Livewire Coming To Supergirl Comic??

Since the inception of the Supergirl title post-Rebirth, writer Steve Orlando has been doing yeoman's work trying to merge the continuity of the DC Universe Kara with some of the broader ideas of the Supergirl television show. So show specific ideas like CatCo, the DEO, and Jeremiah & Eliza Danvers.

Over on Twitter, Orlando tweeted that he was meeting with the Supergirl creative team (editor Jess Chen, artist Robson Rocha, inker Daniel Henriques, and colorist Michael Atiyeh) to discuss the next arc in the book. (Can I just say, as a reader always interested in the creative process, the idea of a summit meeting of the whole creative team is just fantastic!)

When I asked for a hint, Orlando said there could be some "shocking additions".

Given that proclivity to merge the show's sensibilities with the comics, I figure the shocking hint means we'll be seeing Livewire soon! And that makes me happy. Because I think the time is right to convert Livewire to an official member of the Supergirl Rogue's Gallery ... in the same way that the Silver Banshee seems to have gone that way.

And there is the history between the two!

Sales review: Supergirl 30

On the Publisher's Weekly web-site, there is the monthly breakdown of DC's June sales. Of note, Final Crisis #2 came in at #3, behind Secret Invasion and Ultimates 3. DC can't be happy about that. Here is the link:

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2008/08/05/dc-month-to-month-sales-june-2008/

Now, the Supergirl specific details. The June book was issue 30, the Will Pfeifer rest issue. It ranked 71st in sales, pretty much the same spot it has been for a while.


Here is a review of the last 3 months of sales of Supergirl. The percent shows the decrease in sales from the last issue.

04/2008: Supergirl #28 — 31,379 issues (- 3.7%)
05/2008: Supergirl #29 — 30,192 issues (- 3.8%)
06/2008: Supergirl #30 — 29,553 issues (- 2.1%)

It appears as though the title has found its level ... around 30,000 sold. This did mark the 6th straight month of decreasing sales after a small blip upwards on Puckett/Johnson's first issue.

My assumption is we will see similar attrition for issues 31-33 as the Puckett run ends. At this rate of attrition, by issue 33, I suspect a total of around 28,ooo. That is disheartening. Just disheartening!

My hope is that the Gates/Igle run will bring in new readers. In particular, I hope that DC gives Supergirl #34, the first Gates/Igle issue some promotion. As I have said before, a variant cover will help as will tying the title into the Super-books. Maybe an in-store poster? An ad in other comics? A DC Nation spotlight piece? Something ?? Please DC ...

A while backed I guess about 38,000 will be sold for #34, which would be an increase of around 33%, a nice bump. Let's see if my prognostic skills are good.

Sales numbers for Issue 30

Diamond Comics Distributor released its sales charts and market share reports for June 2008.

Supergirl #30 was ranked at 71. The incomprehensible sales index was 60.41. Supergirl #29 was ranked at 74. The sales index was 29.64.

Therefore, the title rose 3 slots from the sales of issue 29.

This may be a secondary to the buzz being raised from the new creative team and focus coming on in 34. Maybe readers want to get a sense of where the title is right now.

Or it may be that people saw that Will Pfeifer wrote the issue and bought it. Or maybe the Puckett detractors bought it because it was written by somebody not named Puckett.

Regardless, a leap of 3 slots when you are ranked in the 70's is nothing to write home about. The Sales Index number remains a mystery to me as to how to analyze it.

That said, at least the title did not seem to lose any more readers. I doubt the title is in danger of being cancelled now given the emphasis DC is placing on it and its place in the Superman titles. But if this title continues to lose readers and we are 6 months into Gates' run, it might be on the chopping block.

Review: Supergirl 30

Well, I don't even know where to begin here. I know that I was looking forward to the continuation of the 'saving Thomas' storyline. As a result, I was already in a disappointed mood when I began reading this issue.

But that isn't fair to this issue. I shouldn't let my prior expectations taint how I review this. Still, to throw a 'rest issue' in the middle of the storyline that ended on a cliffhanger seems foolish. It is especially foolish in a title struggling to keep an audience.

Overall, this issue seems a step backwards in the development of Kara's character. If there is one thing that Kelly Puckett has done in his time as writer, it is make Kara a bit more confident in her abilities and feelings. In this issue, Will Pfeifer again makes her seem like a little girl lost. The art by Ron Randall is steady if unspectacular.

The issue starts with Kara fighting Livewire in Metropolis. While she easily dispatches Livewire, she remains confused about the purpose of the confrontation. Why would Livewire be willing to kill everyone just to get Superman's attention? And why are people seemingly disappointed that they were saved by her rather than Kal?

That leads to the high point of the issue, a brief scene with Batman. Kara goes to him to talk about her struggles understanding this world and remembering Krypton. Batman does a nice job showing the similarities in both their origins. In talking about her parents, he says "You remember seeing their faces one last terrible time. That's not easy." After all, wasn't it looking into his parents' faces that one last terrible time the event that spurred Bruce into becoming Batman?

And just like that I have a new understanding of Kara's origin, a new way to look at it. Any time a writer can make you look at something very familiar but in a new way, it is a success. Congrats Mr Pfeifer!

Deciding she needs some resolution to her Kryptonian memories, she goes to the arctic to search her spaceship for any message or memory crystals like Jor-El sent with Superman. Then she talks to Pa Kent about things. Interdispersed there are scenes of Kara babysitting Kal-El on Krypton and some memories of Zor-El telling her that Krypton will 'live on through her'.

At last, she goes to the Fortress to access Superman's crystals to see if they hold any keys for her. She asks the Jor-El program if it can say anything about 'cousin Kara'. Calling her 'dear Kara', Jor-El says that Allura and Zor-El are too busy making Kara's ship and therefore do not have the time to make any memory crystals. Still, she will remember Krypton and 'we'll all live through her.'

Satisfied, she reconciles her feelings about her father by saying goodbye to him in deep space.

After reading this issue, I felt that most of this had been handled early in Puckett's run when Kara was shown 'hard light' memories of her loving parents. Second, as I said before, after a couple of issues of a more confident Supergirl this seemed like a slight step backwards. And should all the concerns she has early in the issue be wiped away with a simple phrase 'we'll all live through her'??

And did this really need to intercut into the current story?

On the big plus side, this does seem to eradicate the "kill Kal-El, mad Zor-El, crystal hell" storyline once and for all. And for that I am very very pleased. Remember this mess?

Supergirl 30 final grade: B