I usually wait for all the DC solicits to come out before I post about upcoming comics.
But when I saw the cover for Supergirl #18 up at Comic Vine (they have the Superman family March solicits up here: http://www.comicvine.com/news/exclusive-superman-family-march-2013-solicits/145643/) I felt compelled to write early.
Technically, it is wonderful art showcasing a determined and strong Supergirl.
But she is crushing the world, complete with the glowing red eyes of wrath.
Since the title's inception, I have been worried about this Supergirl. The earliest promotion material from the upper levels of DC described an alienated young woman, one with no connection to humanity. She was going to be Hell on Wheels, fighting her friends, have no affection for the people of her new planet. She would be isolated and angry.
Surprisingly, so far the actual stories have been much more nuanced showing a young woman struggling with the tragedy of her life. Sometimes the reaction is angry and violent. Sometimes it is sad. But throughout, the creative team has shown a hero, someone who cares about the safety of others, who has a solid good center but someone lost and trying to find her way. I miss the old Kara. But I have been happy with this one and have been rooting for her.
And that makes this cover so troubling. Because this is the first outward appearance of the angry isolated woman lashing out at her new home. I don't want to read about a Supergirl who wants to crush the world between her hands. I don't want to believe that Mike Johnson is writing her like this.
But she has been shown like that in Superman. And now she is under the 'guidance' of Eddie Berganza. What does this all mean?
Too rub salt in the wounds, the cover is clearly the reverse homage for All Star Superman #10, my favorite issue in Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's superlative work. In that issue, Superman makes a new Earth, one without him in it, to see what will happen to humanity if he isn't around. On that pocket world, two guys named Siegel and Shuster invent him to be a symbol of hope.
This cover, a nurturing Superman looking over the world is so wonderful and inspiring.
But Supergirl can't be like that in the DCnU.
Nope, she is out to angrily smash the world. It makes blog friend John Feer's worries about her becoming a Hulk-like monster eerily prescient.
Lobdell writing her like a dupe of H'El. Eddie Berganza holding the reins. Smashing the planet on the cover of her book.
I am suddenly very very worried.
Well Johnson and Green have from their first interview talked about how their version of Kara was going to be what you feared Anj quote:
ReplyDelete"The earliest promotion material from the upper levels of DC described an alienated young woman, one with no connection to humanity. She was going to be Hell on Wheels, fighting her friends, have no affection for the people of her new planet. She would be isolated and angry."
That was the way J&G spoke from the start and even now Johnson continues to speak like it.
If you were to read the J & G interviews of the past 18 months, talking like this about their series, would you want to read the stories about such cold, callus, lonely, "alienated" teenager, who is violent to everyone around her?
If J&G have it so right, why is the Supergirl series sinking like a rock in water sales?
If I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about it. The cover is sometimes deceiving. And even if not, remember that she now understands English, which means that she's bound to start understanding Earth culture more and that this whole "alienated woman" thing is temporary.
ReplyDeleteBut either way, please put in the rest of the solicits soon 'cause the rest of the Superman books are looking good. Even Superboy, with its nutty-looking cover, is looking good, as its solicits imply that after "H'el on Earth", he's gonna be living with Superman in Metropolis as Conner Kent. That sounds like the start of something good for him.
Yea, I wouldn't worry about it. Since the initial descriptions turned out NOTHING like the series I assume it was a marketing strategy. Portray the book as a bad-girl book when its not just to get people to pick it up who otherwise wouldn't. By the time someone's read a few issues they wont care about that phony pretense cuz they will have fallen in love with the nice and nuanced character.
ReplyDelete"I am suddenly very very worried."
ReplyDeleteI was worried for the first dozen issues, before I realised Mike had a good grasp on the character, then I calmed down. Superman #14 and this has me worried all over again.
You shouldn't be scared each time you buy an issue of Supergirl, worrying that this is the issue they drop the ball and it all goes horribly, horribly wrong.
"If J&G have it so right, why is the Supergirl series sinking like a rock in water sales?"
I know a lot of people who say they wont read Supergirl because of the solicitations, which describe her as pretty much evil. It's like DC is actively trying to turn readers away from her.
"Bait & Switch" seems to be a hallmark with the current version of the character.
ReplyDeleteTHE PROBLEM IS, Supergirl in a meta context can only stand so much of that sort of thing before sales drop and creatives start to shy away...
Just sayin'
JF
The text of the solicitation doesn't really match the cover, so perhaps (hopefully) the cover of Supergirl #19 is a proper homage (rather than an anti-homage) to the All Star Superman #10 cover, as a way of showing she has learnt to love Earth from how she previously felt and was perceived. I am slightly worried but quite hopeful.
ReplyDeleteI'm going with fake-out as well
ReplyDelete(it gets people excited because it makes you fear for the character and hoping that she'll be okay).
Well, this isn't the first time that the cover presents a Kara looking mean and angry only for the story to reveal otherwise, so perhaps this will be different as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the comments. It is so interesting to read them.
ReplyDeleteSome say I should worry.
Some say I shouldn't worry.
Some say the story won't match the cover.
So if it means all those things, then there isn't a unified message being sent by the cover/solicits/publicity machine.
As I have said, I think Johnson and Asrar have the right Supergirl in mind. I just hope DC doesn't mess with their vision too much.
One more thing... Why would she be wearing red nail polish?
ReplyDelete