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in: Neal Adams/Cover Artist, Jack C. Harris/Writer, Bob Brown/Penciler,
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Superman Family Vol 1 183

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"Supergirl: "Shadows of Phantoms"": Supergirl comes to the rescue of an out-of-control jet. Supergirl saves the pilot, but the jet vanishes strangely. Supergirl takes the man back to his base, thus missing a spectral figure slipping in through a dimensional crack behi

Quote1 He's a computer, son-- No regard for life! His logic tells him this is the only way to exact his revenge! Quote2
— Nightwing

Superman Family #183 is an issue of the series Superman Family (Volume 1) with a cover date of June, 1977. It was published on February 17, 1977.

Synopsis for Supergirl: "Shadows of Phantoms"

Supergirl comes to the rescue of an out-of-control jet. Supergirl saves the pilot, but the jet vanishes strangely. Supergirl takes the man back to his base, thus missing a spectral figure slipping in through a dimensional crack behind her and swearing revenge.

On the army base, the pilot mumbles something seized his mind and forced him to fly faster than his plane could take, and then he loses consciousness. The next day, Supergirl is still wondering about the jet, which flew so fast it smashed through the sound barrier and was breaking apart due to the vibrations. Idly Linda wonders if the jet pierced through other barriers before putting the matter aside.

Months later, a woman named Sylvia Shadow begins running sleep study experiments in the New Athens Experimental School. At first, Linda declines to take part in Sylvia's research, but when several students feel abnormally fatigued after signing up for the sleep research, Linda volunteers. Sylvia hooks Linda up to a machine, and then reveals she knows Linda is Supergirl, and her machine is transferring Supergirl's life-energy to Sylvia. Linda gets off the machine, changes clothes and punches Sylvia, but her blow has no effect on Sylvia.

Sylvia reveals she's a Kryptonian, born Shyla Kor-Onn. Many decades ago, she applied for Krypton's space program but she was rejected because of her weak physique. Shyla devised a device to steal other people's life-strength, but she accidentally killed someone and was sentenced to the Phantom Zone. Eventually her fellow inmates suggested to find a way for them to escape to Earth, so gaining powers. Shyla made countless attempts until she managed to telepathically influence a pilot into flying fast enough to rip through the Zone briefly.

Supergirl still demands to know why Shyla is performing those strength experiments with her students, and Syla replies she's adding their strength to hers so she'll be more powerful than her fellow Zoners when she release them.

Shyla runs away, and Kara chases after her. Shyla breaks into the Fortress of Solitude to free the Zoners, but Supergirl engages her. Both women fight until Supergirl tricks her into flying in front of the Phantom Zone Projector's ray. Shyla grumbles Kara was lucky, but Kara replies she used her knowledge of Earth's physics to outsmart Shyla.

Appearing in Supergirl: "Shadows of Phantoms"

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Vehicles:

  • Jet Plane


Synopsis for Krypto: "Love and the Single Dog!"

Krypto remembers his old flame, Chelsea, and comes to Earth to see her just in time to save her from a fire breaking out on the set of a movie in which she is starring. Krypto is written into the movie by the producers as a co-star.

Appearing in Krypto: "Love and the Single Dog!"

Featured Characters:

  • Krypto (Flashback and main story)

Supporting Characters:

  • Chelsea (Flashback and main story)
  • Superman (Flashback only)
  • Lois Lane (Flashback only)

Antagonists:


Other Characters:

  • Herkimer (bird dog)
  • Chelsea's trainer
  • A film crew

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Synopsis for Jimmy Olsen: "Short-Circuit a Smuggler"

Jimmy Olsen goes undercover to track down a pair of diamond smugglers.

Appearing in Jimmy Olsen: "Short-Circuit a Smuggler"

Featured Characters:

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Antagonists:

  • Michael "Mr. Mike" Sophanzo (smuggler)
    • Louie

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Locations:


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Synopsis for Perry White: "Whatever Happened to Perry White?"

Perry White is given doctor's orders to cut down on his gruffness, but the Daily Planet staffers soon return him to normal.

Appearing in Perry White: "Whatever Happened to Perry White?"

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Other Characters:

  • Perry White's doctor
  • Jerry (Daily Planet staffer)
  • Mrs. Whipsnade (Mentioned only)

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Synopsis for Nightwing & Flamebird: "Death Is a Computer"

The new Nightwing and Flamebird foil Brainiac's plot to destroy the bottle city of Kandor.

Appearing in Nightwing & Flamebird: "Death Is a Computer"

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Other Characters:

  • Animals in Superman's Intergalactic Zoo

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Synopsis for Lois Lane: "The Day Lois Lane Walked All Over Superman"

Deadman witnesses a strange plot by Dr. Predor, the head of a "psychic institute": he uses a "psychic displacer" of his own invention to switch spirits with Superman. With Predor's own body in a machine-induced sleep-state, his spirit is free to use Superman's body, but his inexperience at wielding such great power overwhelms him. Superman takes advantage of Lois's measurably great psychic power to telepath messages to her, which results in the two of them cooking up a scheme that gets Superman's and Predor's spirits back in their rightful bodies. Deadman admits he could have lent a hand, but says that Lois and Superman did fine by themselves.

Appearing in Lois Lane: "The Day Lois Lane Walked All Over Superman"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Dr. Predor (Single appearance)

Other Characters:

Locations:

  • Metropolis Psychic Research Institute

Items:


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Notes

Trivia

  • There is a minor mistake in the artistic continuity of the character Shyla in the Supergirl story this issue. After "Sylvia Shadow" reveals herself to Kara, she tears off her disguise of medical scrubs to reveal her Kryptonian garb underneath. Then, she recollects her past on Krypton that led to her imprisonment in the Phantom Zone prior to the destruction of the planet, during which the flashback shows her having donned yellow elbow-length gloves in between panels to put the final touch-ups on her strength-sapping ray. When the flashback ends, however, Shyla is depicted wearing the same gloves even though she had not worn them prior to the beginning of the flashback.
  • Although Superman and Lois Lane decide not to press charges against Dr. Predor in the Lois Lane story, on the grounds that his malicious actions while inhabiting Superman's body were caused by artificial derangement of his mind by the foreign Kryptonian physiology, it still does not excuse that Predor was in his right mind when he decided to initiate an astral body-swap with Superman without his permission, constituting a grave violation of Superman's personal privacy.


See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References
Superboy Vol 4 69
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