Advertising / American Honda Presents DC Comics Supergirl

1984 issue

^{Click here to see the 1986 issue cover} 

American Honda Presents DC Comics Supergirl was a Public Service Announcement series jointly produced by DC Comics, Honda and the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Safety Belt Campaign. It consisted of a two-issues comic-book series featuring Supergirl.

The first issue involves Supergirl looking for a way to revive a young man named Steve Gordon, who was left in a coma because he was not wearing seat belt when a drunk driver crashed into his car. It was written by Joe Orlando (and other writers) and illustrated by Angelo Torres. It was published in 1984.

The second issue was written by Andrew Helfer and Barry Marx and penciled by Joe Orlando and other artists. Linda Danvers (Supergirl's secret identity) is driving two children and their dog Barko down a road. Sally, Jack and their dog fall asleep and suddenly find themselves in the middle of a car-obsessed futuristic city called "Motorville". There, they meet Supergirl, who escorts the trio to "The Amazing Dummy Show". On the way, they run into parodies of fairy tale characters who do not understand the meaning of "driving safely and carefully". It came out in 1986 (interestingly, after Kara Zor-El had been retconned out of existence and banned from continuity).

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Tropes

• Public Service Announcement: This ad comic series was part of the US Department of Transportation's National Safety Belt Campaign to increase seat belt usage in the mid 80's.
• Safe Driving Aesop: The series was made to teach people about safe driving, especially the proper usage of seat belts.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • In the first issue, Steve's nightmares involve him reviving his accident -framed as fantasy scenarios- over and again: he must drive somewhere taking his sister along, Ellen asks him to buckle his seat belt, he refuses because of some dumb reason, and ends dead when his car crashes.
    Ellen: "Well, why don't you get off to a safe start by buckling your seat belt!"
    Steve: "[...] But I don't need any advice! Don't you know that it's safer to be thrown clear of the car in case of an accident?"
    Ellen: "But that's not true! It—"
    Supergirl: "She's right, Steve! If you're thrown free of the car, do you think you're going to land on a pillow somewhere? Wrong! You'll be hitting solid ground— and hitting it very hard!"
  • In the second issue, Supergirl and her three wards repeatedly run into people who refuse to wear their seat belt because of silly reasons: it is uncomfortable, it is needless, it cramps their style...Invariably, their car crashes and Supergirl's intervention is the only reason why they don't get killed.

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Tropes found in the first issue:

• 10-Minute Retirement: Kara is feeling so guilty about her boyfriend getting hurt in a road accident as she was busy saving lives elsewhere that she declares she is through being Supergirl, believing her powers cannot even save people who she loves. One page later, when Superman is talking about using one alien machine to snap Steve out of his coma, Kara declares she will be the one who will go into his mind.
• Anti-Alcohol Aesop: The comic also includes a message against drunk driving. Steve and his little sister are nearly killed by a drunk driver, who becomes aghast when he realizes what he has done.
• The Apunkalypse: One of Steve Gordon's nightmares involves a frozen apocalyptic world and gangs of mohawk-wearing, bike-riding marauders roaming about the icy landscape and raiding villages and envoys.
• Bus Full of Innocents: The story starts with Supergirl stopping cars and trucks from falling off a bridge when an earthquake strikes Southern California and tears a busy highway apart.
• Continuity Nod: Linda is living in Chicago, her home city in Supergirl (1982).
• Convenient Coma: After having a car accident, Steve falls into a coma which stupefies the doctors because there is no brain damage, and he is physically recovering. Kara ponders his mumblings about "killing Ellen" and guesses Steve does not want to wake up because he believes his reckless driving got his little sister killed. Later, she uses a telepathic machine to journey into his mind and help him beat his nightmares, whereupon Steve awakens.
• Disposable Love Interest: Steve Gordon was expressly created to be Linda Danvers' boyfriend in this one story. His sole role is to get hurt in order to cause the protagonist grief, whereupon he will not be seen or mentioned again.
• Electronic Telepathy: Supergirl uses an alien telepathic machine to enter the dreams of Steve and help him wake up from his coma.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: Supergirl travels into the mind of a comatose victim of a traffic accident to help him wake up, risking her life in the process since she will die if he dies while their minds are connected. Steve manages to wake from his coma thanks to Kara, but neither he nor his family ever find out about Kara's actions since she never tells them.
• Guilt-Induced Nightmare: Steve is driving to his little sister Ellen to the theater, refusing to wear his belt because it is unnecessary, when they are hit by another car. Before losing consciousness Steve sees Ellen getting hit on the head and believes her dead. During his coma, Steve experiences an endless stream of nightmares where he relives the car crash: he is a courier, an adventurer, a detective...but the single unifying constant is that he must drive Ellen to somewhere, and they have a deadly car accident because he refused to listen to her and buckle up.
• It's All My Fault: Steve is driving his little sister to the theater when his car gets hit by a drunk driver. The man blames himself for driving while drunk and harming kids, Steve blames himself for his sister getting hurt, and Supergirl blames herself for Steve's coma since she was not around to help him (even though she was saving lives endangered by an earthquake, thus justifying her absence).
• Journey to the Center of the Mind: Supergirl uses a telepathic machine to enter the mind of the comatose victim of a car crash and travel through his nightmares until getting him to wake up.
• My God, What Have I Done?: A drunk driver becomes horrified when he realizes that he has crashed into another car and hurt a young boy and his little sister.
  Unnamed drunk driver: "Oh, my God. Inside that car...They're just kids...I-it's my fault. I murdered them. And all because of a few drinks... I di-didn't mean to hurt them. I didn't even see them! I was just coming home from an office party..."
• No Antagonist: The story is about a young man getting severely injured due to his and another driver's recklessness, and his coma's impact on his family and loved ones.
• Saw "Star Wars" Twenty-Seven Times: Steve Gordon has watched "Battle for Neptune", his favorite movie, twenty times and intends to watch it several more times, to his co-workers' bafflement and his boss' exasperation; the latter joking Steve's mind is "somewhere north of Neptune".
• Tempting Fate: During his second nightmare, Steve refuses to wear his seat belt while driving Ellen through a jungle, claiming it is safer that way. Shortly after they are attacked by a tiger and get a giant boulder dropped on them. Steve manages to dodge both dangers, but he continues to ignore his sister's pleas to buckle up, insisting that they are perfectly safe. Two panels later, his jeep is broadsided by a truck driven by bandits, and Steve goes flying off into some rocks.
• Your Mind Makes It Real: Before activating Superman's telepathic machine and entering Steve's mind, Kara is warned that she will die if Steve dies as she is traveling through his mind.

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Tropes found in the second issue:

• And You Were There: Subverted. Jack falls asleep and dreams he has been transported to a strange car-obsessed universe where he runs into reimaginations of children tales' characters and is rescued by Linda-as-Supergirl, but he does not recognize her. When he wakes up, Jack notes his sister and their dog were in his dream, and he finds Linda's absence strange.
• The Big Bad Wolf: The "Little Red Riding Hood" and "The Three Little Pigs" wolves are parodied and reimagined as jerkass truckers. B. B. Wolf hits Supergirl's car because he is in a hurry to get to the grandmother's house. His kid brother C. C. Wolf hits the pig brothers' car, and he laughs when his stunt throws two of them off the vehicle.
• Denser and Wackier: The first issue discusses a serious real-life topic in a dark, grim way, showing lives and families being destroyed by reckless driving. The second issue has Supergirl, two kids and one dog travelling through a dreamland and running into parodies of fairy tales' characters.
• Drives Like Crazy: Fred Dumpty boasts about being a good driver, but he never wears his seat belt, rides on the sidewalk because he likes staring at his passengers as he is telling jokes, nearly hits several people- including one woman and her baby-, and ends slamming and cracking his head into the steering wheel.
• Fractured Fairy Tale: Supergirl and her young wards run into parodies of fairy and children's tales' characters: Humpty Dumpty is a -terrible- taxi driver, the Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything is reimagined as an elementary school teacher, and the Three Little Pigs are two reckless yuppies and their more grounded and careful older brother.
• Honking Arriving Car: Supergirl, her wards, and the Little Old Lady's students are singing one song while travelling when they hear a blaring, insistent honk. The group turns around to see B. B. Wolf's truck speeding towards their car and then shoving them out of the road.
• Inexplicably Identical Individuals: B. B. Wolf, his kid brother C. C. Wolf and their entire wolf pack (made up for hundreds of wolves) are identical, even if they are not related (which is because Supergirl mistakes C. C. with B. B.). Justified because they are supposed to be "generic fairy tale wolf" parodies.
• Lighter and Softer: The first issue features natural disasters, deaths, and a young man falling into a coma due to a car crash caused by a drunk driver. The second issue is more comedic, with Supergirl preventing people from getting hurt or killed and catching every reckless driver before they can cause more trouble.
• Meaningful Name: Sally and Jack's dog is named...Barko.
• Or Was It a Dream?: While Linda Danvers is driving them down the road, Jack, Sally and their dog fall asleep, finding themselves suddenly in a weird, driving-obsessed mega-city called Motorville. After living an adventure alongside Supergirl, both kids and Barko wake up simultaneously and comment they have had a weird dream. Strangely, they have had the same dream. As they are comparing notes, Linda -who seems to hint she knows what their dream was about- drives by an advertising board displaying scenes of Motorville.
• Pop the Tires: When Supergirl wants to stop C. C. Wolf's truck in its tracks, she fires her heat vision at the right-hand rear wheel.
• Ret-Gone: Subverted. Kara is this issue's main character, despite coming out one year after DC declaring Kara Zor-El was dead, gone and forgotten "forever" and nobody was allowed to bring her up in-and-out-of-universe ever again.
• Shout-Out: Supergirl and her young wards meet parodies of Humpty Dumpty, Linda Williams' "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything", "Little Red Riding Hood", "The Three Little Pigs" and even The Crash Dummies.
• Villainous Underdog: Supergirl is famously overpowered, and B. B. Wolf and C. C. Wolf are The Big Bad Wolf parodies. There is nothing they can do to stop Kara from capturing them for driving recklessly and turning them over to the authorities.

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