SDCC Supergirl Fallout (And Some Superman Stuff Too)

I doubt I will ever be able to attend the San Diego Comic Con but it remains a dream of mine.

The comic book world has been exploding with news coming from San Diego Comic Con 2011 and that information is all over the internet. There is almost too much information to cover and so I will leave the indepth analysis of each panel, quote, and picture to the bigger sites and blogs. As usual, Newsarama, CBR, and Bleeding Cool all did a great job. From a blog point of view, DC Women Kicking Ass did a great job of almost real time blogging about the news from panels. Unreal work there.

With that much information out there, I figured I would concentrate on the Supergirl stuff although I will have a couple of comments about Superman news at the end of this post as well. It is funny. If anything, the news from San Diego seemed to help with my waning optimism about the relaunch although it was more of a war of attrition. It seemed like for every three things I read that I liked, I  read two things that were disheartening. Still that is more optimism than pessimism.

So here we go.

Above is a new picture of Jim Lee's redesign of the Supergirl costume. I was shocked to see that Supergirl and Batgirl's redesigns were the showcased costumes in the TV Guide Comi-Con Special. Not Batman and Wonder Woman. Not Superman's new costume. Supergirl and Batgirl. That is some pretty broad exposure for Supergirl so it shows me that DC has some faith in the character, some interest in showcasing her to the general public. This was also seen in the free publicity comic handed out last week in comic stores and shown in the DC Designing the Relaunch panel.

I also have to say that the costume looks pretty good here. Even the boots don't seem as absolutely foolish as they have before. I'd still prefer plain old boots though. Kara looks determined and strong here, never a bad thing.

Some Supergirl preview art by Mahmud Asrar was also showcased at the SDCC Superman panel and boy, does this stuff look good. First off, this splash page is really eye-catching. I like the sort of gray tone/copic marker feel here. Adds so much depth. And Supergirl looks great.

The costume seems cut a bit higher in the thigh area, more than in the Lee pic above, the only thing that seemed a bit off to me.

And here is another page, this time just pencils. I admit I haven't seen too much of Asrar's work but this makes me eager to see the book. This is just fantastic. Might be a bit too much 'side-butt' for my liking, but that is really picking at nits. This stuff is beautiful. I mean achingly beautiful stuff.

There has been a lot of discussion about the relaunch of Superman but I thought the best place to see a lot of information was from the Superman panel at SDCC. Here is that link for the transcript:
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/sdcc-2011-dc-superman-110722.html

First the Supergirl relevant blurbs. Mike Johnson, co-writer, was on the panel answering questions.

First off, glad to see that there were cheers for Supergirl. I don't think that means anything more than she has vocal fans. I always hope that there will be excitement around the character.

We have heard the 'mystery' about her arrival. I hope it isn't a lingering mystery. I don't want this to be a 'is she real' or 'is she a dupe of Darkseid' or 'is she really Kara ... or is she Lesla Lar??' or anything like that. Let's just meet Supergirl and see how she goes on this journey.

Does this mean I have bought into this reboot? Not yet ... not when I have just been part of 3 years of superlative Supergirl stories in the current title. But as I keep saying, I am going in with an open mind.

I don't know what to make of these comments anymore. I have seen Johnson/Green say they were writing her as a brand new character. I have seen them say they were reading Showcase and Cosmic to get a sense of the character. I have heard them say this is a 'new' Supergirl. And then I read Johnson say he is not completely divorcing everything that has come before. I guess a reboot is a reboot. But I hope the template of Supergirl .. heroic, hopeful, learning ... is still there.

Lastly, this comment was the one that brought the most optimism. I worried the book might be a dour, angst-laden, mope-fest. The fact that he talks about humor being in the book is worth noting. Of course, Kelly probably thought that Kara joking with Boomer about his staring at her ass was humorous.

Another reveal was that Silver Banshee will return as a villain in the Supergirl book. I guess the Banshee really is a Supergirl rogue now.

As I have said before, it is time to just read the books.

As for the other Superman titles, there are things that caught my eye.

First off, the more I hear Grant Morrison talk about Action Comics, the more I think this will be a winner. At first I was worried that Superman was going to embrace his Kryptonian heritage in the book but Morrison says that Supes knows very little about Krypton at the beginning. I really think this is one book that will probably work for me.

After reading many of the Superman posts, I worry that Lois will end up more as a plot point than a fully realized character. Lois needs to be a strong character in her own right.

I didn't particularly like Superman:Earth One by JMS and his discussion about the second part makes me think I probably won't buy it.

As for Superboy, at first I worried that this might be a 'new' Conner but it sounds more like he has been kidnapped to open his new book. I don't like that he is said the be the villain in the first year of Teen Titans (although maybe it is reverse-engineered clones rather than the 'real' Conner). Scott Lobdell hints at a redhead coming back into Superboy's life. Maybe Knockout?

Lastly, I am glad to read that Steel is still around and will show up in Action.

But enough talk. Let's get to September already.