700 – Supergirl Meets Tommy

A panel from “Supergirl Visits the 21st Century” in Action Comics #255, June 1959

In the same issue that debuts Bizarro-Lois, Supergirl is told by her mentor, Superman, to practice breaking the time barrier. She races off a hundred years in the future and meets a genius orphan named Tommy. Supergirl saves his adopted parents from disaster and writes about it in her diary once she’s back. It turns out the kid she rescued is the future Tommy Tomorrow of the Planeteers!

Tommy Tomorrow joins DC continuity in Action Comics #255, June 1959
Tommy Tomorrow joins DC continuity in Action Comics #255, June 1959

This is the moment when it is firmly established that Tommy Tomorrow is part of the mainstream DC continuity. Maybe there was some worry when Supergirl feature displaced Tommy’s feature in Action Comics that readers would not know that his adventures still appear in World’s Finest Comics?