Last weekend I posted the Supergirl page from the DC Who's Who from the 1980's. I lamented not having the Supergirl page from the next incarnation of Who's Who. Many thanks to blog friend Frank Lee Delano who heard my plea and forwarded the scans of the Supergirl pages from the DC Who's Who from the 1990's.
This page is from relatively early in the career of 'Matrix'/Supergirl. The art is done by Dusty Abell, who I know best from fill-in issues of Legion of Superheroes issues from around the same time as well as the Supergirl #1,000,000 issue by Peter David. It is telling that Superman's look is one of confusion/concern/worry. That early Supergirl was pretty unstable.
The Matrix Supergirl became 'Mae' and lived on the Kent farm. When Superman exiled himself into space, she shape-changed and adopted Clark/Superman's form. This resulted in a battle between the two after which the mind-addled Matrix took off into space. That is where this page's history ends. As I recall, I wasn't too happy at that point with DC's handling of the Supergirl character. I wondered why they would bring back a sort of simulacrum of Supergirl only to have her abandon the persona and then leave Earth.
Things didn't get much better after that. Matrix returned as Supergirl, albeit as a dupe of Brainiac in 'Panic in the Sky'. While she became a hero again, performing admirably during the 'Death of Superman' story and its aftermath ('Funeral for a Friend' and 'The Return of Superman'), she became a dupe of Lex Luthor. Finally in her own Supergirl mini-series by Stern and Brigman, she realized Luthor was a bad guy and struck out on her own. (Hmmm, I haven't read that mini in a while.)
It was only when Peter David began his series and took the reins of the character that I felt Supergirl began to be a compelling and strong hero again.
As for this Who's Who, I remember back then that I liked the format. Each entry had a colored banner category- hero, villain, technology, etc. Since they were loose sheets, you could organize them in any way you wanted: all together alphabetical, by category, by character, etc. That was a long time ago and I have to tell you I have no idea what became of my binders. I think they were left at my folks house so most likely ended up in the garbage.
Thanks again to Frank Lee Delano!
2 comments:
You're welcome. I didn't get my official binder set completed until last year, and they're sure nifty. The loose leaf pages are a hazard though, as my front and back pages have worn and torn (poor Wonder Woman.)
Heh, nice trip down 'ol memory lane seeing this again. ;)
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