The Super-Steed of Steel is a Supergirl storyline told in Action Comics #292-294 (September-November, 1962) and #300-302 (May-July, 1963). Written and illustrated by Leo Dorfman and Jim Mooney, respectively, it is remembered for introducing Comet, the Super-Horse.
Linda Danvers (Kara "Supergirl" Zor-El's secret identity) is having recurring dreams in which she enjoys adventures with a horse with super-powers whom she calls Comet because of the shooting-star mark on his back. So, when her adoptive parents Fred and Edna are planning a vacation, Linda suggests a horse ranch, expecting that real horses will take her mind away from strange imaginary ones.
When the Danvers arrive at the Supergirl Dude Ranch (named after her secret identity because she saved the former owner's livestock during a flood), Linda finds a white stallion who looks right like the super-horse she dreamed about. The white stallion is notoriously skittish and untamable, but he lets Linda get close and saddle him without a fuss.
Linda takes the white horse -whom she has inwardly named Comet- for a ride, and she discovers that Comet is extremely tough, agile...and knows her secret identity. Shortly after she finds out that Comet can broadcast his thoughts, and he proceeds to tell his story.
Comet's real name is Biron, and he is not a horse but a centaur who was born in Ancient Greece. One day, he saved the witch Circe from an evil sorcerer called Maldor, and she decided to reward Biron by granting his wish to become human. Unfortunately, a revengeful Maldor sabotaged Circe's magic potion, and Biron was turned into a horse. Believing that Biron's unwanted transformation was her fault, Circe resolved to make up for her mistake by brewing another potion to give Biron godlike powers: super-strength, super-speed, invulnerability, flight, telepathy and immortality.
Biron's new powers drove Maldor even madder with envy, so he used a spell to banish Biron from Earth. Biron spent several millennia trapped in a remote asteroid until Kara's rocket passed by his space prison, and its anti-collision systems blew the asteroid apart. Free at last, Biron followed the rocket back to Earth, where he learned his savior's identity. Since then, he had been waiting for one chance to approach Supergirl and ask her to take on him as her sidekick.
Unfortunately, an incoming threat has forced him to give up subtlety and send Supergirl subtle telepathic warnings through her dreams. One alien fleet is approaching Earth, and she may not survive the upcoming battle without his help.
Tropes
- Aborted Arc: As Supergirl is wondering if there may be some way to grant Comet's dream to become human, Comet says there IS a way, but he cannot tell her yet. However, Comet found another method to become -temporarily- human in planet Zerox, and it was never revealed what he meant by "The time is not ripe".
- Action Pet: After being adopted by Kara, Comet uses his weird powers to become her partner-in-crimefighting.
- The Air Not There: Discussed. Supergirl initially gives Comet a cape, warning him against going too fast since the air friction will burn it. Later she provides him a chemically-treated cape which will not catch fire when he flies.
- Alien Invasion: Shortly after meeting Comet, Supergirl must stop a race of alien fishmen from subduing Earth.
- All Girls Like Ponies: Kara is ecstatic when she comes to own her own horse.
- Alliterative Title: The Super-Steed of Steel.
- Amnesia Danger: Comet feeds on some water-lilies, unaware that they are a rare variety of lotus which causes amnesia when eaten, and forgets his real identity. Shortly later, Comet falls off a cliff and nearly crashes on the ground because he forgot he can fly.
- Amnesiac Hero: Comet loses his memories after eating amnesia-inducing flowers, believing himself to be an ordinary horse.
- And I Must Scream: After being banished from Earth by Maldor's evil spell, Biron spent several millennia imprisoned in a lonely, faraway asteroid in the middle of space.
- Animorphism: Comet was originally a centaur in ancient Greece named Biron. The witch Circe gave him a potion to turn him fully human after he prevented an evil sorcerer poisoning her water, but by mistake made him fully horse instead due to the Sorcerer. Later, after meeting Supergirl, he went on a mission with her to the planet Zerox, where a magic spell was cast that turned him into a human, but only while a comet passes through the solar system he is in. As a human, he adopted the identity of "Bronco" Bill, a rodeo trick-rider.
- Anti-True Sight: When Supergirl decides to scan the inside of an invading spaceship before engaging, she finds out she cannot through the hull. Kara guesses the aliens prepared themselves for bumping into her or her cousin and lined their spherical spacecraft with lead.
- Artistic License – History: The story considers that "Biron" and "Maldor" were traditional names in the pre-Christian Greece. In that vein, Maldor's status as a male wizard contradicts the Greek myths, in which only two mortals (Circe and Medea) were known to practice magic, and neither of them were male.
- Artistic License – Ornithology: A little girl called Bonnie is captured by a bald eagle in one scene. Birds of prey cannot carry humans around, not even toddlers.
- As You Know: At the start of the third issue, Comet tells Supergirl his origin and true identity...which he revealed to her in detail in the previous issue.
- Attractive Bent Species: After finding a way to turn himself back into human temporarily, Comet finds job as rodeo star "Bronco Bill", and he flirts with Supergirl (who is unaware of Bronco's real identity).
- Because You Can Cope: Subverted. Comet chooses to save one woman from an alligator instead of Supergirl, who is sinking into quicksand. After emerging out of the pit, Kara guesses Comet realized she could save herself by her own means, whereas Liz Gaynor was in greater danger. Later she realizes that Comet did not save her because he had lost his memories and did not remember she is his friend.
- Become a Real Boy: Comet was originally a centaur called Biron who wanted to be fully human; unfortunately, Circe's transforming potion was sabotaged and made him fully horse instead. The reason he has superpowers is because the spell couldn't be reversed, so Circe gave him superpowers to try and make up for it.
- Beware the Superman: When Comet is mind-controlled by Vostar into wreaking havoc across America, no one can seem to stop him due to his Superman-level powers.
- Black Eyes of Evil: The alien race who intends to conquer Earth after murdering Supergirl have huge, black eyes with tiny white pupils.
- Blessed with Suck: Circe gave Comet a potion which granted him godlike powers, as well as immortality. The latter stopped to feel like a gift when Comet was banished from Earth by an evil wizard and spent several millennia trapped in a floating rock in the void of space.
- A Boy and His X: Supergirl meets Comet the Super-Horse and starts bonding with him while teaching him how to be a superhero.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Villain Vostar uses a mind-control helmet to force Comet to go on a destructive rampage through the planet.
- Bus Full of Innocents: As they are riding together, Supergirl and Comet see a cable-car has broken loose and is plunging towards the ground. Both heroes grab both ends of the snapped cable and carry the passengers back to safety.
- Carnivore Confusion: A bald eagle is called "evil" for the mere fact of trying to catch its food.
- Cartoon Juggling: A sea circus has Oscar the Juggling Octopus, an octopus whose red balls are drawn as an arc over its head before falling into water when it loses control.
- Catch a Falling Star: When Supergirl is weakened and shot down by a spaceship's Kryptonite beam, Comet catches her before she crashes into land.
- Caught in a Snare:
- At night, Comet is changing from man to horse, and while he is in his centaur form he is caught in a net by a gang of horse robbers who thought a centaur is surely more valuable than a mere horse. Since his original form is powerless, Comet is dragged into the gang's getaway vehicle.
- Jerro and Lori are swimming around the ocean when they are caught in a net and hauled out of the water by poachers.
- Complexity Addiction: Comet goes through many unnecessary inadequacies for the sake of keeping the secret identity he thinks he needs: he lets himself be captured, taken to a ranch, bought out...because he did not want anybody to know he is not a normal horse, and the thought of simply outrunning his chasers or breaking out of his stall at night never occurs to him. Tellingly, after losing his memories, Comet simply runs away.
- Constellations as Locations: When the sorcerer Maldor and his evil master conspire to exile Biron to Sagittarius, they talk like that constellation was a specific place instead of an imaginary pattern on the sky.
- Continuity Nod: Comet's flashback includes Supergirl's trip to Earth seen in The Supergirl From Krypton (1959).
- Cover-Blowing Superpower: Linda notices the owners of the Supergirl Dude Ranch are about to try shoeing and branding Comet, which cannot be allowed because their tools would get crushed against his invulnerable hide and his cover will be busted. Quickly, Linda persuades them to let her carry out both tasks.
- Creator Provincialism: American writer Leo Dorfman has Atlantean villain Vostar to mind-control Comet into starting a destructive rampage that for no particular reason only targets famous USA monuments.
- Criminal Amnesiac: After losing his memories, Comet is found by some bank-robbers, who pretend to be his friends so that he helps them out.
- Doing In the Wizard: Biron becomes free from Vostar's mind-control when he is briefly transformed into human, but he needs to warn Supergirl quickly but subtly about Vostar's scheme before he turns back into a horse and the villain reasserts control over him. Taking advantage that Linda and her boyfriend Dick Malverne are visiting a fair, Biron pretends to be a fortune-teller to give Linda hints that her friend Comet is being controlled by a super-villain.
- Dreaming of Things to Come:
- Played straight when Linda dreams about the coming of an alien fleet and she having a hard time fighting them until Comet shows up.
- Later subverted when Linda has a dream where she is enjoying a circus performance until she is attacked by Luthor, whereupon she is saved by Comet. When she awakens, Linda believes it was another premonitory dream induced by Comet's telepathy, since her family wanted to go to the circus later that day, but her father disagrees: the morning newspaper says that day's performance has been canceled, so they were not going to watch the circus at any rate. Linda then remembers her super-horse could not have induced that dream because he has lost his memories, so she had just a normal dream.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Comet's crush on Kara, as well as his power to turn into human each time a comet passes through Earth's Solar System, were completely ignored after his introductory storyline.
- Evil Sorcerer:
- When Maldor's attempt to poison Circe with a magic potion is thwarted by Biron, he causes to Biron be transformed into a horse. He then uses a magic spell to exile Biron to the constellation Sagittarius forever.
- Nomed uses a spell to prevent an innocent Pegasus from flying and tricks people whom he hates into drinking potions which turn them into gold statues.
- Evil Poacher: Gorbin, the co-owner of a ruinous sea circus, decides to sail to Zone X, an area where fishing was declared ilegal because that is Atlantis' territory, and catch two merpeople to add to his show's exhibits. After hailing Lori and Jerro out of the water, Gorbin refuses to put them into a water tank right away, considering they will be easier to handle if they are half-suffocated.
- Exact Words: Prince Endor, the ruler of planet Zerox, must lead an annual royal parade on a flying horse in order to keep the crown; but his nephew Lord Nomed, who covets the throne, attempts to oust his uncle by feeding the royal Pegasus an anti-flight potion. When Supergirl appears to lend her flying horse Comet to Endor, Nomed protests that Endor must ride Pegasus to keep the throne. One of Endor's advisors quickly retorts that the law clearly says a flying horse.
- Exty Years from Publication: Inverted. During one of Linda's dreams in this 1962 storyline, Krypto and Streaky travel to the year 1942.
- Faint in Shock: Supergirl is about to have a drink offered by a sorcerer called Nomed when an arrow knocks the cup off her hand, splashing its contents all over him. Kara faints when she sees Nomed transforming into a gold statue due to the potion she was almost tricked into drinking.
- Feudal Future: Supergirl and Comet travel to planet Zerox, a world settled by wizards and sorcerers who used their magic to leave Earth and migrate to another world in the Middle Ages. Zeroxians are ruled by a wizard-prince who lives in a castle, and they have preserved their medieval ancestors' building styles, arts and even fashions, opting for developing magic instead of technology.
- Fishbowl Helmet: When Supergirl wants to go to Zerox, a planet where her powers will not work, Superman gives her an astronaut helmet which looks right like a fishbowl.
- Fish People: The alien race which Supergirl and Comet fight together are merpeople with fish-like, finned heads and scaly bodies.
- Forced Transformation: Biron was turned into a horse due to Maldor tinkering with a potion which was supposed to make him human.
- The Freakshow: Since his sea circus is a flop, Gorbin decides to hunt and exhibit merpeople to bring in customers.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Mr. Greede, the Supergirl Dude Ranch's owner, calls Comet "loco" several times despite not being Hispanic at all.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: Comet has just been temporarily transformed into human when he sees Kara is being tricked into drinking a potion which will turn her into a living statue. Comet quickly knocks the cup off Supergirl's hand, but Kara never found out who saved her life because Comet never told her, and he kept his human form a secret from her.
- Hero Does Public Service: Kara ploughs a family's entire farmland to repay them for looking after Comet.
- Hero of Another Story: Superman shows up as Supergirl and Comet are fighting some alien invaders. However, Superman leaves without one word since they seem to have everything under control and he has an urgent mission.
- Hoist by His Own Petard:
- Gorbin intends to capture two merpeople to exhibit in his sea circus. By chance Gorbin catches Lori -Superman's college girlfriend- and Jerro -one of Supergirl's would-be suitors- , thus painting a HUGE target on his back (of course, the Supers would have wanted to intervene no matter what if they had known about Gorbin's human trafficking, but capturing two friends of theirs who have telepathic powers ensured that they found out about Gorbin's activities right away).
- Vostar was not even on Supergirl's radar, but when she and Comet accidentally ruined his attempt to get rid of Lori and Jerro, Vostar decided to take revenge. His attempt to mess with Kara gets her to take notice of him and take him down in a quick and effective fashion.
- Humanoid Aliens: The unnamed aliens who attempt to invade Earth have humanoid bodies, scaly orange skin, black eyes and fins protruding from their fish-like heads.
- Imagine Spot: After watching a Western film, Linda imagines herself wearing cowboy clothes and enjoying adventures on horseback.
- Interspecies Romance: Even although he is a centaur turned into horse, Comet develops a crush on humanoid alien Kara, who never becomes aware of his feelings.
- It's a Long Story: When Linda asks Comet where he came from, Comet prefaces his tale with "It's a long story!"
- Karma Houdini: Maldor faced absolutely no repercussions for transforming Biron into a horse, banishing him from the planet, and keeping him trapped in an asteroid for several millennia.
- Kidnapping Bird of Prey: In issue #300, a bald eagle swoops down from the sky and flies off with a little girl called Bonnie. Fortunately for the toddler, Comet forces the eagle to relinquish its prey.
- Kryptonite Factor: Subverted. Vostar uses a chunk of Kryptonite to murder Supergirl and Comet, unaware that the latter is not from Krypton. Hence, he is downright shocked when Comet remains completely unaffected and flies Supergirl away.
- Kryptonite Is Everywhere:
- Supergirl is flying over a jungle when she suddenly feels weak and plunges down into quicksand due to a Kryptonite rock which just happened to be inconveniently lying by the mud pool.
- Vostar attempts to take revenge on Supergirl and Comet by using a piece of Kryptonite which Superman sealed into a lead box and threw into the sea years ago.
- Meaningful Name: Supergirl named Biron Comet because of the shooting star-shaped mark on his back.
- Memory Wipe Exploitation: When some bank-robbers find an amnesiac Comet, they claim they are his friends and he must help them escape from some "bad men" who are chasing them.
- Mind-Control Device: Vostar uses a "mental command helmet" to influence Comet's emotions and force him to do his bidding.
- Misplaced Wildlife: At one point, Kara runs into an alligator in the middle of a tropical island located at the East of Africa. Alligators are native to only USA and China, and they cannot survive in saltwater, so how it got there is anyone's guess.
- Monumental Damage: Comet is mind-controlled by villain Vostar into destroying the Hoover Damn, beheading the Statue of Liberty, knocking the Washington Monument down and sabotaging the Panama Canal.
- Mundane Utility: In gratitude for looking after Comet when he was amnesiac, Supergirl and her Super-horse plough Bonnie's family's entire farmland within seconds using their super speed.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Comet, a centaur-turned-horse, becomes Supergirl's sidekick for a while.
- Older Sidekick: Biron, a many millennia old centaur, becomes a sidekick to Supergirl, who is not yet eighteen.
- Origins Episode: After introducing Comet, the next issue delves into his real identity, origin and backstory.
- Our Centaurs Are Different: Comet was originally a blonde Greek centaur named Biron, who took a potion that was supposed to make him human but instead made him a horse.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Biron disguises himself as a fortune-teller by wearing a turban -which leaves his face completely unconcealed- and a starry robe. Kara ponders he seems vaguely familiar, but she does not realize what he looks right like the cowboy whom she met a little while ago.
- Pegasus: The ruler of planet Zerox must lead an annual royal parade on a flying horse in order to keep the throne. The royal steed is a winged white horse, "coincidentally" named Pegasus.
- Punched Across the Room: After falling asleep, Supergirl dreams that Comet repels an alien invasion by kicking their ships out of Earth and the solar system.
- Put on a Prison Bus: Vostar's final scene sees him ranting about being unstoppable as he is being dragged to prison by the Atlantis' police force.
- Quicksand Sucks: Supergirl is temporarily working as an advisor for a film director. As the crew is filming some scenes set in a jungle, Supergirl gets hit by Kryptonite radiation and falls into a quicksand pit. Kara panics as she is sinking until she realizes that, by sinking deeper into the pit, she is getting out of the range of the Kryptonite rays. Once she has become completely buried, Supergirl recovers her powers and tunnels out of the pit and away from the Kryptonite.
- Robe and Wizard Hat: Endor, the wizard-king of planet Zerox, wears grey-violet robes, and his crown is a golden tiara encircling a violet pointy hat.
- Really 700 Years Old: Comet's human form may look like a man in his early twenties, but he was an adult centaur in Ancient Greece, making him at least three thousand years old.
- Revenge Before Reason: Nomed decides to pay Supergirl back for ruining his coup, and his attempted revenge gets him turned into a statue. If he had reminded himself that both outsiders would leave Zerox soon, leaving him free to keep plotting since nobody suspected his duplicity, he would be still alive.
- Sapient Steed: Comet is extremely intelligent, being able to communicate with Supergirl and help her out.
- Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Maldor's master gives him a magic powder to exile Biron to the constellation of Sagittarius. Sagittarius is a cluster of stars separated from each other by hugely vast distances, but the evil sorcerer talks as if it was a precise location.
- Sea Monster: The Yarcans are weird deep-sea monsters which vaguely look like humongous green frogs with antennae, a many-fanged mouth, human-like hands and a kangaroo-like pouch.
- Secret Identity: Reinforced. After returning Earth, Comet ponders he should have a secret identity because Supergirl has one, so he decides to pretend to be a normal horse.
- Secret-Keeper: After Comet has told his story, Linda agrees to keep his secret. She does not even tell her parents about Comet for a while.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Comet knew of Supergirl's existence, as well as her secret identity, since her arrival in Earth; but he kept Kara's secrets to himself for years before finallymeeting her.
- Shout-Out:
- Comet loses his memories when he feeds on the same kind of water-lilies that Ulysses' men ate when they visited the Land of the Lotus Eaters in The Odyssey.
- Nomed shows Supergirl a coutyard adorned with golden statues and -falsely- claims they are formerly living humans "turned into metal by King Midas with his golden touch".
- Endor claims his spell to temporarily turn beasts into humans was the basis for the "Beauty and the Beast" legend.
- The Iliad's Trojan Horse is built by Midvale's Ancient Greece pageant.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Vostar considers himself to be the world's biggest genius and greatest criminal mind despite being a lowly criminal who was easily captured and was never seen again after being put in prison. And his so-called rival, Lex Luthor? Never heard of him.
- Spanner in the Works: Nomed's ploy to overthrow his uncle by paralyzing Endor's pegasus fails when Supergirl suddenly shows up riding her own flying horse which she lends to Endor so that he can lead the royal parade.
- Succession Crisis: Endor, King of planet Zerox, must lead an annual royal parade on a flying horse if he wants to keep his crown. Though, his nephew Nomed attempts to sabotage the celebration so his uncle cannot revalidate his kingship, thus triggering a succession crisis which will let Nomed take over the throne.
- Superheroes Wear Capes: After ascertaining that Comet has super-powers Supergirl decides to give him a cape immediately, since obviously he will need wearing capes if he is going to be her super-sidekick.
- Superhuman Trafficking:
- A band of horse robbers spot Comet transformed into centaur and decide to catch him and make a profit from exhibiting him.
- Gorbin, the co-owner of a ruinous sea circus, decides to go to Atlantis waters and hunt one pair of merpeople for his show. He catches Lori and Jerro, which turns out to be a bad move because they are close to the Super Family and have telepathy.
- Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Vostar's camera labs can track and monitor Comet wherever he goes.
- Taken for Granite: Nomed uses a forbidden magic potion to turn his victims into gold statues. He tries to trick Supergirl into drinking his brew, but an arrow shot by Comet knocks the cup out of her hand, splashing the potion all over Nomed and turning him into a golden statue.
- Taking the Bullet: During an alien invasion, Comet blocks a Kryptonite beam aimed at Supergirl. Justified because, unlike her, Comet is not vulnerable to Kryptonite.
- Telepathy: Comet is able to mind-reading, broadcast his thoughts and induce dreams in other people.
- There Was a Door: Subverted. When an alien spaceship strikes Earth, Supergirl's X-Ray Vision cannot pierce through its hull, so she decides to ram herself through a wall into the ship. It turns out that the aliens were ready for that tactic, and fire at Supergirl with Kryptonite-powered ray guns when she bursts through the wall.
- Third-Person Flashback: When Comet tells his origin, his flashback includes his enemy Maldor's reaction to his transformation, and Maldor devising a new scheme against an unsuspecting Comet.
- Unknown Rival: Vostar is an Atlantean mad scientist who considers himself the world's greatest criminal scientist, and Luthor's rival...even though Luthor does not even know who Vostar is.
- What Measure Is a Humanoid?: Comet, a centaur called Biron turned into a sapient horse has an unrequited crush on Kara...which she remains completely oblivious to.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Comet's flashback revealing his origin takes up most of issue #293.
- The X of Y: The Super-Steed of Steel.
