I have sung the praises of Back Issue magazine in the past on this site. For anyone who loves comic book history, especially of the Bronze Age and Silver Age, this is the magazine for you.
Maybe this is one time where Back Issue sings the praises of me!
This month's issue is the Superhero Romance issue with articles on superhero weddings, Batman's love interests, and Star Sapphire just to name a few.
But there is also a retro-review of Superman #415, a Crisis cross-over issue which prominently features Supergirl.
Remember, Supergirl had just died saving the universe in Crisis on Infinite Earths #7. There was a feeling that maybe this was a last chance to tell a Supergirl story, so Cary Bates and Curt Swan put together this issue.
I started this blog in April of 2008. Superman #415 was one of the first back issues that I reviewed on this site. Here is a link:
http://comicboxcommentary.blogspot.com/2008/07/it-came-from-back-issue-box-superman.html
I never revisit those old posts. I didn't know what I was doing back then.
Now I have friends who have had articles in Back Issue, with a byline and everything!
But I was still pretty chuffed to see my name mentioned in the article.
I stand by my assertion that this issue is best forgotten. This isn't the capstone we want for Kara's life. The story doesn't make much sense.
Still, pretty cool to see "Anj" mentioned in a Supergirl article!
You're famous!
ReplyDeleteI hope Back Issue eventually links back to this comment, so there would be a reference from there to a comment on a post that refers to Back Issue referring to your review of a comic from 1986. Or something.
I'm glad all your old posts remain accessible, for researchers at Back Issue but also for everyone else.
Sad to see those comments in 2008, angry about how Supergirl was treated in Superman #415, and also angry at her treatment in 2008, and of course this is coming in 2020, another difficult time for fans.
Supergirl had a 3-panel appearance in a backup story in last week's Batgirl #50. She got called in by Martian Manhunter to handle some alien threat, but offered to let Batgirl, who was also called in but then completely forgotten about, handle it. Batgirl declined, feeling both overused and under-appreciated, and, after expressing some empathy with her situation, Supergirl took off, take-out coffee in hand.
T.N.
Superman #415, Supergirl is Dead and DC is still thoughtlessly revamping her backstory & clumsily altering her supporting cast. SM #415 is literally every single harebrained Supergirl retcon neatly packed into one issue...
ReplyDeleteJF
Well, you know I hate this issue!
ReplyDeleteWell done on the namecheck, I bet BI gets letters about this issue.
Congratulations! You'll have to pick up a few extra copies for Christmas or Birthday gifts.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it made me think of a cartoon that Carl Barks drew when HIS name appeared in an article in (I think) The New Yorker magazine back in the 1980s or 90s. Barks drew himself seated proudly beside a framed copy of the magazine, opened to the page with his name on it. There was also a magnifying glass attached to the frame over the exact spot.
... oh, I'm not even going to start. That issue really is best forgotten.
ReplyDeleteI will say though, that Curt Swan's pencils are a delight once again beneath the inking of Al Williamson...the facial expressions are warm and realistic, the poses the action...Swan's pencils were suffering in the 1980's from second rate inkers.
ReplyDeleteJF