A Little Bit Of Kandor: Candor Epilogue in Supergirl #9

I (sort of) close my long look at the Candor arc in the early run of the 2004 Supergirl series with this brief look at Supergirl #9.

Remember that last issue Supergirl scooped up Power Girl and left Kandor in the middle of an uprising of the alien citizens against the nationalistic Kryptonians. Why did she leave the good fight? Because Saturn Queen gave her some undisclosed information about Argo.

That issue was the first issue for Joe Kelly and, as I have said many times before, I just don't care for Kelly's take on the character. Now it may be that Kelly didn't want anything to do with the Kandor story (remember Greg Rucka started it) and so he simply pulled the plug on the whole thing.

But you can definitely see the direction Kelly was interested in within the pages of this issue. At the very least he addresses the quick exit from Kandor.

Ian Churchill is on art again and he has his style. His Kara looks rail thin and stretched out. That said, I think Churchill would make a dandy Power Girl artist. And if you can look past the sleaze, his stuff has a lot of polish.

We should start with the cover as it also is something of a foreshadow of the darker tone for this book.

Here we see Kara sitting in the dark of space, crying, looking at shattered rocks. Perhaps this is the detritus of Krypton. But this is an homage, really an homage through a mirror darkly.

Because it an homage to All Star Superman #1.

Here a rather peaceful looking Kal is sitting on a cloud in the bright blue sky looking at a sunny horizon. This is a far more optimistic and idyllic image.

But that wasn't meant for Supergirl in the early going of this book.

Review: Supergirl #18 - Supergirl Meets Supergirl??

 

I am concluding my look back at time 'Supergirl met Supergirl' with Supergirl #18, the penultimate issue of the uneven Joe Kelly run on the book. I have been dreading this review because I have pretty strong feelings about this back issue. As a long time Supergirl fan, I felt that Joe Kelly was deriding me. But I also felt that Kelly got the whole thing wrong, so his derision, his scornful look at Supergirl fans was off the mark ... making it that much worse.

You see, many many people who drop in on this site and read my problems with a dark Supergirl seem to think that I want a super-sweet, super-innocent, super-perfect Kara smiling her way through life and never having a care. 

And that is simply not true. In fact, as I have said a million times before, it is Supergirl's youth and inexperience, her growing into the role of a hero, her failing and picking herself up and trying again that made me fall in love with the character to begin with. She is striving to be something more. And she has passion and drive. She will do whatever she needs to do to help. But she is an optimist ... and a young hero. She wants to do as much good as she can.

I could not say that about Kelly's Supergirl. This was someone who was trained to kill Kal-El, who gunned down her high school with her father, who came to Earth and began hitting the bars and clubs, sold Kryptonian tech to Batman to set herself up for an easy life, and tried to not be a hero at all. And that was simply unacceptable in my mind.

Many Supergirl fans complained about this direction of a dark, jaded, petulant Supergirl. Those few who liked the direction said that the complainers were 'old fans' who wanted stories similar to the early 60s Supergirl ... the saccharin adventures of a young girl helping orphans and quaking in Superman's shadows. But that wasn't true. We simply wanted a heroic Supergirl.

It amazes me how history repeats itself. Because now we are having the same argument about the new Supergirl. . DC wants a dark Supergirl. Supergirl fans want a heroic Supergirl. And again, we fans are looked at scornfully as being anachronisms.

Okay ... on to the issue - titled 'Little Miss Perfect' by writer Joe Kelly and artists Adam Archer and Ale Garza.

We'll start with the cover, a riff of the other time 'Supergirl met Supergirl' in this book, when Kara met the Dark Supergirl made by exposing Supergirl to Black Kryptonite.

At this point in the book, Zor-El was on Earth. He and Kara were dealing with Phantom Zone spirits possessing people. Supergirl was bleeding crystals, fighting normal people, and generally confused about what was happening. And now she was faced with another Supergirl, dressed in a more classic costume.

It isn't surprising that Kelly calls the story 'Little Miss Perfect.' I think this other Supergirl is his perception of what Supergirl fans wanted to see in the book. So we get this vapid, ever-smiling, overly optimistic, overly sweet, caricature of Supergirl.

I can't think it is a good idea to taunt the fans of your character. I was pretty angry after this issue.

This smiling mockery laughs her way through a fight with the 'real' Kara. But she does point out some of the problems with this version of Supergirl. She did try to kill Superman for a chunk of time in the book.

But ... again ... this other Supergirl is so over-the-top in the other direction. Did Kelly think people really wanted that?

The battle heads through the city and the current Supergirl keeps trying to deal with the possessed humans. But things seems off. She sees people who aren't there.

Here we see Kelly's misinterpretation again. This Supergirl 'does the right thing all the time and does it with a smile'. Yes, I want my Supergirl to *try* to do the right thing all the time. I would rather her try to save people instead of complaining that a disaster interrupted her rave. I don't want Supergirl using a 'tight t-shirt' to get herself into a bar. I don't want her leaning over a pool table, teasing guys in their 20's about her 'nice 'S''.

Look at two of the more popular runs on Supergirl - Peter David's and Sterling Gates'. Were those Supergirl's constantly smiling? Always getting everything right?

This venom about Supergirl fans wanting a perfect Supergirl is wrong ... but Kelly keeps jabbing.

We get a two page layout looking at the problems of ordinary girls. Being teased, in a dysfunctional family, being harassed by a stranger at a bus station, drinking and in an abusive relationship....

Crying alone in bed.

And then Kelly drops the boom. This has to be sarcasm. The fake sweet Supergirl says 'Supergirl is happy. I'm fiery! I'm inspirational! People look to Supergirl to FORGET their problems,  to see someone who can teach them to do it better. Who wants a Supergirl with the same problems they have? It just doesn't make sense."

Kelly is saying that a young woman striving to be better, trying to inspire ... is unrelatable, a joke.

Does that mean he is saying that girls reading this Supergirl should act like her? Avoid her problem? Sneak into bars? Not be a hero?

Is he saying that the PAD Linda Danvers didn't have problems?
Didn't we see Gates and Igle show us a Supergirl dealing with adolescent problems but still trying to do what was right?

These pages irked me. If being a hero is so disconnected from reality, why write these books?

And it amazes me that this is the guy involved with Ben10!

And more perfection talk. More misunderstanding of what Supergirl is.

This phony Supergirl says she is 'perfect, not ugly, not frightened, not selfish ... a good girl blessed with the same disposition as her cousin.'

The Supergirl I want isn't selfish ... that is true. But I don't want a perfect Supergirl, I want a girl with a different take on justice than Superman ... but striving to be as heroic as her cousin. And she is an optimist, seeing the best in people.

If this 'phony Supergirl' is Kelly's response to the complaints, what does he want? Does he want a frightened, selfish, ugly bad girl??

Isn't there a Supergirl in the middle of these two extremes??

After the verbal beatdown, the perfect Supergirl asks the 'real' Supergirl to step aside.

And amazingly, she does, allowing the good girl Supergirl to 'absorb' her.

But it is a fake out. Once 'inside' the 'perfect' Supergirl, the current Supergirl shatters her way out.

Supergirl calls herself a crazy chick! Ugh.

And then she says all the things I like about Supergirl. 'I make mistakes all the time. But I get myself up. I try to do better. I always try again.' Hey ... that sounds like the Supergirl I would read.

But I want that attitude in a different person. I want her to be striving to do good, to be a hero, to help. This Supergirl rarely did that. What did she fail at? Underage drinking and angst?

This was in the Countdown era of the DC Universe. The 'perfect Supergirl' was the Dark Angel, an emissary of the Monitors (and I believe Donna Troy) who is supposed to root out universal anomalies. She was testing this Supergirl to see if she didn't belong. But this Supergirl passed the test.

The Monitor shows up, chastises his herald, and tells Supergirl she does belong. Amazingly, this could have been a reset card for Kelly. He could have made everything ... the crystal blood, the kill Kal-El memories, the Phantom Zone ghosts ... all of it could have been Monitor hijinks. Instead, Kelly says that all that stuff is indeed true. Supergirl still has to deal with it.

Thankfully, Kelly's run only had one more issue. This issue made me think he had absolutely no understanding of the Supergirl character or her fandom. He basically ridiculed her fans with this empty shell of Kara this whole issue, not understanding what it was we wanted to see and mocking us anyways.

And so ends my look back at issues where 'Supergirl met Supergirl'. Sorry to end on a sour note.

Overall grade: D-

The Tipping Point - Have You Ever Abandoned Your Favorite Character?

I have been something of a downer on this blog lately, lamenting the decision by DC Comics to have Supergirl become a member of the Red Lanterns. As someone who has loved Supergirl as a character because of her heroic convictions even as she is learning the ropes, I felt that this was simply a step backwards.

We have already had 2 years of Supergirl being isolated, angry, alone. We have seen flashes of her recognizing the need to move on, to readjust. We have occasionally seen her act the hero. And we had a new creative team vowing to make her likable again. And then this ... a blood spewing Red Lantern, filled only with rage.

Now I was asked if, because of this Red Lantern business, I was going to drop the book. Was this the tipping point that would make me jump ship? Was I going to drop Supergirl ... the title starring my favorite comic book character?

I won't say it didn't cross my mind briefly. But the answer is no. I wont be dropping the book. I have some trust in Tony Bedard. I am hoping this is some redemption story with Supergirl turning to the light in the end, shedding the Red Ring and becoming a hero. And I need to at least see where the story is going.

Don't get me wrong. I would love for this to be a 6-9 issue arc, get the angst all out there, and head back to the being the fiery optimistic young hero I believe Supergirl to be. But I am not dropping the book.

In fact this is the closest I have come to dropping a Supergirl book.

The last volume's first 2 years were something of a mess with a very angry Supergirl rave dancing while people are in danger, bemoaning being on Earth, smoking and sneaking into bars and teasing older men for staring at her 'S' while she wiggled her backside leaning over a pool table. That was bad enough.

But then writer Joe Kelly made things even more insane. Zor-El was delusional, thought the phantom zone had sent ghosts which possessed people, and sent Kara to Earth to kill Kal-El. But before that, we had a flashback where Kara and her father went to her high school and slaughtered the students as they were 'possessed'.

A gun-toting Kara killing her classmates? It was too much for me to take. This was insane. It was character suicide. And in a time of kids shooting up schools, it was idiotic to have the hero of the book do the same.

I think by this time news may have leaked that Kelly was off the book so I stuck around.

But I honestly thought about dropping the title ... me dropping a Supergirl book ... because the direction was all wrong.

In fact, in some ways, that arc spurred me to start this blog, a place to celebrate the character. 

I never batted an eye about the Earth Angel series by Peter David. It was clear from the first issue that book was going to be something special, even when I learned how despicable the Linda aspect of her was.

I had little initial interest in this '5 year later' Legion, a grimmer, darker book by description. It was clear with the end of the prior volume of LSH that the stories had become tired and hackneyed and the whole mythos needed a reboot.

I thought about not getting this book, sick of constant grim books, but gave it 'one arc' to grab me. Boy, did it ever. I loved it. I don't think many Legion fans did.

And so I open it up to everyone out there.

Have you ever thought about dropping a book starring your favorite character because the creative direction went somewhere you completely disagreed with and disliked?

Has anyone actually dropped the book starring the favorite character?

I would love to hear from anyone and everyone!

Back Issue Holiday Box: DCU Infinite Holiday Special #1

For the first time in a while I actually skipped a day of blogging, not posting on Thursday of this week. I will be honest, I have been running around like a crazy Anj. Between work, standard family fare, and the holidays, I simply ran out of time.

With the holidays on my mind, I thought I would review a Supergirl Christmas story from 2007, one of the tales in the DCU Infinite Holiday Special #1. 

"All I Want For Christmas..." was written by then Supergirl scribe Joe Kelly with art by Ale Garza, who was going to be taking over the Supergirl title soon after. In December 2007, Supergirl #13 was on the rack, the middle of the Power Boy love story with the 'crystal Hell, kill Kal-El' stories right around the corner. For me, this was not a good time to be a Supergirl fan as things were going to get dark and horrible. She seemed weighed down by angst, bratty, and miserable. And yet, Kelly's last issue (Supergirl #19) seemed to turn all that around. I have always wondered if Kelly was hoping to stay on the title longer, ready to right the ship after cleansing her of all the nonsense. The following year's Supergirl story by Joe Kelly was so uplifting. Maybe that is what he wanted her to be.

I hadn't read this story in a while and you see some glimpses of hope in this story. Kelly still has this be an edgy Kara but you get the sense she is ready to be happy and a hero. The ends are there; the means are still rough. It surprises me that, given this story, we still had 7 more months of a terrible Supergirl ahead of us.

But enough dwelling on the bad. This is the holiday season.

The story starts out with Clark extolling the virtues of Christmas and Supergirl being snarky about the whole thing. Santa isn't in the bible. Jesus wasn't born in December. Shops are 'pimping out' salvation. It all seems like a joke to her.

Superman asks her to look past this stuff and instead concentrate on the spirit of Christmas. And maybe a good way to do that is to help out others and answer some of the Christmas letters that get sent to Superman.

Surprisingly, given the feel of the book at this time, she takes his suggestion to heart.

We see her fixing homes, flying with gifts and wearing a Santa hat, playing with kids, visiting babies, and doing flying sleigh rides. She even is smiling in some of the pictures.

But, more consistent with her character at the time, we also get that bored panel in the right corner, as if she is wondering why she is even bothering. Because making kids happy and doing good isn't its own reward.

Well, reality sinks in a bit. One of the letters is from a young girl named Brooke who wants to see her father who is serving in the military overseas.

Supergirl heads to the house to gather some information and is shocked to see the mother slam the door in her face, telling her to mind her business.

So much for Christmas cheer.

Heading to the Batcave, Supergirl tries to figure out what's going on. I do like the winter hat look.

But remember this is the 2007 Supergirl.

She doesn't like to be told what to do.
She doesn't want to do nice things.
She has problem with authority.

Okay, I will say it for the millionth time ... I DON'T WANT A SUGARY SWEET Silver Age SUPERGIRL!

But despite the fact that she really is trying to do something nice here, the trappings are of this irritated young girl.

And the scene ends with her kissing Alfred and leaving a Christmas gift for Bruce!

Can you see why I might have thought that Kelly was trying to show that maybe just bubbling under the surface is a Supergirl who wants to be a hero and do what's right? Did he add this element just for the holiday story?

It turns out that Brooke's father isn't a nice guy at all. Cheated on his wife. Lost their savings. Became a drunk. Thinks the mother 'trapped him' with the pregnancy!

So he also tells Supergirl to fly away and mind her own business.

Remember, we were just at the beginning of the 'mad Zor-El' aspect of Supergirl's story. She has her own Daddy issues. And since this guy has a chance to put things right, she pushes things.

She finds the father again and flies him high into the sky ... and then drops him!

Luckily, she catches him.

But this is her effort to scare him straight. Would he really want to die without clearing things up with his ex-wife and daughter. She can't force him to do anything. But she knows he can make things better.

This is one of those 'young heroes learning' moments that I love. This is the right thing to do. Maybe dropping him wasn't the right means to get to this end. But her heart is in the right place.

Again, you can see why I might be lured into optimism with this story.

And then this ending.

A smiling Supergirl, wanting to open presents, talking about Christmas miracles!

And the last panel has Brooke writing a new Christmas letter to Supergirl now ... not Superman. She has a new hero. And the father is hugging her. Again, isn't this a nice Supergirl story, one built on love and hope and compassion ... albeit with the rough edges of youth.

And yet ... for some reason, the image that was burned in my brain with this story is the mother's expression in the lower panel. She does not seem happy. Even her silhouette in the last panel it is clear her arms are crossed.

This isn't a miracle for everyone. This woman probably still wants this guy out of her life. I can only hope that eventually this guy learns to fly right and everyone is content with this family dynamic. But that sullen expression kind of soured a more magical ending.

Still, this is a pretty good Supergirl story as she learns the meaning of Christmas spirit, as she helps people out, sacrificing her time for the betterment of others, going the extra step to make sure someone is done right by her.

Happy holidays to everyone!

Overall grade: B+

Eddie Berganza Editing Super-Books

It has been announced over on Bleeding Cool that Eddie Berganza, former Executive Editor at DC Comics, has now been announced as a group editor, and specifically has taken over the editorial reins for all the Super Books. Here is the link to that brief piece as well as the key blurb: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/12/05/eddie-berganza-taks-the-superman-books-back/

One of the announcements made at DC yesterday was that Berganza would take over editing all the Superman books.

Now one thing that I have been asking for has been 'eye in the sky' editor for the super-books. Someone who will make sure that the tone and characterization for these characters remains consistent from book to book.

Just this month, I read Supergirl #14 and Superman #14, subsequent chapters in the same crossover, with such different voices and tones in the characters that they could have taken place in alternate universes. I have hoped that someone would tidy up the post- Morrison continuity, knowing that Action Comics would take place in the 'now' rather than 5 years in the past.

And so you would think that an announcement that one editor would be running the super-books would make me a happy comic reader and Super-fan.

So the question remains ... is Eddie Berganza the right guy for the job? Is he the person I want editing Supergirl?

Well he was listed as editor on Action Comics #775, one of my favorite Superman stories of all time, which upheld just who Superman should be even in the current comic market.

And he worked with Mike Johnson over on Superman/Batman. That run included some great Supergirl moments in the Super-bat storyline and another of my overall favrorites Superman/Batman #62, 'Sidekicked'.

But ....

He was editor for the first 19 issues of the last Supergirl book. Remember this series?

She fought every hero she could.
She went to save and then abandoned Kandor.
She went crazy and bled crystals.
She paraded around her father nude, she snuck into bars because she knew a tight shirt would get her in, she was angry that a disaster interrupted her rave dancing. She bent over in front of Captain Boomerang and made a 'looking at her 'S'' joke. She was programmed to kill Superman.

Oh yeah, and she actually did kill her classmates on Krypton, gunning them down with her father..

She was not heroic, mostly bitter, difficult to like, and self-absorbed.

THAT IS NOT SUPERGIRL!

Has there been a lower point in Supergirl stories than those? I look back at those issues and cringe.

Eddie Berganza was the editorial voice on those books.

And currently?

Well, he is the editor on Superman.

In two issues he has had her fly at Superman and call him a liar; backtrack and consider Kon as an it, not a person, and contemplate killing Superboy; she has sarcastically called humans 'precious'; and she has become H'El's dupe.

The Supergirl in the issues Berganza has been editor on is vastly different than the one we have seen in her main book. She has done things opposite to what she did in her own book.

Is that who Berganza thinks Supergirl is? Is he going to want to bring back the bitchy Loeb/Kelly Kara, the one that fans abandoned? 

And I haven't even mentioned what Superman is like in those books.

So one editor is a good idea for family-wide continuity.
But I suppose it needs to be the right editor.

I don't know right now if Eddie Berganza is the right editor.

I guess time will tell.

But suddenly I am worried about Supergirl.

Jerry Ordway Commission And ComiConn Report

I went to ComiConn this last Saturday for the first time and was thoroughly impressed with this comic convention.

I knew going in that this was going to be a more relaxing sort of convention for me. This wasn't the size of Boston Comic-Con. There weren't as many guests that I felt I needed to run into (although the ones that were there were of the highest quality - more later). And I wasn't even sure if I was going to get any commissions. So I thought that this would be a leisurely afternoon of chatting with some creators and ... gasp ... buying comic books. Sometimes at the bigger cons, I get so wrapped up with meeting people I never even hit the dealer end of things. And with this con being closer to NY than Mass, I knew I would be looking at new dealers' collections.

I would describe this as a small to medium sized con with one big room for dealers, one hallway and one small room for indy and small press, and one small room where the main guests were sitting. As usual, me and my buddy got there early and thank goodness. The place got so mobbed they had to stop letting people in for a while and the line snaked out the hotel. I wonder if next year's con will be at a different venue.

We were near the front of the line when the doors opened and quickly spied the creator room.

Not everyone had arrived but Paul Kupperberg and Robert Greenberger were there. It was great to meet Kupperberg in person. I told him who I was and that we had done an interview at this site. We talked about Supergirl for a while. When I told how much I loved his characterization of Kara in the series, he told me he always wanted his 'heroes to act heroic'. I got him to sign a bunch of issues, including this gem in my collection - Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #1, now signed by Kupperberg, Carmine Infantino, and Rich Buckler.

And I got Greenberger to sign my Superman Encyclopedia, a reference I use all the time for this site. I thanked him for putting that together.

With no other creators there yet, I went to the dealer room and started thumbing. The first table I went to I found gold. For a mere $80 bucks (after some wheeling and dealing) I got a low grade copy of Action Comics #253, the second appearance of Supergirl, and a very tight copy of Doom Patrol #121, the famous death of the Patrol at the hands of General Immortus.

I was basically half an hour into the con and if I had to leave right then I would have been thrilled. Fantastic.

Heading back to the creator room with my buddy, we saw that Peter David had arrived as well as Joe Kelly. I talked a bit to David about how much I loved his Supergirl run, especially the first 50 issues. I also had some Fallen Angel issues to get signed.

While finishing with David, Jerry Ordway arrived. Ordway was doing free quick sketches while you waited so my friend and I got in his line and got out our issues and commission gear. I had mostly Crisis on Infinite Earths books for him to sign, but also brought Secret Origins #1 and Adventures of Superman #444 (second part of the first Matrix story). And, of course, I got the quick commission that opened up this post.

While he was sketching, it was great to talk to Ordway. I asked about working on Crisis over Perez' intricate panels. (Not surprising he said it was hard.) I asked why he didn't ink the 'Death of Supergirl' pages for COIE #7. I always assumed Giordano wanted to ink them. Turns out Perez had already sold the pages to a dealer with the understanding that Giordano was the inker. So Giordano had to ink it to keep the contract valid. In return, Ordway got all the pages of Crisis #8 to do with what he wished (he still has them all). And I talked about inking Wayne Boring on Secret Origins. Ordway was a very nice guy and I had such a great time talking to him.

After some signatures from Joe Kelly and Mike DeCarlo, I hit the dealer room again and found some nice buys but nothing that compared to those top 2 books. I got a nice fun commission from Chris Giarrusso (will post soon). And by 3pm, we felt we had done everything we needed to so we headed north for home.

While I like the zaniness and guests lists of the bigger cons, I also think that these smaller cons are great fun and less stressful. ComiConn was really fantastic, providing an intimate venue to talk with some creators (a sort of tailor made list of creators for me) and grab some good books. I will definitely make the trek again next year.

Off To ComiConn

By the time this is posted I will be an hour into a long drive down Interstate 95 South on my way to ComiCONN.

I haven't been to this convention before so I will post about it next week. The guest list isn't long but as I have said before it includes several Supergirl creators - Paul Kupperberg, Peter David, and Joe Kelly. It also includes Robert Greenberger (responsible for the Superman Encyclopedia), Jerry Ordway (inker for the bulk of Crisis on Infinite Earths ... and too many other things), and Mike DeCarlo.

As great as it will be to meet those guys, I am also excited to check out this con because it will be all new dealers.

As for commissions, I don't know if I will be lucky enough to get one this time around. We'll see!

Heading To ComiCONN

After a little work maneuvering, it looks like I will be able to head a couple of hours south and hit the ComiConn, 'Connecticut's biggest comic book, sci-fi, and collectible' show on August 18th.

Here is a link to their site: http://www.comiconn.com/

It'll be a new convention for me which is always fun. And unlike the other cons I usually frequent, this one is equally heavy on writers and artists. So I don't know if I will be getting any commissions.

But the writers ... it is like a Supergirl nexus! There are basically three generations of Supergirl writers in attendance as well as a Superman historian par excellence. I don't know if I will have enough time to ask all my questions.

Paul Kupperberg is going to be there, the writer for the entire Daring New Adventures of Supergirl in the early 80s. He wrote her in Superman Family. He wrote her last non-Crisis adventure. His Supergirl was strong and confident and comfortable in her own skin.

I interviewed Kupperberg earlier this year on this site but I have a bunch more questions for him. At the very least, I want to meet him as his Supergirl stories were solid with great characterization.

Peter David will be there too! David wrote the Supergirl book in the 90s, the Matrix/Earth Angel stories, the Many Happy Returns storyline. I absolutely love this book and still contend that Supergirl 1-50 is one of the best prolonged arcs in comics. I have briefly met David in the past, before I started this blog. I will gush I am sure but I hope to ask him some questions too!

Joe Kelly will also be there. I love Kelly's Superman work (especially Action #775). I found his run on the 2005 Supergirl to be troubling. I have certainly been critical of that run here any number of times. And yet, of the creators there I want to talk to Kelly the most. Maybe I missed the point of this arc? Maybe he had a grand plan that never got actualized? I hope I can ask even the broadest questions about this run with him.

But that means that Supergirl writers from the 80's, 90's, and the 00's will all be in one building! Fantastic!

I suppose that it will depend on the crowds whether or not I can pull up a chair and jaw with these guys. I'll take 5 minutes if possible.

Jamal Igle On His One Year Anniversary on Supergirl

It’s hard to believe that it has been a year since the Supergirl renaissance in her title starting in Supergirl #34. Over on Jamal Igle’s blog, he posts about the one year anniversary of his time on Supergirl (http://jamaligle.blogspot.com/2009/10/supergirl-one-year-later.html). Here is his post:

Before I left for Jamaica, the day before I left I turned in the last seven pages of Supergirl #46. 12 issues ago I was announced as the artist of the series. In fact at the time I started working on it Catie was 4 months old, Karine had just returned to work a few weeks before and we were trying to figure out how to be parents.

I'm still trying to figure out the parenting thing however so much has happened. I came to the project with some preconceived notions and was happily disappointed, not just by Sterling's immense talent as a writer but the whole experience of working with the Superman characters.I want to say thanks to all of you who've supported our run. I want to say thanks to Nei Ruffino, Keith Champagne, Jon Sibal, Tom Chu, Pete Pantanzis and Jared Fletcher, I'm enjoying the work more than I have any project in a while and proud to have you guys as my partners. Thank you Matt Idelson, Nachie Castro, Wil Moss, Sean Ryan and Geoff Johns for giving me the shot. I was in Matt Idelson's office discussing what's going to be happening with issue 50 and it's gonna be nuts. It's just the beginning to Supergirl 2010 and I'm proud to be a part of it!


I was interested about Igle’s ‘preconceived notions’ about the title and was trying to think back that far. At this point last year, Kelley Puckett’s ‘Saving Thomas’ storyline had just ended with a thud. There were some high points to that arc (a suddenly caring Supergirl willing to bend the rules to help someone, some nicely timed humor, Drew Johnson’s art) but overall the Supergirl character felt lost.

She was still reeling from her characterization under Jeph Loeb and Joe Kelly. Their Supergirl was angry, angsty, apathetic to others, unheroic. She was, at least to me, unlikeable.

The uneven approach to Kara over the length of the series made the book almost unreadable. And sales showed that.

So I asked Igle what his preconceived notions were and got an eloquent response that pretty much mirrored my own thoughts.

Well the big one was, I didn't like what they had done with the character. I'm not a fan of Jeph Loeb's writing work, I just found her to be unappealing as a character. You have to like the characters you're working with or it's just not worth the effort. So when I was approached about doing it I asked who the writer was and find out it's some new guy I'd barely heard about named Sterling Gates. Not to sound egotistical but I've worked with some of the best writers in the business So Sterling had, at the time, a lot to prove to me. So when I read the script to issue #34 (which I can say now is the script that got him the job on the book in the first place) I was blown away by how good he was and how much love he had for Kara.

I'm old School, I've been reading the Superman books since I was 5 years old and while I don't have Mark Waid's encyclopedic knowledge I consider my self to be a huge Superman fan. I cried when kara died during Crisis, and as much fun as the Byrne relaunch was there were always things missing from the lore (Kandor, The Superpets, the connection to the Legion, The old school Lex Luthor because I hated the idea of Lex luthor having so much pull and being a corporate tycoon.) So when they brought her back as Clark's cousin I was thrilled until I read the first 5 issues of the regular series. It was a 40 year old man's concept of what an edgy teenage girl was supposed to be and it just didn't work for me as a fan.

All the things he says about the Kara that came before are exactly what I was thinking last year. I still think of that cover of a crystal gun wielding Supergirl standing over her dead classmates. Something was simply fundamentally wrong.

When the Gates and Igle team was announced, I thought to myself ‘it can’t get worse’ … damning with faint praise. I had never read anything that Sterling Gates had written. Would he try to bring back the Loeb version? Could a ‘rookie’ writer somehow save the book? I honestly thought the title was doomed for cancellation.

But the thing was, I can remember reading interviews with Gates when he was announced and he just said all the right things about Supergirl. He sounded liked he loved the character and wanted to bring her back to a semblance of the heroic Girl of Steel I grew up reading. After reading those interviews - many of which I covered here starting last June - I was suddenly, albeit cautiously, optimistic.

So here we are a year later … a year where Supergirl is suddenly a solid-selling title, a year where Supergirl as a character is suddenly a vital part of not only the Superman family but the DCU as a whole.

Funny how much can change in a year.

So, what were you guys thinking last year with Supergirl #34 just about to be released?

Review: DC Universe Holiday Special #1

I am a sucker for comic Holiday issues. Call it my inner child. Or maybe it is the fact that the holidays are the one time when my inherent pessimism fades and becomes some meager glimmer of optimism ... I still well up a little bit at the end of 'It's A Wonderful Life' ... but I always buy these issues. Usually the stories are throwbacks to a simpler time when humanity seemed inherently good.



Occasionally there is a real gem of a story like the famous 'Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot' in Christmas With The Super-Heroes #2 from 1988. That was the famous post-Crisis 'I am Kara' story, a story I thought about reviewing here but it seemed too obvious. Maybe next year.

This year, I was impressed with 'A Day Without Sirens' in the DC Universe Holiday Special 2008 .

The issue opens in Gotham with Commissioner Gordon hearing about a proposed 'Day Without Sirens' throughout the city. Gordon shrugs it off knowing that in the time just before the holidays there are innumerable crimes. There is no way that the criminals of Gotham would heed such a calling.

And yet, the day proceeds in the Police Department with an almost preternatural silence. At first the officers can't believe it. They keep checking the phones. They are called out only once to save a cat from a tree.

The news begins to spread throughout the city. The police officers put on holiday music and order lunch. They are seen smiling and laughing with each other, a welcome change from the usual grim business.

At 11:59PM, Commissioner Gordon holds a press conference applauding the fact that indeed there was a 'Day Without Sirens' in Gotham.

In a short but poignant speech, he says 'The only explanation that I can come up with is that grace still lives in our city. We should all walk away today ... carrying a little hope in our pockets."

And isn't that what the holidays are all about, that hope that things will get better. That humanity will work together to make this world a better place for the future. That Hope and Grace are alive in all of us and not outdated concepts in this dingy world.

But the day ends. At 12:01AM the emergency line lights up. There is a double homicide. "Party's over."

Still ... there was that day. Gordon reflects it with Batman, saying if it can happen once it can happen again. That the city can strive for that.

And, in what has to be a true Christmas miracle, Batman actually cracks a joke.

If the story ended there, I would have been happy. Heck, it was a near perfect ending. And I probably would have reviewed it here. I was that struck by it.

But there was one more page!

Turns out that the city had a guardian angel on duty during the 'Day Without Sirens'. Oracle was having all emergency calls forwarded to her during those 24 hours. And when a call came in, she sent out Supergirl as the response team.

Kara looks exhausted, saying she is going to shower for a week and then sleep for a week after this day. So she probably handled the usual pre-Holiday Gotham volume of calls.

But Oracle tells Supergirl that she did something special, that she gave Commissioner Gordon, Batman, the whole city a gift of hope.

The inclusion of Kara in such an inspiring story was a little Christmas gift to me. Sometimes hope has to be earned through hard work. And the fact that she and Oracle ... that anyone ... would work so hard for the good of others, with no chance of reward or recognition, well that was this story's 'It's A Wonderful Life' moment of holiday splendor.

And perhaps the most shocking thing of all ... the story was written by Joe Kelly! Joe Kelly !!!

Could it be that Joe Kelly, whose run on Kara's title I have consistently trashed, wrote a story with Supergirl that I absolutely thoroughly enjoyed? That he wrote an altruistic hard-working Kara who toiled simply for the good of mankind? Now that, my friends, *IS* a Christmas miracle!

So ... Mr. Kelly ... if you should see this ... Happy Holidays and Season's Greetings !!! Thank you for a wonderful story!