Supergirl Comics Journey Update #1

[kryptonianheart]

I have never been a fan of DC tbh. Not for any particular reason, but just because I was a Spider-Man fan as a kid so when I started reading comics I chose Spider-Man and then expanded to the rest of the Marvel universe. There were a few times I tried to read DC comics over the years ... but like with anything ... comics are incredibly daunting to get into. But I did absolutely love the Arrowverse when I was younger, including Supergirl (though I ended up dropping the show around season 4). And with DC releasing such fantastic films as Matt Reeve's Batman and James Gunn's Superman and Craig Gillespie's Supergirl coming out soon, I decided to take the plunge into the world of DC comics especially since it's been a while since I've read anything from Marvel. And in the past month, I have read a lot of comics.

Because the upcoming film is based on Tom King's Woman of Tomorrow, I read that first. And it is a great comic! Absolutely loved it and it is probably a good decent introductory comic, I admit, I wish I had waited a bit longer to read it. The comic is essentially a Supergirl character study from the perspective of a young girl on a quest for revenge and I think these types of defining character study comics work better when you already have a strong understanding of the character. I absolutely loved the comic! But I do wonder if maybe it would have been more impactful if I had saved my first reading of it for later. We will see if my perspective on the comic changes once I reread it after I read a lot more comics.

After that, I read the New 52 run and I really enjoyed it. It definitely had some challenges and issues with the writing and pacing, but I enjoyed the take on the character and how the comic portrayed Kara's grief and anger. I like it when Kara is a bit of a messy hero, but my biggest qualm with the comic series is I do feel like we didn't get as many moments of Kara being a proactive hero as I would have liked. A lot of things happened to her and then she reacted which does make sense for the story and what was going on, but after so many issues, I was eager to see Kara not have a totally shitty day of being randomly attacked ... and that wouldn't happen until many, many issues in.

I knew Rebirth was next to read, but I wanted to go back in time before the reboot and read Post-Crisis era Kara starting with her first appearance after decades in Superman/Batman. I really loved her initial appearance in this comic series. I thought the comic did a great job of exploring her isolation and the challenges she faces. I also liked the dynamic between her and Clark, Bruce, and Diana and how they serves as mentors to her. Sadly, this would not last. Her solo title left much to be desired and it went from "meh, it's fine" to "holy shit this is so bad" extremely fast. Her appearances in Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes were a welcome break from Joe Kelly's writing in her actual eponymous series, however, due to the nature of a huge team book Kara wasn't given too much of a chance to shine or develop especially with later on her memories of the events of the comics are erased in order to preserve the future timeline. Still, these comics were way more enjoyable than reading her solo title where she was subjected to about five jailbait jokes per issue. We get it! She's 16 and everyone thinks she's hot. You're so edgy. That isn't to say there weren't any issues during this period that I liked. I actually quite enjoyed "Little Miss Perfect" in issue #18. It's an interesting story idea that could have been better executed, but I like the idea of a messy, modern Kara fighting against an idealized version of herself based on the Silver Age. It just falls flat when the "messy" version of Kara is so poorly written.

Thankfully, Joe Kelly eventually left the title and it was taken over by Kelley Puckett. His run wasn't spectacular or anything but it was a remarkable improvement. I did actually quite like the story arc with the child who had cancer. And he helped to rehabilitate Kara's story a bit. Overall, I am glad that I read all of those issues because I had seen several people online say to just skip them, but while Loeb, Kelly, and Puckett all had flaws in their writing, there were elements I found enjoyable and intriguing ideas in each run.

But, anyway, my next comic on the reading list was Superman: Brainiac from Action Comics #866–870 and it was amazing. Kara has a relatively small role in that comic, but it's an important part of her story as it is—spoiler alert—the comic that brings a piece of Krypton back to life and begins the famous and beloved New Krypton arc. Let me not jump ahead though. I really loved Kara's appearance in the Brainiac storyline and she went on a full arc in those five issues that put her entire solo title to shame. Perhaps that sounds harsh, and it is, but after weeks of reading shitty comics, I was overjoyed to read this comic arc. Brainiac is one of the most fearsome beings to Kara as she was just a normal, everyday teenage girl when Brainiac arrived and killed millions while kidnapping an entire city on Krypton. She was not a superhero. She had no powers. She was a civilian and she was terrified then and now all these years later she is again terrified when Brainiac arrives on Earth, but she faces her fears and she conquers them and helps Superman save the day. It's a nice little arc for her and the conversation between her and Clark about mourning Krypton really captures to me all the differences between the two characters—both in how they conceive of the loss of Krypton but also in their perception of the other. Kara is still just a 16 year old girl so as she mourns the loss of Krypton, she tells Clark, "Sometimes I wish I was like you and didn't remember Krypton. Then I wouldn't miss it as much." And Clark just has this haunted look in his eyes because he misses Krypton everyday too. It's a difference sense of loss and grief, but grief all the same, and Kara at 16 isn't yet old enough to understand the burden that Clark feels even if its a different burden than the one Kara feels. It's a great comic!

And that leads me into the New Krypton arc where the Supergirl 2005 series finally gets good! Sterling Gates is a phenomnal writer and his take on Kara is really great. I'm also reading all the other interconnected comics that are part of the New Krypton arc and I'm about halfway through. I planned to talk more about it, but this post is getting long enough, so I think I'll save it for a second post. But it's so good! I was worried it wouldn't live up to the hype with countless fans online utterly gushing about Gates' Supergirl run but I'm happy to report it is well worth the gushing! My only gripe is I wish we got to see more Kara in her Linda Lang persona, but I understand that with the crossover it just couldn't happen but I do really like the relationship between Kara and Lana.