Supergirl Surprise #7: Supergirl Vol. 4 #57

For this month’s Supergirl Surprise, instead of consulting a random number generator I instead opted to ask my husband to go through by Supergirl boxes and pick out one that he was drawn to. That book was Supergirl Vol. 4 #57, “Sharper than a Serpent’s Tooth”. This book was by Peter David (writer), Leonard Kirk (penciler), Robin Riggs (inker), Gene D’Angelo (colors), and Bill Oakley (letters), and had a cover date of June 2001. As I have continued on in this Supergirl Surprise adventure I’ve come to really enjoy reading stories as single issues and seeing how the story both fits into a larger narrative and also stands on it’s own. “Sharper than a Serpent’s Tooth” is a great example of this.

This story is part of the back half of Peter David’s run where Buzz and Linda are trekking across the country getting up to shenanigans as they track down the essence of the Earth Angel that was once Supergirl. This issue picks up where the previous issue left out with Buzz in the clutches of a giant bug monster, however the 22 pages presented here have a really solid story told all by themselves. We find out that this bug monster, Dominique, is actually the demonic spawn of Buzz himself many years before when he was fully powered up as a demon. There is a good few pages at the start of the story where it seems like they are beginning to come to an understanding with one another, but they part later in the story with Dominique slashing Buzz with her poisoned stinger.

“But where is Supergirl throughout this story?” is a question you ma be asking. Why she’s torturing information out of a young lady of course. The above panel is a nice exploration of the difference between Superman and Supergirl with the lines “But… S-Superman wouldn’t kill anyone!” and “Too bad he’s not here.” Thankfully the young lady, Mara, does not get eaten by alligators and instead tells the girl of steel where Buzz is being held.

Supergirl and Dominique fight, the rest of the family including Mara realize that they’re all awful people even if Dominique is the only one that looks monstrous, and Supergirl takes Buzz to safety at the end of the tale. There’s some other stuff that happens and some good dialogue throughout but at the end of the day its just a great excuse for Supergirl to fight a big bug.

During the early portion of the story when Buzz and Dominique are talking, Buzz mentions that she doesn’t have to look like a monster and if she puts her mind to it. We are able to to see Dominique putting this to practice on the final page so it seems that Buzz was able to give her something even though he is generally an awful person.

A few miscelanious moments from the issue I wanted to talk about just briefly that didn’t fit well in the synopsis. First up we’ve got Supergirl employing a biting technique to get away from Viktor. I don’t know why but superheroine’s biting in combat is one of my favorite things to see in comics. Next we have just a brilliant string of dialogue where Buzz asks (rhetorically) for a cigarette and surprisingly Dominique hand him a pack. After finding out the pack came from a dead body, Buzz asks what he died from and “lung cancer” is of course the answer which is a very common joke but is delivered quite well here. Last but not least we have Buzz confirming that Hitler was in fact the spawn of a demon.

As an added bonus to my husband picking out this month’s book, I also had him take a peek through the ads to see which was his favorite. He picked this ad for Pokemon Stadium 2 for the Nintendo 64. 2001 seems really late for a N-64 game but I’ve heard a lot of good things about this title and it’s predecessor. Looking through the rest of the book, there weren’t really any good ads aside from this one but luckily we do have a couple letters to look at.

First up, from Mark Moore, we get a a short list of questions that are successfully answered by the editor Mike McAvennie, but in the past 24 years we do have a bit more to talk about with these questions. First up, the Elseworlds title that is referenced here is Supergirl: Wings if I’m not mistaken. Kara Zor-El in 2001 was nowhere in DC Comics, but a pre-crisis (sort of) Supergirl does show up at the end of the run and Kara Zor-El would return to main continuity in 2004, but the closest we’ve gotten to silver age Supergirl in my opinion is Sophie Campbell’s current run on the maid of might. Question 3 seems to be asking about a pop rock star Supergirl with tie in tv show somewhat akin to Josie and the Pussycats if I had to guess and the editor responds with “There are no plans for a Supergirl movie, TV series, or (hopefully) a pop rock album.” While Supergirl has yet to have a dedicated album (from what I know) she did have a 6 season television show a few years back and is set to star in a major motion picture next year! The other letter, from Clint Crawford discuses his desire for a “costume that will make her stand out from the rest of Team Superman”. Much like the editor, I cannot understand how the costume in use by Supergirl doesn’t stand out. Of the many long term costumes Supergirl has worn through her longstanding career, this costume with the white shirt and blue skirt seems the most varied from the rest of the blue and red Superman Family costumes.

I hope you had a fun time reading through another issue of Supergirl with me and I hope you join me again next time! If you have any comments or suggestions for future blog topics you can email me at daringnewblog@gmail.com or leave a comment below!