One reply on “Supergirl 2 — The Secret of the Super-Orphan!”
You know I love Supergirl, but even I flinch at some of her early stories at the Midvale orphanage. I “get” that she doesn’t want to be adopted too soon, lest her adoptive parents discover her powers, spoiling Superman’s idea that she will be his “secret weapon” (an odd idea in the first place) since Ma and Pa Kent knew of his powers from his earliest time on Earth), but the idea that kids at the orphanage must “perform” like dancing bears in order to get people to want them is almost repulsive. Supergirl’s sympathy for Timmy is admirable, but the lengths that she goes to, in order to get the Wilsons to want him, are pretty far out, from the tunnel connecting their farm to Italy, to making Timmy an amazing magician, in virtually no time at all. Also, the Wilsons deciding “Oh, we have a nice new home in Midvale now, rather than our farm, so we should pick a different boy to adopt, since Timmy is “just a country boy” (maybe he’d grow up to be John Denver!) is beyond callous. Does no one at the orphanage vet these potential parents to make sure they’re really serious people? I can hardly wait until the stories in which Supergirl follows the path of Superboy/Superman, with a snoopy love interest who tries to reveal her secret identity, or a merman love interest, or adventures in the 30th Century with the Legion of Super-Heroes.
One reply on “Supergirl 2 — The Secret of the Super-Orphan!”
You know I love Supergirl, but even I flinch at some of her early stories at the Midvale orphanage. I “get” that she doesn’t want to be adopted too soon, lest her adoptive parents discover her powers, spoiling Superman’s idea that she will be his “secret weapon” (an odd idea in the first place) since Ma and Pa Kent knew of his powers from his earliest time on Earth), but the idea that kids at the orphanage must “perform” like dancing bears in order to get people to want them is almost repulsive. Supergirl’s sympathy for Timmy is admirable, but the lengths that she goes to, in order to get the Wilsons to want him, are pretty far out, from the tunnel connecting their farm to Italy, to making Timmy an amazing magician, in virtually no time at all. Also, the Wilsons deciding “Oh, we have a nice new home in Midvale now, rather than our farm, so we should pick a different boy to adopt, since Timmy is “just a country boy” (maybe he’d grow up to be John Denver!) is beyond callous. Does no one at the orphanage vet these potential parents to make sure they’re really serious people? I can hardly wait until the stories in which Supergirl follows the path of Superboy/Superman, with a snoopy love interest who tries to reveal her secret identity, or a merman love interest, or adventures in the 30th Century with the Legion of Super-Heroes.