BRAVE AND THE BOLD #63; DC Comics; Dec. 1965-Jan. 1966; George Kashdan,
editor; featuring Supergirl and Wonder Woman in "The Revolt of the Super-Chicks!"
On the cover by Jim Mooney (Supergirl's regular artist at the time),
Supergirl is trying to halt a hurtling missile, but Wonder Woman is fastened to a
nearby flying disk and her body is emitting Kryptonite rays which are making
Supergirl distinctly queasy. Down in the corner of the cover, a mushy-faced
figure is boasting, "MULTI-FACE talking! I've turned WONDER WOMAN into a
KRYPTONITE BOOBY-TRAP! She'll be the death of SUPERGIRL yet!" And the cover
caption promises, "IT'S THE LIVING END! TWO SUPER-CHICKS ON A NEW KICK!
SUPERGIRL-- A PARIS MODEL! WONDER WOMAN-- THE TOAST OF THE JET SET!"
Review by Bill Henley (toast of the rubber-band-airplane set)
The interior story is written by Bob Haney, the regular B & B teamup writer,
and drawn by John Rosenberger, according to the Great Comicbook Database. B
& B was notable at this point for using a variety of artists, some of whom
rarely if ever worked on other DC superhero titles. Rosenberger a few years
earlier had been one of the main artists on Archie Comics' THE FLY and THE
JAGUAR. Later on he would draw a number of Lois Lane stories for her title and
SUPERMAN FAMILY. This issue was also of note for being the first B & B
teamup-- and one of the few ever-- to feature a "Superman Famiily" character as
one of the partners. Evidently the obviousness of teaming up Supergirl and WW,
the two most powerful and prominent DC heroines, overcame Mort Weisinger's
well known reluctance to allow any of "his" characters to be handled by any
other editorial hands.
On the splash page, in separate scenes, Supergirl and WW are both enjoying
the good life, female style, in "beautiful, glittering, romantic Paris!"
Supergirl is modeling a white floor-length evening gown with elbow-length gloves
and pearl necklace, and as male onlookers utter French endearments, she
sneers at a mental image of her more usual self; "To think I once wore that silly
costume and cape...NOW look at me!" Likewise, Wonder Woman is on a dance
floor being kissed by a handsome man, and wearing a fashion gown (though she
stilll has on her Amazon tiara). "When I wore that frumpy Amazon outfit,
nothing like this ever happened to me!" On a "cockleshell" boat somewhere out in
the ocean, two lovers are stranded and adrift, and things are about to get
worse for them, as a storm is ready to blow up. But the storm is man-made, as
the couple are movie stars shooting a film on location, and the director on
shore nearby orders a giant fan to be used to create wind and waves. When the
fan goes out of control, it appears the mock film tragedy may turn real, as
the small boat with the two stars is blown through the air. "Twenty million
bucks worth of talent-- gone with the wind!", the director bemoans. But
fortunately for the stars and Magna Productions, Supergirl is happening by on
patrol, and she flies down to rescue the boat and its famous occupants and carry
them ashore. The Girl of Steel is miffed, though, when the movie crew and
onlookers cluster around the stars, particularly the leading lady, and ignore
her, the heroine of the incident. "I rescue the two most famous, valuable
stars in the world, and all anybody can think of is her! No wonder...she's all
woman....all FEMALE!" Looking at her image in the water, Supergirl is
suddenly disgusted with her "loud costume" and her career of battling "grimy
crooks". She wants to "live the life of a normal, real, human girl" and "be
feminine, desirable, adored by men". (Uh, Supergirl, if you really think the
typical "life of a normal, real, human girl" involves being a movie star "adored
by men,", I'm sure a lot of normal, real, human girls would be glad to
disabuse you of the notion....) The news is flashed around the world that
Supergirl has announced she is abandoning her super-heroine career, and soon,
college student Linda Lee Danvers (in her demure schoolgirl clothes and brown wig,
scarcely more glamorous than Supergirl's super-costume) receives a visit from
her cousin Superman, who wants to dissuade her. "You're simply not like
other girls! You can't escape your duty-- your destiny... the responsibility of
using your great powers for mankind's benefit!" But Linda/Supergirl is
unmoved; she's determined that "that square chick, Supergirl, is going out to
find glamor and romance-- something every girl needs!" When Supes persists, she
gets downright cruel; "You sound like a stuffed shirt, Superman! What do
you know about women....how they feel...what they really need? You may be a
great hero-- but in the romance department-- well, just ask Lois Lane!"
Superman can only mumble, "Why...uh....ulp....I-- I'm very FOND of girls....
I....uh...." (Yeah, Supes, you better watch out, or Doc Wertham may turn his
attention away from your friend Batman to you.) As a parting shot, Linda reveals
that her foster parents have given her permission to take a year off from
college and are sending her on a trip to Paris.
But Superman hasn't given up, and if he doesn't understand women, he'll find
someone who presumably understands both women and super-heroics-- his JLA
comrade, Wonder Woman. He flies over Paradise Island (careful not to unleash
disaster by actually "setting foot" on the female-only isle) where he is
spotted by Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl (here, as in TEEN TITANS, Haney and editor
Kashdan seem to think WG is a younger sister of WW) and their mother Queen
Hyppolita. Wonder Woman glides into the air to find out what Superman wants,
and he explains how "Supergirl has forsaken the crime-fighting life to seek
romance and glamor." "Why, that foolish, giddy teen-ager! She can't do that!
Super-heroines have a duty, a responsibility, a..." "Uhh, that's what I
said!", Superman replies, and he begs WW to use her "knowledge of female
psychology" to persuade Supergirl to change her mind. WW eagerly agrees; "You bet I
will, Superman!"
Arriving in Paris, even WW is momentarily swayed by its romantic aura-- "If
only Steve were here!"--but, "What am I saying! I've got a job to do!"
Trailing the Giddy Teenager of Steel to an establishment called Anatole's, WW
finds her modeling evening gowns for an admiring male audience, and then catches
one of the admirers kissing Supergirl in the dressing room. Ordering him
out, WW accuses Supergirl of abandoning her duties to fall in with a "gigolo".
But she is distracted in mid-lecture by the sight of Supergirl's rack of
high-fashion gowns, and when SG offers her the loan of one that would fit her,
she agrees to do so, "just for fun, of course." WW is dazzled by the sight
of herself in the gown, but a mustachioed Latin-lover type named Andre Count De
Tour is even more dazzled, grabbing WW and smothering her with kisses. And
as she gazes into the Count's eyes, WW dizzily reflects, "Steve Trevor never
kissed me like that.... I mustn't let this happen...this wonderful, delicious
thing... I'm WONDER WOMAN....wonder woman...." It's not long before WW's
superheroic duties are forgotten, as she tours Paris on the Count's arm. But
the Count wants them to be "absolutely alone" together, and he has just the
place in mind, "a little isle in the sea-- Ile d'Amour!" Curiously,
Supergirl's own blond, beret-clad lover has exactly the same suggestion. And on that
very Ile D'Amour, a a scientist informs a mysterious "Leader" that something
called "Operation Armageddon", which will stagger the world, is now ready to
start....
In Part 2 of "Revolt of the Super-Chicks", Supergirl and the Count arrive at
the Isle of Love by boat, while Supergirl and her beau approach from the
other direction by plane. Each heroine idly wonders what has become of the
other, but both are too distracted by their glimpse of glamor to care much. "But
both super-chicks are unaware that the Isle of Love is also the secret
headquarters of a fantastic criminal character known only as...MULTI-FACE!"
Multi-Face, we learn, is thought dead in a prison escape, but actually gained in a
freak accident the "ability to change my features into any face, human or
animal, to suit my mood or purpose!" His current plan is to "strike at the
rocket freighters carrying precious cargos over this island", A plan which may
be stymied by the arrival on the island-- reported to him by his spies-- of
two famous super-heroines, even if neither is acting very heroic at the
moment. "I cannot scare THEM away-- but perhaps I can INDUCE them to leave by
jeopardizing their male escorts!" Meanwhile, Wonder Woman's male escort,
whispering sweet nothings in her ear, says he sees her as "at heart a truly frail,
feminine creature!" When a nearby drawbridge threatens to fall and injure
Andre, WW has to perform a split-second superfeat while Andre has his eyes
closed to kiss her, in order to avoid ruining her "weak and feminine" image.
Similarly, when falling boulders threaten Supergirl's French swain while they are
cavorting on the beach, the Beach Bunny of Steel diverts his attention with
a wild beachball toss and catches the boulders in midair-- then further
distracts him by leaping into his arms in feigned fright at the sight of a small
crab. Little do our reluctant heroines know that both threats have been
engineered by Multi-Face and his agents. Multi-Face sends his agents out to
create more perils to distract Supergirl and WW. Spotting a burning ship
offshore, Wonder Woman manages to fix her lover's attention on an impromptu
performance of "Cyrano de Bergerac" while she glides out to douse the fire by creating
a waterspout. However, "This is just so un-feminine-- and certainly doesn't
do a girl's hairdo any good!" And still on the beach, Supergirl spots a
plane about to crash, and sends her beau off to retrieve a lost beach towel
while she flies up to restart the plane's engines with a blast of super-breath.
But returning to the island, she notes the complex of buildings in the
isle's center and the"weird man" running it. Then a cargo rocket passes over the
island-- and is pulled off course by a magnetic beam emanating from the
mysterious island installation. And now the Chick of Steel faces a dilemma. Will
she keep her resolve to "give up being a Supergirl who spends her life
battling crime", or will she "kiss romance goodbye and wade into battle" against a
"fantastic hijacking scheme"?
In Part 3, Supergirl decides to rescue the rocket, but she's not quite ready
to give up her dream romance yet, so she makes sure her lover Henri is
trapped on a small ledge while retrieving her towel before she flies on her
mission. "Oh, if only there were someone else here for this job!" There is, but
she's not any more enthusiastic either-- Wonder Woman sees Supergirl
struggling with the runaway rocket, and decides she must help, but she persuades Andre
to jump into the island castle's moat to retrieve a flower for her, knowing
he will have trouble climbing back out. Changing into her unfashionable but
functional star-spangled bathing suit, WW prepares to go to Supergirl's aid,
but Multi-Face sends a "strange disk" rolling after her from his nerve
center. Suddenly she finds herself helplessly held to the magnetic disk by her
metal Amazon bracelets, and she is brought into Multi-Face's lab, where the bad
guy proceeds to turn her from Supergirl's would-be ally into a weapon against
her, by showering her helpless body with liquid Green Kryptonite.
Multi-Face sends the disk flying after Supergirl, who is still trying to stop the
runaway cargo missile, and the Green K rays emanating from Wonder Woman quickly
weaken her. Supergirl realizes that WW gave up her own romance in order to
come to her aid-- "I guess neither of us could escape being super-heroines!"--
but will Multi-Face's scheme eliminate both of them? Desperately, Supergirl
uses her weakening heat vision to melt a load of gold bullion carried in the
cargo rocket, causing it to drip down and cover Wonder Woman's body and block
the deadly Kryptonite rays. (Funny, I always thought it was only lead that
could stop Kryptonite rays, not gold. And Supergirl is sure taking a chance
on WW's degree of invulnerability to assume that a shower of molten gold
won't do nasty things to her complexion and skin tone.) The weight of the gold
causes the flying disk to spin out of control and crash into Multi-Face's
lab, and the impact of the crash frees WW from the magnetic grip on her
bracelets as well as the coating of gold. Leaping and spinning to the attack, WW
punches out Multi-Face with a vengeance; "Time to punch your ticket, you
romance-wrecker!" Multi-Face's gang attacks WW with guns, but Supergirl crashes
through the wall to stop them; "These characters didn't know that Wonder Woman
and I are a double feature act!" (I've owned this comic for a while, but I
can't remember for sure if I actually read it before, and while reading it this
time I kept expecting to learn that one or both of the heroines' lovers were
Multi-Face in disguise. But they weren't. In fact, Multi-Face never does
put his shape-changing ability to any good use in the story, which makes one
wonder why Haney bothered to give it to him. He could have been any ordinary
scheming high-tech villain.)
After rounding up Multi-Face's gang, Supergirl and WW realize their lovers
are each both still stranded, but instead of trying to carry on their frail
flower act, they each come to the rescue in their costumed identities and
reveal that their romances must end because they cannot escape their destinies as
super-heroines. Bidding a sad farewell to the Isle of Love and to love
itself, they fly back to the U.S., where Superman thanks Wonder Woman for her
successful effort to bring Supergirl back to her senses and her career as a
superhero. Supergirl and WW both wink at the reader-- and Superman folds his arms
with a skeptical look on his face-- as Supergirl assures her cousin that WW
did, indeed, save her from the awful fate of "living in Paris like a *sigh*
foolish, frivolous child! Right, Wonder Woman?" "Right, *sigh*, Supergirl!"
Also in the issue are a public service page, "Builders of the Future," about
the work of the United Nations organization UNESCO: a text page on "unsung
heroines" such as Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell (the first American woman doctor) and
Susan B. Anthony; a house ad for the first appearance of Ultra the
Multi-Alien in MYSTERY IN SPACE. And also, oddly enough, a house ad for this selfsame
issue of BRAVE & BOLD. ("They're BRAINY...they're BRAWNY... they're
BEAUTIFUL... and they're the SWINGIN'EST SUPER-CHICKS you ever laid eyes on! Who
else but SUPERGIRL and WONDER WOMAN!") Apparently somebody in charge of
slotting house ads on the pages didn't notice there wasn't much point in promoting
an issue which presumably the reader has already bought and paid for.
Supergirl and Wonder Woman had one other Silver Age team-up, in WONDER WOMAN
#177, which I reviewed on the list some time back. It was a transition
issue between the Kanigher/Andru/Esposito WW and the "new" non-costumed WW, and
involved the two heroines both being kidnapped by an alien conqueror and
forced to fight for the right to marry him.
editor; featuring Supergirl and Wonder Woman in "The Revolt of the Super-Chicks!"
On the cover by Jim Mooney (Supergirl's regular artist at the time),
Supergirl is trying to halt a hurtling missile, but Wonder Woman is fastened to a
nearby flying disk and her body is emitting Kryptonite rays which are making
Supergirl distinctly queasy. Down in the corner of the cover, a mushy-faced
figure is boasting, "MULTI-FACE talking! I've turned WONDER WOMAN into a
KRYPTONITE BOOBY-TRAP! She'll be the death of SUPERGIRL yet!" And the cover
caption promises, "IT'S THE LIVING END! TWO SUPER-CHICKS ON A NEW KICK!
SUPERGIRL-- A PARIS MODEL! WONDER WOMAN-- THE TOAST OF THE JET SET!"
Review by Bill Henley (toast of the rubber-band-airplane set)
The interior story is written by Bob Haney, the regular B & B teamup writer,
and drawn by John Rosenberger, according to the Great Comicbook Database. B
& B was notable at this point for using a variety of artists, some of whom
rarely if ever worked on other DC superhero titles. Rosenberger a few years
earlier had been one of the main artists on Archie Comics' THE FLY and THE
JAGUAR. Later on he would draw a number of Lois Lane stories for her title and
SUPERMAN FAMILY. This issue was also of note for being the first B & B
teamup-- and one of the few ever-- to feature a "Superman Famiily" character as
one of the partners. Evidently the obviousness of teaming up Supergirl and WW,
the two most powerful and prominent DC heroines, overcame Mort Weisinger's
well known reluctance to allow any of "his" characters to be handled by any
other editorial hands.
On the splash page, in separate scenes, Supergirl and WW are both enjoying
the good life, female style, in "beautiful, glittering, romantic Paris!"
Supergirl is modeling a white floor-length evening gown with elbow-length gloves
and pearl necklace, and as male onlookers utter French endearments, she
sneers at a mental image of her more usual self; "To think I once wore that silly
costume and cape...NOW look at me!" Likewise, Wonder Woman is on a dance
floor being kissed by a handsome man, and wearing a fashion gown (though she
stilll has on her Amazon tiara). "When I wore that frumpy Amazon outfit,
nothing like this ever happened to me!" On a "cockleshell" boat somewhere out in
the ocean, two lovers are stranded and adrift, and things are about to get
worse for them, as a storm is ready to blow up. But the storm is man-made, as
the couple are movie stars shooting a film on location, and the director on
shore nearby orders a giant fan to be used to create wind and waves. When the
fan goes out of control, it appears the mock film tragedy may turn real, as
the small boat with the two stars is blown through the air. "Twenty million
bucks worth of talent-- gone with the wind!", the director bemoans. But
fortunately for the stars and Magna Productions, Supergirl is happening by on
patrol, and she flies down to rescue the boat and its famous occupants and carry
them ashore. The Girl of Steel is miffed, though, when the movie crew and
onlookers cluster around the stars, particularly the leading lady, and ignore
her, the heroine of the incident. "I rescue the two most famous, valuable
stars in the world, and all anybody can think of is her! No wonder...she's all
woman....all FEMALE!" Looking at her image in the water, Supergirl is
suddenly disgusted with her "loud costume" and her career of battling "grimy
crooks". She wants to "live the life of a normal, real, human girl" and "be
feminine, desirable, adored by men". (Uh, Supergirl, if you really think the
typical "life of a normal, real, human girl" involves being a movie star "adored
by men,", I'm sure a lot of normal, real, human girls would be glad to
disabuse you of the notion....) The news is flashed around the world that
Supergirl has announced she is abandoning her super-heroine career, and soon,
college student Linda Lee Danvers (in her demure schoolgirl clothes and brown wig,
scarcely more glamorous than Supergirl's super-costume) receives a visit from
her cousin Superman, who wants to dissuade her. "You're simply not like
other girls! You can't escape your duty-- your destiny... the responsibility of
using your great powers for mankind's benefit!" But Linda/Supergirl is
unmoved; she's determined that "that square chick, Supergirl, is going out to
find glamor and romance-- something every girl needs!" When Supes persists, she
gets downright cruel; "You sound like a stuffed shirt, Superman! What do
you know about women....how they feel...what they really need? You may be a
great hero-- but in the romance department-- well, just ask Lois Lane!"
Superman can only mumble, "Why...uh....ulp....I-- I'm very FOND of girls....
I....uh...." (Yeah, Supes, you better watch out, or Doc Wertham may turn his
attention away from your friend Batman to you.) As a parting shot, Linda reveals
that her foster parents have given her permission to take a year off from
college and are sending her on a trip to Paris.
But Superman hasn't given up, and if he doesn't understand women, he'll find
someone who presumably understands both women and super-heroics-- his JLA
comrade, Wonder Woman. He flies over Paradise Island (careful not to unleash
disaster by actually "setting foot" on the female-only isle) where he is
spotted by Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl (here, as in TEEN TITANS, Haney and editor
Kashdan seem to think WG is a younger sister of WW) and their mother Queen
Hyppolita. Wonder Woman glides into the air to find out what Superman wants,
and he explains how "Supergirl has forsaken the crime-fighting life to seek
romance and glamor." "Why, that foolish, giddy teen-ager! She can't do that!
Super-heroines have a duty, a responsibility, a..." "Uhh, that's what I
said!", Superman replies, and he begs WW to use her "knowledge of female
psychology" to persuade Supergirl to change her mind. WW eagerly agrees; "You bet I
will, Superman!"
Arriving in Paris, even WW is momentarily swayed by its romantic aura-- "If
only Steve were here!"--but, "What am I saying! I've got a job to do!"
Trailing the Giddy Teenager of Steel to an establishment called Anatole's, WW
finds her modeling evening gowns for an admiring male audience, and then catches
one of the admirers kissing Supergirl in the dressing room. Ordering him
out, WW accuses Supergirl of abandoning her duties to fall in with a "gigolo".
But she is distracted in mid-lecture by the sight of Supergirl's rack of
high-fashion gowns, and when SG offers her the loan of one that would fit her,
she agrees to do so, "just for fun, of course." WW is dazzled by the sight
of herself in the gown, but a mustachioed Latin-lover type named Andre Count De
Tour is even more dazzled, grabbing WW and smothering her with kisses. And
as she gazes into the Count's eyes, WW dizzily reflects, "Steve Trevor never
kissed me like that.... I mustn't let this happen...this wonderful, delicious
thing... I'm WONDER WOMAN....wonder woman...." It's not long before WW's
superheroic duties are forgotten, as she tours Paris on the Count's arm. But
the Count wants them to be "absolutely alone" together, and he has just the
place in mind, "a little isle in the sea-- Ile d'Amour!" Curiously,
Supergirl's own blond, beret-clad lover has exactly the same suggestion. And on that
very Ile D'Amour, a a scientist informs a mysterious "Leader" that something
called "Operation Armageddon", which will stagger the world, is now ready to
start....
In Part 2 of "Revolt of the Super-Chicks", Supergirl and the Count arrive at
the Isle of Love by boat, while Supergirl and her beau approach from the
other direction by plane. Each heroine idly wonders what has become of the
other, but both are too distracted by their glimpse of glamor to care much. "But
both super-chicks are unaware that the Isle of Love is also the secret
headquarters of a fantastic criminal character known only as...MULTI-FACE!"
Multi-Face, we learn, is thought dead in a prison escape, but actually gained in a
freak accident the "ability to change my features into any face, human or
animal, to suit my mood or purpose!" His current plan is to "strike at the
rocket freighters carrying precious cargos over this island", A plan which may
be stymied by the arrival on the island-- reported to him by his spies-- of
two famous super-heroines, even if neither is acting very heroic at the
moment. "I cannot scare THEM away-- but perhaps I can INDUCE them to leave by
jeopardizing their male escorts!" Meanwhile, Wonder Woman's male escort,
whispering sweet nothings in her ear, says he sees her as "at heart a truly frail,
feminine creature!" When a nearby drawbridge threatens to fall and injure
Andre, WW has to perform a split-second superfeat while Andre has his eyes
closed to kiss her, in order to avoid ruining her "weak and feminine" image.
Similarly, when falling boulders threaten Supergirl's French swain while they are
cavorting on the beach, the Beach Bunny of Steel diverts his attention with
a wild beachball toss and catches the boulders in midair-- then further
distracts him by leaping into his arms in feigned fright at the sight of a small
crab. Little do our reluctant heroines know that both threats have been
engineered by Multi-Face and his agents. Multi-Face sends his agents out to
create more perils to distract Supergirl and WW. Spotting a burning ship
offshore, Wonder Woman manages to fix her lover's attention on an impromptu
performance of "Cyrano de Bergerac" while she glides out to douse the fire by creating
a waterspout. However, "This is just so un-feminine-- and certainly doesn't
do a girl's hairdo any good!" And still on the beach, Supergirl spots a
plane about to crash, and sends her beau off to retrieve a lost beach towel
while she flies up to restart the plane's engines with a blast of super-breath.
But returning to the island, she notes the complex of buildings in the
isle's center and the"weird man" running it. Then a cargo rocket passes over the
island-- and is pulled off course by a magnetic beam emanating from the
mysterious island installation. And now the Chick of Steel faces a dilemma. Will
she keep her resolve to "give up being a Supergirl who spends her life
battling crime", or will she "kiss romance goodbye and wade into battle" against a
"fantastic hijacking scheme"?
In Part 3, Supergirl decides to rescue the rocket, but she's not quite ready
to give up her dream romance yet, so she makes sure her lover Henri is
trapped on a small ledge while retrieving her towel before she flies on her
mission. "Oh, if only there were someone else here for this job!" There is, but
she's not any more enthusiastic either-- Wonder Woman sees Supergirl
struggling with the runaway rocket, and decides she must help, but she persuades Andre
to jump into the island castle's moat to retrieve a flower for her, knowing
he will have trouble climbing back out. Changing into her unfashionable but
functional star-spangled bathing suit, WW prepares to go to Supergirl's aid,
but Multi-Face sends a "strange disk" rolling after her from his nerve
center. Suddenly she finds herself helplessly held to the magnetic disk by her
metal Amazon bracelets, and she is brought into Multi-Face's lab, where the bad
guy proceeds to turn her from Supergirl's would-be ally into a weapon against
her, by showering her helpless body with liquid Green Kryptonite.
Multi-Face sends the disk flying after Supergirl, who is still trying to stop the
runaway cargo missile, and the Green K rays emanating from Wonder Woman quickly
weaken her. Supergirl realizes that WW gave up her own romance in order to
come to her aid-- "I guess neither of us could escape being super-heroines!"--
but will Multi-Face's scheme eliminate both of them? Desperately, Supergirl
uses her weakening heat vision to melt a load of gold bullion carried in the
cargo rocket, causing it to drip down and cover Wonder Woman's body and block
the deadly Kryptonite rays. (Funny, I always thought it was only lead that
could stop Kryptonite rays, not gold. And Supergirl is sure taking a chance
on WW's degree of invulnerability to assume that a shower of molten gold
won't do nasty things to her complexion and skin tone.) The weight of the gold
causes the flying disk to spin out of control and crash into Multi-Face's
lab, and the impact of the crash frees WW from the magnetic grip on her
bracelets as well as the coating of gold. Leaping and spinning to the attack, WW
punches out Multi-Face with a vengeance; "Time to punch your ticket, you
romance-wrecker!" Multi-Face's gang attacks WW with guns, but Supergirl crashes
through the wall to stop them; "These characters didn't know that Wonder Woman
and I are a double feature act!" (I've owned this comic for a while, but I
can't remember for sure if I actually read it before, and while reading it this
time I kept expecting to learn that one or both of the heroines' lovers were
Multi-Face in disguise. But they weren't. In fact, Multi-Face never does
put his shape-changing ability to any good use in the story, which makes one
wonder why Haney bothered to give it to him. He could have been any ordinary
scheming high-tech villain.)
After rounding up Multi-Face's gang, Supergirl and WW realize their lovers
are each both still stranded, but instead of trying to carry on their frail
flower act, they each come to the rescue in their costumed identities and
reveal that their romances must end because they cannot escape their destinies as
super-heroines. Bidding a sad farewell to the Isle of Love and to love
itself, they fly back to the U.S., where Superman thanks Wonder Woman for her
successful effort to bring Supergirl back to her senses and her career as a
superhero. Supergirl and WW both wink at the reader-- and Superman folds his arms
with a skeptical look on his face-- as Supergirl assures her cousin that WW
did, indeed, save her from the awful fate of "living in Paris like a *sigh*
foolish, frivolous child! Right, Wonder Woman?" "Right, *sigh*, Supergirl!"
Also in the issue are a public service page, "Builders of the Future," about
the work of the United Nations organization UNESCO: a text page on "unsung
heroines" such as Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell (the first American woman doctor) and
Susan B. Anthony; a house ad for the first appearance of Ultra the
Multi-Alien in MYSTERY IN SPACE. And also, oddly enough, a house ad for this selfsame
issue of BRAVE & BOLD. ("They're BRAINY...they're BRAWNY... they're
BEAUTIFUL... and they're the SWINGIN'EST SUPER-CHICKS you ever laid eyes on! Who
else but SUPERGIRL and WONDER WOMAN!") Apparently somebody in charge of
slotting house ads on the pages didn't notice there wasn't much point in promoting
an issue which presumably the reader has already bought and paid for.
Supergirl and Wonder Woman had one other Silver Age team-up, in WONDER WOMAN
#177, which I reviewed on the list some time back. It was a transition
issue between the Kanigher/Andru/Esposito WW and the "new" non-costumed WW, and
involved the two heroines both being kidnapped by an alien conqueror and
forced to fight for the right to marry him.
