Last week I reviewed the fifth episode of My Adventures With Supergirl. It was the introduction of Supergirl to the show and it wasn't pretty. She was once again portrayed as the dupe of the villain and basically dark.
Well, I just watched My Adventures With Superman S2 E6, "The Machine Who Would Be Empire", and if you thought E5's Kara was a dark Supergirl, you ain't seen nothing yet. In this episode we finally hear the name Brainiac as the bad guy. And he has been acting as Kara's 'father'.
I'll start out by saying it is clear that Kara has been mentally tortured throughout her life, raised by a heartless Brainiac who has warped her thoughts and bent her into a tool for his evil. He also seems to have outright mind control over her. In many ways, she isn't responsible for the vile events she has done. And settle in because they are despicable.
I'll also say that I know that in the end this Kara will turn, become a hero, and be a force of good. We see in many places in this episode she has a good heart at her core.
But neither of those two things, her manipulation or her good heart and eventual hero turn, make up for what I had to watch here.
Because this decision to do this to Supergirl was just that ... a creative decision. Show runner Josie Campbell could have introduced Kara in any sort of ways. But instead she chose to make Kara a tool for the villain, a genocidal maniac, a person who at the end of this episode is living in pain.
They made Supergirl the villain again. They made her emotionally and psychologically abused again. And they made her dark again.
They made Supergirl the villain again. They made her emotionally and psychologically abused again. And they made her dark again.
And frankly I'm sick of it.
Because we start the episode with her bathed in red light, angry eyes, and vowing to convince Kal to join her in rebuilding the Krypton Empire with her 'father'.
On her ship in deep space, she vows to bring Kal to see her father. But in the meantime she can show him Krypton with a 'thought projector'. We see how she only knows Krypton superficially from some vid tapes on this machine. She has named people in it things like 'food citizen', based on their activities. She clearly is enraptured with this vision. She enjoys seeing the kids play some Kryptonian version of jacks.
You can tell she is lonely and wishes to be with people like her. Even Kal can tell.
It makes her an easy target for someone who keeps telling her she will be a vital part in bringing back Krypton.
Clark decides to share his love of Earth and why he will defend the planet. Using the device we get a glimpse of Ma and Pa Kent in this universe, teaching Clark to play catch carefully, not revealing himself. Clark loves his parents.
But Kara can't see it. She feels this was the Kents holding him back, hiding who he really was.
Again, this shows you just how 'her father' has raised her. That strength is the only thing of value.
Can I also point out how Kara's armor looks like an Evangelion's? Just like the Brainiac Queen! Neon Genesis never goes out of style.
It ratchets up when Clark finds her Earth souvenirs, including the pics of her and Jimmy.
She blushes and denies liking him. She and Kal playfully wrestle. It is cute. You can sense the warmth inside her.
She blushes and denies liking him. She and Kal playfully wrestle. It is cute. You can sense the warmth inside her.
They play like siblings. It is cute.
In another effort to turn Kal to her side, the two take a side trip to Thanagar to see what a planet of the empire is like. She thinks they'll be thriving and happy like her memory box.
But instead they find a dead planet. The place is ruined.
Before they can contemplate a lot, Brainiac sends his drones to gather them and get them to 'Kandor', his space station.
Superman thought he was going to meet Zor-El.
But Kara's father, who she kneels before, turns out to be Primus Brainiac, the AI which ran through all things on Krypton. He knew Jor-El. He knew everything about the planet. And he wants Superman to help him.
Brainiac is dripping evil, from his emperor style cloak, to his demanding of submission of Kara, to the waves of robot troops he has.
Brainiac is dripping evil, from his emperor style cloak, to his demanding of submission of Kara, to the waves of robot troops he has.
He sends Kara away and decides to challenge Superman by pitting him against VR versions of the final survivors of the planets he has absorbed. This includes someone which seems to have Green Lantern powers.
But we learn that Krypton was a war-like planet (at least per Brainiac) which conquered to fuel the empire.
As usual, in this new age of comics, nothing can be unsullied. At least Jor-El seems to be a good man in this.
With the brawl ongoing, Superman suddenly manifests his blue lightning powers. We have seen this before, from projecting force fields to lightning to mega-beams.
This is what Brainiac is looking for. He wants to harnass, probably copy, this power for his own army.
Brainiac turns on a red sun lamp and pounds Superman unconscious.
When Kara discovers this she is upset.
Maybe it would be an early turnaround??
Nope, Brainiac tells her she will comply and makes her forget all she saw. She is his drone, a slave.
She now thinks she brought Superman straight there, forgetting all their adventures on the way.
Kara. The dupe.
In her ship, a souvenir triggers her to remember her trip with Kal.
This leads her to seek out more information. Heading to the other worlds she mentioned, she finds them all dead planets.
And on Thanagar again she remembers that she did it to that world. She killed everyone with her heat vision. She destroyed the planet. She is a mass murderer.
Kara. The genocidal maniac.
That was a creative decision. To have Kara murder an entire planet's citizens. I don't care if she was mind-controlled. This was a choice that was approved. Let's have our young female hero become a killer of unquantifiable numbers.
Genocidal Kara.
It makes me angry.
Remembering this now, she collapsed in despair, sobbing in space.
Kara. The despondent girl, living a life of pain.
I have to blame Tom King for making this sort of treatment of Supergirl trendy.
After all, the angry Kara living a life of pain leads to awards and Hollywood deals. Who wouldn't jump on that gravy train.
So yes, she will become a hero.
She also has slaughtered at least three planets populations.
She is a dupe.
She is sad.
If you like this Supergirl, I am happy for you.
But me? I'm just tired of it.
Oh heck, this sounds appalling. What’s wrong with these people, they apparently get a kick out of corrupting Supergirl’s image. The space snowball fight reminds me of Supergirl and Superboy throwing asteroids at each other in Superboy #80…better times.
ReplyDeleteAnd why is she so freaking weird looking? Bad enough Lois looks like a ten-year-old boy…
I think you should send questions to Josie Campbell…
Campbell is going to need a lot of plot gymnastics to get around the fact that Kara is now a willing genocidal murderer. Even if the story eventually tells us this is all implanted memories, that none of it actually happened, her actions so far demonstrate she’s on board with it. She's complicit in thought, even if they find a way to make it not in action.
ReplyDeleteI can see that they’re trying to give us some “aw shucks that’s cute moments” to lessen the impact of the rest of it, but that’s not going to do it.
There can't be redemption for this, only an interstellar war crimes court for Kara.
"Campbell is going to need a lot of plot gymnastics to get around the fact that Kara is now a willing genocidal murderer. Even if the story eventually tells us this is all implanted memories, that none of it actually happened, her actions so far demonstrate she’s on board with it"
ReplyDeleteNo gimnastics needed. The episode makes clear that Brainiac mind-controlled her into committing planetary genocide and wiped her mind out after she was done. As far as she was aware, their conquests were bloodless and benefitted the planet's inhabitants.
Don't get me wrong. I still don"t like It at all; but It is still untrue that she committed genocide willingly.
"Campbell is going to need a lot of plot gymnastics to get around the fact that Kara is now a willing genocidal murderer."
ReplyDeleteThere was definitely nothing willing about it at all. She was mind controlled and brainwashed by Brainiac.
"And why is she so freaking weird looking? Bad enough Lois looks like a ten-year-old boy…"
ReplyDeleteHer look is based on Android 18 from Dragonball. I like it, but your miileage may vary.
Interesting points. I think I broadly agree that a non-antagonistic introduction of Kara to the series would have worked better than this kind of one, though I'm a lot more open to what's going on here. That's because, this doesn't really seem like "dark Kara" at all. It definitely is "duped Kara", but even there only to a limited extent. This is not like New 52 Kara being duped by H'El simply because of lies and naiveté. Brainiac has warped her world view with propaganda, but he really controls her because of direct mind control and repeated memory wipes. The episode went out of its way to show that when her pupils go gray, they can control her to the point that she repeats their words verbatim. I take that as a sign that they're shutting down her consciousness and turning her into a biological puppet. The memory wipes and active editing of her perception (such as when she's prevented from seeing the Thanagarian mural), act as further ways of showing that she has no real awareness of or control over her actions. At a minimum, I would say she thus has no moral responsibility for them, and additionally that they in no way reflect who she actually is or by extension demonstrate true darkness on her part.
ReplyDeleteThe real question to ask though is why does Brainiac has to do any of this? They could have just raised her to be a remorseless killer like Zod who would happily do all these crimes for the glory of Krypton. The very fact that they have to shut down her consciousness, lie, and warp her memory and perception indicates that they think Kara would never choose to do this, or might go insane if she did. To me, that indicates the strength of Kara's intrinsic goodness, not of her misery, anger, or other dark traits. I also can't help but notice that when she's not under Brainiac's control she fundamentally wants to explore and play while exhibiting a natural sense of wonder and joy I've never seen in any of the comics' dark takes on Kara. Left alone, King's Kara would probably get drunk or wallow in misery while New 52 Kara would probably pick fights with people or wallow in misery (and Jeph Loeb's "Dark Supergirl" probably would have liked doing planetary genocides). At a minimum, this Kara isn't just living her life in pain or rage a la Tom King or much of the New 52. I think we'll thus ultimately get a really good, upbeat take on her once she breaks away from Brainiac, which may already happened.
So if Kara here really isn't dark and is ultimately a jocund character, why is the show doing any of this at all? Maybe they're following Tom King, but I have a different explanation. First, Clark is generally very sweet and perky here. I think the show's creators thought having Kara also be high spirited and kind right off the bat would have made it seem too much like she's just a female version of him. I don't agree with that and think there's other ways of establishing a contrast, but that's not following King.
Unfortunately, I also think another, worse explanation is that DC looked at the success of Invincible, and decided they wanted something closer to that. The "Kryptonian Empire" before Brainiac seems very similar to the Viltrumite Empire, while Brainiac has a very Viltrumite like mentality. That doesn't mean we're seeing "Omni-Kara" - unlike her the Viltrumites would never need mind control because they don't care about killing and are heartless - but it's probably a good explanation for a lot of the violence as well as the general bleakness of this show's Krypton. The flip side of that is that stuff isn't compatible long run with a positive Kara who matches the show's generally fun, light tone, so ultimately I think that stuff will stay with the villains while Kara's portrayal matches the spritelier daily world of Clark, Jimmy, and Lois.
I really don't like the sound of this. It seems too dark and as you say it's hard to come back from wiping out whole planets. They definitely should have done it differently. They could still be adversarial but maybe take a cue from Avengers 2 where as an outsider Kara (like Ultron) could see what we humans are doing to ourselves and the planet and want to put a stop to it more directly than Kal, who believes more in providing an example rather than forcing people to be better.
ReplyDeleteThe "Invincible" example actually makes sense to me. Hating on Tom King again really doesn't. There was nothing in Woman of Tomorrow about her being duped or mind-controlled or whatever and destroying whole planets. The whole story is about her on a quest through space to find the killer of a girl's father, ie True Grit in Space. It really has nothing to do with this. I think there are a lot of better examples in recent comics than King's book.
Does her being mind controlled make her blameless for killing billions?
ReplyDeleteNot the point.
The point is that we have to have that conversation because the creative decision was made to have her kill billions. And there are other ways you can introduce Supergirl to this universe that doesn't involve her being a weapon, a killer, a slave.
Would they ever allow a story where Lois was kidnapped, given powers, mind controlled, and killed billions? Would they ever write a story where Superman, while mind controlled, killed billions? Or would that be too damaging to them.
As for 'hating on Tom King', I never said that these stories were identical. But his Supergirl brought a young girl to witness an execution by stoning and did nothing about it. His Supergirl sobbed in space just like this one. You can see how this story would be considered 'fine' since his story was lauded by so many people.
If you like this take on Supergirl and find all of this acceptable, I'm glad. But I am not going to get behind this regardless of where the story goes.
I also don't like a lot of this take on Kara, and wish we got a different intro of her to the show. What I will say is I like the positive stuff - the space snowball fight, her crush on Jimmy, her ultimate desire for Clark's comfort when at the very end she calls out to him by that name specifically - enough to make up for the disconcerting negative creative choices that were made. Given what's here, it's also good that Campbell and co. went out of their way to show that Kara is basically good at heart. When Kara finally becomes a happy companion to the core trio, I think it will be fun enough to make up for this and present an unreservedly good Supergirl watching experience.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, you’re right that Tom King's WoT was not just bad but genuinely insulting to Kara. I really hate that his book is being used as the official inspiration for the upcoming Supergirl movie, and if the negative parts of Kara's depiction here were influenced by WoT then its influence on this version of her is also loathsome.
Beyond that, there's two other things I will say that I liked here that go beyond everything happening with Kara's characterization. The first is this is an outstanding original take on Brainiac, both in terms of performance and characterization. I really like the idea that they're the former master AI of Krypton which turned on the society in an apparent AI apocalypse, which is a really interesting twist on the Kryptonians being undone by technological hubris. Brainiac’s evil and cruelty also seems way more visceral than in other characterizations, where the character's coldness and the weirdness of city shrinking kind of distracts from that.
The second point is that when Kara criticizes the memory of the Kents teaching Clark to hide his powers, I don't think she's talking so much about him hiding his strength or asserting that strength is all that's valuable. Rather I think she's talking about him being encouraged generally to pretend to be human and hide his alienness. Leaving aside the Kents' true motives - which I think were benign – this gets to an interesting point. When Clark talked to Lois and Jimmy last season about why he pretended to be human, it was clear that on some level he's nervous about how other people will treat him if they know he's an alien.
This goes beyond traditional explanations for pretending he's human such as wanting a non-celebrity private life or wanting to protect his friends and family from Superman's enemies. Although never stated, Clark's worry here is over the prejudice and violence he might face if people knew he was an alien. When Kara asks him if anybody on Earth appreciated him for who he really is, she's asking if people only tolerated him because he's hiding his racial background. That by extension is why Clark thinks of Lois after that line. So far, she is the best proof that he can be honest about his race with a human other than the Kents and be truly accepted, but it still isn't enough to remove his anxieties especially after what Waller and Sam Lane did to him.
Finally, to answer a point in your comment: no, a "prime" Superman starring in flagship comics or featured in a tentpole film wouldn't do genocide under mind control. The thing is, I also don't think "prime" Kara in the flagship comics or a tentpole film would do that either. I could however easily see DC having an Elseworlds Superman doing that. Injustice Superman for instance clearly did a bunch of murders knowingly and willingly, and DC has had no problems building a franchise around that, so it’s honestly not much of a leap to mind controlled genocidal Elseworlds Superman. This show is definitely an Elseworlds story, so given that I think Kara is being treated fairly.
In closing, this is still a good review. Thanks for the time you take to write it, respond to comments, and generally maintain the site.
No matter what, whether she is literally Brainiac's blonde bioweapon or whatever, she is still guilty of mass murder on a cosmic scale. "I was only following orders" didn't cut it in 1945 nor would it today. "I was a mind controlled dupe" probably wouldn't stand up on any planet with a tradition of factual evidence and equality before the law. Even if she is seemingly a robotized henchwoman, she can still be held responsible for her actions, The Manson Family being prime and more recent examples thereof. Sooooo I'm gonna lean into this a little in a counterintuitive fashion and suggest we start an on line petition demanding that Supergirl face justice including the possibility of the death penalty. As far as I am concerned, she stops being Supergirl when she starts killing billions, mind wipe or no mind wipe...there is NO path to redemption for someone who is one "neurological reset" away from becoming a superhuman mass murderer. Anything else reduces her to an authentic "barnicle on Superman's Hulk", a 10 megaton plot device..."cheap heat" in the final analysis.
ReplyDeleteI want "Justice for Thanagar" not "Justice for Supergirl"...DC Comics would love for us to get outraged over their latest example of Kara-abuse, they love the notoriety and frankly, Supergirl is entirely expendable from their perspective. And ya know what, they are right, she is, when she is wiping out populated planets. Genocide isn't a plotline from which "redemption" can be salvaged, to do so, trivializes and normalizes the horrific and real institution of mass killing for whatever reason so promulgated. I realize this is just a cartoon on a platform I don't subscribe to, and never will, but plotwise they crossed a line here, we should NOT NOT NOT let them cavalierly dance back over it safe and sound when they are done ruining Supergirl.
Don't let them get away with it, we can't do anything about Supergirl, the damage has already been done, but we can draw a line in the sand and say "This Far, No Farther!"
JF
So, I’ve never been a fan of the ‘Dark Kara’ or ‘Angry Kara’ stuff as I agree it’s been overdone and often done badly.
ReplyDeleteNow, let’s focus on that last bit…badly. I don’t think that’s the case here, at least in my opinion. First off, I see a lot ‘Kara’s a genocidal guilty criminal’ here. Uh, that’s Brainac. He’s the one who as we saw LITTERALY will flip a switch and turn Kara into a drone. She has NO AGENCY, NO CONTROL, during that. And the moment she learned about it; she was utterly HORRIFIED. I think it’s a bit much to be ‘well she was just following orders which doesn’t fly’ when that argument is applicable to people who are under literal remote control.
For a counter example, by that logic then, Seven of Nine from Star Trek, or Jean Luc Picard when he was Locutus of Borg are guilty of the lives they took as Borg? They had no control over their actions. Picard slaughtered thousands in the Battle of Wolf 359. Seven spent her entire formative life as a Borg drone assimilating for all we know, millions. Is she or Picard genocidal guilty parties? I certainly don’t think so, and I think Kara fits into that here. Plus, I’m fairly certain the core of Kara’s future heroic self is going to be her wanting to make up for everything that happened.
I think the ‘real Kara’ is shown off in what was the best part of this episode, her and Clark playing around and having fun. That was some of the best Superman/Supergirl interaction I’ve seen in a while. Heck, them throwing around Space Hydrogen Snowballs with one another was perfect. Like that’s something I could totally see happening between the pair.
TBH I think maybe we’re overblowing the ‘DARKNESS…MY PARENTS ARE DEAD!’ of this here. Supergirl, the Arroweverse version gave us six years of decent Kara Zor-El moments and presenting her I think in a great light. I’m not saying that should be an excuse to do ‘Dark Supergirl’ everywhere, but for a show that’s taking its own twist on lots of things, them wanting to do something different with her.
I don’t see ‘dark Supergirl’ here, I see the tragedy of Kara being found by Brainac and not given the chance to get what Clark did. I think the fact she’s found by Jimmy and Lois there at the end, is going to be the beginning of her turn around and personally I hope she’s going to help lead the charge to save her cousin and do it with the first people who are going to treat her decently.
No, I would not want this kind of introduction all the time nor tragic stuff for Kara. But when handled well, which I think they’re doing here, I hope it can deliver a good story to give us a Supergirl/Kara we can be proud of.
Anyway my two cents.
Just read the thing about above about, "mind controlled genocidal Elseworlds Superman." My first thought was that totally sounds like something DC would put out as an easy ash in. Then I realized, they kind of just did this in Action Comics a few months ago. That's basically what Jason Aaron's Bizarro mind controlled Superman did when he murdered a bunch of people with heat vision. I get that was all reset somehow, but the real point is that modern day DC is absolutely not above turning any member of the House of El into a mass murdering mind slave or nutjob. For all we know, maybe an alt-universe genocidal Superman will even end up being one of the enemies in the upcoming James Gunn movies.
ReplyDeleteI said what I meant, I meant what I said!
ReplyDeleteJF
Uh, about above: ???
ReplyDeleteLoving all the comments and discussion so thanks everyone.
ReplyDeleteEven if mind-controlled, I still have to think that Kara will feel partially responsible for all the carnage and will carry that weight with her.
Even if mind-controlled, she has been raised by this abusive, manipulative AI and will carry that weight with her.
I don't think she is 100% evil or dark. But this is a dark take.
And I'll say again ... it didn't have to be this way. This was a creative choice to give Supergirl this backstory. Someone green-lit this.
I don't like it.
I am sorry, but not surprised, to hear that you are unhappy with yet another Supergirl portrayal. That seems to be the case more often than not. I personally feel like it's unfortunate that you have such a specific take on the character in your mind that she can be shown in only this light, and portrayed in only this way, and that no other approach is acceptable. You're missing out on enjoyment of some really great content as a result. But I realize everybody has to fan in their own way, and I hope you get more Supergirl you can be happy with at some point.
ReplyDelete"His Supergirl sobbed in space just like this one."
ReplyDeleteYou've said that before and it's wrong. She doesn't "cry" or "sob;" she screams with rage after they find a planet of monks killed by the pirates they were following. The implication is she flies into the sun so she can scream and let out her rage in a place where she can't do any damage. She wouldn't need to go into a sun to cry or sob but I imagine a Kryptonian scream, a really big one, could be devastating to buildings and such--like a Black Canary scream but amplified. I'm not sure if they've ever used that in the comics but it seems like something that would have happened at some point.
As for the stoning thing there's not much context given to that--they basically just show up there for...reasons--but this is a girl who saw her father murdered--or at least the aftermath--and to that point had seen other terrible things, so she's not a precious hothouse flower who needs so much protection from the big, bad world.
The stoning scene is in the story for a very specific character reason. It's an early indication of the dark psychological and emotional path Kara is starting down in response to the Brigands' genocidal horrors. Importantly, it is in no way presented as normal behavior for Supergirl. Ruthye herself expresses surprise that Kara doesn't intervene. So if a reader feels, "That isn't Supergirl," that's kinda the point.
ReplyDeleteAs always, I will defend everyone's right to enjoy what they enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI will now defend myself from 3 recent comments, things I have had to defend myself against many times during this blog's existence -
1) That I seem to hate what is done with Supergirl more than like: If you read this blog over the last 3 years I have praised what Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Joshua Williamson have done with her. Heaped praise. I enjoyed most of her depiction in JLA vs Godzilla vs Kong. Loved her in the Doomsday special. I thought Mariko Tamaki's special was not good. But to say I haven't liked her more than liked her recently is patently wrong.
2. I want her to be precious like a 'hothouse flower' is completely wrong. Whenever I talk about what I like about her, I say that I like she is young and learning, fallible and trying, optimistic and fierce. If you look at runs I like, she is complicated and sometimes struggling. But she is always good. So, no ... I don't consider her some flower to be protected.
3. My troubles with Tom King and the stoning scene -
I cannot get behind the point 'it is to show how off she is in that moment' because I don't think she should be off. Nor do I think she would ever be so off as to sit there and watch it, or to make Ruthye watch it.
Also, could you ever think someone would be allowed to write a scene where Batman brings an orphan to a firing squad scene and watches someone get shot to death? Or Wonder Woman bringing a young girl to a hanging and allowing her to watch it? Or Superman bringing Otho to see someone drowned?
No one will ever be able to justify or rationalize that stoning scene in my head.
But I will again say - if you like this take on Supergirl as a mind-controlled weapon or if you like Tom King's take on Supergirl that she is living in pain and depression, I am glad for you.
I would never tell you not to like something you don't. Nor would I try to tell you not to like something you do.
FWIW, I think PT Dilloway's "hothouse flower" comment was referring to Ruthye, not Kara -- i.e., that Ruthye is not such a naive or sheltered child as to need Kara to shield her from harsh reality. I don't expect you to agree with that either, but just clarifying the point.
ReplyDeleteThanks anon - but yes, I don't agree with that either. But glad you clarified!
ReplyDelete"or if you like Tom King's take on Supergirl that she is living in pain and depression, I am glad for you."
ReplyDeleteI think she'd have to be in pain considering her entire world died. I'm not sure about the depression part. That probably gets back to your previous "sad drunk" comment which is also false. It says twice in the book that she only went out to that red sun planet so she could have a drink on her 21st birthday like a normal human--like even I did on my 21st birthday. That hardly makes her a "drunk" or depressed.
Anyway, this is a Black Label story and since it's not regular continuity they tend to be grittier than normal like "Batman: Damned" and King's own "Strange Adventures" and "Human Target."
"But I will again say - if you like this take on Supergirl as a mind-controlled weapon or if you like Tom King's take on Supergirl that she is living in pain and depression, I am glad for you"
ReplyDeleteI don't 'like' the idea of Supergirl being a mind controlled weapon, but I think that doing a story like this, one which parallels a bit of another good story I've seen in another character I like quite a lot, Seven of Nine from Star Trek. Who, strives to find her identity after being a Borg for a huge portion of her life. Discovering her humanity, finding what she cares about, her personality and yeah there's a bit of wanting to atone for what she did as Borg. All things I think can greatly be explored in the adaptation.
If I'm honest Anj I feel like your reply is trying to paint some kind of a brush here, and to be frank, I don't care for it. My FAVORITE Supergirl is Melissa Benoist's version from the CW. She was kind, heroic, inspiringly, and I think a wonderful way to present the character. My Adventures with Superman, is doing their own takes on quite a few things and I'm happy that Kara's being introduced so early and has what I think will be, a good storyline.
I understand that comics have soured and overdone this 'dark/angry' Supergirl trope. Or a Supergirl with a lack of direction and I get it, it's annoying. But it feels like the overall issue of DC Comics not doing well all the time with the character, is being applied here to a totally different medium. And for a storyline that's as of yet unfinished.
Sure, they could not do what I'd like to see above, and if that happens I'll likely change my view. But I'm not delcaring 'nope its bad' before the whole story is finished, and if you watched Season 1 this is not a dour show or the Syndervese.
Anyway my two cents again, people can make what they want of it.
Point of order for PT Dilloway: Unlike many of King's books, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is actually not Black Label, and there's nothing to say it isn't in continuity (whatever that means at DC these days).
ReplyDelete‘
ReplyDeleteI think she'd have to be in pain considering her entire world died. I'm not sure about the depression part. That probably gets back to your previous "sad drunk" comment which is also false. It says twice in the book that she only went out to that red sun planet so she could have a drink on her 21st birthday like a normal human--like even I did on my 21st birthday. That hardly makes her a "drunk" or depressed.
Anyway, this is a Black Label story and since it's not regular continuity they tend to be grittier than normal like "Batman: Damned" and King's own "Strange Adventures" and "Human Target."
I dunno whether DC is now putting the Black Label cover furniture on new collections but it wasn’t published as such, it was labelled New Frontier - mainstream DCU, although it’s never been referenced in mainline continuity.
////
And thank goodness for that PT, it’s a pretentious, derivative, smug and often boring piece that doesn’t so much fundamentally misunderstand Supergirl - if she wanted to go for a beer to celebrate her 21st she’d have friends and family with her, she’d not be so lonely and miserable as to get rat-arsed - as not bother. Why? Because SWoT is yet another comic in which Tom King went story first - in this case, True Grit, as he admits - and just plugged a character into it.
Sure, he used trappings of Supergirl, but it’s not any version of Kara we’ve seen. As for her being in pain because her whole world died, so did Superman’s - sure, we see she had a more traumatic experience of it dying, but again, that’s Tom King making stuff up, it’s not mainline Supergirl.
An earlier Anonymous wrote: ‘You're missing out on enjoyment of some really great content as a result.’
The thing is, Anj is patently trying to enjoy new Supergirl material. He’s open to new aspects of her character, but the fundaments - positive, open-hearted young hero, learning and becoming a classic - should be there. Constantly reinterpreting her origin to make it darker, twisting the character via Bad Dads… it’s so tiresome. There are so many stories that could be told with a classic-style Kara, as shown by the likes of Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle, that there’s no need to keep twisting her.
"Point of order for PT Dilloway: Unlike many of King's books, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is actually not Black Label"
ReplyDeleteI guess I just assumed that since most of his other stand alones were.
Opinions are interesting things. One man's "pretentious, derivative, smug and often boring" is another's absolute masterpiece -- I consider Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow to be the single finest graphic novel DC has ever published (with King's Human Target a very close second).
ReplyDeleteAnd lest anyone think I don't know or care about Kara as a character, I own and have read every Supergirl trade collection DC has ever published, have seen her every live-action film and TV appearance multiple times, etc. None of which precludes my enjoying King's book. Quite the contrary: I'm delighted he turned his singularly inspired hand to one of my favorite characters, and created a work that will stand as a classic for decades to come.
I noticed that part of your objection relates to the psychological burden this leaves on Kara. Specifically, you said that Kara would, "carry the weight," of both the carnage she's caused and the psychological abuse she's suffered as a result of being raised by Brainiac. Here's a counter to that: what if she doesn't, "carry the weight," and instead becomes a plucky and optimistic character like the other members of the core trio? As much as I dislike what this show has done with the creative choices behind her intro, I think it's also quite feasible that could be the case.
ReplyDeleteLast season, a huge point was that Clark fell into a depression after realizing that "Zero Day" was a Kryptonian invasion and that alternate versions of himself as represented in the holographic sphere given to Lois were evil. The thing is, he didn't stay depressed and was eventually restored to his bright, optimistic self. That's partly because Lois and Jimmy helped to convince him that he was a good person in his own right who didn't need to feel despair over his counterparts' behavior, but also because the show's tone is fundamentally too lighthearted to have a depressed Clark at the center. This is fundamentally a fun, buoyant take on the Superman mythos that emphasizes the joy and hope of him and his world over the darkness that can creep in at the edges.
In light of that, I think there's a really good case that the show won't permanently burden Kara with trauma or other serious psychological baggage from her time with Brainiac, because long rung it just wouldn't fit with the show's general tone. Specifically, I think Clark, Jimmy, and Lois will be able to convince her not to feel personal guilt for the murders she did because the way Brainiac hijacked her body to them and then manipulated her memories and perceptions means only they, not she, has any real responsibility for them. Meanwhile, growing up abused by Brainiac could be tougher, but I think the Clark, Jimmy, and Lois, as well as the Kents could easily refocus her. They can't change the past, but they can give her a present and future where she's truly cared for and allowed to express the best aspects of her character which ultimately lets her feel that the brightness of her current life has expunged the darkness of her past.
In the end, all of that would arguably yield a Kara who isn't weighed down by trauma and going forward is just free to fully be the good, jovial person who seems to be at heart of her current characterization in this show. If that was the case, would you be willing to change your opinion of the show for ultimately providing a version on Kara who is perky and noble, or would you still feel even given such a development that the show was an insult to her for ever having had her go through such a dark chapter in her past?
Ok,
ReplyDeleteI will say again - I think she will be a hero when it is over. I am sure she will be able to cope with the burden put on her.
I will probably enjoy this show overall because I have liked Josie Campbell's work. I am sure she will leave Kara in a good place. And I liked S1.
I just wish we didn't get this Supergirl story. Because all this debate is happening because of this story.
If someone asked me 'do you want to a Supergirl story where she is mind-controlled and a killer in that state?' I know I would say no. I wonder how many people would say yes.
And yes, I have always said that people can enjoy what they want. To the Anon who loved 'Woman of Tomorrow', I'll say again I am happy for you. If you love this take on her, that's fine.
I noticed how for your review of World's Finest 28 you posted a picture of Superman Adventures 21, which introduced the Kara In-Ze Supergirl into those comics' continuity. Looking back at that, in one single issue it did a great job of introducing Supergirl in a way that made her feel like she wasn't a female copy of Clark and gave her issues to overcome - in this case trauma over losing Argo and being frozen - without having to make her dark or villainous. It's kind of nuts that a single issue of a tie in comic for Superman: The Animated Series from over a quarter century ago did a better job of bringing in Supergirl than 2 episodes of this show (though if we are talking about show intros, "Little Girl Lost" from S:TAS was also better than this, so far). How did a take on Kara Zor-El - the original and ideally definitive version of Supergirl - end up falling short of a doppelganger of her who isn't even a born relative of Clark and barely appears in the series that created her?
ReplyDelete"Last week I reviewed the fifth episode of My Adventures With Supergirl."
ReplyDelete...and therein this typo betrays what's essentially wrong-headed about this 'review'. Supergirl is not the main character of this show, and I suspect this version of the character won't even make it into the next season of "My Adventures With SuperMAN.
Kara seems merely an accessory plot device to the overall thematically male story-telling in this anime-derived TV series. The animation team is clearly strip-mining old comic book tropes to create a more 'modern' spin.
KET
I would like to address two things I noticed that nobody else seems to have commented on. First, the music for this episode was top notch. Some of it had a wonderfully eerie feel like Vangelis's score for Blade Runner, while the rest of it was a really engaging array of energetic electronic Ambient music themes mixed with occasional raw Industrial tones for the more horrific or action focused scenes.
ReplyDeleteThe second point is that it was really interesting to see people flying of their own volition in Kara's memory projection. It's very rare for Kryptonians to be portrayed having powers prior to the fall of Krypton in any continuity, so seeing it here really helped distinguish this show's vision of Kryptonian society from others. It also raises the questions of whether the Kryptonians actually knew they could have powers under the right circumstances prior to their demise; how Brainiac undermined them if even some of them had powers; and whether this is an accurate or manipulated version of Kryptonian history provided to Kara by Brainiac.
I just watched episodes 5 and 6 back to back.
ReplyDeleteThey really just saw Superman & Lois Season 1 and though, "hey, what if we did this, but instead of Morgan Edge we use Kara?"
So glad I finally found someone who gets it. I will never understand why writers feel the need to just victimize heroes over and over again. there is telling stories of hardship that a hero must overcome, then there is having them mass murder trillions of people for no reason. then what? she goes to earth and lives as a everyday superhero that is untraumatized. they also do this in comics, & movies.
ReplyDeletemy biggest problem with this episode was, the previous episodes were pretty kid friendly. so without warning, they show this, and my little ones were not ready. Had to have a talk with them after. Every DC cartoon that comes out now is made for an older audience. I really thought they were finally making a superman show that was ok for children, which you would think should be a thing. I'm sure most parents don't care and I understand that. maybe I am over thinking it, but I don't want my kindergartner watching a show that comes off as kid friendly, then pivots into mass murder.
felt the same with X-men 97. we watched the first four episodes together and it was great. then I had to watch the remainder of the season by myself.