The Many Lives of Supergirl

Alan Kistler

Alan Kistler is a freelance writer who has contributed to MonitorDuty.com and PopCultureShock.com. He is a freelance video editor who occasionally acts in independent film projects. His blog is located at alantkistler.squarespace.com.

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20 Responses

  1. Vinnie Bartilucci says:

    Dan Didio related the story of being told the story of the "Angel" Supergirl just after he took over at DC. They explained the whole story as Peter david had set it up, and he just asked, "What has this got to do with Superman's Cousin?" and they answered, "Nothing! Isn't that GREAT?"And it may well have been, but (as Dan said) it went against everything that people "KNOW" about Supergirl. Supergirl is one of those weird characters that no matter how she's being written, she sells well. That's mainly because of the "S" logo.I think it's great that they're trying to bring the character back in line with what people know about the character. I'm looking forward to the new stories with bated breath.

    • Alan Kistler says:

      Go pick up Supergirl #34, out today. It's fantastic and the ending will make you smile.

    • Rick Taylor says:

      Which Supergirl?

      • Rick Taylor says:

        This is less confusing than the parallel earth theory?

        • Alan Kistler says:

          Not sure what you're asking. Do you mean is the new Supergirl issue less confusing than something concerning parallel earths? If so, then yes.

          • Rick Taylor says:

            Not really.When DC published the first Crisis, there was the assertion that the new single DC Universe would be 'less confusing'.Look at what we've gotten since then.Is that 'less confusing'?

          • Alan Kistler says:

            I again am not sure what the problem is.Supergirl is Kara, Superman's cousin. She's a teenager and she's still learning what she's all about. What's not simple about that?

          • Andrew Bergstrom says:

            Y'know, DC USED to have someone who watched over continuity…Then, they let him go! Now you know why the DC universe has been so screwed up since Bob Greenberger left DC! Bob was the guru who watched over and unofficially made sure these blunders in continuity didn't happen. The original Crisis WAS supposed to solve all of the confusion going on in their books, but I guess that adversely affected sales, so someone's bright idea was "Hey! Everything old is new again! We don't care what happened before, THIS is how it is going to be!" Kinda like how they're handling the current Crisis story, by not having the current editorial staff communicating and being told what will be happening and when, you have the whole universe of characters following whatever storylines that were planned before the crossover was written without even consulting with the NEW continuity. Just try to imagine if YOUR life restarted every 5 years?!?! Hmmm, kinda reminds me of having to choose between all of those politicians every 4 years, knowing that the loser is always the taxpayers no matter WHOM gets elected…I like John Byrne's work, and while he changed many things in Superman's books, he at least meant well and admitted that it was something he intended to do. The changes were acceptable to me because they were somewhat believable, and even though the bubble of disbelief was pushed almost to busting with Matrix becoming the new Supergirl, everyone was just relieved that John found a way to bring her back. I happen to like the bare midriff costume, and I have 3 young daughters (3,5, & 7) who also agree with me. It's not creepy for fans to like that costume no matter how old they are, since she's meant to be somewhere between 14 and 16 years old. She doesn't need clothes to protect her from temperature extremes, but rather to keep her from being arrested. I even like the continuity that Oeter David came up with, even though I have no idea why his book was cancelled (other than struggling sales?) I just wish that Dan Didio would stop F*%^ing with Supergirl! Now THAT's creepy!I guess the bottom line is that "DC" now stands for "Dis-Continuity", and I suppose that must be good for sales. Personally, I could do without any further cross-over stories since it almost always ends up being a waste of money…

          • mike weber says:

            I even like the continuity that Peter David came up with, even though I have no idea why his book was cancelled (other than struggling sales?)Mostly, i think, because Dan Didio couldn't deal with the idea of a Supergirl who wasn't SUerman's Cousin.(I don't know about creepy, but have you seen the Japanese Supergirl figure? Not sure those clothes would keep her un-arrested, especially if there's a stiff breeze…And here's a link to a mildly-NSFW image that makes a coment on that subject (not pornographic or terribly explicit, but funny…)

    • mike weber says:

      "What has this got to do with Superman's Cousin?" and they answered, "Nothing! Isn't that GREAT?"And it may well have been, but (as Dan said) it went against everything that people "KNOW" about Supergirl.As is pointed out in another comment in this thread, so does the current storyline (because most people (not comics fans people, who were pretty enthusiastic about PAD's Supergirl, as i recall) don't have the faintest idea who Supergirl is.And, anyway, since Byrne's introduction of the Matrix Supergirl, she wasn't Superman's cousin, anyway. Which nobody seems to have gotten up in arms about before that…

  2. Jeff Stadt says:

    I think he means all of the reboots from COIE until they settled on the old paradigm. I prefer the old 1970's costume, though, with hot pants and slippers. The nekkid midriff is… awkward.

    • Alan Kistler says:

      AH. Well, that doesn't really matter anymore. We have our new supergirl and we're sticking with her.Post Crisis continuity you had Matrix, then Matrix/Linda, then just Linda, and now Kara. And Kara is the only one Superman fans need to worry about. She's Superman's cousin.

    • Rick Taylor says:

      BINGO!I agree on the costume.Seems to be a 'back to the Silver Age' trend.First Green Lantern, then Flash, now Supergirl.

  3. Darren J Hudak says:

    >And what exactly does the common person KNOW about Supergirl? I'd be willing to bet if you walked up to a group of non comic reading indivuals and asked them who Supergirl was, you would get answers as varied as "Superman's wife", "Superman's Sister" "Lois Lane" and "I didn't know there was a Supergirl". You might get a few people saying cosin as a lucky guess or relating a distant memory from a comic childhood or seeing the movie once on cable but I bet the majority of folks have no idea who Supergirl is beyond the fact that she's a girl and she wears the Superman symbol.

    • Dave says:

      It always amazes me when people something is common knowledge to the general public. Over the years, I've been continually amazed at how many of what I would consider "basic facts" aren't known by the public. Even when it comes to cultural icons, many people have very limited knowledge of the characters other than their general appearances.When I used to watch Jeopardy, I enjoyed the Comic Books and Comics Strips catagories. Questions which I thought were very basic comic book/strip knowledge (Spider-Man's secret identity) often stumped the players. Even now, with the movies, I meet many people who have very little idea who these characters are.Alan's assumption that Supergirl's backstory is simple is probably reasonable when talking about comic book readers, but it's naive to expect most people have even the most basic information about the character in their memory. If a non-comic book reader were to pick up a random issue of Supergirl from any era, the character would not be likely to confuse them anymore than any other version of Supergirl as they weren't familar with Supergirl to begin with and, therefore, brought no preconceptions to the reading experience.Comic Book editors used to say the basic information about every series should be summarized in each issue (often done with a short paragraph at the top of the splash page) since each issue was somebody's first issue reading about these characters. This isn't done much today and I feel this is one of the causes for reader confusion and poor sales as customers look for something else to read.

      • Alan Kistler says:

        when I say the backstory is simple, i mean it's simple now for this version of Kara we're dealing with and that Supergirl #34 is a simple read. I don't mean the entire history of Matrix, Linda, Kara is simple. You have to be a more dedicated fan to get that stuff straight in your head. But in the end, it doesn't much matter. Matrix is gone and Linda is only in Reign of Hell. The Superman books are not acknowledging either of them becuase they've both been gone for years. It's just Kara.I gave Supergirl #34 to three friends of mine who don't read comics and they all found it enjoyable and very easy to understand, which was part of my point. The only thing that comic expects you to know is that Clark Kent is Superman. It explains who Kara is and what she's doing and everything else is stuff to be explored in future issues. I think that's a great jumping on point. That's what I meant about the new direction being simpler to understand. Obviously I don't think Supergirl in general is simple or I wouldn't have thought we needed this article I just wrote.

        • Dave says:

          Alan,Thanks for clarifying your point. I agree with what you've said.I hope Supergirl #34 does bring in more regular readers – and new readers in general. By adding readers who were not comics readers previously, comics like these (less complicated and good jumping on points) will strengthen not only the Superman line, but eventually the industry as a whole.

          • Alan Kistler says:

            You are absolutely right. Which is again, why I praise this particular comic for having editorial footnotes and recaps. When I was a kid, those could always be depended on for new readers. Now, a lot of comics expect you to know teh whole history of the character already as well as at least three others. And that really sucks. That's what keeps people who love the Iron Man movie from picking up his comic.

      • mike weber says:

        Dave said:It always amazes me when people [assume? – mw] something is common knowledge to the general public. Over the years, I've been continually amazed at how many of what I would consider "basic facts" aren't known by the public. Even when it comes to cultural icons, many people have very limited knowledge of the characters other than their general appearances.Yeah, i recently triped on that when i assumed that most people would at least know that NASCAR races on oval tracks rather than road courses… I was informed by a number of people that it was not so.

  4. Richard Pachter says:

    I picked up the new book out of curiosity.The story was all right but the art? Meh. Reminiscent of some of the guys who drew Superman during Julie's final days.