Supergirl is coming to TV next season with a lot of buzz and speculation which is great but I do worry about this new interpretation of Our Kara, if indeed that's who she's going to be. She has always been a paradox over at DC as a necessary spin-off/protected copyright yet almost an embarrassment when published. She is a valuable commodity yet expendable as she was sacrificed to cement the Post-Crisis Superman as "the Last Survivor of Krypton". Then, she kept on returning in different incarnations in multiple guises with some merely there as eye candy.
Supergirl is both a marketable trademark with name value and recognition yet has always been a creative conundrum as writers have struggle to give her "never-ending battle" any depth or meaning. The basic questions seem to be:
- What makes her different from Superman?
- Does she make Superman a more defined character or diminish him?
- Where is she during EVERY major event?
- Should she be his cousin?
- Can she only be relevant as Superman's cousin or is she being held back because she's his cousin?
I already argued about her not being a member of the Justice League. Indeed she comes off as lesser than an JLAer or Teen Titan. In fact, even Batgirl seems higher up than her in some ways.
There was a constantly more soap opera than super-heroics in Supergirl's solo stories. All jokes aside, her relationship with Bronco Bill Starr (aka Comet the Super-Horse) could only lead to heartache. Her friendship with Lena Thorul was filled with more secrets than usual with a hint of jealousy. The return of Zor-El and Allura from the "dead" had them co-exist with her adoptive parents, the Danvers, which had her juggle daughterly duties on two worlds. Also having two sets of parents alive and well gave her everything that Superman was missing in his life and felt guilty over. Yet very little was made of that.
As for some wonderings:
- Did Linda have a major in college? id she have any ambitions or goals besides being Superman's backup plan?
- She had multiple professions during the 70s and 80s. Was that due to a lack of direction? Green Lantern suffered that as well!
- The main reason why she joined the Legion of Super-Heroes was to have "super girlfriends" yet she was never close to any of them. Why didn't she participate more?
- What did she really think about Lois Lane? She didn't seemed to keen about Superman marrying her!
- Did she visit Kandor often after her parents relocated there? Did she ever have a Kandorian suitor?
- Was she that close with Batgirl? I recall them teaming about four or five times but their "close" friendship always seemed to be a retcon parallel to Earth-Two's Power Girl and Huntress.
- Did she consciously separate herself from the rest of the super-heroes?
- Did she need her own "Jimmy Olsen"? Someone that Supergirl could talk to and share her adventures?
- Did she need to be Supergirl? Could she have been just as happy staying as Linda?
The potential of Supergirl and her place in the DCU was staggering and I'm sure that any of us could think up a good number of workable scenarios to make the character work. She's taken a lot of abuse over the years and a lot of disrespect. It might be a good thing that she's going to be on network TV as that should protect her from the salacious aspects that they've been emphasizing lately.
What do you think about her, past, present and future?
Replies
I never understood why she maintained the Linda Lee Danvers identity--Clark Kent actually had a life, and friends, and a history going back to toddlerhood, but all Linda had was a randomly chosen name and a wig. Oh, and life in the crappiest orphanage this side of Annie. I'm not saying that she shouldn't have had an "Earth identity", but some effort should have been made to establish what was in it for her--even at its most wackadoodle, the Wonder Woman series usually managed to give some reason for WW to spend so much time as Diana Prince.
It was somewhat redundant to have her and Superboy and Mon-El all at the same time, but I'd say she still participated quite a lot. Sure, she left the Legion earlier than Superboy, but there were likely a lot of reasons for that.
If my cousin were marrying someone who didn't trust him/her, was constantly snooping around, was clingy and fickle as Silver Age Lois, I wouldn't want my cousin marrying that person either.
I think that's much more a recent thing. I don't recall them palling around much during the Silver/Bronze Ages. If it hadn't been for World's Finest I doubt they would have teamed at al
In the Silver Age, she was shown to be so lonely that she traveled back in time so she could have Superboy as a playmate. I think that answers that question.
I don't know about need, but she wanted to be Supergirl.
"What did she really think about Lois Lane? She didn't seemed to keen about Superman marrying her!"
Well, apparently, she was in Lois' camp at one point. In "Lois Lane's Secret Romance", from Lois Lane # 14 (Jan., 1960), the Matchmaker of Steel embarks on a campaign to lure her cousin, Superman, into proposing to Lois. Like all teen-agers, though, Supergirl wasn't as clever or sneaky as she believed she was. The Metropolis Marvel saw through her scheme and foiled it.
However, at that point, Supergirl hadn't had too much interaction with Lois Lane. Once the Girl of Steel saw for herself how accurate Randy's assessment of Lois' character was, her opinion of the "plucky newshen" no doubt cooled considerably. (No doubt accompanied by a streak of apologies to her super-cousin for almost totally screwing up his life.)
"Was she that close with Batgirl? I recall them teaming about four or five times but their 'close' friendship always seemed to be a retcon parallel to Earth-Two's Power Girl and Huntress."
They were friendly, the same way you are with your mechanic or stockbroker, but not particularly close, not in the way Superman and Batman were.
It's important to remember: there was no Supergirl-Batgirl team, as there was a formal partnership between the Man of Steel and the Gotham Gangbuster. Supeman and Batman sought out each other's help; they went on joint cases together. (At least, nine-hundred-ninety-nine of them, per World's Finest Comics # 155 [Feb., 1966].) They exchanged their personal secrets.
Only the other hand, on each pre-Crisis occasion [see below] that Supergirl and Batgirl worked together, they were thrown together by circumstances. There was never an occasion when one deliberately sought out the help of the other on a case. They never exchanged the knowledge of each other's civilian identities.
In my opinion, they were acquaintences and professional colleagues, but not friends in the sense of Superman and Batman or the Flash and Green Lantern.
Pre-Crisis, Supergirl and Batgirl shared adventures in the following tales:
"The Supergirl-Batgirl Plot", World's Finest Comics # 169 (Sep., 1967)
"The Superman-Batman Split", World's Finest Comics # 176 (Jun., 1968)
"The Supergirl Gang", Adventure Comics # 381 (Jun., 1969)
"Cleopatra, Queen of America", Superman Family # 171 (Jun.-Jul., 1975)
"The Attack of the Annihilator"/"The Fires of Destruction"/"Bride of Destruction", Detective Comics 508-10 (Nov., 1981 through Jan., 1982)
Hope this helps.
"It might be a good thing that she's going to be on network TV as that should protect her from the salacious aspects that they've been emphasizing lately."
You never saw Two and a Half Men then.
A couple of stories in Superman Family in the 70s depicted her as regularly visiting Kandor to visit her parents.
Giving her foster parents then bringing her real parents back showed they didn't really know what they wanted to do with her and were just tossing things out to see what worked.
I still think that her first meeting with Batgirl has to be one of the strangest.
When it comes to Supergirl's relationships of any kind, the bar is set much lower than it is for most characters with their own series--while she and Batgirl were not as close as Superman & Batman (or even Robin & Jimmy Olsen), I can't think of any other costumed hero of either gender that Kara was closer to, at least in the 20th century.
What about uncostumed? Did Linda ever have any friends that hung out for awhile? Did she have super bad breath or something?
As we know they had a hard time writing teenage characters. Teenage girls may have been even harder for them.
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