Wizard Superman Tribute Edition

One of my latest side quests has been scouring the shops, conventions, and warehouses I go to and see if I can find the old comic magazines that were published, especially around creators and topics that I love. I read Back Issue currently for similar reasons.

These magazines are almost time capsules of a sort. Reading creators' ideas about upcoming titles and stories and then comparing to them now that they are in the rear view mirror. In particular, Comics Interview, Comics Journal,  and Amazing Heroes are my faves as they seemed to take the material and the discussions seriously.

At the summer end's Time Capsule warehouse sale, I found a box filled with them and grabbed a few. That included this "Superman Tribute Edition" from Wizard Magazine. Now Wizard has it's critics (and I might be one of them). The book was more hype and journalism but at the time ruled the roost as THE comic book magazine on the shelves. 

But I will admit this one was solid, a magazine that kept out right before Reign of the Superman hit the racks. It was still polybagged, complete with collector card. The cover is a die-cut, chromium enhanced fold-out by Jurgens and Breeding showing the Doomsday fight. 

The table of contents shows this was a mix of historical retrospectives (both pre-Crisis and post-Byrne), a mini sort-of who's who, and a very interesting article looking vaguely at the four 'Supermen' who made up the Reign. The creators can't go into too much detail as the books hadn't been released yet, so speak a bit veiled. Very interesting hearing them talk about these characters so entrenched now.

But I'll cover the Supergirl specific stuff in the book for this site (not that there is much).

Wizard 220 - Supergirl's 50th Anniversary

I know that Wizard Magazine is not that comic book media giant it once was. Still, I think the name carries some clout and I think the topics it covers does influence the business.

So I was glad to see Supergirl covered in December's issue. But in some ways I was also sad.


The topic of the article is how Supergirl's 50th anniversary was basically overlooked by DC and pretty much everybody in 2009. Titled "Missing Candles", the two-page piece briefly reviews the storied history of Supergirl and comments on the title's recent revitalization.

But writer Andy Serwin wonders why there was no celebration, no anniversary tags on issues, no specials.

And to be honest, that hit pretty close to home. While Supergirl's anniversary has been mentioned on this blog over the course of the year, I never actually did a 50th anniversary post. And now 2009 has come and gone.


In fact, an Internet search for celebrations had only one major hit. And that hit was the Pima County Library celebration that was the brainchild of a blog friend Gene and was covered here. At the very least, congratulations Gene for doing the right thing. You can look at the Library's celebration here: http://comicboxcommentary.blogspot.com/2009/08/supergirl-first-fifty-years-library.html

I think it is sort of a shame that DC didn't promote this anniversary more. I think it's a big shame that I didn't promote it either.



The magazine also does a Marketwatch piece on some of the bigger issues in Supergirl's history. I suppose one day I will be lucky enough to own a copy of Action Comics #252. All I need is an extra $2600.

Maybe in May I will do a big 51st anniversary post to try to make up for this year's absence.

Wizard Magazine #211 - Interview With Super-Writers

This month's Wizard Magazine has a nice interview with the four writers of the super-titles: Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, James Robinson, and Sterling Gates.

The interview covers a lot of topics about the next year in the Superman family. It is definitely worth reading in it's entirety as some hints (albeit vague hints) for the upcoming year are slipped in. I thought that I would post some of the more Supergirl-centric comments.



I think we all saw the re-imagining of the 'secret weapon' status when the UN decree was enacted post-New Krypton. I hope that doesn't mean we have a year of Supergirl skulking around. I would rather see her operate openly but then slip away as Linda Lang.

Since I was fairly vocal in my support of a secret identity, I have to say I am excited to see Gates explore this new aspect to Kara's character.

Lastly, I do find it somewhat intriguing that Gates says "people already don't like [Kara]; now they really don't like [her]." One thing I am hoping will eventually come out of the new team's direction is some recognition by the world that Kara is a hero. Of course this reinventing of herself is part of her feud with Cat Grant and isn't helped by New Krypton. This turning of popular sentiment won't happen overnight. I expect it to be an undercurrent in the title for a while.



Okay, it's not a Supergirl comment. But I am glad that Lois is not being lost during the 'year without Superman'. I feared that Lois might become a very minor character in all the titles, appearing sporadically.

When I saw that inquisitive look on her face in Rucka's Action Comics #875, I knew that someone was going to be writing a strong Lois.

We also know she will have a reasonably important role in Supergirl as part of the 'Agent Liberty' murder investigation.




It's hard to know when this interview was done; I wonder if it was completed before the release of the Origins and Omens piece in Supergirl was released. Johns hints about something big happening to Lana in Supergirl and I have to assume it is her illness.

I do like the fact that the Lana/Kara relationship is not like an ersatz mother/daughter one. It should be more mentor-like. Like my interest in Linda Lang, I also look forward to seeing more of this interaction.

The interview turns to the topic of villains including who will be in Johns' Secret Origin mini-series.

As for Supergirl, we hear that Reactron and Silver Banshee are pretty established now as Kara rogues now.

But 2 more villains? One known and one new?

I know the known villain ... that doll in Supergirl #38 spoke volumes ... it has to be The Toyman!

I am glad to hear a new villain will be added too. Supergirl needs to start building her own history and rogue's gallery, not just a shuffling of Superman enemies.

And then Rucka drops this bomb ... Supergirl as a villain in the pages of Action Comics?

I can think of that happening in 2 ways. One would be Alura sends Kara out to bring in the Thara and Chris as rogue Kryptonians living on Earth. Unlikely, since I think Kara probably escapes from under Alura's thumb at the end of the Superwoman arc.

My guess is that some classic 'misunderstanding' between the Kara and Thara has them think they are at odds with each other only to eventually team up and stop the bad guys.

Overall, it sounds like the teams have a pretty tight understanding of all they hope to accomplish over the year. When projects are well-thought out in advance, the product is usually good. I am pretty optimistic about these titles for the upcoming year.

As for the rest of this Wizard, it sports a somewhat psychedelic 'face melting' pulling-off-the-mask Spiderwoman cover by Alex Maleev and has an article about the upcoming Spiderwoman comic/web comic. I have a cool Maleev Supergirl commission that I will probably post when the Spiderwoman title gets released.

Wizard #207 - Justice League and Supergirl News

DC announced the new comic called Justice League back in the spring. A little later they announced the creative team of James Robinson and Mauro Cascioli. And near that time, they announced the roster - Green Lantern (Hal), Green Arrow, Captain Marvel, The Atom, Batwoman, Congorilla, Starman, and Supergirl. The feel of the book was one more of a pro-active Justice League, a team that acts not just react.

I was pretty excited for the book for a number of reasons, outside of just Kara being featured in a JL book. Robinson is a great writer. Cascioli is a fantastic writer. And Congorilla and the blue-skinned Starman !? Smelled a little like the Doom Patrol.

However, since the announcement, there has been little news and no solicitation. Most likely this has to do with the team maybe springing from the events of Final Crisis. Regradless, when the above Wizard cover hit the stands I purchased it hoping to get a sneak peek at the book.

Well, outside of the cover, this splash page, and a brief paragraph restating everything I said above, there was not much about the new book. Instead it featured a list of James Robinson's favorite Justice League and Brave and Bold issues from the Silver Age.

At first I was a bit upset for not learning or seeing anything that new. But then I just let my eyes drink in the Cascioli pictures. Here is Kara close up from both cover and splash page.

I think I used this term before in regards to Cascioli but his Supergirl is statuesque. I mean it, I would buy a Supergirl statue based on the cover pic of her. Hopefully there has been enough lead time that he has been able to get ahead. His art work is simply spectacular.

I also noted this little blurb in the Shop Talk mini-column. This usually promotes books that store owners think will be hot or books that there is a lot of store buzz about.

How great was it to see Supergirl get a plug! Any publicity is good publicity they say. Maybe this little piece will attract some new readers.