Sunday, June 22, 2008

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.

4 comments:

Heath Edwards said...

i do hope that good things will come out of this change in the roster. being a little more into the art than the writing (in comics), i can't think o any names that'd suitable fit alongside the styles of johns and robinson. i am looking forward to the closer titles, though...
mmm, not impressed with what dc have done to mary marvel. i quite enjoyed her appearances in superman and other titles, before she got changed into the evil character she is now... mmm, not a good move in my mind. i don't even know why they decided to change her... it should be fun to see her go up against supergirl, though. as much as i enjoy teen titans (and i do), i wouldn't mind seeing the younger ladies get together, like birds of prey... thus, i am looking forward to empress' unexpected turn-up in next month's supergirl...
linda... mmm, not too worried about this one. i hope, they bring her in as a friend for kara, and not as a challenge. it'd be fun to see linda deal with a kara different from the one he met previously (at the end of her run). option number 4 for me. adding power girl'd be fun, but she's getting her own series, soon...

Anj said...

Thanks for the post.

I agree that the deconstruction of Mary Marvel was not a good move. It seems like every character this day needs to be 'grim and gritty'. She was one of the few good and innocent characters left. And her descent into evil seemed a bit too fast in Countdown. It's just amusing that she was the
good girl' foil of Linda Danvers in the Supergirl arc, and now she is a villain.

I wouldn't mind seeing #4 (Linda mentoring Kara) but she would have to be written superbly and remain consistent with who she was in the prior series. I don't know if I trust DC to do that.

Heath Edwards said...

personally, if they did get linda to mentor kara, i'd love to read a compare/contrast story arc of both girls' experiences on their home planets. linda didn't have easy teenage years, and kara didn't either... i think that'd be a starting point, but they'd need an older figure, i think. thus, power girl...
there aren't any sort of mentor comics out, these days. starman had a bit, with jack and his dad. stars & stripe was also a bit of one... but, most seem to leave the figuring-it-out to the youngsters. no wonder they have issues...

o well... wishes & fishes...

Anj said...

personally, if they did get linda to mentor kara, i'd love to read a compare/contrast story arc of both girls' experiences on their home planets. linda didn't have easy teenage years, and kara didn't either...

Linda had really tough teenage years. She is such a tragic character throughout that run.

It's one of the things that irks me about people who like the early issues of this current Supergirl because it showed a angsty flawed Supergirl. I bet those people never even read the PAD run.

We'll see what Didio meant soon enough ... until then I can only hope.