Dan Didio at Heroes Con

Heroes Con is happening in Charlotte NC as we speak and Newsarama posted a report and partial transcript from the DC Nation panel. During the panel embattled editor in chief Dan Didio mentioned Supergirl a couple of times. Below are the excerpts (in blue font).

First off, some older news:

Moving on to Superman, DiDio announced that there will be a new creative team moving on to the Supergirl title shortly, and that the series will tie in more directly with Action Comics and Superman in the future. A major storyline that will encompass the three titles will begin, according to DiDio, in October.

Again, the new creative team was not named, although it was made clear that neither Geoff Johns nor James Robinson will be the writer. Instead, they will work with the Supergirl team to present a consistent character more integrated into the DCU and the Super-family.

Anyone have any thoughts on who the writer and artist will be or should be?

Maybe that is a seperate post unto itself.


Then, some other older news:

Q: When will we see Mary Marvel again?

DDidio: Final Crisis – Mary Marvel vs. Supergirl

I knew this already for some reason, although I can't remember exactly where I read it. Maybe in an interview with Grant Morrison?

I have to say I am intrigued by this. First off, Mary Marvel has undergone some dramatic changes in Countdown (please don't tease me for collecting it). She is now a pretty evil character, and pretty powerful too. Here is the famous Ed Benes' fan service cover.

She renounced her evil powers briefly near the end of Countdown only to re-accept them via a deal with Darkseid in Countdown 4.

And then there was this unintentionally funny line from Mary in Countdown 1 ... "Mary Damn Marvel". Yeesh.

Still, I get the sense this is going to be a pretty big scene in Final Crisis. And any time Supergirl is spotlighted I am happy.

Of course, we have seen versions of this fight as recently as 2002.

But then again that was a depowered Supergirl and a "Power of Shazam" level strength Mary. And they were being deceived magically to not recognize each other. In the end (despite the panel below), it was sort of a draw.

But then came the neutron bomb of an announcement ...

Q: When will we see the Linda Danvers Supergirl again?

DDidio: This month.

I have been pretty clear here that I loved the Peter David Supergirl. His Linda Danvers character was such a great conflicted 'trying to do good but often coming up short' hero. I thoroughly enjoyed his Earth Angel arc and was surprised it was not better received.

And her ending words from Supergirl 80 just capture that pathos so wonderfully. Here are some selected passages. Earlier this year, Didio himself said that the Matrix Supergirl (and thus the Linda Danvers Supergirl) were retconned out of continuity. How that is easily explained since she was in soooo many Superman arcs was not discussed.

Man that was a great title.

But now we get this (worth repeating) ...

Q: When will we see the Linda Danvers Supergirl again?
DDidio: This month.

So what exactly does this announcement mean?

It could mean many things. Here are my guesses. Anyone want to add to this list or vote for one of these options? I added my odds for fun.

1) It would be easiest to have the current Kara adopt the Linda Danvers name. Given the obvious love of the Silver Age Supes stuff by Johns this would seem the most likely. And this would keep the Danvers/Matrix Supergirl still out of continuity. Odds 3:1

2) She appears in Final Crisis. Since there are anomalies and multiple worlds and general craziness, she can appear without much explanation. We know that a Supergirl fights Mary Marvel. Maybe it's Linda. Plus, if he literally meant this month, June, it is the best fit. Odds 5:1

3) She appears in All-Star Superman, since that is out of continuity. The title already has a strong Silver Age feel. We have already seen 'Nasty' Luthor in the title. Why not throw a 'hot pants' wearing Supergirl into the mix? Odds 10:1

4) She shows up in the Supergirl title as a mentor for the current Kara. This was the intention behind Peter David's 'Blonde Justice' idea .. a comic with a raw Kara Zor-El and seasoned Linda Danvers (he also had Power Girl in there). I doubt that Didio would agree to this. Odds 25:1

5) She appears in Reign in Hell as a major player. She has a angelic background. She hung around with a demon. She was involved in a brief overthrow of Heaven. Who better to be involved in the civil war of Hell? Odds 50:1

If I had money, I would put it on number 3 (I like a big payday). But number 1 seems the most likely.