Supergirl Trading Cards

Recently, to coincide with the release of Justice League Unlimited and the All In initiative that DC has been pushing, DC has been producing Justice League membership cards that comic book shops have been giving out as freebies. A couple weeks back a Supergirl Justice League membership card was released and I thought it would be fun to take a look at all the information on it and while we’re at it take a look at some of my other Supergirl trading cards from my collection. This is by no means an exhaustive list of all Supergirl trading cards and more just a casual peak into my personal collection.

Starting with the oldest card in my collection is this card with artwork from the cover of Supergirl (Vol. 2) #1. The first half of this series had the full title of “The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl” that you can see as part of the logo at the top. This card was bundled with a small die-cast Supergirl figure released by ERTL in 1990 along with a collection of other DC characters. I personally found this figure on a sale day at my local comic shop where it was still with its die-cast figure still in its packaging. There are some odd inconsistencies with this card and figure combo that I’d like to talk about before going too much into the specifics of the text on the back. Probably most notable to people who may pick up this figure is that the costume Supergirl is wearing on the card is not the costume she wears as a figurine. The figurine instead matches the costume Kara wears in the back half of the series after it drops the “Daring New Adventures” from it’s title. The other inconsistency is from the years listed on the back that I can only assume is a copy editing error. “She landed her own series in 1982” isn’t correct, The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl began in 1982, however Supergirl (Vol. 1) came out a decade prior in 1972. Lower down on the card it reads “Issue released November 1972” the way this is listed seems to be referring to the image on the front side of the card which is the cover to Supergirl (Vol. 2) #1 but the date listed matches the cover date to Supergirl (Vol. 1) #1. The text on the back itself gives a brief rundown of the character mentioning that she is the cousin to Superman and that she died in some ultimate battle that we know as the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Moving forward into the 21st century is actually the most recent card I’ve added to my collection. The VS System of playing cards is a trading card game that had cards that you could collect and battle based on heroes from comics both DC and Marvel. The VS System is something I got introduced to via my Language Arts teacher in 6th grade because she knew I liked superheroes. I never got into playing the game itself and I truthfully have no idea how to, but I did pick up these cards here and there while in middle school and high school. I’ve since gotten rid of or lost most of my collection but at a pawn shop last weekend I stumbled upon a booth selling packs of 15 cards for 50 cents each so I grabbed a couple and the Last Daughter of Krypton was one of the cards in the packs. This card is from 2004 and part of the Team Superman line. The pre-flashpoint Kara Zor-El is the subject matter of the card and has art by Ian Churchill who did the artwork for the first part of Supergirl (Vol. 5). The artwork on this card seems original because the costume seems slightly different from what she would go on to wear in her title, and since the card is from 2004 maybe it’s early concept art from before the series started. Since I am unaware of the full extent of the VS trading card game I can’t really explain all the numbers and symbols associated with the card but she does seem like a fairly powerful card to play which lines up with her comic counterpart.

Next up we have a card for Supergirl based on her appearance in Injustice 2. This card came bundled with a 7″ action figure and a comic as part of the Page Punchers line from McFarlane toys. The front of the card matches the cover of the included comic from the Injustice series of comics. This story, titled Alternate Endings, came out in 2022 and it seems to be an original comic that only got printed alongside the figure. The backside of the card gives a brief synopsis of of the Injustice Supergirl including her Kryptonian origin that seems to share many similarities to her Earth-0 counterpart but goes on to mention more specifically her cousin being imprisoned to match his status at the beginning of Injustice 2 when she makes her debut.

Next up, released in 2023 alongside The Flash movie, comes another card that came paired with a 7” figure both of which match Supergirl’s appearance from the movie. The artwork on the front of the card doesn’t seem to have any artist listed but it depicts Sasha Calle’s Supergirl. The back of the card once again gives a brief rundown of the character mentioning her imprisonment in a military base and her uncertainty in becoming a superhero.

As we close out our list we take a look at the card that gave me the idea for this post. Supergirl’s Justice League membership card includes some stats about her power level and heroic status. Some of the specifics are pretty obvious like “Status: Active”, “Metahuman Designate: Hero”, and to match her current ongoing title “Base: Midvale”. “Tier: Alpha” seems to imply she’s a rather important member of the league matching status with heroes like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. “Access: Global” seems to imply she has worldwide access to Watchtower teleported and JL embassies, putting her above heroes like Green Arrow with “Restricted Provisional” but under heroes like Superman who have “Universal” access. “Power Level: S-95” puts her tied for second place in terms of power lever alongside Wonder Woman and only behind Superman’s S-100 level. Supergirl’s profile picture is taken from Sophie Campbell’s cover to Supergirl (Vol. 8) #1. The backside of all these cards seems to have the same printing along with a QR code that links to the dc website’s page related to the All In initiative.

I had a great time taking a look at all these cards and I’d love to do a follow up after getting some more in my collection. The VS System alone has no less than 5 different Supergirl cards so I’m sure I can find plenty more to talk about. If you enjoyed this and have any suggestions for future posts feel free to send an email to blogofsupergirl@gmail.com.