Comic Book / Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade

By Landry Q. Walker and Eric Jones

"Okay. The planet Earth officially scares me."

— Supergirl

Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade is a six-issue limited series published under DC's Johnny DC imprint in 2009, with story by Landry Q. Walker and art by Eric Jones. The series targets younger readers and does not take place within mainstream continuity.

A space rocket ship crash-lands on Metropolis. Fortunately, it happens to land on top of Lex Luthor who is in the midst of a battle with Superman. A young Kryptonian girl called Kara Zor-El emerges from the rocket slightly dazed, and discovers that she is quickly developing superhuman powers, which leads to very awkward situations.

Superman quickly takes her to a quieter place, and after things settle down, she introduces herself to her cousin. She tells him -after Superman presses her for a more truthful story- she had a spat with her parents and hid inside the rocket ship. Her arrival on Earth was purely accidental. She wants to go back home to the moon Argo City, but Superman doesn't have the means to send her back. Instead, he provides her with the cover identity of Linda Lee and enrolls her in public school as he trains her to become Supergirl.

Unfortunately Kara has great difficulty adapting to Earth culture. It doesn’t help she feels very alone, her teachers are twisted, her fellow students constantly laugh at her seeming ineptitude, her Alpha Bitch Evil Twin wants to make her life Hell, her best friend is a Luthor (ergo, self-centered, short-tempered and unhinged), her powers work stupidly and she is the universe’s biggest weirdness magnet.

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Tropes:

• Academy of Adventure: Stanhope Elementary. Environmental hazzards include: a superhero who is the universe's biggest weirdness magnet; a student who happens to be a xenophobic Mad Scientist training to be a super-villain; an Alpha Bitch who is a super-villain; jerkass students who somehow become even bigger jerks every time they occasionally win super-powers; superpowered animals; tyrannical and uncaring teachers who are really trickster dimensional gods in disguise; and a sadistic, morale-undermining Principal who is an evil, dimensional god in disguise.
• Accidental Astronaut: Kara wants to punish her parents for not letting her take part in a parade, so she hides in a rocket which was meant to send a message to Superman. However, she falls asleep and awakens violently when the rocket crashes on Earth.
• Adaptational Villainy: Mr. Mxyzptlk is much more outright evil in his intentions in this story than in most versions (he's usually more of an Anti-Villain).
• Affectionate Parody: To the Silver Age and all its charming, delightful kookiness and childlike wonder. Linda is a massive weirdness magnet, and Lena is Mad Science incarnate.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Defied by Linda when she mentions that Kryptonian computers respond to thought control so they don't rise up and rebel.
• Alien Among Us: Linda is completely clueless about anything Earth-related, and that makes her the focus of ridicule.
  Linda: What's money? Is it important?
• Alliterative Name: Supergirl's Earth name is "Linda Lee".
• All Just a Dream: In the beginning of chapter 2, Supergirl flies over her school. All of sudden all begin calling her "Linda Lee". She freaks out and wonders why everybody knows her Secret Identity before waking up.
• Alpha Bitch: Linda Lee is her school's geeky girl, so her Bizarro counterpart, Belinda Zee, is an Alpha Bitch.
• Alternate Self: In the fifth issue Supergirl finds Supragirl, her counterpart from an aborted timeline.
• And I Must Scream: In the final issue Belinda is turned into a crystal statue. She cannot talk or move but she is fully sentient and -worst of all- she can feel pain.
• Apocalypse How: Mr. Mxyzptlk intends to become the most powerful being in all Creation. His plan involves breaking down several whole dimensional planes and turning them into fuel to empower himself.
  Mr. Mxyzptlk: You and your twin primed the machine, but this little baby still needs a lot of fuel. So it's breaking down your dimension. Soon, your reality will collapse into a one-dimensional point in time and space.
• Appropriated Appellation: Subverted. A reporter asks Kara if she is some kind of Supergirl. Later she chooses to call herself Supergirl, but she gave no indication she got her name from that random reporter.
• Arm Cannon: Lena has laser cannons mounted on her Powered Armor's forearms.
• Armored Villains, Unarmored Heroes: Lena wears a modified version of her brother Lex's warsuit when she wants to fight Linda, who never wears armor (and does not want to fight Lena anyway).
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Mr. Mxyzptlk tries to usurp an infinite power. However, Supergirl claims it before he can seize it, and ascends. After beating Mxy up and making him run away her power fades and she becomes human again.
• Asleep in Class: 'Linda Lee falls asleep in class after spending one entire night herding scared cows back into their pen.
• Attention Whore: Subverted. Linda accidentally breaks her own desk, and the Principal accuses her of destroying it intentionally because she demands everyone's attention.
  Principal Pickelmeyer: In the future, perhaps you could choose a less destructive manner to beg for attention from your classmates?
• Badass Boast: Kara gives one during the final battle.
  Mr. Mxyzptlk: I'm Mxyzptlk! Holder of the five keys that unlock the fifty-two layers of Hyper-reality! My mind has become one with all ten possible dimensions! Who are you to challenge me?!
  Supergirl: I'm Supergirl! Defender of Earth!
• Badass in Distress: Superman was captured and shackled by Lex Luthor. Supragirl tried to rescue him but she was also captured. They were freed by Comet.
• Bat Deduction: Done hilariously by Linda, who thinks her schoolmates are expert at this. She breaks a wall by accident, and cries out that "People are going to see [this hole] and know! They'll know I'm from another planet and that my cousin is secretly Superman!"
• Beast of Battle: Supergirl rides Streaky during his brief "flying, super-powerful Super-saber-toothed tiger" phase.
• Berserk Button: Belinda goes utterly nuts when she meets Supergirl's alternate self and thinks she has been replaced, protesting loudly that she is the original copy. She is just as self-centered.
• Beware the Superman: Lena hates super-powered beings. Linda tries to convince her that a person can have powers and not being a jerk. Unfortunately, their schoolmates are determined to prove Linda wrong.
  Linda: Come one... It's not like everyone with super powers is a complete jerk... [...] Okay... See... He's not everybody. Some people are jerks no matter what. But that doesn't mean that we're suddenly going to be treated differently just because we don't have super powers.
• Big Bad: Mister Mxyzptlk is behind everything. Everything.
• Big Ball of Violence: It happens when Supergirl conjures up the Moon-criminals to beat Mr. Mxyzptlk up.
• Big Brother Instinct:
  • Say whatever you want about Lex, but he cares for his little sister.
    Lex: Lena is my sister, alien... I'm going to save her.
  • Superman also is protective from Linda.
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: Lena is short and a little chubby. Belinda is tall and big. Linda is thinner and taller than Lena.
• Blatant Lies: Kara tells Superman that her parents chained her to a rocket and banished her to Earth because she asked her mother politely and respectfully if she could pass the salt. His disapproving frown and folded arms indicated clearly that he wasn't buying it.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The three main characters: Linda Lee, the eponymous blond heroine, her red-haired best friend Lena Thorul, and her dark-haired arch-enemy and bully, Belinda Zee.
• Blush Sticker: Linda blushes this way after being lectured publicly by the Principal.
• Breaking the Bonds: Mr. Mxyzptlk materializes Kryptonite chains around Supergirl during the final battle. She breaks them easily.
• Broken Bird: Kara is taken from her home, has to go to a school full of jerks, gets sad, depressed, upset... but she never lets anything gets her down. Mr. Mxyzptlk isn't happy about it.
  Mxy: See, in the end, you were just too sweet, just too optimistic and happy. I take you from home, I give you a best friend and make her hate. Nope. No matter what I put you through, you always looked on the bright side. Bah!
• Broken Tears: Supergirl cries when she sees Lena dying.
• Brought to You by the Letter "S":
  • Kara's clothes and rocket display the "S"-shield.
  • Superman and Supergirl wear their family crest.
  • Lena wears a pendant with an "L" written on it.
• The Bully: Belinda is a high-school bully. She picks on Linda because she is her opposite clone. And since Linda wants to be loved, Belinda wants her to be hated.
• Burning with Anger: During the final battle Supergirl is so pissed off that flames erupt from her back and cape and form flaming wings.
• But What About the Astronauts?: Argo City, Krypton's lunar colony, was only sent to another dimension rather than destroyed by the force of Krypton exploding and has been enduring quite well ever since.
• Butt-Monkey: Linda is convinced that her new home hates her. Her schoolmates mock her, her teachers are sadistic jerks, and her powers malfunction at the most inopportune times.
  Supergirl: This planet hates me.
  • Belinda gets hit with this in issue 4, which she spends mostly by getting mauled by Streaky and being ignored by Kara and Lena, who are focused on their own problems.
• Came from the Sky: The story begins when Kara crash-lands into Earth after smashing through a Luthor's robot.
• Catch a Falling Star:
  • Supergirl is flying for first time when her flight power suddenly turns off. Fortunately Superman catches her when she falls.
  • Supergirl catches a student that is falling when his flight power stops working.
• Captain Obvious: Supergirl, Lena and Belinda track Streaky down and find a huge hole in the floor.
  Supergirl: He tunneled down into... some kind of secret chamber.
  Belinda: Really? I would never have guessed.
• Chekhov's Gunman: In the third issue, a stray cat may be seen in the background of a panel, partially hidden behind a trash can. Said cat turns out to be Streaky.
• Clark Kenting:
  • How can Kara hide who she is? Superman has an idea. She… Wait for it… will wear glasses!
  • In issue #4, Linda puts her Supergirl costume on but forgets taking her glasses off. Lena recognizes her immediately.
• Combat Tentacles: Lex's ship –"the Mighty Lexsoar 7"- is armed with metallic tentacles, forged from psycho-reactive metals. The more their prey struggles, the tighter they squeeze.
• The Dark Side: Principal Pickelmeyer encourages Belinda -who is pretty much an evil or at the very least jerkass counterpart of Supergirl- to succumb to her petty, mad and mean-spirited side.
  Principal Pickelmeyer: Why should you change for an ungrateful world? Why should you pretend to be something you are not? Embrace your true self. Embrace your anger and spite and jealousy! Focus your emotions, and you can make the world change for you.
• Denser and Wackier: As the former and concurrent Supergirl books were more serious, "Cosmic Adventures" is a Call-Back to the Silver Age and revels in craziness and hilarity, featuring evil duplicates, dimensional gates opening everywhere, time-travelling hijinks, mad science and a main character who often wonders why her world is so strange. For all of these reasons the book is considered a cult classic.
• Didn't Think This Through: Belinda Zee uses her "Superior Vision" on Streaky (Supergirl's pet cat), and accidentally turns him into a saber tooth tiger.
  Superior Girl: That was not my best plan.
• Disapproving Look: When Superman asks why she came to Earth, Kara told that her evil, awful and abusive parents hated her and chained her to a rocket. Supermain raised an eyebrow and stared silently. Then Kara told the real story.
• Disaster Dominoes: Linda dozes off during Science Class, gets caught and sentenced to write lines on a blackboard. She breaks the blackboard and the wall, and looks for tools to fix it. She falls out a box storing a collection of minerals -including a chunk of Kryptonite-, which scatter everywhere. Linda steps back, trips over and starts an overhead projector. The light projector combined with the Kryptonite radiation creates a Linda's duplicate. Linda believes. She's wrong.
• Dodgeball Is Hell: Shortly after entering Stanhope Elementary, Linda has to play dodgeball. And since all her classmates are hateful jerkasses, they gang up on her. Linda lampshades she is in fact taking damage despite being invulnerable.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength:
  • In the first chapter, Kara breaks her desk when she puts her hand on it.
  • And in the second chapter she puts her hand through the wall when she is writing on a chalkboard.
• Dog Pile of Doom: An army of Superior Girl's minions leap onto Supragirl. However she explodes out of them.
• Domino Mask: Superior Girl wears a purple domino mask.
• Doppelganger Link: Linda can briefly hear Belinda's thoughts -much to her disgust- when her jerkass duplicate is turned into one statue.
• Eating Lunch Alone: Early on, Linda eats lunch alone because she is shunned and bullied the whole time by cruel schoolmates. Later Lena joins her, but both girls are still shunned by everyone else.
• Emotion Eater: Supergirl's communicator in reality is an emotion-collecting machine which absorbs emotions and feelings with the purpose of amplifying Mr. Mxyzptlk's power.
  Mr. Mxyzptlk: A little piece of home to pour your heart out to. Days and weeks and months of raw pre-teen emotions churning and bubbling their way into my precious emotion-collecting machine.
• The End of the World as We Know It: Mr. Mxyzptlk tries to destroy the third dimension together with several Reality planes to become more powerful.
• Enemy Mine: Supergirl, Lena and Belinda join forces momentarily to try to stop Streaky.
• Enemy Without: A bizarre accident creates Belinda, Linda's evil duplicate who wants to make Linda suffer.
• Engineered Public Confession: Belinda asks Linda how she is doing. Linda starts complaining about her shallow, petty and bad-smelling schoolmates and teachers, not knowing she is being recorded.
  Linda: I didn't mean it that way... I have a really, really keen sense of smell is all... I didn't know she was recording me...
• Entitled Bastard: Belinda spends the whole school year bullying Linda and trying to drive her and Lena apart. Finally she snaps, attacks the school and Supergirl, steals her inter-dimensional communicator and overloads it with her out-of-control emotions. Her actions and choices lead to her being turned into a sentient statue, a development which she blames Supergirl for. Still, when Supergirl and Lena start arguing, Belinda complains about helping her not being a priority. And she calls them jerks.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Belinda thinks that Supergirl is an Attention Whore because Belinda is one.
  Belinda: You think you're so important! You think you're the center of the universe!
  Supergirl: Uh... Not really.
  Belinda: You totally do! I'm you and I know what you think! You act all sweet and nice, but inside your head, you're an arrogant little angel prancing through the sky on a stupid magical fantasy horse, acting like you're better than everyone!
• Evil Plan: Mr. Mxyzptlk almost turns one entire universe into fuel for a machine meant to make him completely omnipotent.
• Exotic Eye Designs: During the Grand Finale, Kara's pupils become square after absorbing cosmic power. After losing her power, her eyes go back to normal.
• Eye Beams: Linda uses her heat vision to warm up her cold food.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • Stanhope's teachers and students regard "super-heroically challenged" students as inferior.
    Linda: Um... Ms. Bigglestone? Aren't we all equal and stuff? I mean, just because we're not super-powered doesn't meant we should be treated any differently...
    Teacher: I'm sorry, but no. That is incorrect. Your fate, which I am here to ensure you embrace, is one of mediocrity and fear. As non-super-powered citizens, you may stand back and witness the majesty of your betters. Or, perhaps, become pawns in their super-powered contests. Either way, what you do is of little importance.
  • The other side of the coin is Lena and her brother. She hates super-powered beings, especially if they are aliens.
    Supergirl: Lena...
    Lena: All these months... All these months you've been lying to me! Laughing at me!
    Supergirl: I've never laughed at you.
    Lena: Liar! You're an alien! A super-powered oppressor! You're the very definiton of evil and you ruined my life!
    Supergirl: Lena... I'm still me! I'm your best friend!
    Lena: Not anymore... Not now that I know the truth! You're my enemy now. I have no choice but to destroy you!
    Supergirl: But why? I'm the same person you've been friends with for months! Why do you have to hate me?!
    Lena: Because your kind offends the natural order! You float through the sky as if you own it! You change the course of rivers without a thought to the consequences! Your very existence undermines the purity of true human achievement! Superheroes are nothing but a bunch of glory-hogging tyrants, and I will not rest until I see you humiliated and destroyed for what you did to my...!
• Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: Lena Thorul proves she has been listening too much to her big brother when she rants about super-beings trivializing the effort of normal humans only by existing. She even attempts to gun down her best friend when she finds out Linda is a Kryptonian.
• Fiery Redhead: Lena is a very volatile redhead with a hair-trigger temper.
• Flight: Superman and Supergirl can fly. Belinda also does.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In issue #4, Lena reads the beginning of a sign 'Headquarters of the Interplanetary Multidimensional…' In Action Comics #277 we see the same sign completely: Headquarters of the Interplanetary Multidimensional Practical Jokers Club. And their leader is Mr. Mxyzptlk.
  • In the Finale, Lena mumbles "Beware the Red Skies".
• Friendless Background: Linda felt very alone and without friends until she met Lena.
  Linda: It's just... I'm so alone, y'know? It's so hard to make friends... and I'm not sure I even like the people in this school anyway.
• Friendly Enemy: Lena is Linda's best friend. She's also Lex Luthor's sister. She switches between loving Linda and trying to kill her.
• Funny Background Event: In issue #4, while Supergirl and Lena argue, Belinda is being mauled by Streaky in the background.
• Girlish Pigtails: Worn by Linda. They make her seem younger.
• Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: Belinda points at Lena during an argument in the third issue. She is most definitely being intentionally rude.
• Glasses-and-Ponytail Coverup: When she creates her Linda Lee identity, Kara wears glasses (Superman's idea) and her hair in pigtails (her idea).
• Golden Super Mode: Linda is surrounded by a golden flaming aura when she is connected to Mr. Mxyzptlk's machine and becomes a goddess briefly.
• Good Is Boring: Belinda thinks Linda's "I wanna be a hero" thing is not cool.
• Gotta Get Your Head Together: Linda clutches her head when she freaks out after breaking a wall.
• Grand Finale: The two-part story "Graduation Day" tied up all ongoing plotlines and featured a battle for the fate of the universe.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: Supergirl went back in time to save her school in the third issue. She succeeded, but no one ever remembers it since she changed the past. At the very least, she told her main timeline's alternate self her story.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Lena goes ballistic every time Linda ever hints they could make more friends. Ironically, Lena believes Belinda is jealous from their friendship.
  Linda: Well, we could try to make some friends. I mean, we always sit as far away from everyone as possible. Which, you know... kinda means we're the ones banishing ourselves...
  Lena: What?! I thought I was your friend!
  Linda: Uh... You are. I just meant—
  Lena: Then what do you need them for?
  Linda: I just thought that maybe...
  Lena: My friendship isn't enough? Is that it?
• Green Rocks: Belinda is created after some Green Kryptonite radiation hits Linda after passing through a light projector.
  • Red Kryptonite now causes humans to develop random superpowers.
  • Streaky got his powers from a piece of Green K that Linda had treated with chemicals then been electrified after being thrown into overhead cables.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: You never know what will set Lena off. Never. She may take anything as a grave insult because of her "Me, me, me" complex.
• Hate Sink: The student body at Stanhope pretty much exist to be this trope. Nearly all of Linda's classmates are absolutely horrible to her on a daily basis, and get even nastier towards her when they hear her rightfully venting about how awful they are. Whereas Belinda and Lena both have some humanizing qualities, the other students just exist to be assholes.
• Head Desk: Linda bangs her head against her desk after Belinda plays a tape where Linda is complaining about her schoolmates over the school intercom.
• Heel Realization: Lena is implied to have had one in the last issue when she finds out it's Mxyzptlk's fault (possibly) that Supergirl's rocket destroyed her brother's robot and got him caught by Superman.
• Hellish Pupils: Mischievous reality-warper Mister Mxyzptlk has square pupils and golden irises.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: At the beginning Kara tells a terrible tale in where her parents tied her to a rocket and banished her to Earth because she asked her mother to pass the salt. It was a lie, but the truth is still both terrible and funny.
  Kara: Fine! I guess I don't need a life. Right? I guess locking me away in a dungeon is next?
  Alura: I don't know. We really don't have room for a dungeon, sweetie.
• Hive Mind: Streaky kidnaps the whole school and puts them inside a "mass-to-psychic energy conversion spectro-globe" in where their minds merge.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Mr. Mxyzptlk manipulates events to bring Kara to Earth, collects her emotions during a year and builds a machine based on Kara's Kryptonian biology to process them and make him all-powerful. However, because his machine is based on Kara's biology and powered with her emotions, she can go after him and claim the power he wanted to seize.
  Supergirl: Your machine utilized and magnified my emotions... my energies... it never occurred to you that I could follow you? That I could claim this power?
• Hollywood Darkness: In issue #4, Linda, Lena and Belinda are standing in a dark room. Their eyes are visible and blue lines outline their silhouettes.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Most of the students at Stanhope think Belinda Zee is awesome, when she's really a petty, manipulative bully. Even if she knows how to put on a pleasant, friendly attitude around everyone who isn't Linda or Lena, in the second issue she blatantly gloats in front of a lot of how kids how she is absolutely determined to make sure Linda remains miserable and friendless. This does nothing to damage her popularity despite the fact that to anyone else Belinda would come across as deranged and obsessed with some random girl (and her nostril size).
• Humongous Mecha: At the beginning Lex is fighting Superman with a giant robot.
• I Believe I Can Fly: At the beginning, only Superman and Supergirl can fly. Then Linda is cloned, and her clone flies. Later a bunch of students gain powers, and most of them can fly. And then Supergirl meets the imps of the Fifth Dimension...
• Imagine Spot: Linda fantasizes the whole time:
  • The first time, she imagines dozens of volleyballs bouncing off her invulnerable body.
  • Linda constantly dreams that she is Moon Supergirl and stops Moon criminals.
  • She also dreams that she gets to be a big hero and everyone will forget about Belinda and her bullying antics.
• In a Single Bound: Kara leaps above several buildings when she tries to run away from a mob of reporters.
• Instant Costume Change:
  • In issue #4, Supergirl spins to change clothes instantly when Lena knocks on the door.
  • Belinda instantly changes clothes when she first becomes "Superior Girl".
• Irrational Hatred: Lena Thorul hates super-heroes with a passion (and she does not change her mind when she finds out her best friend is Supergirl). Her reasons are extremely generic, though, and they differ with each rant (super-beings supposedly being jerkasses to normal humans, their powers undermining human achievement...), boiling down to Lena parroting her big brother's opinions and lies.
• I Take Offense to That Last One: Several bullies pick on Linda, calling her "dorky", "big-headed", "egomaniac", "monkey-looking", "goofy", "crazy"… and joking that "her nostrils must be at least a foot in diameter, like caverns leading to a lost world". She doesn't appreciate any of their insults, but the last one sets her off.
  Student: Her nostrils must be at least a foot in diameter! Like caverns leading to a lost world...
  Linda: Okay... For the record, just so everyone knows, I have petite nostrils! They're tiny and cute!
• It's All About Me:
  • When Linda suggests trying to make some friends, Lena explodes: Linda must not need or want more friends than her!
    Lena: Banished.
    Linda: Well, we could try to make some friends. I mean, we always sit as far away from everyone as possible. Which, you know... kinda means we're the ones banishing ourselves...
    Lena: What?! I thought I was your friend!
    Linda: Uh... You are. I just meant—
    Lena: Then what do you need them for?
    Linda: I just thought that maybe...
    Lena: My friendship isn't enough? Is that it?
  • Belinda seriously believes everything Linda does is in reaction to her and everyone talks about her the whole time.
    Belinda: Oh... Is that what you're talking about? I presumed you must have been discussing how awesome I am. And for the record, it's not a rumor. I truly am that awesome.
    Lena: Yeah, well, we happen to NOT be discussing you at all.
    Belinda: How strange. It must be very sad being you and not adoring me. I simply can't imagine.
  • After the final battle, typically Lex blames Superman for Lena Heel–Face Turn rather then the fact that he lied to her to make himself look good.
• It's All My Fault: Supergirl blames herself when Belinda is turned into a crystal statue, even though it happened because of Belinda's own actions. Kara thinks she should have stopped her... somehow.
  Supergirl: I should have stopped you somehow! I should have saved you! This is all my fault!
• It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Superman tells his cousin that she has to keep her powers secret and learn to control them before becoming Supergirl because his enemies would attack her.
• It Works Better with Bullets: During the Grand Finale Lena points her Arm Cannon at Linda, opens fire… and learns that Mr. Mxyzptlk magically turned the ammo into flowers.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Sibling example. Lex tries to save his sister's life. However, Lena’s mind is caught in a feedback loop, torn between her loyalty to him and her friend with Kara. Lex tries to reinforce her hatred, but the strain might destroy her mind, so he lets her go, although it means that she will hate him.
• Jerkass: Most of Linda's classmates are honestly rather horrible to her, and they somehow have the nerve to be pissed off when she's heard venting about what shallow, petty, smelly people they are.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk:
  • Belinda seems to try and apologize for bullying Kara... But it was to bait her into ranting about how the whole class bullies her while she records the whole discussion, before broadcasting it in class to humiliate Kara further.
  • Mr. Mxyzptlk says he got heart-broken when Alura grounded Kara... and then he explains he took her from her parents because it suited his plans.
• The Joy of First Flight: When Kara jumps upwards and finds out she's floating, she's smiling in delight... until she starts falling down.
• Kid Sidekick: Superman suggests Kara could help him protect Earth... but she needs to learn about planet Earth and master her powers before becoming Supergirl. Regardless, Linda hates being called Superman’s sidekick because she is his partner.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: In the third episode an alternate Supergirl fades into oblivion as shouting she has to warn her counterpart about...
  Supergirl: Oh no! I'm too late! The timeline where I go back in time never happened! I'm fading from existence! Now I'll never be able to tell myself that the Principal is secretly—
• Kind Hearted Cat Lover: As soon as Linda sees Streaky, she gushes about him.
• Kryptonite Factor: Kara finds green and red kryptonite during the story.
• Kryptonite Is Everywhere: Linda's Science teacher keeps samples of Kryptonite. Justified because Stanhope’s teachers are imps from the Fifth Dimension playing pranks on Linda. Later a Red-K meteor showers fragments of Red kryptonite all over Midvale.
• Last of His Kind: Superman believes he is the last survivor of his race... until Kara collides with Luthor's robot and he finds out that he has a long-lost cousin.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Mxyzptlk and his kind initially found messing with Linda as part of a game they were playing together. But then he got greedy, broke the rules (never take the game too far), trapped his kind in a separate dimension, and tried to gain power for himself. After he's defeated and poofs back home in humiliation, his kind punish him by sending him to the 1st dimension, which is just a flat land akin to a kid's scribble drawing.
• Lighter and Softer: This series was considerably wackier, funnier and light-hearted than the then-ongoing Supergirl book, featuring crazy Silver Age-esque antics instead of Supergirl getting depressed because she believes she is being coerced into murdering someone.
• Living with the Villain: Linda and Lena share a room in Stanhope Elementary's boarding house. Linda is aware of Lena's real identity, but she considers her a friend regardless. However, Lena hates all super-heroess -thanks to her brother's influence-, and she will blow her top -and the whole school- if she finds out her roomate's secret identity.
• Loners Are Freaks: Linda and Lena are Stanhope School's pariahs. Linda suggests maybe people shun them because they always sit as far away from everyone as possible.
• Made Out to Be a Jerkass:
  • Linda Lee's classmates glare at her when they hear her recorded voice calling them "shallow, petty, mean and bad-smelling". That would be understandable, except that she was venting after spending several weeks putting up with their bullying, their mocking and their taunts.
  • Lena Thorul seriously believes that Superman made her brother out to be a criminal. Yes, seriously.
• Meaningful Name: Supergirl's alternate self is named Supragirl for a reason:
  Landry Walker: Oh, and just a quick word on the process behind picking the name Supragirl... Supra can mean essentially the same thing as "Super", but can also indicate something that came previously. Seemed appropriate.
• Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: When Superman visits Luthor's cell to inform him that his scheme to blackmail the warden into letting him out has been busted, Lex smugly gloats he remains in prison because he is choosing to do so, and he will get out whenever he wants.
• Milking the Giant Cow: Linda throws her hands up when she becomes fed up with her schoolmates' bullying.
• A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: When Belinda is crystallized, Kara can briefly "hear" her thoughts...whose nature elicits an "Ew" from Kara.
• Mugging the Monster: Bullying and mocking Linda is Stanhope's favorite pastime. They don't know that she is Supergirl.
• Mundane Utility:
  • Linda uses her heat vision to reheat her lunch, but she accidentally sets it on fire.
  • She also uses her freeze breath to keep a tub of ice cream cold.
• Never My Fault:
  • Belinda steals Supergirl's quasi-space communicator -right after hearing she should never have it-, activates it, overloads it with her explosive and unstable emotions, and gets turned into a sentient crystal statue. All of it was her doing. And she blames Supergirl.
  • Lex blames Superman for Lena hating him, even though Superman has nothing to do with it.
    Superman: Lex...
    Lex: Just take me back to prison.
• Never the Selves Shall Meet: Supergirl coexisting at the same time as her future self stops her powers from working and she has to rely on a Legion flight ring.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: In issue #3, Linda tries to gain new powers combining different types of Kryptonite. She gains a bunch of useless powers until she gets something useful after several attempts:
  Supergirl: You gotta... be kidding. The power to overcook waffles...? How is that even a power?
• New Transfer Student: In the first chapter, Kara enters Stanhope Boarding School.
  Principal Pyckelmeyer: Now, even though we're so very early into the school year, we already have a new transfer student... One who apparently couldn't be bothered to enroll in a timely manner, and instead has managed to disrupt my entire afternoon.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: Supergirl's invulnerability works in weird ways, but Kara is thankful for it.
  Supergirl: Thank you, invulnerability. You are my very bestest friend...
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Linda gets this look when she accidentally brings down a wall.
    Linda: OHNOOHNOOHNO! What was I thinking?
  • Shortly after she realizes her duplicate is an Evil Twin:
    Supergirl: Ohmygosh... She's a super-villain!
  • In the third issue, the Principal asks Linda to display her super-powers. Linda's reaction?
    Linda: My... super powers? Gulp.
  • Linda gets this expression when Lena catches her wearing her Supergirl costume.
  • Lena has one in the sixth issue when Mr. Mxyzptlk implies he directed Supergirl's rocket to smash through Lex's robot at the beginning of the series.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Mr. Mxyzptlk attempts to break down several whole dimensions and reality planes in order to power himself up.
• Only Sane Man: Linda is the only Stanhope student who is not lacking in logic, common sense or human empathy. The rest are jerks or loonies.
• Pet the Dog: Belinda erases Lena's memory of the past hour, where she discovered that Linda and Supergirl were the same person, saving Linda and preventing the two girls' friendship from being ruined.
• Pietà Plagiarism: Supergirl carries Lena in her arms after she gets gravely injured.
• Pocket Dimension: When Krypton exploded, Argo was shunted by the shockwave into a pocket dimension known as quasi-space.
• The Pollyanna: Mr. Mxyzptlk thought he could use Kara's grief and sadness to fuel his emotion machine, so he took her away from her family and got her stranded on Earth. Then he disguised himself as her middle school principal in order to see that she was properly bullied, and got annoyed because her bloody-minded determination to remain optimistic and see the bright side overcame the amount of crap he heaped on her.
• Portal Door: A glowing space-time vortex opens in Linda and Lena's dorm, and a future Supergirl flies out of it.
• Powered Armor: Lena and her brother wear green-and-purple powered armors.
• Power Gives You Wings: During the Grand Finale, Kara grows flaming wings after absorbing huge quantities of cosmic energy.
• Power Glows: The Kryptonite chunk which empowers Streaky gives off a white glow.
• Pressure Point: Parodied. Belinda cuts off Lena's "Aliens are Evil" speech by poking in her head. Seeing her friend knocked out, Linda demands to know what Belinda did. Belinda claims it was an "ancient Kryptonian memory erasure pressure point" to wipe Lena's mind out. Linda scoffs at the notion, and Belinda admits she made it up on the spot.
  Linda: Why did you do that!?
  Belinda: It's an ancient Kryptonian memory erasure pressure point. By tapping her skull in that precise spot at that exact pressure, I've erased every memory that she had of the last hour.
  Linda: (annoyed) There's no such thing as an ancient Kryptonian memory erasure pressure point.
  Belinda: (shrugging) True enough.
• Punched Across the Room: Streaky punches Belinda across the room and through a wall.
• Ramming Always Works: Kara's rocket accidentally smashes through a giant robot, destroying it.
• Rapid-Fire "No!": Linda breaks out in a panic when she accidentally puts her arms through her classroom's blackboard and wall, thus jeopardizing her secret identity:
  Supergirl: "OHNOOHNOOHNO! What was I thinking?!"
• Reality Warper: The imps of the Fifth Dimension can alter reality and make anything real.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning:
  • Played with in the first issue. Kara is harassed by reporters as soon as she arrives on Earth. Her eyes give a red glow, which usually is a sign that she's about to blast something. However it is her X-ray vision which starts acting up.
  • Streaky's eyes glow red right before he shoots his Eye Beams.
  • The eyes of the denizens of the Fifth Dimension blow red when they are about to punish Mxyzptlk.
• The Reveal: In issue #6, Mr. Mxyzptlk reveals that he was behind everything, including Kara getting an one-way trip to Earth.
  Mr. Mxyzptlk: Oh. I totally love this part! I get to tell you all about me and my clever plans!
• Reverse Polarity: Lena stops a core reactor from reaching critical mass and exploding by reversing the polarity:
  Lena: Atomic batteries to power... Reversing polarity of the neutron flow... activating quantum dimensional recall signal... Now!
• Rubber Man: When using red kryptonite to give herself more powers, Linda ends up with the ability to stretch her toes.
• Running Gag: Supergirl often imagines her relatives tying her to a rocket and launching her into space.
  Supergirl: Why are people always launching me into space?!!
• Sadist Teacher: Linda's teachers appear to delight in making her life Hell, mocking her and putting her down the whole time They do. They are in fact Mr. Mxyzptlk and other imps from the Fifth Dimension. Most of them seem to think their “pranks” are funny, but Mxy deliberately wants to make Supergirl miserable.
• Saving the World: Supergirl manages -with help of Supragirl and Lena- to save the third and fifth dimensions.
• School Is Murder: Stanhope Elementary. Even if you survive the mad scientists, super-villainous students, trickster gods masquerading as teachers and mean super-cats with burning claws, you might still be exterminated by the Eldritch Abomination who is posing as the Principal while figuring out how to destroy your whole plane of existence.
• Secondary Color Nemesis:
  • Luthor wears purple and green. He also paints his robots purple and green.
  • Lena's Powered Armor is green and purple.
  • Superior Girl's costume is indigo and burgundy.
• Secret Identity Change Trick:
  • In the beginning of issue #3 Linda takes advantage of an argument between Lena and Belinda to slink away.
  • Later Linda pretends she is being dragged away by an invisible/telekinetic super-human.
• Security Cling: Supergirl leans on her cousin's chest while Luthor tries to save Lena. Superman wraps an around her shoulders.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: After gaining time-travel powers in issue #3, Linda goes back in time to stop an asteroid.
• Shoot the Dog: In issue #4, Streaky appears to be de-stabilizing a reactor core to blow the school up, so Lena decides to shoot him. However Supergirl stops her.
  Supergirl: You were trying to shoot the cat!
  Lena: I was stopping the cat from destroying us all!
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: During her battle with a certain imp, Kara makes clear that she's had it with him.
  Mr. Mxyzptlk: I'm Mxyzptlk! Holder of the five keys that unlock the fifty-two layers of Hyper-reality! My mind has become one with all ten possible dimensions! Who are you to challenge me?!
  Supergirl: I'm Supergirl! Defender of Earth! You humiliated me in school. You attacked my friends! You took me from my family! I have all the power you ever dreamed of! My Kryptonian cells are supercharged with the light of a million billion suns! And I'm not going to let you destroy the 3rd dimension!
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Lena is a green-eyed redhead and one of the main characters.
• Skipping School: Linda skipped school after two weeks of humiliations and bullying. She intended to find a way to return home but it didn't work.
• Smug Snake: Belinda is a smug, arrogant and scheming bully who is determined to ruin Supergirl's life. However she is too arrogant and prone to not think things through, so her plans often backfire. She's brainwashed into acting like a duck in the second issue, and in the fourth issue she gets attacked by Streaky the Super-Cat. She's then turned into a statue by Mr. Mxyzptlk in issue six.
• The Smurfette Principle: Ms. Bigglestone is Mr. Mxyzptlk’s only female ally.
• Spaceship Slingshot Stunt: Linda thinks she can fly high into soace and use gravitational forces to slingshot her back into Quasi-Space but just ends up falling when she tries to fly.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: When trying to use red kryptonite to get better powers, Linda gets the ability to communicate with fish.
• Stable Time Loop: Alternate Supergirl (Supragirl from now on) travels to the 30th century where she meets Supergirl, who loans Comet the Superhorse to Supragirl. Then Supragirl goes back in time, and leaves Comet. Supergirl adopts him as her pet and ten centuries later she meets Supragirl and loans her horse to her alternate self before Supragirl goes back in time.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: In the beginning of the third issue Lena is so busy berating Belinda that she doesn't notice Linda sneaking away.
• Stylistic Suck: When a character is trapped in the second dimension, the art intentionally looks like children crayon doodles.
• Super-Breath: Linda uses her freezing breath to freeze ice cream.
• Superhero School: Stanhope Elementary becomes one when most of the students get superpowers. With the school running a remedial class for kids with no powers and assigning the more powerful kids to a Super Team.
• Super-Reflexes: Invoked by Linda when she decides she needs to work on improving her reaction time after colliding with the ground.
  Linda: Must work... on powers of... stopping!
• Super-Senses: In addition to super-hearing and several types of super-vision, Kara mentions she has a very keen sense of smell.
• Super-Speed: Linda is super-fast. Unfortunately she hasn't learnt how to stop herself from crashing into things.
• Super-Strength: Linda accidentally breaks things -such like desks or walls- before learning how to control her inhuman strength.
• Super-Toughness: Linda is nearly invulnerable. Unfortunately, her power tends to fail at inopportune -and comical- times.
• Super Supremacist: Most of students and teachers in Stanhope Elementary gain powers due to a strange radioactive meteorite, and they become total "I'm better than you because I have powers" jerkasses right away. Students with no powers are put into a special class in order to prepare them for their future lives as cannon fodder or innocent casualties in the battles between super-powerful beings. Ironically, the most powerful superhuman in the school is the one who doesn't adhere to that school of thought and is even pretending to be a normal human.
  Linda Lee: Um... Ms. Bigglestone? Aren't we all equal and stuff? I mean, just because we're not super-powered doesn't mean we should be treated any differently...
  Ms. Bigglestone: I'm sorry, but no. That is incorrect. Your fate, which I am here to ensure you embrace, is one of mediocrity and fear. As non-super-powered citizens, you may stand back and witness the majesty of your betters. Or, perhaps, become pawns in their super-powered contests. Either way, what you do is of little importance.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial:
  • In issue #1, Linda accidentally breaks a desk in half:
    Linda: That was... an accident! I just put my hand on it like any normal human would. Because I'm normal and human! I am!
  • Linda tries to explain why she dozed off during Science Class. Unforunately she can't talk about being a hero:
    Linda: I'm sorry, Mr. Kretch. I just had a long night... a very long night doing normal teenage Earth girl things. Yes!
  • She hears someone stating that Super Speech is one of her superpowers, and she shouts:
    Supergirl: WHAT?! I don't have super powers! I'm totally from Earth, and I like Earth things and...
  • After Belinda begins imitating a duck:
    Linda: Okay. The planet Earth officially scares me.
    Lena: That's a weird thing to say.
    Linda: Uh... It's an expression from... Kansas. My very normal hometown.
  • Belinda suggests there is something super about Linda...
    Belinda: See, I'm like, super popular. And the only thing super about Linda is...
    Linda: Nothing! There is nothing super about me in any way, shape or form! Really!
• Taken for Granite: Belinda is turned to crystal once Mr. Mxyzptlk's device completely absorbs her emotions. She is still sentient and can broadcast her thoughts.
• Taking the Bullet: Subverted. Superior Girl fires her Eye Beams at Supergirl and Streaky leaps into the path of the blast. However, Belinda's Superior Vision mutates Supergirl's pet, turning him into Streaky the Super-Saber-toothed tiger.
• Technobabble: This universe runs on mad pseudo-science.
  Supergirl: I bet I just need to calculate the relative orbits of Argo and Earth. Then, if I can fly high enough to make it into orbit, I can probably use the gravitational forces of this planet to slingshot me back into quasi-space! It's foolproof!
• Telepathy: Belinda somehow is able to broadcast her thoughts after being turned to stone.
  Supergirl: Belinda! I can hear your voice in my head! I can hear your very thoughts! ... Ugh. Ew.
• Tempting Fate: Guess what smashes into Lex Luthor's robot after he tells the next words?
  Lex: You see this robot was built specifically to negate your vaunted Kryptonian strength. It would take a rocket forged in another dimension to...
• Tender Tears: Kara weeps when she finds out that her cousin doesn't know how to get her to home.
• This Is My Human: Streaky the Supercat runs into Supergirl and adopts her as its pet. Throughout the story he proves to be quite fond and proud of his human.
  Streaky's Log: "The giver of these powers, a simple biped by the name of Supergirl, interests me. I have decided to adopt her as my pet."
• Throat Light: White light pours out of the eyes and mouths of the imps from the Fifth Dimension when they are about to shed their human disguises.
• Thrown Down a Well: The inhabitants of the Fifth Dimension punish Mxyzptlk by banishing him to the Second Dimension forever.
• Time Skip: Several months pass between third and fourth issue.
• Time Travel: A Supergirl's alternate version gets time-travelling powers.
• Time-Travel Tense Trouble: Supergirl's talk with her time-travelling alternate self is headache-inducing.
  Supragirl: Anyway, when the asteroid destroyed the school and gave everyone super powers, and Lena and Belinda were making everything crazy, I had to use the asteroid fragments to get time travel powers!
  Supergirl: None of that ever happened!
  Supragirl: That's because I'm on my way back in time to stop it from ever happening!
  Supergirl: But... Why are you here?
  Supragirl: I don't really know. All I know is what you told me...
  Supergirl: What? I didn't...
  Supragirl: Oh... You don't tell me about it until we meet in the 30th century. That's when I got this cool belt!
  Supergirl: Right. And is that where you got the horse?
  Supragirl: Comet? Oh yeah, he belongs to you in the future. You loaned him to me.
• Too Fast to Stop: In the second issue, Kara is flying downwards so quick that she is unable to stop herself from plummeting into the hard soil. As crawling out of the crater she has just caused, Supergirl grumbles "Must work... on powers of stopping!"
• Translator Microbes: When taking a Spanish class, Linda is surprised artificial translator components haven't rendered multiple languages moot.
• Triple Shifter: Linda dozes off during Science Class because she spent the whole night saving cows.
• Troubled Fetal Position: Linda pulls her legs up and hugs them as she tries to convince herself she doesn't need any friends.
• Undead Tax Exemption: It is not explained how Kara got herself fake birth records in order to attend Stanhope Elementary.
• Unreliable Narrator: At the beginning, Kara tells a tale of abusive parents banishing her to Earth because she requested seasoning. Superman gives her an "Okay, now tell me the real story" stare and she relents.
• Un-Sorcerer: A Red-Kryptonite meteor has everyone in Stanhope Elementary suddenly gaining powers... everyone but Lena Thorul, who loudly declares she doesn't want superpowers and she hates super-beings anyway. It doesn't help that her suddenly-metahumans schoolmates immediately put on costumes and behave like jerks.
• Unwitting Pawn: Multiple:
  • Mentioned. In order to leave her classroom, Linda pretends she is being abducted by an invisible superhero and she is "just an unwitting pawn in a larger game".
  • Belinda is Mr. Mxyzptlk's ignorant pawn.
• Up, Up and Away!: Linda puts an arm forward when she flies.
• Villainous Breakdown: When Linda's mom (who is also technically her mom) doesn't recognize her, Belinda breaks down into tears and starts screaming she's "Number One."
• Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World: Linda has powers to make almost anything. Except fitting. She fails to make friends at the beginning.
  Linda: What am I even doing here? I'm from a distant planet with super smart technology! I already know stuff! Superman says I need socialization. Yeah, right. That's going great. I just want to be a superhero. I don't need any friends...
• We Used to Be Friends: Zigzagged. Linda and Lena are friends. When Lena finds out that Linda is Supergirl, she breaks their friendship off and tries to kill Linda. Then she loses her memories and they are friends again. Then she gets them back and goes back to want to kill Linda. At the end, she lets her hatred go. On Linda's side, though, she never stops from considering Lena her friend.
  Supergirl: Lena... I'm still me! I'm your best friend!
  Lena: Not anymore... Not now that I know the truth! You're my enemy now. I have no choice but to destroy you!
  * Later*
  Supergirl: Do you still want to kill me?
  Lena: Don't be an idiot. You're my best friend, remember?
  Supergirl: I thought you hated me now.
  Lena: No.. I was just... angry. I don't even know why I was so angry. I wasn't being fair. You really are my best friend.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The Taken for Granite Belinda vanishes in the last few pages.
• Writing Lines: Linda is sentenced to write "I will not whine about my life in Science Class" after being caught dozing off. She tries to use her Super-Speed to get it done in no time, but unfortunately she puts her hand through the blackboard... and the wall.
• X-Ray Vision: Kara accidentally sees through the clothes of a bunch of pressmen. Not wanting to see their underwear, she cries.
• You Are Not Alone: At the end of the first chapter, Kara gets a present from Superman, and a note saying "You are not alone — S"
• You Can't Go Home Again: Linda gets stuck in Earth because neither she nor Superman knows how to travel across a dimensional barrier.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: In issue #3, Supergirl uses a meteor rock to try to gain new powers, but most of them are hilariously useless.
  Supergirl: You gotta... be kidding. The power to overcook waffles...? How is that even a power?

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Supergirl: I'm Supergirl! Defender of the Earth!

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