One week after hinting about the return of Linda Danvers at Heroes Convention, Dan Didio let the cat out of the bag. Here is his response to the same question at Wizard World Chicago.Q: Linda Danvers coming back?
DiDio: Reign in Hell #1.
This is what I said last week.
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
So I was a bit off on the odds. At least I guessed it as a possibility.
I am thrilled that the character of Linda Danvers is coming back rather than being doomed to comics limbo. And her presence in Reign in Hell makes some sense given her angelic background in the PAD run of Supergirl. There may need to be some tweaking of her story given that the angelic piece of her was stripped and given to Twilight in issue 74. Maybe she is just a super-powered mortal dealing with Heaven/Hell issues. Or maybe her being a former Earth angel is enough cachet.
That said, she may have more magic in here than we think. In issue 80 (the last issue of that run), Linda's enemy Xenon talks about how women who have worn the S-shield and called themselves Supergirl have been able to call upon the 'mystic puissance' of that symbol and use it for power.
Indeed, Linda calls on that power when she kills Xenon later in that issue. I like how the energy forms an 'S' at it's center.
I love Keith Giffen's work and trust that he will do Linda right. I hope beyond hope they don't make her a villain. Of course, there is no love lost between her and the higher powers, given the abuse she has been put through. Here she says God loves to torment people, like someone pulling the wings off a fly.
Still, in rereading a DC Nation from a couple of months ago they hint about someone 'leading the resistance forces against both Neron and Lord Satanus. That sounds more like Linda than her being an agent for Hell.
This piece of the cover to Reign in Hell 1 could be Linda.
Of course this should have been Linda too. Heck, this *is* Linda in my mind.
But I digress.
Now the poll question.
Technically in the new continuity, Linda was never Supergirl. I absolutely love the character and that run; for me she'll always be a (if not *THE*) Supergirl.
But she is not Supergirl now. So .... should I review Reign in Hell and talk about her character's role in the series on this blog ... a Supergirl blog? I think the answer is yes.
I would love to hear what people have to think. The poll question is there on the right. This is my first poll on the blog so 'vote early, vote often'. And if you want to tell me why you voted the way you did, please leave a post. Thanks !!
16 comments:
sure, review 'reign in hell'. although she mayn't've been supergirl in this continuity, we know that continuities come and go, so she was at one point supergirl...
Thanks.
I get the sense that I will review the title here. Linda is part of the Supergirl mythos whether the DC administraion admits it or not.
I just hope they do her justice in the mini-series.
Of course, if the blog poll is significantly shifted against review, I might defer.
I agree with everyone here....
I'm just wondering how they'll explain her/Linda's disappearance AND of course not screw her over.
like what they did with the current SG ,A la,:
[with a creepy back story/history like how and why she came to Earth just to kill Supes + the origin of the Sunstone crystals.]
Thanks so much for the post.
My hope is that they will pick up right where PAD left off. In that last issue she says something like 'Don't look for me, I am going to a place where a burned out soul is considered a positive'.
Sounds like Hell. (Or Bete Noir if you are a Fallen Angel fan).
My big fear know is that they will bring her back only to kill her off.
So wait a minute ... Linda was never Supergirl? Was Matrix even around???
So confusing ... anyway, feel free to review the comic. Linda was a viable Supergirl, if not THE Supergirl as you put it.
I feel it's appropriate.
So wait a minute ... Linda was never Supergirl? Was Matrix even around???
So confusing ... anyway, feel free to review the comic. Linda was a viable Supergirl, if not THE Supergirl as you put it.
It was determined that the Matrix/Linda origin was 'too confusing'. Also when it was decided that Kara Zor-El was coming back, DC wanted her to be the 'only' Supergirl ... meaning no one else had eve used that name.
So Didio came out and said the 'Matrix Supergirl' never existed in this continuity. Some people have said that all the stories she was in have been wiped clean of her (that's a lot of stories).
Others have said that you can imagine all those stories as having happened but without her ever using the sobriquet Supergirl.
In particular, I think Geoff Johns came out and said that Matrix exists within the DC continuity, just not as Supergirl.
Anyways, if Linda exists in Reign in Hell it means she existed prior.
And I agree, it is VERY confusing.
Just wondering about the cover in your "Hunt for Linda-Reign in Hell #1" post. If That IS Linda wouldn't she have BLUE eyes not brown ones?
wait a minute...
When she didn't have her powers (at the very begining)... she had brown ones.
or
It might be a mistake by the artist.....
Just wondering about the cover in your "Hunt for Linda-Reign in Hell #1" post. If That IS Linda wouldn't she have BLUE eyes not brown ones?
Thanks for the post.
Everything is so over-saturated in red tones on the cover, I thought it might just be artistic license.
But that might not even be Linda.
welcome...
I just hope it IS her...
We'll find out soon enough, right?
*wink*
.....
I just hope it IS her...
We'll find out soon enough, right?
*wink*
Not soon enough.
Reign in Hell doesn't come out until the last week of July.
Things I am hoping:
1) Linda comes back
2) Linda does not come back as a 'bad guy'
3) Linda does not come back only to die in the mini-series
We'll talk all about it.
This is where DC has really lost my interest as a fan and collector. Ever since Infinite Crisis, and the 1YL crap, even DC editorial doesn't know it's own history anymore. Yes, it was implied that there was no Matrix/Linda Supergirl, but Kara has been written as saying she is aware that there were previous Supergirls before her. I get she knows about PG's universe and such, but is she trying to refer that she "knows" just how heroic the original Kara E-1 was? Considering that supposedly, PG would be the only one to really remember anything about E-1 Kara now...
I do believe that Linda was THE defining post-crisis Supergirl, and as such, needs to be counted as part of continuity. She ended her run, hung up her outfit, and went to search for herself. She's too smart and has been thru too much to become evil, and no matter what, would still fight for right. Maybe not necessarily espousing the "virtues" of God, but the basics of the Golden Rules. Plus, I think the new Kara could really benefit from a chat or 50 with Miss Danvers.
I'm glad Linda is back, I just hope she's given the respect she deserves.
Yes, it was implied that there was no Matrix/Linda Supergirl, but Kara has been written as saying she is aware that there were previous Supergirls before her. I get she knows about PG's universe and such, but is she trying to refer that she "knows" just how heroic the original Kara E-1 was?
Thanks so much for visiting the blog and the post! I can't agree more with all the points you make.
It is clear that there *is* no consistent DC history. Didio says no Matrix Supergirl, Johns says yes there was a matrix Supergirl, Kara acknowledges other Supergirls.
What does it all mean?
These editorial blunders make the universe weaker as whole and were demonstrated in a huge way with the confusing opening chapter of Final Crisis given that events there were contradictory to the events immediately preceding it in Countdown and Death of the New Gods.
I do believe that Linda was THE defining post-crisis Supergirl, and as such, needs to be counted as part of continuity. She ended her run, hung up her outfit, and went to search for herself. She's too smart and has been thru too much to become evil, and no matter what, would still fight for right. Maybe not necessarily espousing the "virtues" of God, but the basics of the Golden Rules. Plus, I think the new Kara could really benefit from a chat or 50 with Miss Danvers.
I *know* that Linda would never turn evil. There is too much good in her. And you *know* that Linda wouldn't turn evil. But does the DC editors and the writers of Reign in Hell know that. I am not sure.
I'm glad Linda is back, I just hope she's given the respect she deserves.
I am hoping she is treated with respect as well. As you say, she is THE defining post-Crisis Supergirl. I really loved that character.
I love Supergirl, both in her Kara and Linda Danvers/Matrix encarnations.
It's a pity that nobody (maybe Power Girl?) remembers the sacrifice of Earth 1 Kara in the First Crisis... And all the Supergirls that have been around (remember Cir-el?).
So, the latest supergirl would be a "New Earth" supergirl? Or a Supergirl created just before the Infinite Crisis,and the 52 universes?
:S So confusing.
This should all be cleared in some "the return of donna troy"-kinda way.
Al this Supergirls could be from different Earths of the old or new 52-earth Multiverse.
At least they made Power Girl (remember all her confusing post COIE origins?) Earth 2 Kara again.. that was a clever move. Loved that Power Trip story.
Ultimately, it was much ado about nothing. Linda's appearance was out-character, brief and pointless.
"I do believe that Linda was THE defining post-crisis Supergirl"
No, she wasn't. She was the Supergirl that DC kept around because they didn't want to risk losing the trademark but refused to bring a Kryptonian Supergirl back due to a ridiculous, stupid rule. As soon as that rule was repelled, they had no use for Linda. And the last fourteen years have proved only Peter David cared for his character. Kara still had fans, supporters and defenders after her death (like Giffen, Waid or Gates)... but Linda? No, she did not.
"It was determined that the Matrix/Linda origin was 'too confusing'."
Hard to disagree with that statement. Linda was a Satanist girl who got merged with a shape-shifting protoplasmic being from a pocket universe and became an Earth Angel.
When I explained the Matrix Supergirl to a friend of mine, he said "Seriously? It sounds like they ran out of ideas". Keep in mind he's mostly a Marvel fan with doesn't care one way or the other, but he still thought Supergirl being Superman's cousin makes more sense than Kara's replacements.
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