2008-04-02 - A CAREER WORTH REMEMBERING: JIM MOONEY

These kinds of columns are coming up far too often lately.

Career comics artist Jim Mooney, whose body of work spanned an astonishing six decades, passed away last Sunday in Florida at the age of 88.

Mooney, who worked primarily for DC and Marvel for most of his career, had a light, appealing style that belied much of the solid draftsmanship behind it. It's the kind of work that looks simple and easy, but in fact takes a lifetime to master.

Mooney began his career at Fox and Fiction House in the 1940s before settling in for a long spell at Timely doing funny-animal comics. In the 1946 Mooney began finding work at DC on features like TOMMY TOMORROW and the Superman Batman team-ups in WORLD'S FINEST, but is probably best known for his wonderfully charming Supergirl run in the pages of ACTION COMICS, which defined the character for a generation of readers.

When changing styles in the late '60s led to his getting less work at DC, Mooney called up his old Timely boss Stan Lee, who welcomed back to what had since become the hottest publisher in comics, Marvel. Mooney immediately found all the work he could handle on Marvel's trademark character Spider-Man, first finishing John Romita's art, and later penciling the webslinger's adventures himself in titles like PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN and MARVEL TEAM-UP. Mooney also formed a productive working relationship at Marvel with writer Steve Gerber, the two collaborating on such titles as MAN-THING and OMEGA THE UNKNOWN. Thanks to Mooney's reliability and consistently solid quality of work, Marvel and Mooney signed a 10-year contract in 1975, with the artist supplying work steadily from his home in Florida. When his contract with Marvel expired, Jim Mooney remained in semi-retirement for the rest of his life, occasionally taking freelance jobs and commissioned work from fans who'd grown up on his stories, and making the rounds at comic conventions. In an industry which has seen too many artists and writers unjustly end their careers unappreciated and undercompensated, it's a comfort to least to look at an example like Jim Mooney, who was able to enjoy both a lengthy career and a retirement that allowed him a measure of gratitude and acclaim.

Let's take a look now at my favorite work by Jim Mooney, his wonderful SUPERGIRL run of the '50s and '60s, excerpted from the Supergirl columns I wrote in 2005.

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A common theme in these early Supergirl adventures had to do with Kara trying not to be adopted, for fear of her new parents discovering her secret identity. Usually Kara would get out of it by bungling things with her superpowers to make herself appear clumsy, or learning something about them via her X-ray vision, then saying the wrong thing so they wouldn't like her. A sort of pre-emptive teenage rebellion. However, in ACTION COMICS #254 (July 1959), Supergirl's luck runs out, and she's adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Dale, who seem like a nice enough couple by the folks at Midvale Orphanage. Unfortunately, Kara's new parents are carnies who work the sideshow circuit.

Even worse, they're carny grifters, who adopted Kara to use in their scheme to sell "power tonic" to unwitting yokels who'll see the young girl performing faked-up feats of strength.

And not to harp on it or anything, but where's Superman when his cousin is getting adopted by a couple of greasy snake-oil salesmen? Naturally, Kara quickly figures out that her new parents are a couple of swindlers, and uses her superpowers to put them out of business (including a bit of super-ventriloquism, one of Superman's more arcane powers that the neophyte superhero picks up rather quickly) and since they now can't afford to support her, it's back to the orphanage for Linda.

Kara finds herself doing the old secret-identity dodge with another kid at the orphanage, Dick Wilson, starting with ACTION COMICS #256 (September 1959), in "The Great Supergirl Mirage!" When Dick realizes that Linda Lee is doing her homework at super-speed, then sees a photo of a flying girl in a Superman costume, he begins to put two and two together, and embarks on a Lana Lang-style crusade to prove that Linda Lee is Supergirl.

Just when Linda is at the end of her rope, the arrival of a Supergirl robot, courtesy of an eavesdropping Superman, puts Dick's suspicions to rest, while at the same time making one wonder just how often Superman is spying on Linda from afar with his telescopic vision.

Superman's long-distance snooping comes up once again in "Supergirl's Farewell to Earth," from ACTION COMICS #258 (November 1959), again by Binder and Mooney. When Kara meets Krypto for the first time, the two begin to play, until Super-Killjoy shows up and chastises Supergirl for revealing herself to Krypto, claiming that the dog could follow her back to the orphanage and jeopardize her secret identity. As punishment, Superman decrees that Supergirl must be exiled from Earth for one year.

Talk about your toughlove. So he shoves Kara in this big plastic tube and chucks her into deep space to a distant planet where she's to spend her yearlong sentence. It's a nice enough place, but still...

After a few days, Kara's exile is interrupted by a visit from Krypto, who shows up bearing a note from Superman that deadly Kryptonite dust is nearing the planet, and that she must return to Earth and to the orphanage for one day.

So she does, concocting a story about being lost in the swamp for days. When a reporter questions her about why there are no mosquito bites on her skin, Linda apparently panics and reveals her identity as Supergirl to the disappointed reporter, who turns out to be none other than Clark Kent. It's all been a test to see if Kara can protect her secret identity. Before Clark can leave, Kara tells him that she knows he's Superman, having tried to crack his glasses with her x-ray vision to prevent him from checking her invulnerable arm for bites. When the lenses, made from Kryptonian glass, don't crack, Kara deduces his secret.

Naturally, Kara assumes this means the end of her life in hiding, with no one in the world knowing of the existence of Supergirl. Not so, as Superman wants to keep her in reserve as his secret weapon to help out if he's ever trapped by his enemies. While this is admittedly a little paranoid for a guy who can juggle planets, it works much better from a narrative standpoint, as the Supergirl character now seems more validated as a valued assistant to Superman, rather than just his uncle's kid who he dumped in an orphanage. It does, however set up a dynamic we'll see time and again in the Supergirl stories, as she'll perform some miraculous feat and save Superman's bacon, and once he congratulates her, she'll excitedly ask "Does this mean I can reveal myself to the world?" To which the answer is always "No, not yet..." In the very next issue, after Supergirl has just spent days posing as the new superhero "Mighty Maid" in order to make the world think Superman was falling in love and leaving the planet (a role that required Superman to spend a disturbing amount of time kissing his 15-year-old cousin, if you ask me), she asks again, and well, you can guess the answer...

Man, he can be a tool sometimes...

Kara would finally get to enjoy some company from super-types her own age in ACTION COMICS #267 (August 1960), when she finds herself recruited by the far-future Legion of Super-Heroes in "The Three Super-Heroes," by writer Siegel and artist Mooney. When Kara finds her Linda Lee identity repeatedly saved thanks to the assistance of three mysterious super-powered teens, she's stunned to eventually learn that the trio is Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl, superpowered teenagers from the 30th century, who have come to the past to invite her to join their team of super-teens.

Delighted to finally have super-friends, Kara agrees, and heads to the 30th century to audition for the team. Too bad for Supergirl that, on her tryout, she stumbles across some Red Kryptonite, that offshoot of the deadly rock that has a different effect on Kryptonians with every exposure. This time, the Red K ages her to a fully grown woman, and since the Legion has a strict policy forbidding members from being over the age of 18, Kara is rejected and sent back to her own era.

As always, the Red K's effects soon wear off, and Kara is left wondering if she'll get a second chance with the Legion.

Although there aren't many opportunities for love at the orphanage, Supergirl found herself involved with a handsome young merman in "Supergirl's First Romance," from ACTION COMICS #269 (October 1960), when she helps the Atlanteans fight off a protoplasm monster. Jerro, the son of one of Atlantis' leading scientists, soon has eyes for Kara, and takes her to a spot where Atlantis has arranged to show their gratitude. With fish.

On a tour of Atlantis, Kara and Jerro get better acquainted, and soon have their first kiss. Too bad for Kara that she forgot that Atlanteans communicate by telepathy, and her thoughts about Jerro has been transmitted to everyone in the area. Humiliated, Supergirl takes her leave, leaving a heartbroken Jerro behind.

Again, Weisinger and Binder find a clever way to target the series to more of a female audience with a bit of romance (and even symbolically work in the notion of how awkward teenagers feel when first dealing with tricky things like relationships).

Kara got another chance at Legion membership in ACTION COMICS #276 (May 1961), in "Supergirl's Three Super Girl-Friends!", by Siegel and Mooney, in which Saturn Girl and two other recent female Legion recruits, Triplicate Girl and Phantom Girl, come back to the past to give Kara another chance to make the team. While at Legion HQ, she meets another hopeful Legion applicant, Brainiac 5, the great-great-great-great-grandson of Superman's arch-enemy Brainiac.

Naturally, Supergirl is suspicious of the green-skinned computer-brained teen, and resolves to keep an eye on him. After Supergirl performs her Legion audition, the teens are taken by surprise by the sudden arrival of a Green Kryptonite meteor hurtling toward Legion HQ. Putting his own life on the line, Brainiac 5 removes his force-field belt and quickly gives it to Supergirl, allowing her to safely destroy the meteor.

Supergirl and Brainiac 5 are chosen to be the newest Legion inductees, and the now-lovestruck Brainiac asks Supergirl to stay in the future:

Naturally, she refuses, due to her commitment to being Superman's secret weapon, but now Kara has two long-distance boyfriends to moon over...

Kara's days at the orphanage come to an end in ACTION COMICS #279, in "Supergirl's Secret Enemy!" (August 1961), when she's adopted by Fred and Edna Danvers, during a period when her powers had been stolen by Lesla-Lar, an evil Kryptonian scientist from the Bottle City of Kandor, a Kryptonian city shrunk to miniature size by Brainiac and kept in Superman's Fortress of Solitude for safekeeping. Presuming she'd never be super again, Kara agrees to the adoption, and actually finds herself happy with her new parents, staying with them instead of trying to trick herself back to the orphanage like so many times before.

Kara now finds herself in the tricky position of having to keep her Super-secret from her new parents. But not for long.

In February 1962, Superman finally decided it was time to let the world know about Supergirl, in ACTION COMICS #285, "The World's Greatest Heroine!", written by Jerry Siegel and drawn by Jim Mooney.

First, Superman and Kara tell her new parents the good news: their daughter was a superhero, so they probably didn't have to worry about saving for college...

Next, Superman unilaterally takes control of all the world's television broadcasts to introduce Kara to the globe.

A little heavy-handed, granted but hey, the guy's proud of his cousin, and he's saved the world, what, a zillion times by now? Cut him some slack. Then the two embark on a whirlwind tour to give the world a glimpse of the new Supergirl...

Followed by a quick trip to the United Nations, to greet the world's leaders and receive her certificate authorizing her to visit any UN country without a passport, and to make arrests worldwide. (I had no idea there was so much paperwork involved...) Next comes a stop at the Fortress of Solitude to see the salute from the Bottle City of Kandor...

And finally, Superman does what he should have done three years earlier: he adds a wing to the Fortress of Solitude, just for Kara.

About damn time.

All these Mooney Supergirl stories are available collected in hardcover. Scott Tipton encourages you to go check them out. If you have questions about comics, send 'em here.

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