History ComicBook / TheSupergirlSaga

* AtmosphereAbuse: The Phantom Zone criminals destroyed the Earth's atmosphere by destabilizing the planet's core, causing hot gases to erupt, stripping the planet to a lifeless husk. A [[ApocalypseHow/Class6 Class 6]] on the ApocalypseHow scale.

* ThouShaltNotKill: Superman had to violate that personal ethic in order to keep the Phantom Zone villains from carrying out their threat on his own world. That eventually had consequences in the stories following this one, to the point where Superman exiled himself into outer space to deal with the issue.

* DeadAllAlong: Pocket Universe Lana Lang is revealed to be one of the first victims of the Phantom Zone criminals. Supergirl was simply given false memories in order to get Superman's trust.

* HowWeGotHere: Much of the second part is Pocket Universe Lex Luthor telling Superman how his world got to the broken state that it was in at the present time.

* SingleTear: Superman, after the Phantom Zone criminals died.

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: General Zod, who was a conqueror Pre-Crisis, was reduced to a massacrer here.

* AdaptationNameChange: Zaora is based on Faora from the Pre-Crisis Earth-1 universe. One wonders why Byrne changed her name?

* AdaptationNameChange: Zaora is based on Faora from the Pre-Crisis Earth-1 universe.

In the story, Superman encounters a young female wearing a variation of his outfit that calls herself Supergirl, claiming that her powers came from ComicBook/LexLuthor. A brief fight occurs due to a misunderstanding between the two, but after Superman and Supergirl straighten things out, it is revealed that she came from the [[AlternateUniverse Pocket Universe]] that ComicBook/{{Superboy}} of the ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} had come from. With the both of them now transported into that universe, Superman learns from its Lex Luthor the history of its Earth since Superboy had departed: that Lex had accidentally let loose the Phantom Zone criminals that have terrorized and devastated the entire planet, leaving only those who are within Lex's Smallville citadel its only survivors. The Phantom Zone criminals eventually killed the last surviving people of that Earth and reduced Supergirl to a protoplasmic puddle, where it is revealed that she was actually an artificial lifeform created by Lex Luthor to replace the deceased Lana Lang. Realizing that he was the only superhero left in the Pocket Universe, Superman rounded up the Phantom Zone criminals, stripped them of their powers, and subjected them to lethal radiation from that world's Green Kryptonite. At the end, Supergirl was brought back in her protoplasmic form to the mainstream DC Universe by Superman to be cared for by the Kents.

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: The title of the first part of the story.

* ReadingLips: Pocket Universe Lex Luthor communicates to Superman what he wants the hero to do by reading his lips so that the Phantom Zone criminals would not find out in the third part.

* DownerEnding: In the end, Zod and his underlings' massacre isn't stopped and they kill every single being on the planet, with Matrix as the sole survivor. Superman is forced to execute the three, riddling him with guilt over being having to break his vow.

* DownerEnding: In the end, the Zod and his underlings' massacre isn't stopped and they kill every single being on the planet, with Matrix as the sole survivor. Superman is forced to execute the three, riddling him with guilt over being having to break his vow.

* AlternateUniverse[=/=]PocketDimension: The Pocket Universe, which came into existence when the Time Trapper took a sliver of the mainstream DC Universe from the distant past and crafted it into his own private universe, eliminating all life-giving worlds except two: Krypton and Earth. Its Krypton was crafted into one resembling the Silver Age[=/=]Bronze Age Pre-Crisis Earth-1 version, while its Earth resembled that of Earth-1, minus all its heroes save for Superboy.

''The Supergirl Saga'' is a three-part StoryArc that took place in the ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' comic book titles in 1988, published by Creator/DCComics. It was written by Creator/JohnByrne, with artwork by John Byrne and Jerry Ordway. It was written as an introduction to the first ComicBook/PostCrisis version of ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} known as "Matrix", with previews of the character appearing as early as ''Superman'' vol. 2 #16 (April, 1988).

* ForWantOfANail: In the Pocket Universe, Lex Luthor came to Smallville after Superboy had left, thus avoiding the situation of his Silver Age counterpart becoming a criminal. Also [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]], [[Franchise/GreenLantern Hal Jordan]], and [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Oliver Queen]] in this universe never adopted any superhero identities, though they serve as part of Lex Luthor's LaResistance team.

* DeadAllAlong: Pocket Universe Lana is revealed to be one of the first victims of the Phantom Zone criminals, Supergirl was simply given false memories in order to get Superman's trust.

* WhamEpisode: Superman is forced to break his vow of taking a life and sentence the Phantom Zone criminals to death.

* TerribleTrio: The Phantom Zone criminals, with General Zod as the main BigBad, and Zaora and Quel-Ul as his co-dragons.

* DomedHometown: Smallville on the Pocket Universe Earth is protected by a force-field bubble that provides enough atmosphere for its residents, though it eventually fails as the Phantom Zone criminals destroy the field's generator.

* DomedHometown: Smallville on the Pocket Universe Earth is protected by a force-field bubble that provides enough atmosphere for its residence, though it eventually fails as the Phantom Zone criminals destroy the field's generator.

* DomedHometown: Smallville on the Pocket Universe is protected by a force-field bubble that provides enough atmosphere for its residence, though it eventually fails as the Phantom Zone criminals destroy the field's generator.

* GoodCounterpart: Lex Luthor of the Pocket Universe, being the heroic counterpart of his mainstream DC Universe version. Although this Lex Luthor was modeled after the Pre-Crisis Earth-1 version (just before he lost his hair and became a criminal) rather than be a direct copy.

* GoodCounterpart: Lex Luthor of the Pocket Universe, being the heroic counterpart of his mainstream DC Universe version. Although this Lex Luthor was modeled after the Pre-Crisis Earth-1 version rather than be a direct copy.