According to Mike's Amazing World of Comics, March 31st, 1959 is the day that Action Comics #252 hit the newsstands.
That means this weekend is the Supergirl's 60th anniversary.
Amazing!
It is always hard for me to know what to write on days like this.
I think my love of the character has been poured out on this site over the last 11 years.
For me Supergirl is the perfect blend of character traits. She is innocent and bright and optimistic. She sees the best in everyone. She is fierce in her fight for justice and in her desire to help. She sometimes thinks with her fists first. She can fail. She is learning. She wants to be the best she can be. She is a hero.
How can you be bright and innocent and sunny and still be fierce and think with your fists.
It isn't an easy tightrope to walk and that is we have seen so many versions of Supergirl veer to extreme to one end. She could be saccharine in the Silver Age. She could be grim and dark in the 2000s.
For me, when she hits that perfect mix, she is the best hero to aspire to. Because she isn't infallible. And she always wants to be better. Who can't empathize with that sentiment.
Now the character is everywhere - television, cartoons, comics in the media, with all the associated merchandise.
So let's celebrate this anniversary. Back in 1985 I don't know if we would have much to hoot about.
As we approached this, I asked for some celebratory tweets on Twitter. Here is what I got.
Leave a comment and let me know why you love Supergirl!
I'd love to hear it!
I love Supergirl because she came in with a smile on that Curt Swan/Al Plastino cover, and never lost her optimism. The Silver Age/classic/well, real, basically, version took everything life threw at her - a lost world, the supposed death of her birth parents, abandonment in an orphanage, on-off super powers etc - and found a way to make a life that worked for her. And all the while, she looked out for others.
ReplyDeletePlus, she had a Super-Cat!
Happy Birthday Supergirl - and thanks to you, Anj, for baking the cake.
Helen Slater and 1984's Supergirl is how I came to know and love the character, and how I found your site Anj.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your love for her, and all the other mediums she's been portrayed in before, from comics
to animation to tv / movies to web.
And I can only echo your "Why Supergirl" essay as to why it's so easy to love this character, no matter what
ups and downs the years has thrown at her.
Happy 60th Kara Zor-El! Best to fans everywhere!
Regards
I first read Supergirl stories in the back of a few Action Comics issues in the mid-1960's. In re-reading these stories for my podcast, Superman Fan Podcast, I've come to appreciate the innocent charm of these early stories. The current Supergirl series demonstrates that you can update the character for a modern audience without losing some of her charm from her earliest stories.
ReplyDeleteI might also point out she has endured dismissive condescending writing, bad artists, editor and publishers sodden in Bad Faith, twitchy creatives who wanna make her "Edgy"...forget Brainiac or General Zod, Supergirl's greatest victories are usually over her own creative team.
ReplyDelete:)
She puts the "Human" in SuperHuman...
JF
The fact that she's still here after 60 years and getting even more popular is pretty impressive. What I love is that there have been so many different interpretations of the character in so many forms of media, and pretty much every one is valid.
ReplyDeleteBrainiac or General Zod, Supergirl's greatest victories are usually over her own creative team.
ReplyDeletehAHAHAHHA!leave it to Jfeer to give the bestest input ever.-
How about: Send love to the one personality in creation who has been to object of the deepest biggest longest wickedest hatred ever ever- - except for our lord Jesus? yet still prevailed?
This is still the great DECEPTION time, so there is for me no real Supergirl out there. Nothing is what it should be. Or lasts. Or fullfills. Nothing.
I don´t even watch poor Melissa´s act no more. It´s garbage.
For me the real Supergirl lives now only on the inside, like the Sioux Nation or Camelot of JFK.-
Yes. There will be a restarting point. A 2.0. A renassaince.-Soon...
The catch is First her enemies need to keep biting the dust. Tsuhigara is out, Finally!!! as are
Berg, and Goyer, and Terrio and Schnider, AND Cavill, AND Batfleck. But Didio & Co. are not still not out. Their "Diana=queen of Heaven" bullshit is gaah...-soon to end, too!
For me, the best Supergirl out there has surprisingly, unexpectedly come from the blue in March 8, and not from DC, but Disney. Brie Larson is by WOW the best Supergirl out there. So we´re starting.- ATT soon to come through. ELLE soon to come through.- ELLE wow, talk about a wet dream girl. A real Supergirl.
For so long as I only have Supergirl on the inside I will be busy preparing for the awakening. Creating material. Got a lot already...It´ll be beautiful in time to have my own site again. You know, once a Godess worshipper, always a Godess worshipper.
For me there´s still nothing to celebrate now (Except for Brie!!!) but soon will be.
Peace. A Friend.
DC comics again not wishing Supergirl by even a simple tweet- expected. They only know Batman as it is. But the girl of steel has inspired me to stand up and fight when I felt like I didn't have anything. She inspired me to start over but also told me that it was okay to feel angry at circumstances, just that one should also try to move on. Without her I would have been stuck in a dark and angry place for way too long.
ReplyDeleteSo here's wishing for a great 60th anniversary for Supergirl and hoping for way more to come.
I wish the masterminds in charge of editorial at DC loved and respected Supergirl as much as you Anj.
ReplyDeleteSupergirl made her debut just a short time before I got into comics. I think my first issue of Action Comics was 254. So I've been able to follow her almost from the start. My memory of those days is hazy, but I remember not quite understanding the term "secret emergency WEAPON. She wasn't a GUN, after all! And I recall how great it was when Superman revealed her to the world in Action 285.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that made Supergirl's stories different from those of most (If not all) other DC characters was the potential for change. That was not a common thing back then. Kara/Linda could have stayed at Midvale Orphanage, but she didn't. She was adopted, Superman revealed her to the world; she graduated High School, she went to college. And I'm not sure, but I think the story that ran from Action Comics 278 to 285 may have been the first multi-issue story that DC published.
Finally, here's something I've wondered about on occasion. When Action Comics 252 came out, there were plans for a new season of "The Adventures of Superman" TV show. 26 new episodes were to begin filming in the fall of 1959. George Reeves's passing on June 16 put an end to those plans. But what if Reeves hadn't died? Would Supergirl have appeared on the show? Most likely not, but who knows?
Supergirl brought back my love for comics and is my favorite character now. Without her I wouldnt be reading comics at all today.
ReplyDeleteI also think she is the most important comics character right now.
Comic book companies has for too long failed to live up to their own standards. Though claiming to value diversity for decades, it is still almost exclusively stories about male characters written for male readers, with almost all movies, tv and animation following the pattern. Wonder Woman has been their token female.
Then something happened. CBS dared to try something new and bold and unapologetically different with Supergirl being about strong women. Maybe the world wasnt ready, but CW, which has turned out to be a good version of DC, the DC with a functioning moral compass and the want to change the world for the better gave it a home for another fanbase that wanted something new. Though attacked from all directions for promoting feminism, a diverse cast, diverse sexualities and the worst sin of all - a woman on par, maybe even stronger than Superman - CW stood by their choices with an attitude of "No, we are not changing path, this is the moral high ground - this is why this show is needed".
Supergirl has also been there with DCSHG, giving a home for a new generation of fans. These fans will hopefully one day be the carrot that helps DC at large find their moral compass.
This day is not today. We are still living in a world where almost every Superhero movie, tv show and animation stars a male hero. We are still at a point where the anniversaries of the foremost male heroes are celebrated for days with honorary books, giveaways, watchalongs, discounts and huge events with bats being released, and being put in a hall of fame, while the strongest female doesnt even warrant a twitter mention.
But with Supergirl, with DCSHG, with Wonder Woman, with Captain Marvel comes a new generation of fans who will want a change. I hope Supergirl will turn out to be part of the vanguard that started the change.
I hope that when Supergirl turns 70, half of the new comic movies are about women, and I hope that those rabid voices that spew hate now at the mere thought of a Supergirl movie happening before the MoS2 has silenced in shame with a newfound wisdom.
Supergirl is getting to old for that.
60 years later she is more relevant than ever - not only for female readers. Her message of hope, help and understanding is a calling for everyone who believes in the most important and fundamental of values - no matter the gender, race or who you chose to love.
I have seen many stories of how Supergirl has affected people since her show started. People who have felt depression or estrangement who have told their stories of how Supergirl gave them light when they most needed it.
That is the true power of the Girl of Steel.
Happy Birthday Kara
Thanks for all the great comments and the outpouring of love for Supergirl.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for celebrating with me!
https://www.reddit.com/r/supergirlTV/comments/bje6sz/supergirl_character_turns_60_today_1959/
ReplyDeleteHappy 60th Anniversary !!
searched on meekD.com .. found kara Zor-el
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