THE BEST OF SUPERGIRL, PART 1: SGIRL AND GREEN LANTERN

[alschroeder3]

With the success of the SUPERGIRL TV show, DC, with its customary foresight, has no Supergirl series currently running, even though they've known for months that a Supergirl TV series was coming. So I thought I'd look at the best Supergirl stories...

...

Then I was momentarily stuck. Oh, there have been some memorable Supergirl moments--the death of Supergirl in CRISIS, or her heartbreaking time-travel appearance in "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow"--but both are kind of morbid to start out with. Other than that...there have been some good Supergirl moments, but even for me, who knows the Silver Age Super-Family about as well as anyone this side of E.Nelson Bridwell, really GOOD Supergirl stories...?

Then one more recent came to mind. Or rather...two.

From the BRAVE AND BOLD mini-series by Mark Waid and Geroge Perez, #2, May 2007 issue, 7 out of 22 pages.

Good to know that Hal's dating the underage Arisia was an aberration, not a character trait..

Hal explained that a book containing the entire history of the universe has been stolen (it's going to turn out to be the Book of Destiny, the one owned by Destiny of the Endless) and was on the planet Ventura. Ventura, which was the home of the intergalactic gamblers Rokk and Sorban, who appeared in several Silver Age comics, is an intergalactic Las Vegas, a world devoted to nothing but gambling.

Hal adopts a disguise, and they come to a stadium...

Hal realizes that the one gambler who would be betting on the disgised Supergirl would be the one person who knew the outcome--who had the Book of Destiny. GL and Supergirl nearly grab him, but the Book of Destiny is stolen by a member of the Rannian Rebel Underground, and when GL grabs him, both are Zeta-Beamed back to Rann.

Which leaves Supergirl stuck on Ventura--unsure even where Earth was, much less Rann.

She'd have to get someone who could guide her to Rann...

Which will lead us to the most unlikely Supergirl co-star EVER...in Part 2, later tonight.

Comments

[q99]

-Hal realizes that the one gambler who would be betting on the disgised Supergirl would be the one person who knew the outcome--who had the Book of Destiny.-

Honestly, considering things like GL rings, Daxamites, Martians, and other species with powers, a small foe being disproportionately powerful shouldn't seem *that* out of the question.

[lucean]

I wouldn't actually put the lack of a Supergirl book on DC's lack of foresight, but rather that despite several efforts to spin the character, the sales of the book were abysmal and she had no place in the DCU. With the latter being a clear issue even before they brought her back.

Besides, there's no signs that a popularity of a tv series helps the comic sales. Flash has pretty good ratings while the Flash comic is selling pretty badly considering how much the character has been pushed in the DCU.

If I had to guess, what DC is probably waiting for the show to run and pick up steam before trying to rebrand the character in the DCU comics next year.

[laughing_tree]

"Besides, there's no signs that a popularity of a tv series helps the comic sales."

Yeah, isn't that the argument that always gets used when the companies try to tie in to stuff the fans would rather they don't tie into, e.g. Nick Fury, Jr., Daisy Johnson as Skye?

[lucean]

I'm not talking about arguments, I'm talking about numbers. For example really specific Flash example I gave.

Besides, I doubt that they did the switch with Nick Fury due to book sales since they weren't pushing books with either characters when the switch happened.

[ozaline]

No place in the DCU, I think we'll have to disagree there. I've heard the arguments, that Superman should be the only survivor of Krypton that it cheapens his story to have anyone else... And surely before the reboot there were too many Kryptonians running around, but I think having one more doesn't hurt things too much they're still a doomed race... and Kara's relationship with Krypton is more interesting since she actually remembers it, and has to adapt to Earth life in a way Clark didn't. Her story is more relatable in a lot of ways, where Clark isn't by design (not that Clark can't be relatable on an emotional level, if done right).

I also think every run on her book has been pretty well done since Sterling Gates' regardless of lackluster sales. I really want to see more of her friendship with Siobhan, and even that weird school for cosmic guardians she was in at the end, that was a neat concept.

[lucean]

Sure we can disagree on her not having a place, although I would point out that I don't actually dislike the character, I'm more neutral and shrug on her. And I can't comment of the quality of the writing on her books, but there are a lot of really well written comics with poor sales so I have no difficulties believing the quality.

As for Kara's position in the DCU, it is a tricky one as it is clear from the books that they are struggling to find. The problem isn't necessarily the concept of Clark being the last Kryptonian, although it doesn't help, but rather that Kryptonians are such heavy hitters. When setting up that power level, it was probably done largely because Clark was the last one, but with Kara there it leaves the question of what are they supposed to do with her? She is so powerful yet can't overshadow in the DCU and her enemies require such a powerlevel that it is difficult to fit in to the main universe.

To be fair to her, I do agree that DC has dropped the ball on a couple points as what I think she really needs a group book to allow her to be properly establish relative to main DCU, but they haven't found really anything that works. Sad thing is that the current JL would be a great opportunity for that as Clark is functioning at a lower power level so it would be a chance for Kara to momentarily take over as the power hitter for the League, but Johns is somehow spinning a DCU defining event without involving the DCU.

And, to be honest, I really don't understand how Kara is supposed to be more relatable with her memories of Krypton, but then again I don't really need to.

[alschroeder3]

"There's no sign that popularity of a tv series helps the comic sales"---Well, I would argue that often a TV series does help a comic. Certainly the radio and TV series of Superman--Adventures of Superman, Lois and Clark, Smallville, and now Supergirl--have helped keep Superman a going concern, surviving the Golden Age when the rest of the Golden Age heroes were dying off. Jack Larsen's delightful portrayal of Jimmy Olsen is probably one reason the Jimmy Olsen comic lasted as long as it did.

Certainly the immensely popular ADam West Batman TV show helped Batman's sales, and led to Brave and Bold becoming not an anyhero team-up book but a Batman and co-star team-up book.

I would argue Flash's problems are more from lackluster writing rather than the TV show's appeal. It is failing despite the TV show's popularity, not that it isn't helped by it. Certainly the Green Arrow book is being helped by the popularity of Arrow.

Marvel, at least, decided to make a SHIELD book to take advantage of the TV show's exposure.

Certainly the media exposure in movies has led to renewed interest in Guardians of the Galaxy and ten thousand variations of the Avengers.

Or do you consider movie exposure different from TV show exposure?

[lucean]

As for Superman, those shows did keep him prominent, but aside form Lois and Clark, I don't actually know if any of them had impacts on the actual sales of the comics which is a primary question for a publisher.

The West Batman, though, is a bizarre argument for me as the Batbook sales crashed almost immediately after it as the tone of the books was so drastically different from the show which itself grew really stale for the viewers pretty fast. For decades, he DC editorial itself referred to the show as causing more harm than good. The Batman animated series and Batman movie, though, did elevate the sales of the comics, but the Batman books during that time were already hitting a creative stride.

As Arrow, I haven't actually seen much evidence of series pushing the sales up, as the sales of the book seemed to be on average in the low twenties which is somewhat understandable as Ollie in the series is so drastically different from the Ollie in the books. And dismissing the lack Flash sales on the writing is difficult as they never really had that long term sales increase to justify that and, besides, by that argument wouldn't the series only help Supergirl only if they had a really well written book for her?

As for SHIELD and GotG, I agree the media exposure helped with those, especially with GotG, and I think there is an argument to be made for Iron Man benefitting from the movies, but with the books we are still waiting to see where those sales stabilize to and if the exposure actually translated in to sales. Additionally, both of those series had a position relative universe, a function in them, while they have been trying a decade to find that position for Kara.

[alschroeder3]

Concerning the West Batman...HOW THE 1960'S BATMAN TELEVISION SERIES HELPED SAVE BATMAN: How Sales surged under the show; how it returned both Riddler and Catwoman from over a decade of rertirement; how it spurred the creation of Batgirl, and, although the article doesn't mention it, the resurrection of Alfred, who had DIED in the comic.

Yes, there was a reaction against the "camp" version afterwards, and O'Neil and Adams wisely modelled him on the Shadow and the earliest Batman. But his prominence never faded after that.

I was around when the ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN was playing, and let me assure you, the show was a major factor in the popularity of the comics (including a guest appearance of "Superman" on I LOVE LUCY, the most popular show on Television), being one of the few fantasy-and-science-fiction oriented shows that kids could see in the fifties and early sixties.

[lucean]

I just confirm first that do you have actually successful impact examples that are from the modern age? It is just I can''t comment on those specifics really that much as they are before my time, but of the current shows of the past 20 years, I have not seen much evidence that the tv viewership translating in to comic book sales. They examples I can think of are Lois & Clark and Batman animated series, with both of those being from the beginning of the 90s.

[alschroeder3]

And Harley Quinn started in that selfsame Batman animated series, correct? Last I heard, the sales of Harley Quinn's comic is quite healthy..

[lucean]

First that is a part of the Batman Animated series which I did mention as an exception. Second, are you seriously arguing that the reason Harley Quinn is selling well is because she was in an animated show almost 20 years ago?

[alschroeder3]

Well, it doesn't HURT that most comic buying adults saw her in a cartoon twenty years ago and are familiar with her name and her schtick. Recognition definitely helps. She doesn't have to prove herself the way a totally new character would, she doesn't have make a name for herself. Many good characters, like the female Manhunter from DC, died precisely because she wasn't well known.

Seems like you want it both ways. When I cite how the Adam West Batman was a very real force in driving Batman sales up and reintroduced a ton of characters who hadn't appeared in decades, you say it's too old, "before your time", you want something from the last twenty years, successful "impact examples" for the modern age.

When I mention one that is definitely within that twenty years you say I can't "argue" that. Certainly I can.

[lucean]

Again, she is actually part of one of the two exceptions I admitted before you even brought her up and while I agree that it did give her that push and did introduce her to comics, saying that her current success is because of that series is questionable to say the least.

So here's my main problem with the argument here. The main claim here from you is that DC is foolish for not having a Supergirl comic series going with the tv series appearing to a smash hit. My counter-argument was that there is really little to show that the success of a tv show translates in to comic sales, which is what matters to DC. My examples are the current successful DCU tv shows of Flash and Arrow. Your two primary examples are from fifty years ago when both the comic and tv industries were vastly different. And that crowning example you use of the current time, Harley Quinn, hasn't been in television for almost twenty years before the success of her serires.

Based on this logic you are pushing for, it doesn't matter when DC publishes the Supergirl book. Now that she has been on the show, even if they do a decade later, it will push those numbers up. Do you understand my difficulties with these arguments?

[lieut_kettch]

Blonde? Check.

Alien? Check.

Jailbait? Check.

Can you imagine Clark's reaction when he finds out his underage cousin is hanging out with Hal Jordan?

[kerithwyn]

Old-school, I'm fond of her Legion of Super-Heroes appearances: Legion of Super-Heroes #303 and #314. Some scans here: http://comicboxcommentary.blogspot.com/2015/02/happy-valentines-day.html