Action 293 – the absurdly complicated origin of Comet, the Super-Horse

Ok, brace yourself, it’s the origin of Comet, the Super-Horse in Action 293 (Oct. 62), by Leo Dorfman and Jim Mooney.

Linda is still vacationing at the ranch, and while out for a ride on Comet, he telepathically relates his story to her.  Long ago, in ancient Greece, he was a centaur, Biron.  Due to the manipulations of an evil wizard, Circe wound up turning him into a horse.

Feeling guilty about this, Circe devised a magic potion to give him various super-powers, including telepathy, and immortality (which explains why he has been around since then, and will still be around in the time of the Legion of Super-Heroes).

Comet saw Supergirl, while floating aimlessly through space, after being sucked into the void by a comet, and made his way back to Earth.  His story done (for now, more will come in a later issue), they fight off an alien invasion together.  Comet had known about this, and telepathically sent her dreams about himself, so that they would meet.

Just as the reader’s brain is about to melt from all of this, Linda discovers that Comet has been sold to a Hollywood producer.  Oh, No!

Action 292- Superman defends Luthor, and Supergirl meets Comet, the Super-Horse

Superman winds up fighting for Luthor’s life and freedom in Al Plastino’s story in Action 292 (Sept. 62).

Luthor escapes from prison, and Earth, using the statue atop his Luthor’s Lair as a rocketship.  The Superman Emergency Squad cameo, sending out a Superman robot to try to stop him.  Luthor wrecks the robot, but it’s parts stay on the ship.

Lex winds up landing on the planet Roxar, a world run by robots, with human-looking android servitors.  Not realizing the inverse dynamic on this world, Luthor kills a robot, and winds up imprisoned.

Superman spends a lot of the story just trying to prove to the robots that human are worthy of being considered sentient beings.  That was the hardest part, as he uses some of the wrecked Superman robot, and the rocket’s energy source, to rebuild the robot Luthor “killed,” negating the need for a trial completely.

But with the rocket no longer functional, Superman leaves Luthor trapped on Roxar.  Luthor returns a couple months down the road.

Comet, the Super-Horse gets a formal introduction in this Dorfman and Mooney story.  Comet had appeared in the first Super-Pets story, in Adventure Comics, a few months earlier, and a thousand years in the future.

Much of this story consists of dreams that Linda has.  They will begin normally, with Dick Malverne, or Streaky, but then a flying, white, super-powered horse, Comet, shows up to help her as things go haywire.

After the second such dream, Linda really begins to fantasize about her hero horse.

So she heads off to a ranch vacation, where she spots a horse identical to the one in her dreams.  Riding it, she decides that it does have powers, although we don’t see anything that really backs that up.  Nonetheless, she puts a cape on Comet, and he does begin to fly.

The story continues in the next issue.