Supergirl's Relationship With Her Pet Super-Horse, Comet, Is Completely Disturbing

Comet the Super-Horse was first introduced in "Adventure Comics" #293, which was published in February of 1962. Comet was one of many superpowered pets from DC Comics, alongside Krypto the Super-Dog, Streaky the Supercat, and Beppo the Super-Monkey. The horse first began his adventures with Superboy, but quickly came to be adopted by Kara Zor-El, a.k.a. Supergirl, Superman's cousin. Comet and Supergirl first met in "Action Comics" #293, published in September of 1962. 

Comet is possessed of human intelligence and has psychic powers, allowing him to communicate with Supergirl directly and tell her all about where he came from and why he can read minds. The horse's origin is a little unusual: Comet was originally a centaur named Biron who lived in Ancient Greece. Biron, being a divine being, tooled around with the Olympian gods and once had an unfortunate run-in with the goddess Circe. It seems that an evil wizard was trying to poison Circe, and Biron saved her before she could drink it. Circe wanted to thank Biron for his act of kindness, and gave him a potion that would turn him into a human. 

But even gods err. Circe, like something out of "The Emperor's New Groove," accidentally gave Biron a potion that turned him into a horse instead. To apologize, Circe made Biron psychic and immortal. Sadly, the evil sorcerer mentioned above was still bitter about his plans being foiled, so he magically imprisoned the horse Biron in a cosmic jail, out by one of the stars in the constellation Sagittarius. He wasn't freed until Supergirl, thousands of years later, accidentally broke him out with her passing rocket. 

Oh yes, and Supergirl ended up in a romantic relationship with the horse. 

So, after Supergirl freed Biron, he flew to Earth and became her pet horse. She named him Comet, and they started speaking telepathically. 

The weird part of the story came when Supergirl and Comet took on a rescue mission to a distant planet called Zerox (no relation to the tech company Xerox). The rescue mission was a success, and Comet, as special thanks from the leader of Zerox, was given a special new gift: when a very specific (fictional) comet flew into Earth's orbit, Comet would be magically transformed into a human. Not just any human, but a handsome, blond stud. As a human, Comet went by the name of "Bronco" Bill Starr, and he took a job at a local rodeo. I guess being a horse for several millennia would give one insight in how to ride them. 

Supergirl wasn't told any of this, by the way. Comet made all these magical arrangements on his own. As such, Supergirl — under her secret identity of Linda Lee Danvers — started going from rodeo to rodeo, hoping to find Comet, whom she assumed was lost. She instead met Bronco Bill, not knowing he was her horse in disguise. Comet, of course, had never seen Supergirl out of her superhero outfit, so he too was unaware that he was talking to Supergirl. There was a brief rodeo crisis involving a runaway bull, and as Comet and Supergirl found themselves exhilarated and panicked, and they shared a passionate kiss. 

The kiss led to a whirlwind romance between Supergirl and her horse. As Bronco Bill, Comet saved animals, and he also repeatedly "saved" Supergirl from crumbling cliffs and the like (she couldn't save herself for fear of revealing her secret identity). Bronco Bill eventually put together that Linda Lee Danvers was Supergirl ... but continued the charade. 

The romance is fully detailed in issue #311 of "Action Comics." The writers of the comics didn't seem to have any problems with Supergirl making out with her horse in human form, and staged it as a romantic Western. I'd call it one of the weirdest stories to come out of comic books in the 1960s, but this kind of outlandish conceit was common at the time. Comet vanished from the comics thereafter and would not return for a few decades. 

Of course, like any comic book character, Comet was eventually rebooted and given a new origin story upon his return. In "Supergirl" #14, which was published in 1997, Comet returned as a magical intersex semi-deity. The new version of Comet, created by comic book luminary Peter David, was born when two characters named Andrea and Andrew were forced to magically fuse into one being as means of surviving an avalanche. The two beings can transform into one another, with one being a female humanoid and the other being a male winged centaur. The new Comet had Cupid-like powers, emanating an aura of love magic wherever he went. 

Yeah, the new Comet was a far cry from the dippy, lovelorn cowboy of the 1960s. And, luckily, he came without a whiff of zoophilia.