Is Black 'Condor' wearing a wig, or what?

So, for those of you just joining us, we're still looking at Superman #349, from 1980. Check out yesterday for the cover!

I don't know if this was the style at the time, but the issue begins with a splash page that sets up the riddle of the issue, but is mildly redundant with the cover: Why is everyone's gender reversed? Why would Superwoman and Superboy attack Superman? How come this is the same creative team as the last issue I bought, over a year ago?

The story gets started with Superman returning from a space mission, excited to get back to work as a part-timer at the Daily Planet again. Clark makes an "ordinary entrance" through the lobby, but is stopped by a male receptionist, who says there's no "Clark Kent" in his listing. Annoyed, Clark storms through to the city room, conveniently one door over. There, he's surprised to see Louis Lane, Jenny Olsen, and Chief Penny White! Confused, Clark leaves, but not before he hears White refer to a female Kent.

Outside, a window-washer falls off a ledge, only to be saved by Superwoman. A brief aside: I've never lived in a real big city, so you'd have to tell me: is window washing that dangerous? Try and find a comic series from the 60's to 70's that didn't have a window washer falling at some point. Seriously, if you or someone you know is a window washer, find a safer profession, like costumed vigilante.

Superman uses his super-vision to check out the JLA satelite, and sure enough genders are reversed up there as well. Batwoman, a female Flash (with no exposed hair, which would probably be practical for a runner), the aforementioned Wonder Warrior, and Black Condor replacing Black Canary. No fishnets, but I don't see the leather jacket and basketball shorts striking fear into the hearts of criminals, although I suppose it's functional. I don't wanna know if he wears a blonde wig like Canary did back then...

For the gender-swapping, the costumes aren't dramatically changed, really: no utility-purse for Batwoman, no mighty sword instead of golden lasso for Wonder Warrior. The newly-minted females aren't overly sexualized either, but that wasn't really Curt Swan's style, nor the style of the times. I know it's been done since in comics here and there, and I reckon this probably wasn't a new idea when it was done here, but at age 9, it was the first time I saw it. The conclusion of Superman #349 will be up on Wednesday!