Nick Spencer On His Supergirl Run

In the aftermath of the Andy Diggle and Joshua Hale Fialkov, other creators who have been editorially squashed by DC Comics have started to come out of the woodwork and fan the flames. One of them was Nick Spencer who lasted one half of one issue on Supergirl, here on  Supergirl #60.

On his blog, Spencer wrote about his proposed story arc. Here is that link:
http://nickspencerly.tumblr.com/post/45862702793/by-the-amazing-amy-reeder-the-unpublished-cover

And here are the major parts of that post and the proposed story.

The idea for the story was pretty simple: Kara learns how to be a leader. She had, to that point, been almost exclusively used as either a solo character, or in a supporting role on a team. I felt like someone wearing that ‘S’ on their chest would find people looking to them for answers when things got bad.

The story beats that really stand out, to me:
I know I wanted to have a scene where the fight gets really hectic, and Impulse runs away, with Kara really calmly and sympathetically talking to her about it, just the two of them, in the aftermath. That was supposed to be the big moment that Kara comes into her own.

The entire team (except for Kara) were gonna get captured, and Kara would go to Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman for advice— and from there, putting together ANOTHER team to rescue them (I forget who all was on that one- Black Alice, Klarion, Shining Knight, Arrowette, I think).

The whole thing would climax at the launch party for the Flyover app, and the last scene was Impulse pulling Damian onto the dancefloor.

So I don't know exactly what here was so objectionable to the editors. My guesses? The villain was to be a Luthor/Brainiac hybrid which might have been being saved for Superman. Or maybe this story, creating a team, losing a team, talking to the Trinity, creating a new team, saving the day was deemed too cumbersome?

With blood in the water, every major comic site covered Spencer's news and used it to prove DC editorial overreach existed back then ... even though there was not as much news of editorial overreach back then. We didn't hear these stories then which makes me think something must have been amiss for this to have happened. Now I do fault DC for giving the reins to Spencer too early if they hadn't heard all the details of his story. Isn't that the role of editors? 

As for that issue, the one thing that struck me about it was that a lot of time was spent showcasing not only 'Alex' (the villain) but his college friends. It seemed overly long and wasted space, almost like Spencer needed to show how pithy and snappy his dialogue could be. Those kids weren't part of the big story so why do I care that one of them has a new girlfriend?

Anyways, given the feeding frenzy against DC (something I am taking part of) I am not surprised to see how many people have come out and said 'I would have read that story about Kara becoming a leader!'

Yeah?? Where were you back then??

Because the truth is, James Peaty's story, which picked up after Spencer left, did just that. So they should go back and get the back issues because there are some great moments in Peaty's story. And the art by Bernard Chang is so beautiful. I have reviewed those issues (Supergirl #60-64) on this site so folks can go to those posts if they want. But let me give you some highlights.

Here is Damien Wayne telling Jaime that he is listening to Kara because she has proven to be a true leader. She has passed his internal test of earning respect. Damien!!

And then in the battle with Dubbilex (the stand in for the Lex/Brainiac villain), Miss Martian admits that she looked up to Supergirl ... was in awe of her.

Best yet, the whole counterattack against Dubbilex has been masterfully orchestrated by Supergirl. Despite all his intelligence and planning, he is soundly beaten by Kara. He was simply 'outsmarted'.

Look at how strong Supergirl looks as she sort of rubs in her victory.

And in the end, Supergirl knows she is ready. She is the leader of her generation and ready to take a place in the majors.

So if you are saying 'I missed out on a great story' because of Nick Spencer's post, go find this arc.

Anyways, hopefully DC gets there act together and lets creators breathe a bit.

Death Of Dubbilex

With Supergirl #64 comes out later today, the last part of James Peaty and Bernard Chang's 'Good Looking Corpse' story arc.

Last issue ended with the reveal that the Kryptonian-laced super-clone from Cadmus was Dubbilex!

Well, at least it is based on Dubbilex. There are enough clues to let us know that this isn't the original Dubbilex, the reserved hero and friend of the Guardian.

For one, we know 'Alex' (or Triplexxx) has some K-genes inside him, including heat visions powers. Second, in Supergirl #63, we see the Cadmus scientists standing outside a tube looking at 'Cadmus Unit X.X.X.'

But most importantly, we have already seen the original Dubbilex die in the Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen one-shot from late 2008. Surprisingly, I didn't review this back then. In the book, Jimmy is just starting to uncover some dirt about Project 7734, an unknown government program back then and the Project's top gun Agent Assassin.

Part of his investigation leads him to Cadmus where he questions Dubbilex.

After a lot of questions, Jimmy realizes that fluid is leaking all over the floor, fluid which turns out to be Dubbilex's blood. Agent Assassin has already been there, mortally wounding the telepath.

In particular, I thought the last panels are touching as Dubbilex asks to be remembered as a man, not some cloned creature. The silent last panel just works.

But I do always wonder about these sort of scenes. So Dubbilex has a long conversation with Jimmy while he is bleeding to death? Wouldn't he say something like 'ask me anything you want in the back of the ambulance while workers try to save me'? Or are normal medical facilities useless?

Regardless, James Robinson does a very nice job with this scene, having Dubbilex die with some dignity.

Now we have Triplexxx to deal with. Can't wait to read the finale.