In the wake of Superman’s perish during the Doomsday storyline a handful of one-shots featuring other Metropolis characters or the city in general reacting to a world without Superman. These specials included such titles as Superman Legacy, Newstime: The Life and Death of Superman, and the subject of today’s blog post; Supergirl and Team Luthor. For those that aren’t quite as familiar with the early 90s Superman universe you may be surprised to find out that the Supergirl and Lex Luthor in this comic aren’t the 2 that you would generally associate with those monikers. The DC Universe page from this issue actually explains them significantly better and more concisely than I could. “He’s Lex Luthor the Second, a young, attractive billionaire who heads the largest multinational conglomerate in the United States of America. She’s Supergirl, a gelatinous blob of protoplasm who can change the course of mighty rivers-as well as her own appearance.” The only major part left out here is that Lex Luthor II is actually just the real Lex in a cloned body acting as his own Australian son. For more info on Supergirl’s origin, take a look back at my last post about The Supergirl Saga.
The book features 2 stories, a 38 page lead story and an 11 page backup, and 4 pin-up images. The lead story, “…The Future of Metropolis” is credited to Roger Stern writer, June Brigman layouts, Guice and Janke finishes, Albert de Guzman letterer and Glenn Whitmore colorist. The opening sequence is framed as a promotional video that Lex II is showing to the City Council to hopefully get the city’s support as Metropolis’s new protectors now that Superman was gone. I really like this sequence and think it helps catch readers up to speed on who Supergirl is and what she can do and the opening page mimicking the 50s Adventures of Superman opening. We’ve also got Supergirl saving a cat which I always like to see. When I was reading through this I was really hoping the whole comic would be framed like a video but where the story goes works pretty well and the 5 1/2 pages of faux promo video work great.
The story then shifts to Lex pleading the council that his Team Luthor and Supergirl should get the same special police powers that Superman once had. He brings up the extra-normal threats that Superman previously faced off against that his team could once again help the Metropolis SCU were unable to face on their own. The council still seems skeptical but coincidentally there is a break-in at STAR Labs which gives Lex the perfect opportunity to put his team, Supergirl, and himself into action.
All the while this is happening, the book splices in scenes of Supergirl helping the emergency services clean up after the destruction of Doomsday. We’ve also got a brief scene between Supergirl and Lois Lane where Supergirl complains about missing Superman and then after dropping Lois off at the Daily Planet realizes she was being rather insensitive seeing that Lois was much closer to the man of steel than she ever was.
Lex and Supergirl show up at STAR Labs and make quick work of the fiends (The DMT specifically) that are looking to steal back their armor from the Lab. This encounter is not without fault though, extensive damage has be wrought to the facility and Lex Luthor has suffered a serious leg break. This leg break along with the public’s general disapproval of the destructive nature of their attempted heroic act has put Lex in a rather sour mood. He lashed out at both Dr. Kelley and Happerstein before settling into his office where he is met with his live-in superhero/girlfriend.
Supergirl notices her partner is in a bad mood and uses her shape-changing ability to transform into what I can only assume is 3 pop culture icons but I only recognize Princess Leia (feel free to let me know who else is here). However none of these famous babes get Lex out of his funk but a quick change to Gretchen Kelley and a bit of motherly inspiration get’s Lex back to sorts. We also get to see Supergirl (still in Kelley form) go off on a couple of Lex Corp employees making blonde jokes and Lex proving to the reader that Lex II is just as cruel to his upper staff members as his father was.
Lex meets with Dr. Packard of Cadmus Labs, gets an idea to clone his girlfriend, and then Supergirl saves one of the Team Luthor goons from an excessively dangerous training exercise before we land into the final scene of this first story. Here we see the home of George Markham, who had previously been the ire of Lex Luthor in a board meeting, and surprise guest Hellgrammite. Markham, terrified, lets spill that he hired the monster to kill Lex Luthor the Second. Upon this proclamation, Lex and his Team Luthor crew step out from the shadows with cameras catching him in the act like it’s an episode of To Catch Predator.
We then cut to outside where Lex starts talking to Hellgrammite who is revealed to be Supergirl in disguise. That’s right reader, not only has Lex used inhumane means to put one of his staffers behind bars, he has also used the girl he proclaims to love to do so in a way that is obviously very painful for her. The Lex/Supergirl romantic coupling is clearly set up to be a bad encounter for Supergirl, but it’s handled quite well in this era and Lex really does cover his tracks rather well so it could be seen as a perfectly honest relationship from Supergirl’s perspective. I still don’t think she should be with him, although that is kinda the point.
The backup story really leans into Lex acting like a proper gentlemen where we open to Supergirl thanking him for building a new homeless shelter down by the river. “Shelter” is written by Louise Simonson, with art by Denis Rodier, colors by Glenn Whitmore, and Albert De Guzman lettering. We find a crew of Underworlders (they’re like the sewer mutants from Futurama) trying to check into the newly constructed shelter. Shenanigans ensue, the Underworlders accidentally start a fire because one of them has weird hands and the other makes sparks when he gets agitated, the non-mutants start shooting the mutants, and Supergirl enters the scene.
Once Supergirl shows up, she cools everyone off and stops the fire. Supergirl finds out that while the Underworlders did start the fire, it was only because everyone else in the shelter was accusing them of starting a flood that they had nothing to do with. Supergirl reports back to Lex that everything is all good now (aside from the gaping hole in the side of the building) but she still feels bad about the Underworlders and wishes to help them if she can. Lex on the other hand thinks of them too, but in a much more exploitative way. This story does feel a bit like a Very Special Episode, but it feels like we’re really getting to see that good ol’ Kent good heartedness that we love to see from people who wear the S shield.
We close out the book with 4 pinups by John Byrne, Art Thibert, Kerry Gammill & Bob Wiacek, and Doug Hazelwood & Tom Grummett. the Hazelwood/Grummett piece almost looks like an homage to the cover to the 1988 cover to Power Girl #1. This pinup might be my favorite of the bunch but all 4 are rather good.
I do want to make a mention about the art that is good all around but the coloring specifically (by Glenn Whitmore) was particularly striking and would often feature panels with spectacular lighting and monotone compositions that really pop. As I mentioned last week, I’ll be going through some more Matrix Supergirl stories in the coming weeks to shine some light on an odd period of Supergirl’s storied history.
The Daring New Blog of Supergirl 
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