Review: Superboy #17

Superboy #17 came out this week another chapter in H'El on Earth, and thankfully another step closer to the end of H'El on Earth.  It is hard for me to read H'El in any sort of unbiased way because, unfortunately, Supergirl is the villain of the story. And ... let me tell you something ... in this issue, she is the villain. She is the hysterical, deluded, angry, ignorant villain.

And if making a long time Supergirl fan dislike this Supergirl character was a goal of Tom DeFalco, Scott Lobdell, and Eddie Berganza, then congratulations are in order. Because after I read this issue, I really really disliked this Kara. And my condolences to Mike Johnson and Michael Green because the powers that be have simply undone everything that those guys were creating over in the main book.

Should Superman fans be happy with H'El? Well, he acts a bit erratic and his plans are often muddled. But at least he is a hero and leading the charge to prevent Earth from being destroyed.

Should Superboy fans be happy with H'El? Hell yeah. He comes off great in this book, realizing what it means to be a hero and working hard to be a hero! In this book, he comes off as selfless and strong. In fact, most of the parts of the book I am going to highlight show just how far Superboy has come on the hero's journey.

In fact, I am not hating on Superboy when I say that I find it amazing that his character, the guy with violent mind programming and a deep-seeded hatred of Superman, is the guy to rise above the fray and be the hero. Meanwhile, Supergirl plays the patsy.

I have always been a fan of RB Silva, especially when he is inked by Rob Lean, and his art is slick here. For some reason it works best in a sci-fi setting and so he shines here.

The book opens with the Justice League organizing their attack against H'El and his star chamber. The draining sun is creating havoc with our weather, resulting in natural disasters. While the rest of the Leaguers go on rescue duties around the world, Superboy, Wonder Woman, and Superman will take the battle to H'El himself.

One thing I like here is that while, once again, Superboy opens the book by saying he is a living weapon, he also calls Kal and Diana living weapons as well. But they are calm, confidant, and clearly in control of their decisions. It is yet another way to show that Kon is starting to think of himself more as a person and less as an automaton. Living weapons can be in charge of their own lives too.

Meanwhile, listen to how starstruck Supergirl sounds when talking to H'El.

Talk about gushing. She takes about his vision ... his tireless dedication. Does anyone outside of the most infatuated, most inane say such things?

Yes, she is still thinking H'El is the good guy. And she is so blinded by love for this guy she met maybe 2 days ago that she can't see straight.

So she is gullible. And she is infatuated. And she falls exceedingly quickly into a superficial kind of love.

How does that make Supergirl a likeable character.

Before the heroes can intercede, H'El teleports in and again lays some serious damage on Superboy. He rips the healing Kryptonian armor off him and throws Superboy aside.

I said it before, there is a little too much venom in H'El surrounding Superboy. I think this is transference of some sort of self-loathing. H'El has to be a clone of some sort.

But it is here that we see the best of Superboy.

Despite being battered, despite his genome being unraveled, despite no real dog in this fight, Superboy decides he isn't ready to thrown in the towel. He is going to pull himself together, maybe literally, and fight on and try to stop H'El and his plans.

When the Hornblower arrives and says that he is calling The Oracle to come to the doomed planet, Superboy even goes one step further, attacking the alien, and saying the world still has hope ... Superman.

So pulls himself together, recognizes Superman as a hero, attacks the Hornblower, and then navigates around the raging atmospheric chaos to get to the Star Chamber.

After all my worries about Superboy, his dark side, his bank-robbing, his hatred of Superman, it turns out he is the brightest star in H'El on Earth.

Now contrast that to Supergirl.


Here is the thing, one of my biggest complaints about this arc is that no one has told Supergirl that H'El is going to implode the solar system. Superboy finally ... finally ...tells her the imminent danger.

So what does Supergirl do with this new information?

She attacks the ailing Superboy when he arrives. She calls him a time bomb, someone willing to kill Krypton again, someone who she can't trust in the way she trusts H'El. She says he is lying. And she is vicious in battering Kon despite the fact that he is obviously dying in front of her.

And let's add more.

Despite Superboy telling her over and over that Earth will die, telling her that she can't be naive and must realize what is happening, Supergirl still doesn't believe him. She doesn't even pause.

And here she basically says she is going to kill him if he doesn't walk away.

Supergirl is too blind and too stupid to recognize the impending cataclysm, pounds on a dying boy, and then plans to kill him.

How am I supposed to like this Supergirl? How am I supposed to feel empathy for her?

I'll say it again, I am a life long Supergirl fan and I don't like the character right now. I haven't felt this way since the issue by Kelly/Garza where we saw her gun down her high school classmates on Krypton.

Supergirl as a stupid killer ... who can honestly think this was the right direction for the character.

Luckily before she can deliver the killing blow, Wonder Woman shows up and the two begin to battle.

So now Supergirl is fighting all of Earth's heroes.

It makes me so sad.

Again, contrast that to Superboy. Despite dying, despite being bloodied and bruised, he wills himself on ... striving to 'make like a hero and save the world'.

Unbelievable.

I have to say this was a tale of two issues. If there has been an upside to H'El on Earth, it has been the character development of Superboy. He has really changed during this short time with Superman. Suddenly he isn't interested in living in the posh apartment and clubbing. There are bigger things in life. He really is becoming the hero.

On the other hand, Supergirl has de-evolved from the smart, sad, over-cautious young woman in her book to this lovestruck idiot who can't see the truth even when it is shoved in her face.

Again, congratulations to Tom DeFalco, Scott Lobdell, and Eddie Berganza. You have made Supergirl pathetic and unlikeable. The writing has been on the wall since the beginning of this arc.

And to Superboy fans, I hope you like the new direction he is taking here.

Overall grade: C+ (B+ for Superboy characterization, D- for Supergirl stuff)

New Writer On Supergirl

The insanity that seems to be emanating from DC Comics continues and the thought that there is some sort of editorial sanity seems to be more and more improbable.

Over on Comic Book Resources, Bob Harras and Bobbie Chase talked about all the upcoming changes to DC's comic book line. Here is the link: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=43640

If you are a DC fan, I urge you to read this article in its entirety. It again reiterates the point that DC's creative powers have no understanding of what will be accepted and sell. It also means they have almost no patience in allowing a title to gain some sort of audience.

A bloody swath has been cut through the new 52 with six titles being canceled. Some, like Team 7 and The Ravagers comes as no surprise to me. Did anyone think those titles/characters would sell? Some, like Firestorm and Hawkman come as a little surprise but given the creative turnover on those books it felt (from a distance) that DC didn't know what they wanted those titles to be. Perhaps the one that bothered me the most was 'Sword and Sorcery'. I am someone who wanted to read an Amethyst book but it was clear the approach that DC and Christy Marx was bringing to the character was different than what I wanted and so didn't buy the book. Amethyst isn't Red Sonja so I doubt Amethyst fans wanted to read that book. But here is what DC doesn't seem to understand. Amethyst isn't Red Sonja. So Red Sonja fans aren't going to come to the book regardless of the approach. In essence, the book isolated itself from all audiences.

Now the title of this post is "New Writer on Supergirl" so I better get to that news. The news was buried in the middle of this article. Here is the Supergirl questions. 

Looking at the some of the brand-new creative teams, writer Michael Alan Nelson will be taking over "Supergirl" from Mike Johnson, who along with Michael Green had been writing the book since issue #1. Michael Alan Nelson is known best for his darker, horror-infused comics at BOOM! -- what is it about his work that made you guys think he'd be a good fit for "Supergirl?"
Harras: Well Michael is someone we wanted to work with since we started the New 52. He's been working together with us on a few issues of "Ravagers," and Eddie Berganza and he have a good relationship and have a lot of fun together. It was just suggested by Eddie that Michael had a lot of good ideas for "Supergirl" and we said, "Why not?" Again, he's a writer that we wanted to work with since we first came up with the New 52. "Ravagers" was the first step and "Supergirl" is the next. We're kind of excited about what's coming up!
Chase: "Supergirl" is another stage, and he's gotten a lot of attention. He's a really solid writer -- we all think he's going to do great things.

Considering his horror past, does him coming on as writer signal a shift in tone for "Supergirl" from a slow-moving quasi-indie title to a much darker comic?
Harras: I think Supergirl in the New 52 is a very interesting character; she's certainly not the character as she's been portrayed before, and that's really what we want to explore. What is it like to be a sixteen-year-old girl who wakes up one day to find her planet is gone, her world is changed and she's not very happy about it and she feels very isolated?
Chase: It's a little dark! [Laughs]
Harras: I think we're going to be exploring that in a big way. Mike Johnson, with his nineteen issues, is a great guy and it was a great run. And again, we fully expect to work with him on another project. This is not an absolute end; Mike opted to move on to something new at this point, and we hope to work with him again on something else.

So Mike Johnson is off the book. Say what you will about all the publicity around the book saying she was 'Hell on Wheels' with no affection towards Earth, so don't piss her off. The truth was that over the course of the time Johnson (and Michael Green) were on the book, it was clear they had an understanding of the core characteristics of the character. Their Kara was dealing with tremendous grief. In fact, I think grief was the dominant emotional tone of the book. But despite that grief, she never seemed to lose herself. She wanted to help people, she didn't want to hurt people, she wasn't going to give in to anger or chaos. I rooted for this Supergirl to succeed. She was emotionally devastated but still strived to do what was right and just. 

Well ... maybe I should amend that. She tried all of that until she became the patsy in H'El on Earth, a decision I have to assume was made by editorial fiat and not writer choice. Think about the Supergirl who outwitted Tycho and actually smiled in Supergirl #13. That feels like a lifetime ago and that was a very different character than we have seen in H'El.

Johnson leaves and in comes Michael Alan Nelson, a writer I don't know at all. His resume includes a bunch of zombie titles and a bunch of Cthulu books. Now I am as big a H.P. Lovecraft fan as there is but is that the approach I want for Supergirl? 

And Nelson getting the thumbs up from Eddie Berganza makes it worse. Berganza doesn't seem to understand Supergirl at all!

Again, we have the same buzz words we heard before. She's not happy. She feels very isolated. It's a little dark! And Chase actually laughs when she says that. Guess what ... it isn't funny. And despite being around for over a year and a half, Chase and Harras are still beating the drum that this is a 'new' approach for Supergirl - the dark moody girl all alone. 

Here is the deal DC. No one wants to read that sort of Supergirl book. Supergirl fans don't want it. And people who read books about angry isolated dark characters aren't going to read Supergirl. You are marginalizing the book from all audiences all over again.

I often hear writers say that some characters seem to write themselves, that organically a character changes from the initial thought the writer had to become something else. And frankly, I think Supergirl is one of those characters. The mind-controlled and easily fooled Matrix Supergirl eventually morphed into Peter David's Angel of Justice. The angry angsty Loeb/Kelly Supergirl dissolved and became the heroic hero by Gates/Igle and then Peaty and Deconnick. And even here, the hyped up bad girl that was supposed to be written by Green and Johnson evolved to this strong woman trying to be a hero despite the cards life has dealt her.

Supergirl is a hero, someone who wants to help, someone with a sense of justice and hope. No matter what DC tries to do, this is the core of the character. They can't escape that. They should embrace that! 

As always, I will go into this new regime with an open mind. I will hope that the Supergirl I know and love will be represented here. And I don't know if Michael Alan Nelson knows that an established Supergirl fandom exists but I hope he will do her right. 

Eddie Berganza Editing Super-Books

It has been announced over on Bleeding Cool that Eddie Berganza, former Executive Editor at DC Comics, has now been announced as a group editor, and specifically has taken over the editorial reins for all the Super Books. Here is the link to that brief piece as well as the key blurb: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/12/05/eddie-berganza-taks-the-superman-books-back/

One of the announcements made at DC yesterday was that Berganza would take over editing all the Superman books.

Now one thing that I have been asking for has been 'eye in the sky' editor for the super-books. Someone who will make sure that the tone and characterization for these characters remains consistent from book to book.

Just this month, I read Supergirl #14 and Superman #14, subsequent chapters in the same crossover, with such different voices and tones in the characters that they could have taken place in alternate universes. I have hoped that someone would tidy up the post- Morrison continuity, knowing that Action Comics would take place in the 'now' rather than 5 years in the past.

And so you would think that an announcement that one editor would be running the super-books would make me a happy comic reader and Super-fan.

So the question remains ... is Eddie Berganza the right guy for the job? Is he the person I want editing Supergirl?

Well he was listed as editor on Action Comics #775, one of my favorite Superman stories of all time, which upheld just who Superman should be even in the current comic market.

And he worked with Mike Johnson over on Superman/Batman. That run included some great Supergirl moments in the Super-bat storyline and another of my overall favrorites Superman/Batman #62, 'Sidekicked'.

But ....

He was editor for the first 19 issues of the last Supergirl book. Remember this series?

She fought every hero she could.
She went to save and then abandoned Kandor.
She went crazy and bled crystals.
She paraded around her father nude, she snuck into bars because she knew a tight shirt would get her in, she was angry that a disaster interrupted her rave dancing. She bent over in front of Captain Boomerang and made a 'looking at her 'S'' joke. She was programmed to kill Superman.

Oh yeah, and she actually did kill her classmates on Krypton, gunning them down with her father..

She was not heroic, mostly bitter, difficult to like, and self-absorbed.

THAT IS NOT SUPERGIRL!

Has there been a lower point in Supergirl stories than those? I look back at those issues and cringe.

Eddie Berganza was the editorial voice on those books.

And currently?

Well, he is the editor on Superman.

In two issues he has had her fly at Superman and call him a liar; backtrack and consider Kon as an it, not a person, and contemplate killing Superboy; she has sarcastically called humans 'precious'; and she has become H'El's dupe.

The Supergirl in the issues Berganza has been editor on is vastly different than the one we have seen in her main book. She has done things opposite to what she did in her own book.

Is that who Berganza thinks Supergirl is? Is he going to want to bring back the bitchy Loeb/Kelly Kara, the one that fans abandoned? 

And I haven't even mentioned what Superman is like in those books.

So one editor is a good idea for family-wide continuity.
But I suppose it needs to be the right editor.

I don't know right now if Eddie Berganza is the right editor.

I guess time will tell.

But suddenly I am worried about Supergirl.