Soule On Red Lantern Supergirl

One of the things that has bugged me over the two-plus years of the DCnU has been the appearance of a haphazard approach to the universe, decisions being made, overturned, tweaked, and then redone at the last minute. We have heard creators say that an approach to character was pitched, approved, promoted, and then changed at the last minute. Some creators have gone so far as to declaring they won't work for DC anymore!

Unfortunately, it seems as though that hasn't changed. Last week, Charles Soule and Robert Venditti talked about Red and Green Lanterns over on CBR. The interview is worth reading, especially if you are a fan of the Lantern books as it discusses them in depth. But there were two questions about Supergirl's involvement in the Red Lantern book that caught my attention. 

CBR: Talking about the new Red Lantern, CBR spoke with Tony Bedard recently about how Supergirl is going to be a Red Lantern and join the Lantern corner of the DC Universe. Was this idea something you two and Tony had come up with together? Why include Kara in the Lantern universe at all?

Soule: I was at the Superman group summit, I think right before New York Comic Con, just a couple of months ago. We were talking about the Superman group -- it's always fun when working with these characters to shake things up. To do things people wouldn't expect, but do them in a way that makes sense -- that when you think about it, you go, "Oh, I want to see how this works out." A good example of that was having Guy Gardner join the Red Lanterns in the first place. He's the Lantern who it makes sense to have on that team. Of the Superman group, Kara has some rage issues. The way that she's been depicted in the New 52 so far is that there's a lot she's resentful about: Her cousin is Superman, the fact that she basically woke up and realized her planet was destroyed. There's a lot of stuff she's been working through, and the idea of bringing her to the Red Lanterns is to explore and develop that and see what we can do to help her with this -- I call it a therapy session. A very strange therapy session! [Venditti laughs] When she leaves the Red Lanterns, I think the idea is that they really developed her in an interesting way, and not the way you would expect. I really like the way it's developing. Tony is doing a lot of cool stuff, I like writing Supergirl -- she's a really fun character, and I think people will be pleased.

So this is bothersome to me. And here is why.

It was in September that Tony Bedard and Yildiray Cinar were announced as the new creative team on Supergirl. Bedard was doing  interviews about  how he wanted to make Supergirl more likable, less moody. And even curmudgeons like me were feeling a glimmer of hope. I assume that Bedard went to DC, told the powers that be what he wanted to do with Kara, and got the green light.

Now a month later (NYCC was in early October), Soule pitches Kara as a Red Lantern and gets a thumbs up. He doesn't sound like he wants her to be likable. He says she has 'rage issues'. And that she has a lot to be 'resentful about'. And suddenly we jump the tracks. We aren't on Bedard's rehabilitation road anymore. We are on a path to someplace even darker. Now maybe Bedard jumped on board thinking it would help him tell the story he wants ... but it does sound different from what he talked about in regards to the character.

And I can't stand how Robert Venditti laughs when Soule talks about taking Kara darker into a 'strange therapy session'. It reminded me of this interview when Bobbi Chase laughed about how dark Michael Alan Nelson was making the book. From that interview in February 2013:

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]

As if making Supergirl a dark book is something humorous to them when most hard core Supergirl fans think it is a bad decision. That an isolated unhappy Supergirl is a joke.

Imagine if the conversation was this:

Editor 1: I think Batman is an interesting character. We are going to portray him very differently. We want to explore a new take on him so from now on, he will be a happy-go-lucky guy, joking his way through his adventures, and peacefully dealing with his villains.
Editor 2: It's a little light-hearted! [laughs]
Writer 1: It'll be a funny group hug!
Writer 2: [laughs]

First off, creators, stop laughing about making the book dark and then darker! It is condescending to fans who love the character and don't agree with that take. It is as if you are laughing at us.
 
Second, that fake conversation just makes no sense right? You can't expect people to easily accept a dramatically different look at a character that goes against what the fanbase wants.

And to know this all happened so suddenly, despite prior recent decisions to let Bedard do his book, reinforces the idea that DC simply doesn't know what it is doing.

CBR: Will Kara be part of the "Red Lantern" supporting cast, or will she be a character who pops in every now and then from Tony's book?
Soule: No, she's a Red Lantern. Red Lanterns are not the kind of people you want to shuffle around, they're dangerous, and you have to keep an eye on them -- and Guy Gardner feels fairly responsible for her. He's not the reason she's a Red Lantern, but at the same time, she's someone that he wants to keep an eye on, so she's there, she's part of the cast, for sure.

Sounds like she will be active in the Red Lantern book so Supergirl fans who will remain following this arc will need to add this book. But I worry that Guy 'keeping an eye on her' makes me wonder if she will be a loose cannon even on that crew, the worst lunatic in the asylum.

I really think this direction is utterly wrong.

Happy holidays ... New 52 style.