Supergirl #1 References and Homages

I reviewed Supergirl #1 last week when it came out and I was very impressed with how writer/artist Sophie Campbell created a story of a young hero, finding her way in the world, fighting for what's right, while realizing the presence of Superman in her life as a daunting inspiration. Supergirl was warm and funny and eager to help. 

But the book was a deep dive into Supergirl's history as well. This Kara seems to have lived the lives of all the prior iterations of Supergirl. There was a lot of historical nods to Supergirl's history from her first appearance to her last title.

I thought it might be fun to showcase the ones that I saw. (I will admit that I won't focus too much on Lar-On who was a big part of the last series, including Supergirl becoming his friend. 

When Lar-On is considered 'too big' to showcase, you know what is included must be subtle or deep cuts!

For me, it somehow showed me that Sophie Campbell cares about the character, enough to sow these seeds of Kara's life.

I mentioned most of these in the review but there so many I thought they deserved a closer look. So let's dive in, looking at the nods as the appeared in order in the issue, and recognizing all the eras Campbell threw into the mix.

"Daring Adventures" - Daring New Adventures of Supergirl

Right from the opening text box, we hear about Argo City and being sent to care for Kal.

But we also hear about her 'daring adventures' have taken her into the galaxy.

'Daring adventures' has to be a riff on 'The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl', her second volume of a solo title. 

But wait, there's more.

Yellow ring of Nor-Kann - Supergirl #2

Talk about a deep cut! To maintain her super powers within Kandor, Supergirl dons the Yellow Ring of Nor-Kann, a ring that concentrates the yellow sun rays from outside the bottled city into her.

The ring was a 'done in one' wonder from way back in Supergirl #2 from her first volume.

I love the idea of Supergirl being the super-hero for Kandor!

Lesla Lar's  dress - Action Comics #279

In Kandor, Supergirl saves a young woman who appears to be starstruck with our hero.

There is no mistaking that green dress. This has to be Lesla Lar.

And given the Silver Age Lesla being so jealous of Supergirl that she wanted to replace our hero and rob her glory, I wonder if a 'disgruntled fan' might not be part of this Lesla's arc today. 

Hair color change comb - (Daring New Adventures of) Supergirl #17

As Kara contemplates returning to Midvale as Linda Danvers, she finds her 'chromatic super-comb' which changes her hair from blond to brunette as she combs.

We first saw that in Supergirl #17, volume 2 when that Linda finally decided to ditch the wig portion of her secret identity and switch to something easier and more natural.

You might recall that in the Rebirth Supergirl series, she had hair color changing glasses!

Dick Malverne is dead - (Daring New Adventures of) Supergirl #23 and Solo #1 and Unpublished pages!

As she thinks about what returning to her old town would mean, she thinks about Dick Malverne has died and how hard it would be to run into his parents.

Dick Malverne was Linda's boyfriend in the Silver Age (and reinvented in the Peter David run). But we never officially saw him die in the old continuity. That said, writer Paul Kupperberg definitely was planning on killing off Dick after he had him return (see the unpublished pages).

And we did see Dick die in a publish book in the Tim Sale issue of Solo. That is a heartbreaking story,

Midvale - Action Comics #252

Linda heads back to Midvale where she had lived with her adoptive parents.

Midvale has been a huge part of Supergirl's history right from the get-go. On the last pages of her first appearance in Action Comics #252, Kara adopts the name Linda Lee and is dropped off at the Midvale Orphanage. This is Supergirl's home town, her stomping ground. I am glad we're back.

Old Costumes - Adventure Comics #410

One of the tricky things about DC is that between New 52 and Rebirth, the lines of 'reboots' were blurred. The current Supergirl, basically the one from Rebirth, seems more like the Jeph Loeb/Michael Turner reimagination and less like the New 52 Kara. 

But regardless of the origin, neither of those Supergirls wore a costume where the S-shield was small and on one side of the shirt.

So when Linda finds her 'old costumes' in the garbage and shows us that shirt, that was 'new'. That was another part of Supergirl's long history slipped into our new character. That costume was first seen in Adventure Comics #410!

Secret Hearts - Superman Family #208

When she runs into old friend Clarissa, we hear about Linda's time on the Secret Hearts soap opera.

The pre-Crisis Linda did a whole stint on Secret Hearts as the bad-girl on that soap. This was in the early 80s in the back end of the Superman Family book. 

Now it would be hard enough to think about this younger Linda being on the soaps but then ...

Camera person - Adventure Comics #406

But then Linda mentions she also did a time as a camera operator. This is a callback to the tail end of Supergirl's time as the headliner in Adventure Comics. In Adventure Comics #406, she graduates Stanhope College, moves to San Francisco, and works as a camera operator on a mobile news team. That was the early 70s folks!

P Shield - All Star Comics #64

Now this might be a stretch on my part. But the fake Supergirl sprays Kara with some sort of purple goo which hurts our hero but also alters her costume to sport a P-shield instead of her House of El crest.

When I saw that, I immediately thought of All Star Comics #64 when the Star Spangled Kid offers Power Girl that same p-shield for her costume. But Power Girl rejects it saying she is her own person, not a copy of Superman. Given the theme of identity, I think this might be an homage.

Hollow tree - almost any Silver Age appearance

And the last one I saw, Supergirl stashing her old costumes in her favorite hiding place, a hollowed out tree. In many Silver Age stories, Supergirl's robot double was stored in a nearby hollowed out tree. 

But hat tip to friend Mart Gray who wisely saw one I didn’t. Fake Linda’s outfit at the end of the issue is what Linda is wearing when she moves into Vandyre University in Supergirl #1! How brilliant is that! Mart has a sharp eye!

So from her very first appearance all they way through the 70s and 80s, a lot of Supergirl's history was dropped into this first issue. 

 I am impressed. 

 And my guess is that I missed even more.

Amazing.