Supergirl

December 26, 2011 5:36 PM

Who is Supergirl? It's complicated. It's really complicated.

Just remember that the Supergirl appearing in comic book shops today is one "you only think you've met before".

Therefore, she may or may not like Popeye's Fried Chicken.

posted by Trurl (61 comments total)

I remain hopelessly addicted to "Supergirl" comics. I could write a whole book about why I love "Supergirl" which happens to feature the best Supergirl panel ever at the end.
posted by The Whelk at 5:44 PM on December 26, 2011 [10 favorites]

That's really super, Supergirl.
posted by The Whelk at 5:54 PM on December 26, 2011 [8 favorites]

argh link
posted by The Whelk at 5:54 PM on December 26, 2011

At every turn, there's more evidence of Silver Age Superman's Superdickery. Actually, it makes him a more interesting character than the boring all-american goody goody superman that tends to show up in adaptations. I'd like to see a vaguely menacing, condescending superman in a movie, gently being an asshole and forcing his will on everyone because nobody can stop him.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:55 PM on December 26, 2011 [5 favorites]

I'm really enjoying the rebooted Supergirl. It's one of the better New 52 titles.

(But I don't see why she can't wear tights.)
posted by robcorr at 5:56 PM on December 26, 2011

You'd like Red Son, Mr. Encyclopedia.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 5:59 PM on December 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

That's really super, Supergirl. Sorry. It was the first thing that came to mind.
posted by Grimgrin at 6:01 PM on December 26, 2011

It's especially hard to keep track because she has so damn many costumes.
posted by adamrice at 6:06 PM on December 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

I haven't read the reboot but Supergirl has a ton of potential as a foil to The Big Blue Boy Scout. His morality and ethics are from his upbringing, the values the Kent's instilled in him and his deep sense of responsibility and duty with regards to his powers and toward his adopted planet. Kara has none of these, she didn't grow up on Earth, she doesn't need a secret identity or Fortress of Solitude*. Her relationship to her powers and responsibilities is much murkier and open to interpretation.

I mean they usually shove her into the Justice League cause she makes way more sense there and is great but I can;t help but feeling she'd be a constant thorn in Supes' side "What, why can't I just throw criminals into the sun?" and all.

*what she does however, is pants. Yeesh.
posted by The Whelk at 6:07 PM on December 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

I kinda like the cloak-wearing Supergirl here
posted by The Whelk at 6:09 PM on December 26, 2011

er the Legion, no idea why I put Justice League up there.
posted by The Whelk at 6:12 PM on December 26, 2011

I'd like to know how many different Supergirls were actually related to Kal-El, please!
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 6:18 PM on December 26, 2011

The best version of Supergirl was the Evan Dorkin/Sarah Dyer version, created for Superman: The Animated Series.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 6:21 PM on December 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

Superman is fundamentally a servant of the status-quo. I think this has been examined many times. The Authority is sort of a taste of what you would have with a Superman like character, Apollo, that was something of an unstoppable force and doesn't care much for the status-quo.
posted by Ad hominem at 6:23 PM on December 26, 2011

(But I don't see why she can't wear tights.)

They make her butt look big.
posted by planet at 6:23 PM on December 26, 2011

Basically a doctoral freaking thesis on the history of Supergirl "Who Is Linda Danvers"
posted by The Whelk at 6:23 PM on December 26, 2011

I humbly maintain that this (along with this and this) is the best Supergirl ever.
posted by Toby Dammit X at 6:31 PM on December 26, 2011 [11 favorites]

Yeah, I am totally a non-comics guy, but the other day for some reason (I can't recall why—oh, wait, it was from the blog of that comic store owner guy) I spent a bunch on Wikipedia trying to make sense of Supergirl. I mean, I am approximately 99.9% ignorant of the whole Infinite Earths thing, knowing what little I have by occasionaly references here and there and then looking at a few Wikipedia pages.

But, you know, this whole Supergirl thing was the most confusing, ever. Partly that's because, I think, the Wikipedia entries are written by and for people who already know a lot of this stuff. And the relationships are extremely convoluted, with different universe versions of the characters getting involved with different universe versions of others and, oh, hell, I can't remember how any of this works.

All I know, is that Power Girl would have pre-occupied me if I had been a teen and read comics when she was around.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 6:31 PM on December 26, 2011

This is the Supergirl that will forever be in my heart.
posted by SPrintF at 6:37 PM on December 26, 2011

I tend to think that anyone whose superpowers involve flying should not wear skirts, but I guess too many artists like drawing upskirt panty shots. I'm not sure the 70's hot pants costume is much of an improvement though.
posted by Karmakaze at 6:45 PM on December 26, 2011

Cory Walker of Invincible fame has a blog with a lot of Supergirl costume ideas.
posted by MegoSteve at 6:48 PM on December 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Actually, I see from the Wonder Woman blog that Power Girl was pretty much perfectly timed with my adolescence—unfortunately, I had stopped reading comics when I was about nine or ten and thought of it as a sub-literate activity at the time. I'm old.

This whole comic-books-are-socially-acceptable-and-even-kinda-intellectually-nerdy thing, in conjunction with "graphic novels" really caught me by surprise in the nineties and it took me a while to abandon my snobbery and become okay with it. But when I was a kid, the only kids I knew who kept reading comic books after, say, third grade were kids who absolutely didn't read actual books and this was how many/most people thought about them then.

But I really loved Spider-Man and vividly recall having my parents read the scene of the comic that was a re-telling of the then-popular Burt Reynolds movie, The Longest Yard (at least that's how I remember it), to prove that this was more mature stuff.

That time—around 1969-1975—was the ascendancy of Marvel and, honestly, I can't recall reading very many DC comics at all. If only I had been a couple of years older and they'd introduced the Power Girl version of Supergirl, maybe I would have.

BTW, I read some of the Harvey comics and as far as I'm concerned, the world is long overdue for a Wendy the Good Little Witch movie.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 6:54 PM on December 26, 2011

All I know, is that Power Girl would have pre-occupied me if I had been a teen and read comics when she was around.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich

"According to the Wikipedia entry: The original artist to draw her, Wally Wood, started her out with large breasts and intended to see how much further he could push it. He allegedly planned to keep increasing her bra size a bit more in each consecutive issue to see how exaggerated things could get before someone on DC's editorial staff would finally catch on and tell him to stop. It appears that Wally moved on to other things after a mere eight issues, however, so I guess we'll never know just long he could have gotten away with it."

Now that's I alternate universe that needs to be explored...
posted by 445supermag at 7:03 PM on December 26, 2011

I would just go with whatever the DCAU does - that's usually the cleanest and most concise distilation of any characters ethos and history.
posted by Artw at 7:05 PM on December 26, 2011 [5 favorites]

(Oh, and asshole superman is fine for elseworlds but a distaster in the mainstream DCU - his core defining traits are having those powers and not being an asshole with them - take the "not being an asshole" big away and the concept swiftly becomes monsterous.)
posted by Artw at 7:10 PM on December 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

The world needs more super-heroine reboots like this one.
posted by charlie don't surf at 7:16 PM on December 26, 2011 [3 favorites]

Is this the thread about Hawkman?
posted by vrakatar at 7:27 PM on December 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

A moments silence now for all the former Batgirls.
posted by Artw at 7:33 PM on December 26, 2011

Is this the thread about Hawkman?

I thought it was about Donna Troy.
posted by KingEdRa at 7:35 PM on December 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

The Legion of Dissociative Secret Identity Orders!

Roll Call! Supergirl(s)! Hawkmen! The Donnas Troy!
posted by KingEdRa at 7:40 PM on December 26, 2011 [5 favorites]

Are you sure it's not about Deanna Troi?
posted by hippybear at 7:41 PM on December 26, 2011

I kinda like the cloak-wearing Supergirl here

WARNING: This link contains a steampunk Supergirl that you just can't unsee.
posted by jimmythefish at 8:13 PM on December 26, 2011

Supergirl is no She-Hulk.
posted by infinitewindow at 8:23 PM on December 26, 2011

She-Hulk is red and has a sword since when?

TBH I find Hulk status hard to track at times as well.
posted by Artw at 8:25 PM on December 26, 2011

Supergirl and Batgirl. 'Nuff said.
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:32 PM on December 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

I lost track of hulk when he turned grey the first time. I'm sure it would take months of reading to catch up and figure out why he's red. Or is that his son? Gah.
posted by Ghidorah at 8:35 PM on December 26, 2011

And Merry Christmas from Supergirl and Batgirl.
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:36 PM on December 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

That's not She-Hulk (Jennifer), That's Red-She-Hulk. It's Betty Ross. Fall of Hulks storyline. Resurrected by M.O.D.O.K.

It's a whole big mess...
posted by mikelieman at 8:39 PM on December 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

Well, that's soap operas for you.

I see she's been being dead.
posted by Artw at 8:42 PM on December 26, 2011

Isn't Red Hulk Betty Ross' Dad? So the Red Hulks are a family act, just like the Green Hulks? FWIW, I call Hulk's son, Skaar "Green Conan" just to keep the Banner branch of Hulkdom straight in my head.

I want a crossover where they have variously colored Hulk Corps representing the emotional spectrum, like in DC's Blackest Night.

"ORANGE HULK IS ONLY ORANGE HULK THERE IS!"
"RARRGH! YELLOW HULK TOO SCARED TO SMASH PUNY HUMAN!"
"Blue! Hulk! Is! HOPE-EIST!"
"Indigo Hulk RELAX!"
"RED HULK MAD! RED HULK PUKE ALL OVER PUNY HUMANS"
"VIOLET HULK IS BELOVED PARODY!"
"Green Hulk Confused. Why So Many Hulks?"
posted by KingEdRa at 9:02 PM on December 26, 2011 [3 favorites]

I lost track of hulk when he turned grey the first time. I'm sure it would take months of reading to catch up and figure out why he's red. Or is that his son? Gah.

It's his ex-father-in-law, Thunderbolt Ross, Which makes for an interesting idea that's been used really well in the Hulk series under Jeff Parker, who uses the book to explore what it's like to be a military man who no longer commands and who has become the thing he hates the most. (For the record, prior to Parker, the book was a beautifully-illustrated hot mess written by Jeph Loeb.)

Bruce Banner is still the "regular" Hulk and while I've heard that the new series by Aaron/Silvestri is good, I was too fond the soap operatics of Greg Pak's run to not walk away when he left.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 9:02 PM on December 26, 2011

(Boy I did a bad job re-writing that first sentence there.)
posted by beaucoupkevin at 9:03 PM on December 26, 2011

Man I wrote an actual published-by-Marvel She-Hulk story that I think only two people on earth liked and I wasn't one of them.
posted by The Whelk at 9:05 PM on December 26, 2011 [3 favorites]

Defenders Hulk not speak like Hulk. :-(
posted by Artw at 9:17 PM on December 26, 2011

So Defenders Hulk is 1990's "Smart Hulk?" *zzzzzz* BORING! The only good thing to come out of that era was Rick Jones' Bachelor Party issue. The whole notion of ROM, Space Knight drinking beers and watching a porno was my favorite "COMICS!" momentof the 90's
posted by KingEdRa at 9:53 PM on December 26, 2011

Everything else about Defenders is pretty awesome, mind.
posted by Artw at 9:57 PM on December 26, 2011

Who is Supergirl? It's complicated. It's really complicated.

If you think Supergirl is complicated, wait until you get to Hawkman/Hawkwoman! I'm pretty sure the last DC writer who tried to untangle that continuity tangle ended up lobotomizing himself with a ballpoint pen.
posted by Rangeboy at 9:59 PM on December 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm pretty sure the last DC writer who tried to untangle that continuity tangle ended up lobotomizing himself with a ballpoint pen.

You mean Geoff Johns? One can only hope. To be fair, he did untangle all the Hawkman stuff back in the late 90's, only to tangle it all back up again in several years later. The man can't leave well enough alone (see his work on Green Lantern, Flash, etc). I'm dreading what he's going to do with his upcoming Shazam reboot.
posted by KingEdRa at 10:14 PM on December 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Geoff Johns is all about the angry GRAR characters, resulting in a ridiculous Superman for Justice League.
posted by Artw at 10:20 PM on December 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Continuity is confusing at the best of times. That supergirl/batgirl comic is the best thing I've seen today.
posted by arcticseal at 11:08 PM on December 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Thanks arcticseal, that was hilarious. The last line of comic #1 sums up everything wrong with the DCU perfectly.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 12:08 AM on December 27, 2011

Wait, didn't we just have a "Who is [comic book character]" post by a guy named tr**l?
posted by straight at 12:21 AM on December 27, 2011

Wow, that new Supergirl costume is terrible.
posted by straight at 12:32 AM on December 27, 2011

You see, Superman had said something to his precocious cousin Kara about how if he ever married, he would like it be to someone much like her, although of course Kal-El and Kara could never marry because Kryptonian Law forbade matings between first cousins.

(That last part was probably the key point of the speech, if not of the entire story that DC was offering us: To hammer home to the Silver Age fans the point that there was a strong legal/cultural Kryptonian taboo that guaranteed that Superman had no intention of ever getting romantically involved with Supergirl, his first cousin, not even after she finished growing up. ...)

Because Silver Age fans was just nasty.
posted by mph at 12:44 AM on December 27, 2011

I lost track of hulk when he turned grey the first time.

What, back in 1962 when he started out grey?


Everybody always tinkers with the Hulk's intelligence, as it's hard to write good stories about a hero with the intellect of a not very bright eight year old. Peter David's version of the late eighties and nineties was one of the best attempts to update him, though I liked Bill Mantlo's earlier Hulk with Banner's intelligence as well.

The irony behind the mess that is Supergirl, or the Hawkmen, or Donna "Wondergirl" Troia or a great many other less known examples is that it all started back in 1985 with an attempt to streamline the DC universe because the powers that be decided that having an Earth One and Earth Two (and Three and Four and Six and -S and C) was too complicated because nobody could understand two Supermen. Twentysix years later...
posted by MartinWisse at 4:01 AM on December 27, 2011

The lesson I'm getting out of this thread is that Peter David should stop trying to update things.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 7:23 AM on December 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

MetaFilter: all about the angry GRAR characters, resulting in a ridiculous Superman
posted by hippybear at 4:08 PM on December 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

So, she's his cousin? All I know is once I bought a comic book which had the whole Super "family" -- Superman, with a Super wife and a Super son and daughter -- posed before a white picket fence and promised to sort all this out for me. Instead I was left with a distinct impression that immigrants from Krypton were prone to incest.
posted by dhartung at 4:30 PM on December 27, 2011

Superwoman is actually Z Man, murderous transvestite.
posted by Artw at 5:36 PM on December 27, 2011

Wonder Woman Costume from Show You Never Saw Appears on Show You Never Watch, Worn by Actress from Show You Hated
posted by homunculus at 10:57 AM on December 31, 2011

Cute Hawkman primer.
posted by vrakatar at 12:17 PM on December 31, 2011