While still working out the kinks in her new costume, Supergirl squares off against two old enemies and finds herself battling an army of toys.
This one will have continuity buffs reaching for the headache tablets. There are so many holes in the plot of the "Return of the Black Flame" that you could be forgiven for thinking that author Mike Sekowsky had never read any previous Supergirl (or Superman / Superboy) story in his life.
Our story begins with Zoka the Black Flame, escaping form her Kandorian prison. Stealing a spacecraft, she then proceeds to fly to the Phantom Zone Planet, "where criminals of many galaxies are kept" !?! Excuse me, but isn't the Phantom Zone..a Zone and not a planet? Apparently no one explained that to the Black Flame, and she managed to fly there!
Once there, she co-erced three phantoms into helping her by pointing a ray gun at them. Hmm - a ray gun is going to hurt a phantom how, exactly? The three phantoms then became solid, but did not gain super powers as they should have done, being Kryptonians and under a yellow sun. Following a series of encounters with Supergirl, the Black Flame decides to get rid of her once and for all by dousing the Maid of Might in Gold Kryptonite.
As we all know (well except Mr. Sekowsky it seems) Gold K immediately and permanently removes a Kryptonian's powers. In this adventure however, it only diminished Supergirl's abilities, an they returned to full strength some time later. Supergirl eventually captured the villains - returned them to the Phantom Zone planet and Black Flame to Kandor.
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