Today in Comics History, April 11: Happy (not?) birthday, Linda Lee Danvers!

According to the Super DC Calendar 1976, normally the canon source for this kinda thing, today in the day that Kara Zor-El arrived on Earth (in Action Comics #252) and she has adopted this date as the birthday of her civilian identity, Linda Lee Danvers! So Linda, happy birthd--


from Super DC Calendar 1976 (DC, 1975), letters by Ben Oda
Hey, not so fast, Super DC Calendar '76! We have here another possible case (see, for example, Dick Grayson/Robin) where a character has multiple birthdays (for their super-identity and their normal civilian personality), that the birthday may have shifted post-Crisis or Post-Flashpoint as the Universe knit itself back together, or, as in this case, conflicting dates on which we must decide: which is the true date of Linda Danvers's (no relation to Carol) birthday?


cover of Action Comics #252 (DC, May 1959), pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Al Plastino
Okay, we have three dates to consider here:

• April 11 (today), which is Linda Danvers' birthday/Supergirl's arrival on Earth, per the Super '76 calendar
• May 18, which is Linda's birthday/Kara's arrival according to Action Comics #305 (October 1963) and Supergirl #20 (June 1984)
• September 18, which is (the Earth equivalent of) Kara Zor-El's birthday on Krypton.

from "The Girl Who Hated Supergirl!" in Action Comics #305 (DC, October 1963), script by Leo Dorfman, pencils by Jim Mooney with John Forte
The third one can stand, as I've found no contradictory evidence of another Kryptonian birthday date for Supergirl. But the first two contradict each other, and I side with May 18, which is a canonical date given within a story. As far as I'm concerned, published story trumps the '76 calendar.

So: tune in on May 18 to get the real story on Linda's birthday and her arrival on Earth! Mind you, I think she would encourage you (and me) to eat a little cake today anyway.