The schedule for this wrap-up trilogy will be as follows:
Today: Non-comic stuff and the Honorable Mentions for the year's Best Supergirl Moments.
Tomorrow: The Top Ten Supergirl Moments of 2012
The Following Day: The Top Three Supergirl Face Palm Moments of 2012
I have done the year wrap-ups for a while now and the Face Palm Moments is a new category. And I didn't know if I should start with the face palms or end with them. I think I made the right decision.
What I would like to do is open this up to you all as well. So feel free to post/email any of your favorite or least favorite moments from the year and if I get enough response I'll put together a 4th post, the 2012 readers' wrap-up.
On to the celebration ... beginning with the non-comic stuff.
For me, the biggest non-comic Supergirl news of 2012 was Super Best Friends Forever. The DC Nation block added DC short films between episodes of Green Lantern and Young Justice. They made a brilliant move in having Lauren Faust of My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic fame create 5 Super Best Friends Forever short films.
In short, they were spectacular. A wildly manic and optimistic Batgirl, a hotheaded Supergirl, and an older, slightly more mature Wonder Girl teaming up as the Suh-Buffs, taking down the bad guys and relying on each other. They were action filled and laugh out loud funny. Each member got a short where they were in the spotlight and then there were 2 of them as a legit team.
I gushed over them when they aired. The supergirls at home loved them and have asked when they will get more. Unfortunately, Faust said there will be no SBFF in the upcoming season of the DC Nation block.
I truly hope they weren't a brilliant flash in the pan, here and gone before we knew it. There needs to be more! It seems like such a no-brainer, tapping into to multiple markets and opening up wild licensing opportunities.
Of course, we all wailed and gnashed out teeth for more Cosmic Adventures too. And that seemed like a similar no-brainer.
Bring back the SBFFs!!
Continuing the multi-media portion of the wrap-up, we learned in July that a DC Animated movie was being made of Geoff Johns' Brainiac storyline. And Supergirl's voice will be done by Castle actress Molly Quinn.
Blog friend Gene, who usually has his finger on the pulse of these things, thinks the movie will be out around June to coincide with the Man of Steel big screen feature.
Brainiac occurred just as Sterling Gates took over Supergirl. Johns really had a handle on what Supergirl should be like. In fact, Supergirl saving the Earth from Brainiac's solar aggressor was the number one Supergirl moment from 2008. I look forward to seeing this movie and another animated Supergirl feature.
As for merchandise, the New 52 Supergirl was one of the first characters to get a statue bust. This statue just came out and looks wonderful. It also is bigger and wider than prior DC Collectible busts. It is pretty impressive.
And as recently seen on this blog, Hot Wheels came out with a Supergirl version of the 1938 Dodge Airflow mini-tanker.
I am glad that DC continues to market the more classic versions of Supergirl's statue on these ancillary memorabilia items. This car is just fantastic. I mean ... who would ever think there would be a Supergirl toy car?
And now, on to the Best Supergirl Comic Moments of 2012. As always, a lot happened over the course of the year. In her own title, the year started with Kara still lost and wondering if Krypton still existed. She had to learn the hard way that there is tragedy in her life, that she is on a new world she needs to make her home, and that she is also has the ability to help people. I feel like her character has slowly started to turn the corner in the book. It has felt like this Supergirl now realizes this is her home and it is time to make it feel like one.
On top of her own title, she has appeared in the main Superman title a couple of times, had a powerful and revealing encounter with Superboy in his title, and is one of the family in the Superman Family Adventures. And, we currently are blessed ... sort of ... with 2 Supergirls because Power Girl in Worlds' Finest was once Supergirl on Earth 2 and we have seen some of those adventures.
One thing to note ... there hasn't been an 'event' comic since the New 52 came about as the characters are still getting settled. I, for one, applaud it.
With that much happening, limiting myself to ten 'best' moments was too hard. And so here are the 5 'almost in' moments, the Honorable Mentions, counting down.
Number five honorable mention: The Corona Wave (Supergirl #7)
When we first read Michael Green and Mike Johnson's ideas on this new Supergirl, part of what they said was that she would have some different powers than Superman. I will admit that initially I was against this. But the instances of these new powers have been limited.
The Corona Wave (my name for it) ... or fireball effect ... or whatever you have named it is an interesting new power. I think Supergirl has a sort of automatic defensive mode with her powers. One is a sort of super-intuition, an activation of her super-senses when something is about to happen. And then this one, a sort of concussive blinding blast of her absorbed sun power when she is in extreme danger.
I still don't know how I feel about it but one thing for sure, it is a new wrinkle for the character and worth mentioning.
Number four honorable mention: The Costume (Supergirl #0)
There hasn't been many truly joyous moments in this book for Kara as she struggles on Earth.
So the glimpse we had of her on Krypton, caring for baby Kal and having some nice father/daughter discussions with her father, showed us the heart of who she is.
We had learned early on that the Supergirl costume had some sort of ritual significance on Krypton. Here, just prior to the destruction of Krypton and the trip to Earth, Zor-El had Kara try it on. I loved this happy panel of Kara, a sort of normal adolescent modeling new formal wear and asking her father for his opinion. There is a sort of innocence here ... and joy.
I keep hoping we will see some of these emotion on Earth.
Number three honorable mention: Silent Scream (Supergirl #5)
I thought this panel was a powerful one. Amidst the ruins of Argo City, Supergirl has no choice but to accept the sad truth. Krypton is gone.
It loudly echoes the silent scream panel of from Sterling Gates/Jamal Igle when Kara is holding Zor-El's body.
I have always said that Supergirl's story is about the journey, is about the becoming of a hero. The last incarnation, the Sterling Gates Supergirl, felt like a journey of maturation, of overcoming snap judgments and poor decisions to become a better hero.
This Supergirl seems like a journey through sadness. This Kara has a very different feel. She grieves for her loss and has to overcome it. It is that acceptance of her tragic past and the ability to still do good, to still do what is right despite a heavy heart that seems to be the undercurrent of this Kara. And this panel says that best.
Number two honorable mention: Save the World (Worlds' Finest #1)
We haven't seen much of the Earth 2 Supergirl instead seeing her Power Girl adventures. But the glimpses show just what a great and sort of throwback character she was. We will see a couple more moments in the actual Top Ten list.
Here, in Worlds' Finest #1, we see the event that led her to be marooned on Earth 1. After the Trinity has been killed, Supergirl and Robin try to end the war in one swoop, flying into the boom tube to battle (they think) Steppenwolf.
There is such a look of determination on Supergirl here as she hurtles towards this fight. This guy just killed Superman. He isn't a pushover. But nevertheless, there is Supergirl ... doing the right thing and carrying on, being a hero.
Number one honorable mention: I Remember Now
Maybe the biggest ongoing storyline in Supergirl, part of the initial hook of this new incarnation, was the mystery behind Kara's origin. She didn't remember how she got into the costume, into the pod, rocketed from her doomed planet. Part of her inability to grasp her new life is it that came as a complete shock. Even time made no sense. How could baby Kal be a man?
In Supergirl #13, all those lost memories flood back into her consciousness. Being experimented on by World Killer scientist Zor-El. Drugged and put into a rocket. Alura shooting Zor-El with a stunner. While Supergirl had mostly accepted the loss of Krypton, these new details ... the bizarre way Zor showed his love for his daughter, that her parents are really dead, that time has passed without her ... are horrific. It again shows that this is a journey of grief. There are some elements of Peter David's story here. And there is some of Sterling Gates' here as well. But it is the core of the character, to continue to see the best no matter what happens, to continue to do what's right no matter what, that is the essence of Supergirl. She has some answers here now ... but it isn't the end of this journey; it's the beginning.
And so that wraps up the first part of the Review and the Honorable Mentions of the Top Supergirl Moments of 2012. Tomorrow ... the top ten!
"Believe"
ReplyDeleteMishama Kara Itto