Back Issue Box: Supergirl #58

This week in Superman #23, the Man of Steel calls upon Dr. Fate for a mystical checkup.

With that guest spot happening, I thought I would take a look back at Supergirl's interactions with the good doctor. Now a comic with a version of Fate helping Kara with here psychiatric issues occurred in the excellent Superman/Batman Annual #5 from way back in 2011. But I covered that way back when!

So instead I thought I'd dip into the Peter David run on the title again and look at Supergirl #58 in which Linda calls upon Fate to help her with Buzz.

Okay, a little background. At this point in the book, Linda has been stripped of the Earth Angel aspect of Supergirl and basically has the powers of the 1938 Superman (jump far, relatively invulnerable, relatively superstrong). She is following a chaos stream to try and reunite with the angelic spirit. And Buzz, a demon who has vexed her throughout the book, is now human, mentally tethered to her, and her guide. He senses the stream and finds the path.

In the issue before, Buzz was poisoned by his daughter, also a demon. He is dying. And if Linda wants to become the Earth Angel Supergirl again, she needs Buzz to live. Enter Dr. Fate.

This is an interesting issue because it gives Buzz a sympathetic back story. Before, he was all Constantine-cool with his evil intentions. Here we see how he fell and became lost. In many ways, this second long arc in this volume is a redemption story not only for Linda (again) but for Buzz.

On to the book.

Review: Supergirl #44

Tonight on the CW, the Supergirl show will air an episode titled 'The Faithful' about a cult of people in National City who begin to worship Supergirl as a deity.

This isn't the first time that Supers being viewed as new Gods has happened. From Countdown to the DCEU to innumerable other examples, superheroes being looked upon as the holy is well trod ground. And, in fact, it has happened in the past for Supergirl.

Peter David's Supergirl run (in Supergirl volume 4) had faith and religion and sin and redemption as major themes running through the book. Frankly, those concepts made up the bulk of the first 50 issues, a long form run on comics that I hold up there with the best comics can offer. Now much of that had to do with the redemption of Linda Danvers, the angelic nature of this new Supergirl being, her own hubris leading to a downfall, and then her ultimate self-forgiveness.

But given the fact that this Supergirl said she was an angel, it wasn't surprising that a Supergirl religion would arise. In fact, this faith impacted her greatly, making her wonder about who she was and what her place was in the world. It turns out, it impacted her negatively, another way to try to break her spirit.

I have praised this run throughout this blog's lifecycle, but Supergirl #44, Shadows of a Doubt, is definitely a strong issue with powerful moments. David, and long time art team of Leonard Kirk and Robin Riggs, bring all the power to bear, giving us character moments, soulful moments, and even a super-powered brawl.

But it all revolves around this Supergirl cult, perfectly captured on that cover with a deified statue of Supergirl being praised by the congregation.

On to the book.

Back Issue Review: Supergirl #13

We recently learned that Supergirl is undergoing a creative change with new writers coming on board in a couple of months.

That led to my looking back at the writers on the last incarnation's  67 issues: Jeph Loeb, Greg Rucka, Joe Kelly, Tony Bedard, Kelley Puckett, Will Pfeifer, James Peaty, Sterling Gates, Nick Spencer, and Kelly Sue DeConnick. 10 writers in 67 issues!

And now looking at the current incarnations (looking forward to Supergirl #36), here are the writers: Michael Green, Mike Johnson, Frank Hannah, Michael Alan Nelson, Scott Lobdell, Tony Bedard, and now Kate Perkins. 7 writers in 36 issues (and I'm not even counting Justin Jordan's credit on one of the Krypton Returns issues)!

It is an amazing amount of turnover of creators and I think speaks that the current DC management doesn't understand Supergirl or know what long term direction they want her to go down. Will newcomer Kate Perkins and her space school concept last any longer?

And so that brings me to this back issue review: Supergirl #13 from 1997. Why am I reviewing this issue? Because it is written by Darren Vincenzo. It is the only issue of that run's 80 issues (and the 1,000,000 issue) that isn't written by Peter David.

One issue! Out of 81.

You might not like the 'protoplasm from other universe merging with a human girl and gaining angelic powers' idea. But it had legs. And DC trusted Peter David to complete a story arc and idea. As for me ... I loved it.

So I thought looking back at this 'other writer' issue of that volume of Supergirl was worth looking at, if only to contrast it to the merry-go-round of directions the character has been on since Loeb first brought back a true Kara Zor-El.

One thing to note here is that Vincenzo walks in stride with David's vision, enhancing the subplots and characters that David introduced. This wasn't some weird, 'is it in continuity' issue like Wil Pfeifer's 'who the heck is that Zor'El' issue from the last incarnation of Supergirl in issue Supergirl #30. Vincenzo only wrote a handful of issues in his career as a writer but appears to be a pretty prolific comic editor.

And this issue marked the first time Leonard Kirk was artist on the book. He did the bulk of the title up until Ed Benes took over with "Many Happy Returns".

On to the issue.

Now at this time in the book, David had set up Leesburg as a quiet sort of middle America small town. Linda Danvers was a troubled soul who was redeemed/revived by merging with the Matrix Supergirl. And while there were definitely the beginnings of religious overtones (demons, Wally the god-boy was showing up, souls), Supergirl hadn't fully manifested her angelic powers.

So to see a story called Incubus, with an opening image of a ghostly figure caressing a young woman, was sort of par for the course here. Vincenzo is building on the tone of this book already.

But there is definitely a Twin Peaks feel here, this undercurrent of weirdness bubbling beneath the quaint innocent little town. In fact, at this time a 'chaos stream' was flowing beneath the place.

Three young girls in the town have been having the same odd dream. A sweet/creepy suave/scary latin speaking Lothario named Daemon appears in their dreams. It feels oddly pleasant but also draining. The girls are scared and aroused. But they worry what it all means.

Now it feels a bit retro, even for 1997, to think that three high school girls would run to Mrs. Danvers, a religious woman working in the local church, for help. (I never lived in a town like Leesburg so maybe it does happen.)

Linda overhears them talking to Sylvia and decides to follow them and ask them some questions.

She knows about Daemon. In this flashback to her pre-Matrix days, hanging out with Buzz and his devil cult, she saw Buzz call for Daemon. Linda saw the succubus/incubus swirl around this namely girl and feed on her psychic energy.

These flashbacks are key to building up who Linda was, how flawed and quasi-evil she lived. It makes her redemption by Supergirl that much more powerful. It makes her turn to heroism and optimism that much more significant.

We don't see too much of these pre-Matrix days. So seeing this adds substance to Linda, even in this rest issue.

Daemon's powers are relatively vague. But one thing we know is that he can induce sleep. This is actually a dream sequence with Linda bewitched and sleeping under a tree. Within those dreams, Daemon can be throttled. But he also can shapeshift, become smoke, etc.

Here he tells Supergirl to stay out of his business or he'll harm her family.

This also is significant. We have learned that the pre-Matrix Linda had a very rocky relationship with her parents. For this to be a threat she needs to care, a moment of growth in the character that we had seen growing in the earlier issues of this book.

We do get a very nice conversation between Linda and Sylvia in the middle of the book. Sylvia has some working knowledge of demons, gleaned from the bible. She wants to help and isn't sure how. She turns to prayer.

And Linda is supportive of her mother. Sylvia is a bit 2-dimensional here but we know that David has her as a complex character in the book, dealing with addiction, crises of faith, and anger.

But Linda doesn't want to leave things just up to prayer. She wants to help. You could say this is a foreshadowing of her angelic state.

This scene smacked a bit too much like early episodes of Buffy with Linda hitting the local collection of occult books and doing some research. Would a place like Leesburg actually support McGavin's Occult Books? A place with skulls and tarot cards?

But McGavin seems like a nice guy, allowing Linda to borrow the books rather than buying them. He knows she is using them for good. We never see him again and in some ways I'm happy. A local repository of occult facts might be too easy of an deus ex machina.

And so Linda researches and reads and learns some things before falling asleep.

I used to love these scenes in this title. Remember, Linda 'becomes' Supergirl, a taller, blonder, more curvy and adult appearing person. (There is a running gag later in the series where Linda is simply Supergirl and people are wondering why she isn't as 'chesty'.)

There are a handful of scenes where we see Linda in the Supergirl costume, the shirt loose and hanging on her. It is a subtle way to highlight the physical differences.

I really miss Linda.

It turns out that Linda/Supergirl figured out Daemon's weakness. And so she lured him into this dream-trap.

Within Linda's dreams, Linda controls things. And so she tells Daemon to be quiet and hold still. And then she says the sprinklers in her dreams spew holy water.

And that is the end of Daemon.

I suppose it is an easy sort of answer but it does show a thinking Supergirl. She didn't outpunch this demon, she trapped him with her smarts.

So, despite, being the one issue on this title by a writer not named Peter David, this 'rest issue' slips into the mix nicely, bolstering a lot of what we were learning about the town and characters while having Linda be a hero once more. For that I give kudos to Darren Vincenzo.

And Kirk's work is beautiful here. While I missed Gary Frank's work on the title, Kirk was great on the book.

For Supergirl collectors, outside of this being Kirk's first issue, this is of pretty low importance. But I appreciated it for what it was ... a rest issue that didn't upset the apple cart and flowed nicely with the tone of the book.

If only DC would run with a Supergirl idea for a long enough time for the readers to feel comfortable. Even long term fans of the character are starting to get twitchy. Why should we care when things are only going to be different in half a year.

Overall grade: B

Who's Who: Buzz & Linda

 

Last week I reviewed Supergirl #9 (1996), a pivotal issue in Peter David's Supergirl run, beginning a story of redemption.

One of the things that rereading that issue reminded me was that Linda was pretty dark, a tainted vessel for Supergirl to merge with. It makes her appearance in Supergirl #9, that bruised soul telling Supergirl the path of light is the better way, that much more powerful.

But it also was reminded that this story is as much about Buzz's redemption as Linda's. He is a demon working for the Lords of Chaos. His job is to bring about evil. He lured Linda down her dark path. And yet, in that issue, he is shaken from his devotion to malevolence. He helps Supergirl come to her senses and reject evil. In the end, he becomes something of a good guy!

With the characters so fresh in my mind, I thought I would post their Who's Who page from Team Superman Secret Files and Origins #1. The text, written by then-Supergirl scribe Peter David, is more about Buzz than it is about Linda but touches on their troubled relationship. It talks of him falling in love with Supergirl. Later in the series we learn his origins and how he sold his soul.

Perhaps most interesting about this art team.

It is penciled by Amanda Conner and inked by Jimmy Palmiotti! I love the expressions here, the leering, devilish Buzz accompanied by the cynical, hard Linda. I love Conner's work.

The cover date for Team Superman is May 1998, meaning it was released about 2 years into the PAD run. We didn't know too too much about Linda's angelic powers at this point. The issue itself is worth hunting down for fans of this Supergirl as it has lots of Who's Who pages for many of the characters in the book including the Danvers, Comet, and Supergirl herself.

I suppose over the course of time I will post all of them and review that interesting 'Lost Diary of Linda Danvers'.

Back Issue Review: Supergirl #9

My copy, autographed by Peter David

 The news broke recently that Supergirl is going to become a Red Lantern, a decision about the character that I don't agree with. Supergirl becoming an avatar of rage makes little sense to me. We are 2 plus years into the New 52 and I am still waiting for a glimmer of hope in the character.

Believe it or not, there was some defense for the idea and some actually tried to equate the move with Peter David's Supergirl comic in which a pure but soulless Matrix merges with the flawed and evil Linda Danvers. Isn't Supergirl merging with a satanic murdering cultist just as bad? And don't I and many Supergirl fans love that run?

I found it ironic that this defense was brought up because when the Red Lantern announcement was made, I immediately thought of Supergirl #9, the ending of the first arc in David's Supergirl with beautiful art by Gary Frank. Because despite Linda being a 'bad girl', there was always hope in this comic, there was always Supergirl striving to do what's right. And the brightest glimmer of that ... and (for me) one of the most powerful panels in comics ... occurs right here in issue 9, an issue where hope and good overpowers rage and angst leading to redemption. Issue 9!

We are two years into the current Supergirl and we haven't seen any hope like this.

Yes, merging Supergirl with someone as flawed as Linda was a bold move. And I can only imagine the backlash if this was done in this age of social media. The name Linda Danvers alone is a sacred one for Supergirl fans. And we always want a optimistic, heroic, and inspirational Supergirl. The early issues of this run we learn some pretty awful things about Linda.

But ... and this is key ... throughout this early time, despite the grimier details of Linda's life being revealed, Supergirl strives to rise above. And nowhere is that better seen than in this issue. This is one of my favorite issues of this run ... and maybe overall ... so if you haven't read it, you are in for a treat. And you are about to see hope overpowering evil.

The issue opens with a bang in the shattered Danvers' house.

On the left is Buzz, the agent of Chaos who led Linda down the path of evil and then tried to sacrifice her to a higher demon Lord Chakat. He is there as a 'blind date' set up by Mrs. Danvers.

On the right is Linda, now merged with the Matrix Supergirl, trying to discover who (or what) she is on this world, dealing with the foibles of humanity, and trying to understand Linda's heinous past and redeem herself from it.

And there in the middle is Tempus Fugit, Linda's boyfriend Dick Malverne possessed by an evil spirit and working for Buzz.

Linda spent all of last issue trying to play it cool with Buzz in her house, trying to protect her family, only to see it all go awry. She's angry at herself for not taking matters into her own hand.

And this is so key. For this beginning arc, Buzz is trying constantly to have Supergirl lower herself, lose herself. He is taunting her, trying to goad her into evil. Hurting her parents is a good start.

Before we go further, I just have to say that this is my high water mark for Gary Frank. His art here is just beautiful, smooth and powerful. Knowing the intensity of this issue, he gives us several splash pages and near splash pages, big moments given big art. Even here, we have agents of evil and good (Buzz and Linda) with an anti-Christ-like crucifixion posed Fugit in the background.

Fugit and Buzz take off and Linda tries to follow, hoping to battle them as Supergirl. Luckily, both Fred and Sylvia Danvers are alive.

Part of Linda's troubled past is her prickly relationship with her parents. With Supergirl in the persona, that rift has been slowly healing. Her parents seems doubtful of her 'transformation' but are happy.

I loved this scene where Linda's father finally embraces his new daughter as someone who is good. He tells her he loves her and she tells her father the same. Our flashbacks of their relationship show this relationship strained to the point of impending violence. So to see that hug, that shock softened to loving expression, is a giant moment.

Remember though, Buzz and Fugit are piling on, hoping to make Supergirl so angry she forgets herself and does something evil. Immediately after that hug scene, Fugit levels the Danvers' house, most likely killing them.

Whoever is pulling Buzz's strings takes control of Fugit and says that Buzz was supposed to deliver a 'fallen angel'. Buzz, who has always been a cool character, loses control and shows emotions here. It turns out that Buzz might be just as conflicted as Linda.

The 'Angel' term had been bantered about in this book, the religious overtones infused in the story. But this is months before the emergence of flame wings and meeting the other Schechina. The ultimate ending of this story appears in Supergirl #50, which means David had a 4+ year plan for the book! I can't imagine that sort of patience by DC these days!

As I said, not only are we given splash pages, we are given hints of the future, and we are shown the struggle that Supergirl is having internally, how easy it would be to stray from the light.

Here, high above the city, we begin to see some licks of flame, the beginning of her life as the Angel of Fire, of Judgment. At the time, I thought it was residual flame from the Danvers' house. But now I know.

Listen to her thoughts though as she veers close to crossing a line. Linda was evil and knows that evil must be punished. Evil only understands death.

Bringing the fight to Fugit, Supergirl's mind is opened up to the 'horror' of the world. Everyone she knows appears before her as someone evil, monstrous - the Danvers, the Kents, Superman.

And that assault on her senses, again brings a warped understanding of the world. Internally she now believes Supergirl is the being that died when they merged; it was Linda who lived. Linda ... who was evil. The universe is a sick joke, we need to face it on its own twisted and depraved level. "Heroes" and God are laughing at us.

Maybe not in those words but isn't this a similar attitude that the current Supergirl has, that nothing is right in the universe, that the cosmos is laughing at her and her tragedy.

And then we get this ...

That top panel gives me chills. It gave me chills the first time I read it and it gives me chills now.

The bruised and battered psyche of Linda shows up. She says that Supergirl is wrong to believe that, that she was wrong to believe that. Supergirl sees the world through different eyes, seeing what humanity can aspire to be. If anyone is human ... it's Supergirl.

Man, those piercing eyes of Linda, her body and soul injured, is so powerful. She has changed her mind, asking for absolution. She now realizes that Supergirl's way - of optimism and light - is the right way. And look at how she dominates the panel, the sheer size of her in contrast to the horrific visions in the prior splash, as if her view if bigger, more important.

But Supergirl isn't quite ready to hear it. Bleeding from her eyes, aflame, claiming she will leave bodies in the ruins without mercy.

As I said, Frank is simply at the top of his game. David does not shy away from religious iconography.

Now we see Supergirl in that Christ-like pose, complete with the stigmata suffered in battle.

And now Fugit is crying for mercy.

Will Supergirl give in to that desire for revenge? Will she be not only judge but executioner?

And just as she is about to land the killing blow, sealing the deal, having her 'fall' completely, it is Buzz who asks her the important question.

Does she want to live life Linda's way? Or her way? What does she want to be in this world.

And just like that she stops.

She isn't going to complete her journey by turning to evil and darkness. Evil isn't relative. Evil is evil.

She stops and decides to embrace goodness. She decides that adopting the ways of evil to fight evil isn't right.

Battle not monsters lest ye become a monster.

Good triumphs over evil. This is the first big step onto the path of redemption for Linda/Matrix. And it is wonderful.

And so different than the current Supergirl, who joins the Red Lanterns - a group Charles Soule says is a group trying to do overall good by doing evil. The exact opposite of the lesson of this issue.

That does mean that Buzz helped, showing the conflicts he has in his own soul (or lack thereof). You might not have all the answers. Some things need you to have faith.

When she doesn't kill Fugit, the endgame of all this, reality swirls around them. Buzz is taken away. The Danvers are alive, their house in one piece, Dick Malverne returned to normal and recovering in Linda's apartment.

Wow.

There are 41 more issues to this story. And throughout it, Supergirl is tested, seeing if she will succumb, seeing if she will give in to hubris, will she turn to evil? Or will she ultimately be redeemed? But this was that first step.

Was this title going to wallow in angst, perseverate about the inequities in life, and be an anti-hero? Or are you going to turn the corner and simply do what's right even if sometimes that is hard? The answer for Supergirl should always be the latter.

Supergirl should be the optimist, the one who sees the best in things, a warrior for justice.

Will we see something like this just 9 issues into Soule's idea? Will we see something like this in the THIRD year of this character? Or are we going to have to suffer through the darkness for longer?

The Supergirl in this issue wasn't Kara Zor-El. She wasn't Kryptonian. But she was far and away more Supergirl than the current incarnation.

And that Linda panel is what comics is all about.

Overall grade: A+