"Pummeled" was the operative word during the Sekowsky era of Supergirl stories in Adventure Comics. Kara got the stuffing knocked out of her time and time again, to a degree not seen before, and not afterward until her sacrificial death scene in Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Steve Skeates' story "Pawn of Peace" was wackier than average. Reptilian aliens want to conquer Earth, but for some reason don't use their own superior technology directly. Instead, they disguise themselves as humans, help a scientist perfect his own Iron Giant, and unleash it on San Francisco. Supergirl intervenes but finds herself incapacitated and toted to the top of a skyscraper like Fay Wray (who is name-checked on page 11) in King Kong.

Page 7 begins the pummeling, as the robot sends her head-over-feet. The second "W" in "WOW" was whited out and redrawn in panel 3. I can see remnants of Sekowsky's pencils faintly all over the page when I zoom in; weren't those supposed to have been erased after lettering? The top edge was taped down, photographed for publication, and then sliced diagonally to quickly remove it before moving on to the next page. Is it just me, or are the word balloons more cloud-shaped than usual, rather than simple ellipses?

This is my favorite of the many costumes Supergirl wore in this era, with its bead-edged hot pants and piratey sleeves with the small logo on her left breast. Panel six gives a rare close-up of her elf booties, which have a row of tiny tongues below the rolled top. This costume by John Sposato had debuted in issue #410 but originally had heeled ballet slippers tied with string around the calves. The shoes seen here debuted in #411. In an era that saw Supergirl trying myriad costumes beyond her Silver Age skirt, this costume was most successful, returning in #414 and #417-424, after which she moved to her own book under a new creative team.

I traded this page away to get one from Sword of the Atom, but its new owner does not use CAF, so with his permission, I am leaving this here for the curious.

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