Superman's Super-Courtship! is a Supergirl story published in Action Comics #289 (June, 1962), with plot by Jerry Siegel and art by Jim Mooney. It is (in)famous among Superman and Legion of Super-Heroes fans for cementing Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl as the Legion's Super Couple (and all thanks to a throwaway line!), spoiling the twist ending of The Death of Lightning Lad before the story arc ever began, and an attempted Ship Sinking which didn't work out as intended.
After watching a romantic movie, Linda Danvers grows concerned about her cousin's inability to commit to Lois Lane or Lana Lang, fearing that Superman is dooming himself to involuntary bachelorhood for life, so maybe she should play Cupid and find a wife for him. Appalled, her adoptive parents shoot her idea down immediately, strongly advising Linda against meddling in someone else's love life.
Linda will not be deterred so easily, though, so she decides to look for her cousin's perfect match across the time. First she cajoles Superman into travelling toAncient Greece with her to seduce Helen of Troy. Unfortunately, their trip causes a ruckus which gets them kicked out of the city of Troy.
Supergirl is determined to succeed, though, so she talks Superman into paying a visit to the Legion of Super-Heroes. However, Kara leaps out of the time-stream ten years later than usual. The now-adult Legion is celebrating Christmas, and both cousins are happy to join the festivities. Convinced that Saturn Woman will be a perfect match for her cousin, Kara positions Kal and Imra under a branch of mistletoe. When Superman goes for a second kiss under the mistletoe, though, Lightning Man demands to know why he is kissing his wife twice. Feeling embarrassed, Kal and Kara suddenly remember they urgently need go back to the 20th century.
After going back to their own time, Kara confesses to Kal that her latest antics have been driven by her desire to get him a fiancée. Superman replies that his ideal wife would be someone as lovely as Kara, but that is not happening for obvious reasons. Spurred into action again, Supergirl uses a computer to look for Superman's match across the universe, finding a possible candidate in Luma Lynai, the Superwoman of planet Staryl.
Superman's Super-Courtship! was specifically written to shoot the idea that Superman would ever marry Supergirl down, in order to discourage readers who kept writing letters suggesting a Super-marriage. Unfortunately, it had the unintended opposite effect of making comic-book fans thinking that the Silver Age Superman would marry his cousin if it was legal.
Tropes:
- Alien Sky: Every panel featuring the sky of planet Staryl shows a prominent, glowing red sun.
- All Myths Are True: Kara travels to Ancient Greece, meets Helen of Troy and has to stop a minotaur and an unicorn's rampage.
- Alliterative Name: Lampshaded in the cover, wherein Superman ponders he is going to marry Luma Lynai, and briefly wonders why he only ever falls for women who have the initials "L.L."
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Luma Lynai was meant to resemble what an adult Kara would look like. Although back then Luma's features indeed looked like a grown-up Kara's, the next decades' evolving art styles led to adult Kara resembling Luma not at all.
- Identical Stranger: Luma Lynai looks right like an adult Supergirl, even though they are not even are of the same species (Luma was born and raised in planet Staryl).
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: Superman declares he cannot get married because his duty to protect Earth will always come first. Some few panels later, Superman is willing to leave Earth to marry Luma.
- Incest Subtext: Superman falls in love with a woman identical to an adult version of his cousin, a meeting set up by Supergirl herself, since her cousin told her that if he ever got married, it would be to someone just like her.
- Inconsistent Coloring: Even though Superman says that planet Staryl revolves around a blue sun, said star is colored red in every single panel where it shows up; a mistake which was not corrected in reprints.
- Interspecies Romance: Kara tries to hook her Kryptonian cousin up with Helena of Troy (human), Saturn Girl (Titanian) and Luma Lynai (Starylian).
- Kissing Cousins: When Kara confesses she has been trying to find a bride for her cousin, Kal replies that if he ever married, it would be to someone as lovely as Kara, but unfortunately marriage between cousins was ilegal in Krypton
◊. Kara doesn't seem bothered about it; actually, she roceeds to use a computer to find a non-relate adult woman who looks and acts like her. - Kryptonite Factor: Luma Lynai cannot survive in the Earth's environment because a yellow star's sunlight is deadly to her, who has been born and raised in planet Staryl, which orbits a blue sun.
- The Matchmaker: Afer Supergirl vowing to find a wife for her cousin, Kara tries to hook Superman up with Helen of Troy, Saturn Girl's adult self, alien superwoman Luma Lynai... However all of her attempts end up in failure, and she vows never to play matchmaker again.
- Series Continuity Error: Adventure Comics #329 (1965), where Brainiac 5 creates the Legion Flight Rings, and All-New Collectors' Edition Vol 1 C-55 The Millennium Massacre (1978), where Superboy attends Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl's wedding, contradict this 1962 story where adult Superman believes the Legion keeps using Flight Belts, and has no idea what his friends Garth and Imra got married.
- Ship Sinking:
- Kal-El bluntly tells Supergirl that he would love marrying someone as lovely as her, but marriage between first cousins was banned in Krypton.
- Superman meets and falls in love Luma Lynai, the Superwoman of planet Staryl. When they want to get married, though, the duo finds out that the Earth's environment is deadly to Luma, so she must return to her planet. Supergirl, who had set the couple up, guesses that maybe her cousin is fated to marry Lois Lane or Lana Lang after all.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: When Superman takes his bride-to-be Luma to the solar system, she instantly becomes gravelly ill. Superman guesses that the Earth's environment is deadly to Luma, so he is willing to stay in planet Staryl for her sake...but she insists that Earth needs him, and he must go back and forget her...although she will never forget him.
- Time Travel: Kal and Kara travel to the 30th century to celebrate Christmas with the adult Legionnaires.
- To the Future, and Beyond: Supergirl talks her cousin into paying a visit to their Legion teammates, but leaving the timestream ten years later than usual to meet the adult Legionnaires.
- Under the Mistletoe: Superman and Supergirl visit the Legion of Super-Heroes when the team is celebrating Christmas. Kara is trying set her cousin and Saturn Woman up, so she pins several mistletoe sprouts across the roof, and then points out that they are standing under the mistletoe. Superman and Saturn Woman Kiss; unfortunately, when Superman decides to kiss her again under another branch of mistletoe, Lightning Man angrily asks why Superman is kissing his wife twice.
