Adventure Comics # 396, August, 1970

This was the final issue of Supergirl's adventures as we have known them. As noted in the letters column, in answer to the great pioneering comics historian Rich Morrissey (who died in 2001), WONDER WOMAN editor Mike Sekowsky was taking over the following month. 

Adventure Comics # 395, July, 1970

A great cover for a pretty good issue. The first story is again a bit odd (and we learn that Win Mortimer really isn't good at celebrity likenesses). Sophia Loren--Uranus? No comment. 

A fun, traditional Superman family tale, continued the next issue.

This is the ad. This is what ultimately changes everything for DC. In decades to come, The Superman mythos would essentially be rewritten to tie deeply into the concepts created by The Great One, who remains nameless here but I seem to recall I was pretty sure who it was...and I was right!

Adventure Comics # 394, June, 1970

I'm curious as to why they chose the second SUPERGIRL story from this issue to illustrate on the cover as the first one, by Cary Bates with Win Mortimer and Jack Abel, is quite fun and more than a little different for this series. It's a tribute to a classic story by...Well, here. YOU read it.

The late Joe Kubert, founder of the art school that bears his name, had been educating others in cartooning almost as long as he himself had been a cartoonist. Here, in what is basically a filler page, is a very educational and informative intro to the basics of cartooning.

Adventure Comics # 393, May, 1970

Looks like somebody came up short this issue. Win Mortimer opens but then Win Mortimer also closes with a 4 page reprint from 21 years earlier that's only marginally suited to this title.

Martin Pasko points up what I've been saying--that they editors need a more definite concept for the Supergirl character and series. Those editors make fun of Martin (who recently became a Facebook friend of mine in 2012) and yet we're only a few issues away from a major overhaul. Hah!

From a 1949 issue of REAL FACT COMICS. GCD says this, too, is Win Mortimer.  

I never realized it at the time but some of these guys couldn't even be mentioned inside a Code-approved comic book!

Adventure Comics # 392, April, 1970

We're still in the old-fashioned looking/modern-looking dual story mode but under the surface, the stories continue to all be more than a little old-fashioned despite nods to things like women's lib.

Adventure Comics # 391, March, 1970

Note that this issue, # 391, actually is dated a month earlier than the previous issue! Such was the way wit Giants which remained on sale alongside the regular issues. Note that it's even advertised in this issue.

Adventure Comics # 390, April, 1970

Until now, the SUPERGIRL Giants had been appearing, naturally, as issues of ACTION COMICS. It was only logical to switch that now that The Girl of Steel was headlining ADVENTURE. Thus, this issue spotlights all reprints from the ACTION days, mostly from a decade earlier and all by the definitive SUPERGIRL artist, Jim Mooney. Note that the topic remains romance, though! The Legion of Super-Heroes has cameos in a couple of the stories. It's the ADULT Legion in one, even!