Sterling Gates Interview - Adventures of Supergirl

I really loved the Adventures of Supergirl digital comic which came out over the spring and early summer this last year. Sterling Gates really delivered a solid story which built on the show's plots while still being a successful stand alone story.  With the release of the Adventures of Supergirl trade out this week, I tracked down Gates for one more interview about the series and Supergirl in general. Gates was kind enough to answer. Settle in!

Anj: The digital series has been done for a couple of months which means the scripts were probably finished well before that. Looking back at the series as a whole, did you accomplish what you intended? Was there anything you that didn’t make it into the story that you hoped to squeeze in?

Sterling Gates: I’m exceptionally proud of the story we told in Adventures of Supergirl. We set out to tell an original story set in the show’s continuity. We wanted to dust off and update some old Supergirl villains while introducing a powerful new villain to her mythos. I specifically wanted to create a villain who could only be done within the continuity of the show, someone who came from Fort Rozz and who knew Alura as a judge on Krypton. And that’s how Facet came to life.

I had a lot of questions while watching the pilot about how Fort Rozz was run as a prison, and the Master Jailer episode only got me more intrigued. Who runs that kind of place? How? How firm a hand does a place like that need? Is there a warden? Or are the Kryptonians acting as wardens and the master jailers are their guards? Facet came from me wanting to explore all of that.

Truthfully, I could’ve spent 25 more pages just exploring Facet’s life. She’s been cognizant for a thousand years...what kind of perspective does that give you? What has she endured?

And (SPOILERS) why was she so willing to be locked up under the D.E.O. at the end of the story? Is it a good thing that she’s down there? Time will tell!

As for everything else, the show approved our outline from the start, so everything I wanted to do in this story more or less made it in. My goal was to do story beats that they couldn’t necessarily do on the show, due to stuff like time or budget constraints. I’m not sure you could do that dream sequence with Supergirl fighting other versions of herself on the show. It would probably be confusing for a wide audience, but comic fans know who each of those Supergirls are...and hopefully they’re happy to see ‘em! [laughs]

And while we’re speaking about this, a huge thank you to Greg Berlanti, Ali Adler, and Andrew Kreisberg for asking me to write Adventures of Supergirl. I had a really great time playing in their world and continuity, and am constantly amazed at the wonderful things they’ve accomplished for Supergirl.

Review: Adventures of Supergirl Chapter 13

Adventures of Supergirl Chapter 13 was released two days ago. It was the final chapter in this digital first book based on the Supergirl television show. And I can only hope that DC Comics realizes what it has here and gives us more.

Throughout this book, writer Sterling Gates has been giving us the best of all worlds. He has mined the Supergirl and Kryptonian mythos from the comic book continuities. We have had huge action sequences. He has woven this story into the television show timeline seamlessly, even using the book to smooth over some questions I had about show plots. And throughout, he has given us wonderful character moments, especially between the Danvers sisters.

This chapter gives us all of that. But interestingly for me, the action takes a bit of a back seat to concentrate on the character moments instead. We get the fight we want between Kara and Facet, trust me. But instead of many pages of the two exchanging blows, we get a few, just enough. This gives Gates the page space to wrap up the story and how it has impacted the cast. And we get a new tagline for Supergirl, one that I hope every creator moving forward thinks of when they write Kara.

The art by Emma Vieceli is solid. There is a sort of rough feel to it at times which works well with the battle sequences. Kara looks strong and determined throughout. And the melee has a palpable energy.

But seriously, I hope we get more Adventures of Supergirl with Sterling Gates at the helm.

Review: Adventures of Supergirl Chapter 12

Adventures of Supergirl, Chapter 12 came out this week, the penultimate chapter of this book. As always, I read the second to last chapter of arcs pretty critically as it has to bring the story to a place where it can be wrapped up.Have the subplots been addressed? Has the main plot been brought forward to a point that it can be finished? This chapter is crucial.

I believe writer Sterling Gates succeeded here. There is a lot going on. But the story has been pushed forward so much the last couple of chapters that I feel we are close to an end. The main villain and our hero are about to square off.

But most impressive for me is that Gates has injected personal/emotional subplots into this brief series. The foundation of the show and a big part of its success was the relationship between Kara and Alex. Gates has leaned on that as well. In this chapter and comic, that relationship is the bedrock as well. The ending of this part is an emotional scene which resonates with the show nicely.

As for the art, Emma Vicieli continues to shine. We get to see action and character scenes here and both have some artistic heft behind them. In particular the expressive work here, especially with Alex, is the high point. On to the book.

We start out with Suoergirl facing off against Facet. We are dropped into this scene which is very different from where we left off last chapter. Facet begins monologuing a bit to Kara. She has been slowly destroying Supergirl's Earthly life, removing all her connections. Her friends at CatCo, her sister, the DEO, and her mother have all been disgraced or killed. Now there is nothing left to tie Supergirl to this planet. Instead, Facet will be free to mold Kara into whatever warped image of Alura she has.

It has been implied here that Alura looked the other way while Facet used here Draconian techniques to keep Fort Rozz orderly. Facet probably thought that meant Alura approved of her methods. And so, Facet would want Kara to be just as Machiavellian as she is, as she perceives Alura was.

I love this thread. Throughout the show and this comic, Alura has slowly been humanized. She has gone from being immutable perfect mother and judge in Kara's eyes to someone much more flawed, much more real. And that makes Kara's feelings about her mother that much more conflicted and interesting.

Big moments deserve big art. This is a 'splash page' for a digital book. But I'm guessing we get a true splash page once we hit the printers. I love this page, both characters poised for battle, Facet bracing for this attack.

That is what big art should feel like.

But this should be the cliffhanger page for this chapter, setting up next issue's finale. So why would Gates put it at the beginning? I think I know why.

We flash back to one hour prior to that opening scene, right where chapter 11 left off. Back in the DEO, Rampage is truly Hulking out, getting angrier, bigger, and stronger. Kara is pretty much overpowered. Alex keeps trying to talk down Rampage but the shrill sonic attack by Vril Dox keeps Carin enraged.

Luckily, there is someone in the DEO who can stop Dox. J'Onn. Remember, last chapter we saw Hank get supposedly crushed by Kara's pod. So it makes sense that Kara feels relieved to hear Hank's voice. But I still don't think she is aware he is a Martian.

I'm going to assume that J'Onn will mentally shut Dox down. Perhaps that is who he was practicing on between the guard at Lord Industries and the later villain he mind wiped in the show. We all wondered who he had been practicing on.

Just as it looks like Alex is about to die, she drops a bombshell. Rampage's sister died because she save Alex's life. The art in this sequence by Vieceli is particularly strong. You can see the emotional pain on Alex's face throughout.

But this is a revelation!

We finally learn about what actually happened on Alex's first mission. Alex went off over-confident, tracking down Rampage's sister. Thinking things would be like a training mission, Alex isn't careful and almost tumbles to her death off a building. Moyer reaches out and saves Alex, unfortunately revealing herself. The DEO agents then killed Moyer.

Alex didn't pull the trigger but in some ways is just a culpable. But the point is Rampage's sister wasn't a monster, wasn't evil, and actually was doing good when she died. And Alex wasn't going in guns blazing, mowing down a helpless victim. It's complicated. War often is. It is this nuanced look at these characters that makes this book so compelling.

I have to assume Agent Moss is a nod to editor Wil Moss.

After hearing the true happenings of Alex's first meeting, Rampage runs through a gamut of emotions before finally forgiving Alex.

But what was interesting to me was reading Kara's inner monologue as she watches Alex and Rampage come to terms with what happened. Kara mentions that Rampage has been harboring anger for her sister Moyer for not hiding out, for forcing the confrontations with the DEO. Rampage transferred that hate. And now Rampage has to deal with the fact that Moyer's sin was that she saved someone.

Hmmmmm.
This scene plays out with different characters in the show.
Alex does 'something wrong', killing Astra. Hank takes the wrap.
Kara is so angry at this that she shuts down, avoiding the DEO.
Then Alex comes clean, but the bad act was to save someone (Hank).
And Supergirl has to ask herself the same questions. How do you feel? Happy? Sad? Or relief?

It isn't a complete copy but it resonates enough to hit with more power than it would on its own. Yes, this has been an arc about Facet. But, like the best of show episodes, it is also about Kara and Alex. So I loved this ending.

And this is the biggest moment in the book, bigger than the Facet/Supergirl face off. So by writing in a nonlinear way, Gates has this be the ending, the scene we close on, the scene we mull over. If we ended with the action shot from above, I don't think this scene would have felt as impactful. This was the emotional climax of the story leaving us the physical brawl next time.

Alas, this means that Sterling Gates only has one more chapter to wrap up the Facet arc and this book Will we hear more of Facet's plot? Will we see the subplots wrapped up (what does happen to Rampage, Dox, and Psi?)? Will we see more from Eliza? Another sighting of Alura? I hope so.

I also hope that DC announces a 'second season' of the book with Gates at the helm.

Overall grade: A

Review: Adventures of Supergirl #11

Adventures of Supergirl Chapter 11 came out yesterday and continued to move this story forward at an incredible pace. While there have been great cliffhangers in this series so far, this one takes the cake. Seriously, I wish the next chapter was coming out tomorrow.

One of the things that has been bubbling throughout this series has been how family is such an important part of Supergirl's life. Her relationship to her sister is important. Her relationship with her mother Alura is changing, even after Alura's death. The relationship of Rampage and her sister is an interesting contrast. In this chapter, we add Eliza Danvers to the mix. And that is great given last issue's confrontation with the Alura A.I. That foundation of family is so key to the show so it should be key here.

Writer Sterling Gates continues to give us these important relationships. He also continues to build up Kara Danvers' history. And he continues to link this book to Supergirl's comic history. It really all works.

The art in this chapter is done by Emma Vieceli and is great. In particular, I love the panel edges and background art which add to the tone of the book. The cover is another action cover by Cat Staggs. Brilliant.

I really feel lucky, as a Supergirl fan, to have had this book, complete with a writer who obviously cares about the character and a line of great artists.

Adventures Of Supergirl #1 Cover

In a week when the Supergirl show dropped a lot of news, we got some news about the upcoming digital comic Adventures of Supergirl over on CBR. Here is the link:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/kara-zor-el-soars-on-adventures-of-supergirl-1-cover-art

To start off, we got a look at the cover of issue one with an absolutely stunning cover by Cat Staggs. There is a ton to love about this image. It is a nice heroic pose, Supergirl streaking from the sky and flying between the buildings of National City and Catco.  I love that smile on her face! A happy, bright Supergirl is always appreciated. I wouldn't mind a poster of that!

And here is a quote from Sterling Gates from the article:
"Fans of the show can expect to see all their favorite Supergirl characters play a role in our massively action-packed thirteen-part story exploring the various facets of Supergirl's life," promises Gates. "My editors have assembled a wildly talented group of artists -- including Bengal, Jonboy Meyers, Emanuela Lupacchino, Emma Viscelli, and the brilliant cover artist, Cat Staggs -- and our goal is to knock your super-socks off every two weeks across 2016."

The lineup of artists is just impressive! 

We are 10 days away from the release of the premiere issue! 

Supergirl Digital Comic By Sterling Gates Announced! Bengal On Art!

Well the wait if finally over! On IGN, we finally have confirmation of a digital first show tie-in Supergirl comic. This had been rumored for some time so it is great to get some concrete news. And there is a lot to love about this announcement. Here is the link:http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/12/15/dc-swoops-in-with-adventures-of-supergirl-digital-comic

And here are a couple of blurbs:

TV show will be happy to hear that they can see more heroic exploits of the Girl of Steel in DC’s new Digital First series called Adventures of Supergirl. Veteran Supergirl writer Sterling Gates will be penning the new title, which will be drawn by a cast of rotating artists including Bengal, Jonboy Meyers, Emanuela Lupacchino, and Emma Vieceli. Bengal will be penciling, inking, and coloring the first three chapters. 

Now the first thing that jumped out at me was the creative team.

Folks who come here should know that I love Sterling Gates writing the character. His run remains one of the most influential on the character in her long history and definitely a consistent high point in recent times. He seemed to understand the layers of the character and made her grow. I cannot wait to read him writing her character again.

As for the art, what a wonderful group. I love Bengal's energy. He brings a certain amount of Burnside sensibility to the page. Emma Vieceli is killing it on Jem recently. And everyone remembers how great Emanuela Lupacchino was on the book. Meyer has a nice slick style but I hope he doesn't veer too close to cheesecake.

I even like the title of Adventures of Supergirl, a link to the digital Adventures of Superman and also a unique title for the character.

 This 13-chapter, bi-weekly comic will release on Mondays, which just happens to be the same day the show airs on CBS. It won’t directly tie into the show, but will tell stories in that universe with Supergirl teaming with the DEO to protect National City while also working a job at CatCo as Kara Danvers. DC also told us that she will take on classic villains like Rampage, Vril Dox, and Psi.

I hope that this is simply a 'Season One' for the series. 13 chapters is a nice start and probably accomodates an overall arc for the book.

And Rampage, Vril Dox, and Psi! All have a history with some incarnation of the character so glad to see Gates dipping into DC's mythology. Psi!

However, unlike those comics, Supergirl’s series will not be printed and shipped as a monthly comic. The title will instead be collected and printed as a graphic novel, skipping the floppies entirely.

 Adventures of Supergirl will debut on January 25, 2016.

One thing I don't like is the lack of floppy. I am an old-timer, married to print. Looks like I'll have to actually get a digital account now!

Anyways, this is a very nice Christmas gift for Supergirl fans all around the world. Everything about this announcement makes me optimistic!