January Sales Review

Well, the news about the cancellation will make my covering Supergirl sales a bit of tradition rather than noting fluctations. I suppose it will be interesting to see how precipitously sales drop now that the stories 'won't matter' any more.

January sales have been reported. Here is the link to ICv2 coverage:
https://icv2.com/articles/markets/view/45180/top-500-comics-january-2020


January's top selling comic was Wonder Woman #750. Glad to see Diana top the charts!

As for Supergirl?

She's battling Diana albeit as the infected lunatic.

I can't talk about this story any more.

Review: Supergirl #38

Supergirl #38 came out this week, another chapter in yet another iteration of something I call 'Dark Kara', the inevitable every 4 yr turn of the crank where DC tries to make Supergirl evil or edgy.

I'm kind of sick of it. And this issue didn't curtail that feeling. In fact, I have gone from really loathing these takes to something worse ... being bored with them. How many times, even within this one continuity, do we have to see Kara dealing with her grief about Krypton by becoming evil or dark or edgy?

From her initial hatred of Earth when she arrived to her teaming up with H'El to her leaving Earth entirely to becoming a Red Lantern to her wielding an axe and nearly killing people to now being infected by the Batman Who Laughs, we have read this story before.

And Dark Kara fighting Diana, which she does in this issue, is also a common response.

Here, Kara bemoans the 'weakness' of humanity for feeling 'safe'. And yet she wants to 'free' people from this weakness by infecting them the way she is. So, becoming evil and not caring about things at all is the cure? And even then, isn't her 'caring' about people to the point she wants to infect them showing that she cares? I don't know.

I'm just sick of reading issues of my favorite character where she is the villain.

That said, the art by Rachel Stott and Inaki Miranda, is beautiful even as it presents Supergirl as a pro-Wrestler or fan of G'War. And Krypto remains a bright spot.

I hope Jody Houser turns this into something worthwhile. But the end can't come soon enough. On to the details.

DC January Solicits

The January solicits for DC comics are now out and the new year is ringing in with a dose of darkness and a recent blighted storyline revisited. Will this be a banner ringing in of 2020? Or will DC look back at this decision and realize they weren't seeing things clearly?

I'll cover the super-specific stuff but if you want to see the total solicits, you can head to Newsarama here: https://www.newsarama.com/47466-dc-comics-january-2020-solicitations.html

But I will say, I don't think I am feeling too excited about much of this.

SUPERGIRL #38
written by JODY HOUSER
art by RACHAEL STOTT
cover by MIKE PERKINS
card stock variant cover by DERRICK CHEW

After Batman and Superman couldn’t stop the Infected Supergirl from trying to thee entire world, they knew they had to call in the only person they trust can bring Kara back...Wonder Woman! Will Diana’s compassion be enough to cure Kara of the infection that’s taken over? If not, what’s a fight between an uninhibited Kryptonian power house against a god like? You’ll find out here!

So this is a solicit with a typo. What was Dark Kara trying to do?

Anyways, you know how much I am sick of Supergirl being tainted and corrupted, so it is going to take something special for me to like this. And ironic that it is Wonder Woman's compassion that is the weapon here. You would think that Supergirl and her 'compassion for all' mantra would mean she wouldn't be darkened by the Batman Who Laughs.

Sigh. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.