Supergirls Everywhere!

This week has just been a smorgasbord of Supergirl all over the net. It made this Supergirl fan thrilled.

We finally saw the costume!

We learned that Jeremy Jordan will play Winslow Schott.

The pilot started filming on March 4!

And then we got this treasure!

Melissa Benoist tweeted this picture of her and Helen Slater together! The past Supergirl and the future Supergirl together! I love this picture! It is crazy/amazing! And I love it more after seeing the costume, knowing there is some resonance with the Supergirl legacy!

I also love that Andrew Kreisberg talked about how excited he was about this picture ... especially because he took it!

Just a great photo!

And then these photos on a website called JustJaredJr show Benoist on set with glasses on: http://www.justjaredjr.com/2015/03/07/melissa-benoist-spotted-on-supergirl-set-after-suit-reveal/

Could this be part of a Linda/Kara Danvers secret identity ruse, similar to cousin Clark? Or maybe Benoist wears glasses in real life. Either way, love the smile. I do wonder if she should be a little blonder. But I'll withhold judgment.

While the CBS show has dominated the news, there was another Supergirl on TV last week.

Nicholle Tom, Kara's voice in the DC Animated Universe shows Superman:The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited, was on Gotham last week.

She played Miriam, the insane daughter of corrupt Police Commissioner Loeb. It is definitely a creepy role. And it was even creepier to close my eyes and picture Supergirl saying the lines!!

What a great week for Supergirl fans!!

The Costume Revealed!!!

Okay ... I will try not to ramble or be ridiculous here. But get ready for me to gush.

I had planned to post today about the Supergirl show and even a little blurb about Gotham but it became clear yesterday at 4PM that that post would need to be delayed until Monday.

At about 4PM yesterday, the costume for the upcoming Supergirl show was finally revealed! We got two great shots of the suit designed by Colleen Atwood, two great shots of Melissa Benoist in costume, and one very very happy Anj. The news was everywhere but here is the article from Variety: http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/supergirl-costume-revealed-photos-melissa-benoist-cbs-1201447987/

And when the news broke, my Twitter feed almost collapsed as friends We're tweeting me links and wondered what I thought. I will say that people who know me well knew that I would absolutely love this costume. It is basically a variation of the Helen Slater movie costume (done in the comics as the Matrix costume). It is my favorite Supergirl costume.

Let's see:
Red skirt? Check!
Pointy yellow belt? Check!
Full shirt? Check!
Classic S-shield? Check!

I like the yellow piping on the S-shield with the blue background. It isn't the comic version with the full yellow background but that's okay. This will be her S-shield. It is still the El crest. but it's hers not Superman's.

And then the brilliant addition of tights under the skirt, a simple way to avoid the bike shorts controversy!
And with Slater on the show, the whole look of the costume is a nice nod to the movie and Slater's legacy!

It does look a little muted here but this is a dark shot. My guess is it will be a bit lighter in real life.

Seriously though. This is brilliant. I love it. LOVE IT!

But wait there's more!

There was a second shot of the costume with a close up of Melissa Benoist.

And look! She's smiling!!!

This looks just how Supergirl should look!

This isn't the dark grim Snyder universe! This is a brighter place with a smiling hero!

Seriously, producers Greg Berlanti and Ali Adler have the Midas touch. Everything seems right.

I said it yesterday and I'll say it again here.

I live in a world where there is a Supergirl show in production and it looks and sounds like it will be great!

Unreal!

Back Issue Review: Superman Family #208 - Supergirl On TV

Let's face it, the biggest story of the year so far has been the news of Supergirl heading to television. As a Supergirl fan, I am pretty cautious with my optimism. I go into Supergirl news very warily due to past missteps. But so far, every announcement about this show has been great. This feeling of optimism is strange to me ... novel.

With that news percolating, and needing a back issue to review, I thought I would take a look at Superman Family #208. This issue has, in a sense, Supergirl heading to television. And, it also seemed to be the beginning of a new chapter in the life of Kara ... an interesting foil to the ending of the current incarnation's book and the new chapter (eventually) of Supergirl being on the small screen.

I do my best to try to make the back issues I review relevant to current storylines or news ... so take this one with a grain of salt.

The Super-Switch to New York was the lead story in Superman Family #208, written by Jack C. Harris with art by Win Mortimer and Vince Colletta. This was the creative team for Supergirl on the book and honestly, there aren't many memorable stories in this run. Outside of the return of Lesla Lar, most of these Supergirl stories are pretty forgettable.

So this injection of a new location and a new supporting cast was welcomed.

It starts out with a nice little primer on the Supergirl character. This is a good splash page, showcasing Supergirl in the center, and then putting in key history moments around it. Argo City, Zor-El and Alura, showcasing her growth as Supergirl, and then covering the careers of Linda Danvers. She's been a cameraperson for the news, a student at an acting school, a guidance counselor ... and now?

The actual story starts out with Supergirl stopping a tornado which just happens to be right in the vicinity of the New Athens Experimental School where she is guidance counselor in her Linda Danvers identity.

This isn't particularly innovative of a sequence. She unwinds the twister and blocks the lightning it spawns. But this rescue mission keeps her from her office duties.

In fact, when she gets to her office, she finds her boss Mr. Pierce waiting for her. He has been keeping track of when she is in her office, when she is available, and what she does. Now why he would think the right thing to do when a tornado is about to strike the campus is wait to see if one of his workers is on time is beyond me. And couldn't Linda just say the impending natural disaster delayed her?

Instead of tap dancing around her tardy arrival, Linda attacks. Her contract says she can keep her own hours. She has done great work. And if her boss wants to fire her, he can go ahead!

Nice fire by Linda!

Incredibly, Peter Barton (one of the supporting cast in the book) is walking by Linda's office when he hears her read Mr. Pierce the riot act. He is an acting agent and is so struck by her passion that he thinks she should try out to take the place of Laura Larue, the star of the 'Secret Hearts' soap opera. Tough luck for the actual actors struggling out there!

I do like the little comment by Linda in the last panel. She had been trying to date him for most of this run. He ends up proposing to someone else. If only he had heard her passion earlier!

This was a simpler and, in many ways, better time.

Should she quit her job in education? Head to New York? Try out for an acting job on a soap opera?

She decides to bounce the idea of someone she trusts. She meets with her cousin. After a little back and forth, he tells her to go for it. He thinks she should go for it. And you can tell that Kara sort of needed to hear that. She can do something for herself for once.

Realizing that Supergirl and Linda Danvers shouldn't arrive in New York at the same time, Kara decides to act as Supergirl heroically in the Big Apple for some time, establishing herself there.

It is a rather mundane page of daring-do. She stops some muggers. She pulls someone off the train tracks. She starts to get some fans. Imagine that ... DC letting everyday people like their heroes. And she is as big a deal as Wonder Woman and the New Teen Titans!

But couldn't we get one shot of her punching out a super-villain?

Finally, we get something of bigger deal then petty theft.

As she flies by the UN building, a bomb goes off one of the middle floors, blowing out the windows and throwing out a delegate. Supergirl swoops by and grabs him mid-air.

His country isn't named but he is dressed as someone from the Middle East. He wants to work with the United States but terrorists have threatened him to break relations. This bomb was the first of many the terrorists have set up.

After dropping off the delegates with the police, Supergirl goes out and does her best to limit the damage from the other explosives. She can't stop the explosions at the Empire State Building or the Museum of Modern Art, but she significantly limits the damage. And she is able to defuse the one under the Atlas statue at Rockefeller Center.

People cheer for her! Supergirl is New York's Superman. Hurrah!

And then ... a plot twist.

The delegate who almost died in the initial explosion, being thrown out from an upper floor of the UN, is actually the terrorist.

Was the first explosion faulty? Did he plan to get thrown out of the building and get saved by Supergirl? Why tell her about the other bombs? Why?

I guess I shouldn't think too much about it. Because it makes no sense at all.

And that terrorist isn't going to escape. She tracks him by a unique smell at all the explosions.

And once again ... she is welcomed by the city, this time by the mayor!

Imagine that, a city welcoming a superhero with open arms! And people are smiling!!!!

I love it!

And with Supergirl established, Linda can arrive in New York City and sign the acting contract. Supergirl ... that is Linda Danvers ... is now a television star.

It's a whole new chapter in the life of Supergirl.

This is a nice little story showing how established Supergirl is, welcomed by as tough a city as NYC, and working to stop crimes both big and small. The art is classic Mortimer, smooth and clean. I like how Linda looks in this issue.

Now I don't know if this is a huge issue in Supergirl history but it does mark a shift. As such, it should be held as being of moderate importance to a Supergirl collection, akin to Superman #376. You can probably find it for $1-3 at conventions and it is worth buying.

Overall grade: B

Review: Red Lanterns #39

Red Lanterns #39 came out last week, the second of Landry Walker's brief run on the book, a run that will end next month with its cancellation of the book. It is a shame that this title is coming to a close because I would love to see just what Walker would have done had he been given more time on the book.

Last issue was a downbeat story with Guy inheriting a world he feels he deserves, a chaotic realm of pain and destruction. And this issue starts out similarly. About halfway through I was wondering just where this book was going. Would it be three issues of a depressing commentary on the human condition?

Then Walker turns the pages a bit, showing that love can still conquer all. And there is hope at the end of the book. This is why I would have loved to see where Walker would take the book.

But we know that this book is ending. In fact, this last page would have been a perfect open-ended finale to the book. It will be hard to top this.

As I have said in all my reviews of Red Lanterns, Jim Calafiore's art is perfectly suited for this book. Thick-lined, occasionally muddy, sometimes ugly ... just perfect.

Of course we open up with this odd, almost comedic splash page. Guy getting punched out by a baby.

Now it is a demonic baby. So it is sort of scary. But this is still a baby.

And it echoes the 'one punch' famous scene with Batman.

We flash back a bit.

Guy is walking across America, being drawn to areas of rage and death, the fallout of some Atrocitus attack.

I have to say, for some reason the first thing I thought about was Grounded. That was J. Michael Straczynski bad story where Superman walked across the country.

Guy enters the tiny town of El Sobrante. And there in the city center, is a cute baby sitting on top of a dead person. When Guy starts to analyze the baby, a giant rage demon comes up behind him and basically beats the snot out of Guy.

There are some interesting things to notice in the fight. One, the demon seems to be protecting the baby, or trying to separate Guy from the baby. Second, in the middle of the battle, his red energy seems to simply dissipate.

Luckily, Guy survives the battle. He wakes up in the home of an elderly couple who took in his unconscious body and cared for him. I love how they are afraid of the baby, asking Guy not to talk about the little tyke. It reminded me a little of the Twilight Zone episode 'It's a Good Life', where Billy Mumy plays an omnipotent kid.

Again, even here, Guy doesn't seem to have rage ... and as a result he has no red energy.

After a little legwork, Guy heads to the baby's home. He is Danton Dexter Dibble III. His parents died when the town was attacked by Atrocitus, crushed by the rubble.

And somehow, Danton has the ability to absorb everyone's rage. And that rage feeds this being who has possessed him in some way.

This is exactly what a rage demon should look like! It's ugly and spiky and smiling. Excellent.

Now I assumed that this thing was some manifestation of Danton's rage, that this thing was in him.

But Guy makes a point, at length, to say that this thing is a parasite. Danton absorbs the rage and this thing feeds off it. And when Guy decides to battle this thing, it possesses Danton.

This leads to 4 great pages of brawl with trucks being tossed, building being leveled, and Guy being punched.

There is only one way to end this. Guy queues up a loop of home movies, of Danton being loved by his mother. And that pain from missing her, that love of her, cuts through Danton's rage. Calm for a moment, Guy is able to suck the demon out of Danton and then eliminate it.

With the battle over, no one in the town wants to take over care for Danton. He has inadvertently brought so much pain to the place. And so Guy has no choice to become Danton's caregiver. Time to 'get in some trouble'.

Isn't there just a twinge of hope here? Guy as a dad, walking into the horizon? This is a great counterpoint to last issue. And this would be a great ending to the title!

We have one more issue with Walker at the helm. I am very interested to see what he has for us.

Overall grade: B+/B

Supergirl Casting: Jeremy Jordan As Winslow Schott

The casting news for the Supergirl show continues to impress. Greb Berlanti and Ali Adler and Andrew Kreisberg are really keeping me optimism high. The latest announcement was that Jeremy Jordan will play Winslow Schott. It looks as if The Wrap broke the story here: http://www.thewrap.com/cbss-supergirl-casts-last-five-years-star-jeremy-jordan/

Included in that was this blurb:
Jordan is set to guest star on the pilot (with the potential to recur on the series) as Winslow “Winn” Schott, a tech genius and superstar IT whiz who works alongside Kara (“Glee’s” Melissa Benoist) at Cat Grant’s (Calista Flockhart) company, CatCo.

 Jordan has been on Broadway in Newsies and Bonnie and Clyde. That means there will have to be a musical episode in the future sometime. He also was in the movie The Last Five Years.

I also find it interesting that he is listed as only a guest star in the pilot. I thought he was supposed to be more of a recurring character.

This was the initial description of the character:
CatCo programmer Winslow Schott is described as a twentysomething genius and "Comic-Con stalwart." He will be Kara's next door neighbor and develop a crush on her, which could lead to some awkward encounters should he ever give into the villainous tendencies of his comic book counterpart, Toyman.

So while still a tech whiz, Jordan skews older. He isn't described as a neighbor to Kara anymore. Nor is there the description of him as crushing on her.

My initial concern on the original description was that it seemed almost too analgous to Chloe on Smallville, a geeky tech genius with unrequited love. It sounded a bit cliche. So I am actually pretty happy with the new description. 

What do you all think? 

Back Issue Review: Wonder Woman #368 - The Lumberjack!

We learned recently that the first villain Supergirl will be facing on the Supergirl TV show will be The Lumberjack. No I consider myself an amateur historian for the DCU. I think I have a relatively comprehensive knowledge of these characters. But I was stumped ...

The Lumberjack??

Who the heck is he?

Well it turns out that he was a one-issue wonder, seen only in Wonder Woman #268, a book that I didn't read during the doldrums of the Bronze Age. So I suppose that I shouldn't feel too bad about not knowing much about him. And given my compulsion to cover stuff here and expand my comic knowledge, I did the only logical thing. I bought the issue and figured I would review it here.

I don't know if I will be able to drop a lot of knowledge on you. But at least you will know what I know about the villain as he is in the comics. (Recent leaked audition tapes of the Lumberjack make it sound like the show's version is an alien.)

This is the concluding chapter to an arc called 'The Cartel'. So we are jumping in at the end. From what I can tell, Animal Man and Wonder Woman have teamed up to stop an organized crime leader called 'The Prime Planner'. The Planner seems to have the thought to organize all crime, leading the two heroes across the world, stopping villains from all the continents.

"Battleground:France" was brought to us by Gerry Conway, Jose Delbo, and Vince Colletta.

And quite the opening, Buddy rubbing suntan lotion on Diana's back. They have uncovered that The Prime Planner is looking to gun down Mr. Krispin, the local crime boss. Or, it may be that this is a ruse to lure Wonder Woman and Animal Man out into the open.

It turns out to be the former.

An amphibian tank emerges from the ocean and attacks Krispin.

Leaping into action (and changing into her costume by leaping through her lasso's loop!), Diana plays 'lasers and bracelets'. The tank and its crew are quickly repelled by the heroes and beat a quick retreat.

To avoid a second attack, Diana grabs Buddy, Krispin, and Krispin's daughter and heads to Krispin's compound via the invisible jet.

I like Jose Delbo's art. Here Colletta's inks seem to overwhelm the art. Nice action sequence though.

And here is our first glimpse at the Lumberjack.

It sounds as though the Planner has rolled out super-assassins throughout this arc, one from each continent.

The Lumberjack is the North American assassin. His origin is pretty simple. Lumber "Jack" is a sideshow freak, reviled by his fellow and hating them in return, until he was offered a way to gain revenge on a world that made him an outcast.

Seriously ... that is all we get on him.

Does he have super-strength? Some limited invulnerability?

Who knows.

Meanwhile Wonder Woman decides to extract any information she can from Krispin. And when he isn't forthcoming on his own, she lets the lasso do the heavy lifting.

"Le Premier Planner" told Krispin to leave France and give up his empire. Krispin refused leading to the assassination attempt.

And the three new super-assassins, The Lumber "Jack", Red Fang, and the Changeling show up at Krispin's house to try to finish the job.

Now you would think that Wonder Woman should be able to eliminate these three on her own and without breaking a sweat. But it turns out to be a fight.

Another thing I can tell you about the Lumber Jack is that his fighting style seems to consist only of huge swings of the axe.

Incredibly, Wonder Woman gets knocked unconscious by Red Fang, the martial artist! Hmm ...

And Animal Man can't do much on his own. With the Lumber "Jack" about the decapitate him, he has to escape by burrowing as a mole.

That's right! These three D-listers best Wonder Woman and Animal Man!

The assassins bring Krispin's daughter (as a hostage) and Wonder Woman to the Prime Planner's mobile headquarters, a massive submarine. I suppose the reason to bring Diana is to brag about his victory? Try to keep her as a hostage? It doesn't make much sense.

And it turns out the be both. The Prime Planner reveals himself as Morgan Tracy, the head of the UN security force!

I was thrilled to see that Wonder Woman was faking all along. It was all a ruse to bring her close to the Prime Planner. And victory is easy ...

Wonder Woman simply punches her way through the hull of the sub, sinking it.

I suppose I might have more context about this if I read the beginning of this arc. But I found it amusing that in one panel this guy is completely defeated. "She's won ... she's won ... she's won .."

Why couldn't it be "And I would have gotten away with too ... if it wasn't for the meddling Amazon!"

In all honesty, I showed you everything I could about the Lumberjack, a big man swinging a big axe.

Anything we see in the show will be more than this. And I assume the show Lumberjack has to have more to him than just being a circus sideshow freak. So why was he picked??

Bullet Review: Multiversity: The Mastermen

I have been enjoying Multiversity, Grant Morrison on walkabout through the multiverse. The stand out for me has been Pax Americana, perhaps the finest comic I have read in years. The Secret Society of Super-Heroes and Thunderworld were also very good.

Last week Multiversity:Mastermen came out, a collaboration of mega-stars Grant Morrison and Jim Lee. This is Earth 10, the old Earth X of the pre-Crisis world, a place where the Nazis won World War II and Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters battled them.

Unlike that world though, this new Earth 10 has a Superman. And he is fighting for the Germans.

And there were enough Supergirl (or here, Overgirl) bits to make it worth a brief review.

Now the comic world went mad at the opening of the book, a constipated Hitler reading Superman comics while on the toilet. But for me, that was the most forgettable part of the book, something that seems more in line with a Mark Millar book.

No, for me, this story is about Superman. Crashing in the Sudetenland instead of Kansas, Kal-El (called Karl) becomes the Ubermensch, the Overman, which leads Germany to victory.

But this is a sad story. Because over the decades, as he continues to run the Reich, you can see that Overman is an empty shell. His life is without joy, without love, without meaning. The above moment of victory is fleeting, replaced by a wasted life.

While there is a Nazi-based JLA, the rebels on the planet are growing stronger and somehow winning.

And Overgirl, the Nazi Supergirl, has been killed at the hands of the growing opposition. We see how her death affects Overman. His dreams are nightmares, reliving this  moment in a Hellish landscape.

This is another homage to the classic Crisis on Infinite Earths #7.

It isn't the first time we have seen Overgirl die. Way back in 2008, in Final Crisis #3, she came through the bleed and died on Earth-1.

Overgirl's death is recent. There is a memorial dedication to her the next day.

It is the small touches of these different Earths that make me appreciate them. On this Earth, Superman is married to Lena Luthor! This world is completely topsy-turvy from what we are used to. Having 'Karl' married to a Luthor is a perfect way to show us how crazy this place is.

She tells him that he needs to be strong at the memorial.

At the memorial, we hear that Overgirl 'died on a distant world'. Maybe that Final Crisis death is 'in continuity'?

Finally, at this service, we learn that the narrator of the book is this world's Jimmy Olsen. He is close to Superman here, a propagandist, but also someone who knows just how empty Superman is.

But the rebellion doesn't stand by while the enemy mourns.

In a great shot, we see the spirit of Uncle Sam leading the attack while the Human Bomb detonates, ending the memorial sevice.

I will say there are some odd wrinkles to the story as well.

I liked how the death of Overgirl seemed to be weighing on Overman, the last straw which has broken his will. Could this loss make him finally realize that he is in charge of a world he hates?

We then learn that the superhumans that are fighting for the undeground, the Freedom Fighters, were given their power through experiments by Dr. Sivana. I love the fact that Sivana ... all of them from all the universe ... are being set up as the big bad in the story.

And I love the redesigned Phantom Lady costume!

One thing that I have seen in many Elseworlds Superman stories is how his 'goodness', his morality, is inherent. Regardless of where he is raised or how he is treated, the real Superman shows. Here, despite what I am sure was a childhood of indoctrination, we see him mourn as he sees the result of the concentration camps. He was away, on the front, while this genocide occurred.

It is the most chilling scene in the book. 

But where other Elseworlds Supermen would change things, make the good rise, this Overman seems to just be crushed by the weight of the world. Instead of shining his light, he just allows the madness to continue around him.

The book ends with the Human Bomb, captured by the JLA, detonating himself on their satellite causing it to plummet to Earth and raze Metropolis. Overman couldn't stop this.

I love Uncle Sam here, extolling the virtues of freedom and the American Way. The issue ends with Overman kneeling amidst the ashes. He is utterly defeated ... but it isn't just physically. He is spiritually defeated.

These Multiversity one-shots are fascinating glimpses into the edges of the new DC multiverse. I would rank this book as one of the better ones, a solidly somber tone to contrast the lighter Thunderworld and pulpier Secret Society.