Jamal Igle On His One Year Anniversary on Supergirl

It’s hard to believe that it has been a year since the Supergirl renaissance in her title starting in Supergirl #34. Over on Jamal Igle’s blog, he posts about the one year anniversary of his time on Supergirl (http://jamaligle.blogspot.com/2009/10/supergirl-one-year-later.html). Here is his post:

Before I left for Jamaica, the day before I left I turned in the last seven pages of Supergirl #46. 12 issues ago I was announced as the artist of the series. In fact at the time I started working on it Catie was 4 months old, Karine had just returned to work a few weeks before and we were trying to figure out how to be parents.

I'm still trying to figure out the parenting thing however so much has happened. I came to the project with some preconceived notions and was happily disappointed, not just by Sterling's immense talent as a writer but the whole experience of working with the Superman characters.I want to say thanks to all of you who've supported our run. I want to say thanks to Nei Ruffino, Keith Champagne, Jon Sibal, Tom Chu, Pete Pantanzis and Jared Fletcher, I'm enjoying the work more than I have any project in a while and proud to have you guys as my partners. Thank you Matt Idelson, Nachie Castro, Wil Moss, Sean Ryan and Geoff Johns for giving me the shot. I was in Matt Idelson's office discussing what's going to be happening with issue 50 and it's gonna be nuts. It's just the beginning to Supergirl 2010 and I'm proud to be a part of it!


I was interested about Igle’s ‘preconceived notions’ about the title and was trying to think back that far. At this point last year, Kelley Puckett’s ‘Saving Thomas’ storyline had just ended with a thud. There were some high points to that arc (a suddenly caring Supergirl willing to bend the rules to help someone, some nicely timed humor, Drew Johnson’s art) but overall the Supergirl character felt lost.

She was still reeling from her characterization under Jeph Loeb and Joe Kelly. Their Supergirl was angry, angsty, apathetic to others, unheroic. She was, at least to me, unlikeable.

The uneven approach to Kara over the length of the series made the book almost unreadable. And sales showed that.

So I asked Igle what his preconceived notions were and got an eloquent response that pretty much mirrored my own thoughts.

Well the big one was, I didn't like what they had done with the character. I'm not a fan of Jeph Loeb's writing work, I just found her to be unappealing as a character. You have to like the characters you're working with or it's just not worth the effort. So when I was approached about doing it I asked who the writer was and find out it's some new guy I'd barely heard about named Sterling Gates. Not to sound egotistical but I've worked with some of the best writers in the business So Sterling had, at the time, a lot to prove to me. So when I read the script to issue #34 (which I can say now is the script that got him the job on the book in the first place) I was blown away by how good he was and how much love he had for Kara.

I'm old School, I've been reading the Superman books since I was 5 years old and while I don't have Mark Waid's encyclopedic knowledge I consider my self to be a huge Superman fan. I cried when kara died during Crisis, and as much fun as the Byrne relaunch was there were always things missing from the lore (Kandor, The Superpets, the connection to the Legion, The old school Lex Luthor because I hated the idea of Lex luthor having so much pull and being a corporate tycoon.) So when they brought her back as Clark's cousin I was thrilled until I read the first 5 issues of the regular series. It was a 40 year old man's concept of what an edgy teenage girl was supposed to be and it just didn't work for me as a fan.

All the things he says about the Kara that came before are exactly what I was thinking last year. I still think of that cover of a crystal gun wielding Supergirl standing over her dead classmates. Something was simply fundamentally wrong.

When the Gates and Igle team was announced, I thought to myself ‘it can’t get worse’ … damning with faint praise. I had never read anything that Sterling Gates had written. Would he try to bring back the Loeb version? Could a ‘rookie’ writer somehow save the book? I honestly thought the title was doomed for cancellation.

But the thing was, I can remember reading interviews with Gates when he was announced and he just said all the right things about Supergirl. He sounded liked he loved the character and wanted to bring her back to a semblance of the heroic Girl of Steel I grew up reading. After reading those interviews - many of which I covered here starting last June - I was suddenly, albeit cautiously, optimistic.

So here we are a year later … a year where Supergirl is suddenly a solid-selling title, a year where Supergirl as a character is suddenly a vital part of not only the Superman family but the DCU as a whole.

Funny how much can change in a year.

So, what were you guys thinking last year with Supergirl #34 just about to be released?

Review: Brave and Bold 19

This week Brave and Bold #19, the second part of Marv Wolfman's Raven and Supergirl story, was released. As you may recall, this storyline seems a continuity throwback to the Joe Kelly style Supergirl, the brash opinionated young girl who does not want to be a super-hero and whose father is trying to convince her to kill Superman. Last issue she sought out Raven for help all while an unknown villain goes on a murderous spree on a college campus.


This issue starts in Kara's mind. She is on Azar meditating and is internally confronting her father. And so we start the issue with a foul-mouthed Kara flying through her father. Hopefully, as someone who does curse now and then, I am not being to much of a hypocrite here by saying I don't know if I want Supergirl to be a frequent curser. In fact, I think I could live with her not cursing at all.

Despite Supergirl flying through him, crushing him, and vaporizing him with heat vision, the Zor-El apparition reforms and continues his 'Kill Kal-El' rant.


Kara seems ready to continue this fruitless battle but is interrupted by Raven who feels they must head to Earth to stop the college rampage. Here we see an angry Kara stating she will do what she needs to do to keep Zor-El dead. Not the best sentiment, even if it is only a figment in her mind.

Also, for a storyline that seems to want to seriously delve into father issues, the above panel with the 'surprised Raven face' in a thought bubble seemed a bit too much like the Teen Titans cartoon.

Supergirl tells Raven she cannot leave because she needs to continue killing Zor-El. I think we get the point, Wolfman wants us to know that this Supergirl is willing to kill her father.


But Raven does not heed Supergirl and instead teleports them to the college to stop the villain of the piece. Supergirl does not like this and let's Raven know it by telling her that she could kill Raven many ways for kidnapping her. So rather than save people from a super-powered maniac, this Supergirl would rather kill an avatar of her father in her mind. In fact she wants to do it so much, she is angry to the point of threatening violence to another super-hero for interrupting. I guess Wolfman would call this 'Kara being edgy.'


And to hammer the point home we get to hear Kara again say she killed Zor-El three times. Now, I understand this was not actually killing someone and instead was more like trying to squelch a thought in her mind. But the word 'kill' is thrown around so nonchalantly by Kara here I just found it a bit unnerving.

Raven and Supergirl finally confront the man on the killing spree who is in some trance, hooked up to an experimental machine which will help him expand his mind and get in touch with his own father issues, a father we know had super-powers and may have been a villain.

Raven mind-links with him and discovers that the killer's father was Triumph, a super-hero turned villain in JLA history who may or may not be dead. In a bit of convoluted story-telling, Raven discovers that Triumph oscillates between this reality and other dimensions. Every time he manifests on our Earth, he takes a piece of his son's soul. I know ... I don't quite understand it either. Regardless, because of her mind-meld, Raven's soul becomes vulnerable to attack.


In a rare nice moment for Kara in this issue, she sees a vision of Trigon and sympathizes with what Raven has had to deal with all her life. She actually hugs Raven as a show of support and comfort!

But just when I think Wolfman might show some redeeming qualities in Supergirl, he has her almost defer from helping Raven defeat Triumph's son saying that 'do-gooders' will kill them all. At least he has Supergirl decide to join the fight after all.


But rather than listening to Raven, she attacks Triumph's son head-on, resulting in Raven and Kara being sucked into a quasi-reality the man has made. Kara states she didn't listen to Raven because she has a problem with authority. So she is a killer, a very reluctant hero, and now a rebel.

Within this Matrix-like environment (that's Keanu Matrix, not Linda Danvers' matrix), Supergirl and Raven succesfully face and defeat images of their fathers. They then realize they can make the super-villain face his own father in the same way.


When confronted with a vision of Triumph, the boy states he was only looking for love and answers. Triumph tells him that he is angry that his son has tainted his legacy by killing. That his son needs to give up his powers, and that he will love his son forever. The two disappear with an explosion and Raven and Supergirl are suddenly back on Earth.

As the heroes fly off, Raven tells Supergirl that she will not strip Zor-El from Kara's mind because she needs that pain to grow.

As readers of this blog know, I was never a fan of the ultra-edgy, self-absorbed, potential killer Kara that we saw in the Joe Kelly run. So I was never to keen on re-visiting that incarnation, especially after Kelley Puckett's run and the Gates/Igle issue. I am not asking for a cotton-candy 50's Kara. I understand that some edge, some conflict, some growth is necessary for Supergirl. This version just takes all of those to the extreme ... this is Supergirl written as Wolverine. Who wants that? Indeed, this issue reminded me of all the reasons why I did not really like that Kara.

She seems unfazed by killing, even if it is simply an image of her father. But it is her father; shouldn't that be difficult for her ... to symbolically kill a loved one?

She threatens Raven with physical harm. It did not come off like playful banter but more serious.

She does not want to do the 'super-hero thing' and only reluctantly joined in a fight against a super-powered murderer.

She has 'authority issues.'

Sigh. Hopefully with the current reboot by Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle, we will never need to re-visit this chapter in Supergirl's life, at least not in so extensive a way.

Phil Winslade's art is okay, with decent facial expressions and a sketchy style.

Overall grade: D

August Sales Numbers

Sales number for the month of August have been posted on ICv2 and comics sales as a whole continue to drop in the current US economy. Here is the link:

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/13296.html

Luckily Supergirl seems to be treading water, selling nearly the same 28K issues each month and ranking in the low 80s/high 90s in sales each month.

Sales were again down by 2.5% with Supergirl #31 having sold 28,813 units.

So, the bad news is that this title is still barely in the top 100.

The good news is that sales are relatively stable compared to other titles. This was Kelly Puckett's last issue as writer and the penultimate issue of his thematic run. I was actually more pessimistic that sales might be down to the low 27Ks by this issue. So it seems that the people still buying the title are in it for the long haul!

The best news is that we have a mini-reboot of the character and a stable creative team coming on board. I think buzz has been nearly universally optimistic about Supergirl's portrayal in the Superman titles and the expected continuation of that characterization in her own title.

Supergirl #34 is a mere 9 days away !!

Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle have been saying all the right things in their interviews and message boards. So for sales predictions, I am going to guess that issue #34 with the recent publicity and the Fernando Pasarin variant cover will break 30K. My hope is that issue #35, the first of the New Krypton arc will hit 38K in sales.

Is everybody as giddy with anticipation about this issue as I am?

Review: Supergirl #33

With excitement cresting for next month’s new creative team, Supergirl #33 arrived in comic stores this week, representing the thematic closure of Kelly Puckett’s run. One of the ongoing threads in Puckett's arc was Supergirl discovering her limitations, what she can do, what she should do, and what she should aspire to do. Most of these beats have been encapsulated in her attempts to save Thomas, the young boy with brain cancer. The end of issue #31 had Thomas dying despite a blood transfusion from Resurrection Man. Issue #32 was told mostly in flash-forwards so this issue picks up more from #31, with the current Kara still frustrated ... frustrated about her inability to help Superman in the intergalactic war, her inability to save Thomas, her inability to be an effective hero on this world.

And you can tell Supergirl is frustrated by her stating she wants to break the world in half. She works off some of her frustration in this confrontation with Clayface. First, by giving him a wicked right cross.

Then by flying him up to space and flinging him earthward. Brutal!

When Supergirl flies down to gather him up, she finds Clayface has already been restrained by Empress.

Now I know nothing about Empress but she seems to have some mystical power. Also, her parents have been de-aged to elementary school kids and she has to take care of them. The kids have been kidnapped and threatened by a villain named ‘Aftermath’ and Empress enlists Supergirl to help her.

When Kara asks ‘why her’ rather than Empress’ old teammates Arrowette or Wonder Girl, Empress points out the damage Supergirl has been dealing out recently. Who wouldn't want an angry Kara going into a fight with them?

Well, it turns out to be something of a double-cross. “Aftermath’ is a normal man who was paralyzed during the Superman/Doomsday fight. This man is convinced that he must show the world that super-beings, be they ‘hero’ or ‘villain’, are bad for humanity. He kidnapped Empress’ parents so he could blackmail her into putting a spell on Supergirl which would put Kara in his control. By then having Kara go on a rampage, public support would turn on heroes. Hmmmm ... pretty convoluted plot he has going on there.

And why would he focus on Kara of all heroes? Well, because she has brought ‘more confusion and shame to the ‘S’ on her chest’ than anyone. People would believe she would go bad and they would rally against super-heroes. Suffice it to say, Kara shakes loose of the spell and easily defeats Aftermath and his men.

In a nice touch she realizes that in his own twisted way Aftermath was trying to make the world better, much like she was in trying to save Thomas and cure cancer. But trying to make the world better doesn’t always make you right. Sometimes the road to Hell is paved with the best intentions. She forgives Aftermath and she even forgives Empress for back-stabbing her in an attempt to save her parents.

In fact, this whole incident has made Supergirl question her whole recent outlook. Maybe she should stop fighting things she can’t beat (like cancer) and start protecting people again. And thus, Puckett’s themes end and Gates' storyline can start fresh. Much like Puckett immediately showed a loving Zor-El so that Kelly’s story would end and his story could start.

And here is the new introspective Kara flying in space and vowing to just go about living and helping.

This was an okay issue that did its job. The idealistic ‘change the world’ Kara from Puckett’s run has sort of found her head and realized that she was trying to do the impossible. This also ends the timeline ending in a Kara-totalitarian future briefly seen earlier in the run.

The truth is with the all the publicity for Gates’ run, the impending immersion of Supergirl into the other super-titles, with her great scenes in Action Comics and her inclusion in the upcoming ‘New Krypton' arc, this 'Saving Thomas' storyline sort of ended with a whimper. James Peaty seemed to have Kara’s voice down in her lines and Ron Randall did his usual solid art here.

So the Puckett themes are in the rear view mirror and we see some of what lies ahead in Gates' run. This was a transition issue, wrapping up all the threads from the last 11 issues and putting the character in a place that makes the new direction plausible. But I do think that the "she has brought more confusion and shame to the ‘S’ on her chest" line was a subtle swipe at the convoluted and confusing and varied takes on Supergirl in these first 33 issues. Is she a brat? A rave girl? A killer? An ineffective idealist? All of the above at one point or another? It is time for a clear consistent take on Kara ... some stability.

As I have done in the past, I want to thank Kelly Puckett wholeheartedly for making Supergirl a likeable character again. I enjoyed this storyline more than others but I think it showed us Kara’s Kryptonian curiosity and adolescent enthusiasm, optimism, and even some teenage stubbornness. It is hard to bring some real issues ... like why wouldn't super-heroes try to cure cancer rather than stop muggers ... into comics without them become cliched. But it worked here. Kara wanted to be a hero for this young boy and pushed the limits of her abilities, morals, and even friendships to save him.

But now it is onto the new team! I think it is a good time to be a Supergirl fan.

Overall grade: C

Review: Supergirl 32

The “Saving Thomas” storyline nears its end in Supergirl 32 which came out this week. I find that my review posts tend to be long … hopefully not too long. If so, I apologize.

A quick recap of our story so far: Supergirl has sworn to save the life of Thomas, a young boy with terminal brain cancer. Last issue, he passed away despite a last ditch effort to save him with a nanite-enriched blood transfusion.

First off, this is a pretty nice cover with Kara and Thomas in half-shadows. The word ‘Choices’ on the cover in conjunction with the dual nature of life/death and light/dark aspects of the art makes this captivating. This is the last of Drew Johnson’s work on the title. As I have said in the past, I liked Drew’s art a lot. I thought he drew a stunning Kara. But he just never seemed to be able to keep up with the art.

This issue open up with Kara and Superman attending Thomas funeral from afar.

Superman attempts to comfort her, applauding her efforts but saying the old cliché ‘it was his time to go’.

In response, Kara shows her commitment to saving Thomas. We have seen a stubborn streak in Kara before, but this seems to border on obsession, or maybe irrationality. She states again that she will do whatever it takes to bring Thomas back no matter what it costs, no matter how long it takes.

Now at this point the story takes what I think is fascinating turn. We jump 50 years ahead in time. Kara, now in a spiffy new uniform, is leading a group of soldiers against an alien named Dolok. Despite being in her 60’s, Kara looks remarkably young. I have seen this in other titles where it is assumed that Kryptonians under yellow suns will age slowly because of their super-metabolism. I am pretty sure that Grant Morrison had Superman being alive in the 853rd century in DC One Million, for example.

Here is the uniform.


It is a nice look … a one piece short blue dress with the cape draped over the shoulders. And look closely … pointy sleeves. I don’t know why I love the pointy sleeves, I just do.

Now Kara is trying to capture Dolok so she can use a device he has to help her in her mission to save Thomas. Dolok can travel backwards in time. As a result, every time someone gets close to defeating him, he travels back to before the defeat and tries to change the outcome.

Now Puckett uses an interesting (if not confusing) way to tell the story. Since Dolok seems to only be able to travel back in time, Puckett starts out 50 yrs from now but then counts backwards from there. (From here on, this sort of like that Seinfeld episode where it unfolds backwards.) Kara, realizing that Dolok will continue to teleport away into the past, seems to stay in space at the point he always reappears to try and capture him. And she seems to camp out in space for years, as we see the result of multiple leaps by Dolok. While Kara is always shown in this new costume, I don’t think she is leaping in time with Dolok. I think Dolok is constantly meeting younger versions of Kara who is simply waiting for him to appear. To perhaps add to the confusing nature of the timeline, Puckett references the time by counting down from the initial Dolok encounter, that is 50 yrs from now. Yeesh, it sounds incomprehensible as I write it … and I actually understand.

So lets start out and for clarity’s sake I will put the year (and Kara’s age) with each scene.

50 years later (from Thomas’ funeral) – 2058, Kara 67yrs old

She flies off her space battleship with her troops and almost gets Dolok in his stronghold. Dolok then teleports 3 minutes into the past to attack her before she even leaves the ship. Kara reveals her secret weapon, a Green Lantern, and Dolok is almost defeated again. In response, Dolok goes back in time one month to stop Kara from first recruiting the GL.

One month ago (from initial Dolok encounter), 49 yrs 11months after Thomas funeral – 2058, Kara 66 11/12 yrs old

Again, Kara almost defeats Dolok and he teleports away, a scene we see replayed again and again throughout earlier spots in time.

One year ago (from initial Dolok encounter), 49 yrs after Thomas funeral – 2058, Kara 66 yrs old

Ten years ago (from initial Dolok encounter), 40 yrs after Thomas funeral – 2048, Kara 57 old

Thirty years ago (from initial Dolok encounter), 20 yrs after Thomas funeral – 2028, Kara 37 old

Kara finally (?) defeats Dolok and is able to obtain his time-travelling tech (despite having promised the GL that she would destroy it, albeit in a conversation that won’t happen for 30 more years). Can I say 'finally defeats' if this may be the first time she has fought him as this is the earliest point in time we see them interact?

In essence, Kara has stayed in one spot in space for at least 30 years to be able to pull off this victory. 30 years standing around in space … sounds borderline psychotic, no? Obsessed, yes?

Regardless of her psyche, the 37 yr old Kara – time travelling device in hand – seeks out Thomas’ parents. She plans to give them the device so that they could go back in time to be with him. Unfortunately, enough time has passed that both parents have died themselves. Kara meets Thomas’ grown sister who tells Kara that Thomas’ parents always appreciated what she did to save Thomas and were sad that they never thanked her.

For a second, Kara thinks about using the device herself. She could go back in time before the parents died and give it to them then, or go back and try to save Thomas again, or even further. She could correct all ‘her mistakes’ and live a ‘perfect’ life. In the end, realizing the insanity of those thoughts, the futility of them, she destroys the device.

Supergirl realizes it’s time to move on.


There are some things about this issue that are good and things that are bad.

For one, I like the idea that Kara really felt passionate about saving Thomas to the point of doing all she did to save him. But that means, it seems, that rather than saving others she remained static in space for decades to try to capture Dolok. So that doesn’t seem heroic. At least in the end she realized that this was always a doomed mission. Of course, according to the timeline, it took her 20 years to come to that realization.

Secondly, I also have become a bit weary with stories looking into Kara’s future. First we had the ‘phantom zone ghosts on Earth’ future in the Kelly run, then the dystopia version of Earth due to Kara’s rule in issue 27 of this arc, and now this issue. While I actually kind of enjoyed the reverse time leaping style of this story, I would rather read about Kara’s growth as a hero NOW, rather than seeing what she will be in 20 years. I want to read how she gets to that point.

Lastly, I think that I am so pumped for the Gates/Igle run to start that I came into this issue with some weariness. This is the lame duck part of Puckett’s run. In fact, next issue, the last part of the "Saving Thomas" arc and the last issue pre-Gates, isn’t even written by Puckett but by James Peaty. It’s a pity I came in with that subtle ennui because I really think that Kara has grown under Puckett’s care, that she is a better person, a more heroic figure than she was at the beginning of his arc and certainly much better and much more heroic than Joe Kelly’s unlikeable Supergirl. In some ways, I am sorry to see Puckett go.

Ron Randall’s art is serviceable. The new costume was a nice change of pace.

Overall grade: B

Publishers Weekly DC Sales Report

There is a very in-depth look at DC's current economic woes at Publisher's Weekly. Here is the link:

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2008/07/02/dc-month-to-month-sales-may-2008/

The writer does an incredible job at breaking down the numbers, not only of DC as a whole but each individual title, looking back at not only the last several issues sales but also prior incarnations of the title going back years.

Here is the breakdown of Supergirl. The numbers are sobering ... staggering ... depressing. I had no ideas the title had hemorrhaged readers so badly.

74 - SUPERGIRL
05/2001: Supergirl #58 — 20,376*
05/2002: Supergirl #70 — 19,156*
05/2006: Supergirl #6 — 102,860
———————————
05/2007: Supergirl #17 — 50,429 (- 2.4%)
06/2007: Supergirl #18 — 50,279 (- 0.3%)
07/2007: Supergirl #19 — 48,576 (- 3.4%)
08/2007: Supergirl #20 — 46,862 (- 3.5%)
09/2007: Supergirl #21 — 44,656 (- 4.7%)
10/2007: Supergirl #22 — 41,758 (- 6.5%)
11/2007: Supergirl #23 — 45,460 (+ 8.9%)
12/2007: Supergirl #24 — 37,922 (-16.6%)
01/2008: Supergirl #25 — 36,459 (- 3.9%)
02/2008: Supergirl #26 — 34,186 (- 6.2%)
03/2008: Supergirl #27 — 32,596 (- 4.7%)
04/2008: Supergirl #28 — 31,379 (- 3.7%)
05/2008: Supergirl #29 — 30,192 (- 3.8%)
—————-
6 months: -33.6%
1 year : -40.1%
2 years : -70.7%
Supergirl sales keep dropping at an alarming rate. Yet another “regular” new creative team (the sixth one to date, if you’re keeping count) has been announced, meanwhile.

70.7% loss of readers over 2 years. 33.6% over the last 6 months recorded.

70.7 % !!!! 33.6%

So ... how do we interpret these numbers? Let's look at some of the key issues.

Issue 6: 102,000 issues. I expected sales to be brisk at this point in the title. The title was just coming off the Loeb opening arc. Churchill's art was being relatively well received. This was also a jumping on point for new readers with a new storyline that was in essence One Year Later. There was a variant Churchill cover. It also marked the return of Ed Benes to a Supergirl title and guest starred Power Girl. Greg Rucka had just been named new writer. I thought issues 1-5 were okay, although I thought the ending of the story was not satisfying. But I had optimism for this new team and story.

Issue 19: 48,500 issues. Well, after a number of creative teams and what I felt was an absolutely abysmal run by writer Joe Kelly, I was not surprised to see that the title had lost about 50% of its readers. The buzz had faded. The story and art was uneven. And the boards unfortunately showed a fractionated Supergirl fandom. To be honest I am surprised the title sold that many at this point. This was the really awful 'mad Zor-El, kill Kal-El' storyline. The Garza art was uneven at best, muddy at worst. Kelly continued to write (for me) an unlikeable Kara. I almost dropped the title myself.

Issue 23: 45,500 issues. This represented a slight bump in sales from the prior dreadful Countdown crossovers. The new team of Kelly Puckett, who wrote Batgirl so well, and Drew Johnson were coming on board. There was a variant cover by Adam Kubert. Maybe some new readers were brought in. Maybe some old readers came back with the end of the Joe Kelly run.

Issue 24: 38,000 issues. Uhhh ... were did all the new readers go? Well, when it is a new team and you expect new readers, you need to hook them. But issue 23, Puckett's first issue, which was nearly wordless, was probably not a great way to reel people in. So 7ooo readers left. For me, these issues were a breath of fresh air. It immediately redefined the Superman/Supergirl relationship. Kal called on her for help. Sheacted heroic, going to her absolute limits to try to accomplish the mission. Even better, in issue 24 we see a loving Zor-El!

Still, I think about Birds of Prey 56, the first Simone/Benes issue. That had a hook ... great dialogue, great cliff-hanger, eye-catching cover.

Heck, it even said 'Bold New Direction' on the cover. Comics readers are suckers for that line! That's what this title needed in issue 23, a hook to keep new readers.

Issue 29: 30,000 issues. Right in the middle of the 'Saving Thomas' storyline and we are at 25% of sales from issue 6. 30,000 is probably on the cusp of cancellation. But just like Kelly's run was loved by some and hated by others (like me), it seems Puckett has the same effect. I think if you hated Kelly, you like Puckett. And if you liked Kelly, you hate Puckett.

Issue 34: ??? issues. My guess is that DC will do some ads about the title, emphasizing the link to the Superman title. Let's hope Sterling Gates is a unifying force for the polarized Kara fans, bringing together the divided Supergirl house. I think this pic from the Igle website will be a variant cover, maybe drumming up orders.

And I am hoping for about 38,000 in sales for that issue. I don't think this title can afford to lose more support.

Review: Supergirl 31

With all the excitement about issue 34's new creative team, I almost forgot that today was the release date for issue 31, continuing Kelley Puckett's 'Saving Thomas' storyline. The art is done by Brad Walker of Secret Six fame.

( Quick recap: trying anything to save a young cancer victim named Thomas, Kara enlists Resurrection Man and the evil Dr. Lazano to help her come up with a cure. After Lazano backstabs the good guys, he is defeated. Unfortunately, Superman arrives to tell Kara that Thomas has died. )

This issue starts with a quick flashback to Superman being in the hospital just as Thomas dies. Even super-CPR cannot save him.

We then get this nice shot of Kara's reaction to the news that Thomas has just died, mere minutes ago.

Hoping she can still save him, she whisks Resurrection Man to the hospital roof thinking a blood transfusion of his nanite-laced blood may revive Thomas.

What happens next is one of two great dialogue exchanges in this issue.

Superman, Supergirl, and Resurrection Man have a discussion about whether or not she should actualize her plans. Supes and RM state Kara has no right. The transfusion might bring Thomas back as something inhuman ... a blazing skull, a monster, or worse.

Kara retorts that none of them are human.

She also feels that they should make the decision ... they understand what it means to live above humanity and that 'normal humans' aren't equipped to make this choice.

It's a great exchange contrasting Superman's experience and 'guiding' nature over man to Kara's inexperience and youthful almost naive optimism. She sounds almost haughty here with this pro-active stance, as though she is looking down on man. And yet, you can tell it is not arrogance but youthful exuberence and stubborness talking. She IS going to save Thomas, regardless of what anyone else says.

Superman acquiesces a little and says they will offer the parents the choice of the transfusion, but that they will abide by the parents' decision.

Initially the parents scoff at the idea. But then Kara grabs the mother and has a heart to heart with her. This is the second great exchange.

Supergirl retells her origin story. How her parents made a rocket to save her from certain death, knowing that the result of that flight might have been a worse fate ... death on Earth, mutation, imprisonment.

But they knew that a chance at life is better than no chance. Life is always better than death.

Her parents sent her off.

And then we get the briefest look into Kara's soul ... an understanding that even a life with super-powers, a life 'above humanity' is difficult. In one panel it shows that despite her facade, she is struggling to find her place in the world; struggling like most teenagers do.

Her parents didn't let her die on Krypton but ...

She sometimes wishes she hadn't been saved, that she died in the arms of her parents. This beat goes back to an early issue of Puckett's run where Kara recalls her friends and how they all died. Life on Earth has been tough for her to acclimate to. It shows that despite her brash exterior, she is hurting a bit on the inside.

Thomas' mother agrees to try the blood transfusion. But after a few panels where it looks like the nanites might jump-start Thomas, it appears his death is permanent and that Kara has failed in her mission.

Of course this story has 2 issues to go, and so more needs to be told.

This issue shows Kara's personality is a mix of pride, superiority, innocence, optimism, stubborness, and insecurity. It is a roiling emotional malestrom that screams adolescence, and in some ways it's charming. Despite the details of her plan, Kara's mission has always been to save Thomas' life, and that is heroic. I have really enjoyed Puckett's run and this issue is no different. It is hard to inject *real* issues, like cancer, into the comic universe. When it is done wrong, it can be disastrous. I think this arc handles it nicely.

Brad Walker's art is more fine-lined and detailed than Drew Johnson's or Ron Randall's recent issues. He really does facial expressions well, allowing us to read Kara's emotional spectrum: shock, determination, bemusement, anguish, and hope. You can see it even in the handful of panels I have posted. In an emotional issue like this, that was key, really marrying words and art.

Final grade: A-

Kelley Puckett off Supergirl

My thanks to 'blok' on the DC Boards for pointing me to the Superman Home Page for this bit of news. This is taken directly from the 'Ask Matt' question session with Superman editor Matt Adelson.

http://www.supermanhomepage.com/inter-action/inter-action.php?topic=ask-editor/ask-matt

Q: Thanks for taking the time to answer our Qs every month (or when you can)! I was wondering if Johns and/or Robinson will be named the writer(s) of SUPERGIRL, since her book is going to be integrated into the Superman books if I read it right, or if it's even too early to announce a change from Puckett to another writer?

Matt: There indeed will be a new writer coming aboard, Glen, though I'm not yet at liberty to reveal who it is. I can say that it isn't Geoff or James, but that this person will be working VERY closely with both of them as we make SUPERGIRL a partner with equal standing in the SUPERMAN line.

Well this is a little disheartening. Hopefully it will be offset by naming a great new writer.

But I think I have been pretty clear that I liked the Kelley Puckett run on Supergirl.

For one thing, there was immediate change in the feel of the book. Gone was the spoiled, angst-ridden, basically unlikeable petulant girl. Instead we had a strong-willed, inquisitive, stubborn young heroic girl. But she was heroic!

And all those traits were encapsulated in the 'Save Thomas' storyline. She was going to save Thomas no matter what it took, no matter what anyone said.

And Puckett erased the awful 'kill Kal-El' back story. For that alone, Kelley Puckett should be praised.

So counting forward to #33, written by James Peaty that means in 33 issues we have had 8 writers (Loeb, Rucka, Kelly, Palmiotti (with Gray), Bedard, Puckett, Pfeifer, and Peaty). Eight writers in 33 issues! Eight!? How can any title survive with that many writers? How can any title have any momentum with that many?

It really kills me to see this title languish like this and I can only hope that the Robinson/Johns promise of integrating Kara into the Superman titles and putting the title on par with them happens.

I think back to the 1996 Supergirl title. Do you know how many writers that title had in the first 33 issues? One - Peter David. Do you know how many writers it had for its entire 80 issue run? One -Peter David.

Now that was a Supergirl title!