor!"
- Prank Call: Invoked. Supergirl chooses to call Ms. Wilson's classroom instead of the police because, having no way to prove her identity over the phone, they might mistake her for a jokester with too much free time.Supergirl: "Of course, I could call up the police...But they might mistake me for a prank caller, since I can't prove over the phone I'm the real Supergirl!"
- Product Placement: This one-shot comic was meant to promote the then-new TRS-80 computer. Hence, Supergirl feeling thrilled to find that specific computer brand when she breaks into a criminal lair's storage room.
- Shooting Superman: Defied. When Kal and Kara trap Luthor's gang, a crook angrily tosses his gun aside because he knows he would be wasting bullets.Thug: "What's the use of shootin'— the bullets will only bounce off 'em!"
- Spanner in the Works: Lex Luthor's scheme fails because a group of sixth-grade computer students manage to find information about the place where Kara has been trapped and pass it on both cousins.Supergirl: ''"Naturally, I didn't tell him how I escaped— He has years behind bars to wonder about that! Even if I told him the truth...He'd probably never believe his scheme was done in by a class of sixth graders...who gained a victory with the help of microcomputers!"
- Tempting Fate: Lex Luthor announces he will escape from his cell within 12 hours, and Superman himself will break him out. Superman checks his cell, finds out all defensive mechanisms are intact, and states they can relax. Luthor advises them to not relax too much, since Superman of all people should know Luthor does not make promises he cannot keep. Then it turns out that it was Luthor who should not have tempted fate, because his fails.Superman: "All the defense mechanisms I installed are still intact! We can relax, Warden!"
Lex Luthor: "Don't relax too much, Superman...unless you are naive enough after all these years to believe that Lex Luthor makes threats he cannot keep! I said you would personally free me from this cell later today...and free me today you shall— Or my name isn't Lex Luthor!" - Title Drop: When all is said and done, Kara states that "[Luthor]'d probably never believe his scheme was done in by a class of sixth graders...who gained a victory with the help of microcomputers!"
- Villain Ball: The Luthor's goons who get Supergirl depowered and imprisoned in his lair could have tied her up and left in an empty room, watched by two armed guards. Instead, they leave her untied and unguarded in a room from which she can access to a storage room filled with telephones, computers and the lair's emergency exit.
- You Wake Up in a Room: Supergirl is investigating a strange house when she gets struck by red solar radiation, falling into a trap door. When she wakes up, she finds herself trapped in a strange unfamiliar room which she cannot break out of by sheer brute force because her powers are nullified.
