This week we fly into Earth-11, one of the most easily identifiable universes in the DC Multiverse. Earth-11 is the gender swap universe. In short, the boys are girls and the girls are boys, and Supergirl is Superlad. While Earth-11 didn’t come about until the pages of Superman/Batman #23 in 2005, a similar theme of gender swapped DC characters was explored all the way back in 1980 in a Mxyptlk story from Superman #349. Earth-11 has since made quite a few appearances and even had a mini series set in this universe called Multiversity: Teen Justice.
The “Supergirl” of this universe, Superlad, first appeared in Superman/Batman #24 and has not shown up again since. However, in the aforementioned Superman #349 Superman encounters a “male counterpart to Supergirl, my Kryptonian cousin”. While this version is Superboy not Superlad, he bears many similarities to the later iteration. Because this character has such a small amount of story there isn’t much to go on in the way of backstory. Both characters are referred to as the cousin of their respective Superwoman so it can be assumed Superlad shares a similar origin to his Earth-0 counterpart.
As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork and it depicts Superlad in the foreground flying towards the viewer with his left arm extended. In the background you can see green fields and blue skies and the city of Midvale. The bottom right shows a sign depicting Superboy as he appeared in Superman #349 and text saying “Welcome to Midvale”. A motif in the top right shows Superlad’s S symbol and an 11 on top of it.
To coincide with season 7 of Smallville, the CW released a series of 6 short animations that were initially released and made available through Sprint phones and on the CW website. This is the 5th such series of shorts, all that have “chronicles” in the title, released like this alongside seasons of Smallville. The first 3 focus on Chloe Sullivan and are filmed in live action using the existing sets and telling short inconsequential stories that take place during the larger events of the show. The 4 chronicles series is a 3D animated telling of Oliver Queen’s origin and growth into Green Arrow. The Chronicles of Krypton is more similar to the Oliver Queen Cronicles as opposed to the earlier series. It is also animated, however as 2D animation this time, and explores Kara and her life on Krypton just before getting rocketed to earth.
While this series is notable for exploring Krypton in a way that wasn’t done much in the main Smallville show, it doesn’t do anything groundbreaking. Each of the 6 episodes are only 4 minutes long making the series have a full runtime of less than half an hour, which only allows for a very brief story arc. The story follows Kara and her father, Zor-El. The series attempts to expand on Zod’s attacks on Krypton and explore Kara’s life on Krypton and how she came to earth.
While I really enjoyed seeing some of the visuals of Kryptonian cities and dress and the introduction of a classmate to Kara (Augo), I felt like the short nature of the show didn’t allow for much to be shown and mostly focused on references to the main show such as showing the scene of Lara putting Kal in the rocket, and the scene of Kara getting into her rocket. It also had references to the Brain Interactive Construct who would become Brainiac and later Brainiac 5, and also briefly showed Aethyr and Nam-Ek from season 5. Because of how little actual story is told, I think my favorite part of this series is actually the outfit Kara is shown wearing. She has a white and blue dress that is asymmetrical and off one shoulder and feels both cute and alien representing the character of Supergirl well as someone who was raised on Krypton for many years of her life before coming to earth. Both Kara and Zor-El have the iconic House of El symbol on their costumes, but it is inverted with a yellow S and red background. The attention to detail of including her silver bracelet from the show was also a nice thing to see and helped The Chronicles of Krypton feel connected to Smallville.
I don’t know if I would recommend this for watching, nor would I any of the Chronicles series that ran alongside Smallville. However, the show is fairly easily accessible and if you’re a fan of Smallville it could be a good way to kill a half hour if you go in with pretty low expectations. While the show initially had a very odd release, these “Mobisodes” have been bundled with the Smallville Season 7 box set and are also uploaded on YouTube (in very low quality and unofficially).
Thanks so much for reading my blog! If you have any thoughts, questions, comments, or corrections about any of my posts feel free to contact me via email at blogofsupergirl@gmail.com
Earth-10, otherwise known as Earth-X and Earth-Quality, is home to characters originally appearing from Quality Comics. Some of the titles published by Quality were; National Comics, Military Comics, and Police Comics. They published from 1940-1956 and were responsible for many major characters that now fall under the DC brand including Plastic Man, The Ray, Uncle Sam, Black Condor, and the subject of today’s post Miss America.
Earth-X is most notable difference from Earth-0 is that WWII continued on to the present or that Germany won the war. Fighting against the Nazi Regime is a team of American heroes called the Freedom Fighters. At the forefront of this team, representing the spirit and beliefs of America, is Uncle Sam. To me the embodiment of this universe and the most important hero is Uncle Sam and would be my choice for this universe’s Superman. And for the Supergirl analog I, of course, had to go with Miss America.
Miss America first appeared in Military Comics 1. This story was an anthology book that also featured the first appearance of Blackhawk. Miss America shows up about halfway through the issue in a brief 6 page story in which Joan Dale, a newspaper reporter, goes to Bedloe’s Island to follow a story. Bedloe’s Island, now mostly known as as Liberty Island, is of course the home of the Statue of Liberty. Joan Dale’s contact doesn’t show up so Joan decides to take a short rest near Lady Liberty and in her brief rest she witnesses a vision of Lady Liberty coming down and bestowing her magical powers onto Joan. Joan, now awake, is in disbelief of what she just witnessed and initially doesn’t believe she has magical powers but soon comes to realize the magic is real. She quickly gets to action as a hero stopping a couple thugs on a ferry by turning them into doves. A bystander nearby mentions she is “the real spirit of America!! You’re the real Miss America!!” This would be how Joan decides on her heroic alias and would continue on for the first 7 issues of Military comics using the Magic of Lady Liberty to fight crime and right wrongs. After this first stint in Military Comics Miss America would remain absent from comics until she showed up (now in DC) in All Star Squadron #31 along with Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters. Miss America would continue showing up periodically since then accompanying the Freedom Fighters.
As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork and it depicts Miss America standing in the foreground holding up the American flag. In the background you can see the Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island. A motif in the top right shows an American flag and a 10 on top of it.
Dick Malverne is among the first in recurring supporting characters for our heroine Supergirl. First appearing in the story The Great Supergirl Mirage from Action Comics #256. This story, by Otto Binder and Jim Mooney, features a young boy who also lives at Midvale orphanage with Linda (Supergirl) Lee named Dick Wilson. Dick, through the course of the story, suspects Linda is Supergirl after seeing a flying girl early on in the story. He tries in many ways to expose Linda as the girl of steel but is constantly thwarted by Linda’s quick thinking and super feats. Dick in this story fills the role that Lana Lang often filled in the Superboy stories set in Smallville. Lana often tried to expose Clark as Superboy and reveal that he has super powers. Linda even refers to Dick as a “Boy “Lana Lang”.”
Although Dick filled a crucial role in helping Linda be more careful with her powers, He would not show up again until Action Comics 282, a story set in the middle of the Lesla-Lar arc (which I may cover at some point). During the events of this arc, Linda is left powerless and since she has no powers and can no longer risk revealing Kal-El’s secret she finally feels comfortable enough to be adopted by the Danvers. On a trip to the beach with her adopted parents, Linda notices a familiar face. None other that Dick Wilson who exclaims “The name is now Dick Malverne! I’ve been adopted too!” The two then go on to have a wonderful time at the beach together both mentioning how attractive one another is and thus begins the romatic stories between the two characters.
Dick Malverne would show up frequently in the next few years in Action Comics and Adventure Comics often serving as a romantic interest for Linda, but Linda would continue to keep her identity secret from him. While being present throughout Linda’s time at Midvale Orphanage, Midvale High School, and even Stanhope College, Dick would eventually stop being a recurring character and wouldn’t show up again until Supergirl 23 from 1984. This was the last issue of Supergirl’s until after the Crisis and only shows up briefly as once last goodbye and a callback to Linda’s long history as Supergirl.
This would not be the end of Dick Malverne though as he would appear, in a slightly different way, during the 1996 Supergirl comic. Once again he would be a frequent love interest for Linda but would be a casualty in Linda’s constant struggle against the demon Buzz.
After this, the story briefly told at the end of Supergirl 23 in 1984 would be picked back up again in the first issue of Solo. This story Young Love written by Diana Schutz with art by Tim Sale and Dave Stewart, would briefly recap some of the highlights of Dick and Linda’s life and expand on the scene from Supergirl 23. Dick in this story promises to see her again later after having a kiss that literally lifted them off their feet. Dick wouldn’t make it back to see Linda however as he was bedridden in a hospital with cancer. Dick, from his hospital, calls for Supergirl. This next interaction reveals that Dick had always known that Linda was Supergirl and wanted one last goodbye. The two share one more goodbye kiss before we see Supergirl, with her faithful cat Streaky, sitting and thinking about how hard it would be to find her inner strength again.
Dick Malverne also showed up briefly in a Season 1 episode of the 2015 Supergirl Series where he is shown as an antagonist and former love interest of Alex Danvers. An interesting new take on the character that would go on to have a few appearances in the series.
With the new Supergil Series coming out this Summer being set in Midvale I would love to see Dick Malverne return and possibly explore the “boy Lana Lang” a bit further.
Thanks so much for reading my blog! If you have any thoughts, questions, comments, or corrections about any of my posts feel free to contact me via email at blogofsupergirl@gmail.com
Earth-9, sometimes Earth-Tangent or Earth-97, is home to the Tangent Universe. A universe described as “You know their names. You don’t know these heroes.” on the back of one of the collected editions of this series. A series that was initially a series of 9 one shot issues in 1997 that would get an additional 9 one shots the next year. The universe and some of the characters would go on to appear periodically in the main DC Universe and would get a new miniseries called Tangent: Superman’s Reign in 2008.
The Earth-9 Supergirl is Powergirl. A Chinese experiment made as part of a government operation trying to create superheroes called the Supergirl Program. The Supergirl Program was created in an attempt to try to compete with the American superhero craze started by the first Atom. Powergirl posses energy manipulation powers that give her many abilities including strength, flight, energy blasts, and healing among others.
The Supergirl Program’s initial attempt at a superhero was Supergirl, a failed experiment that ultimately perished. A new attempt was started and the Metal Men, including President Sam Schwartz, attempted to infiltrate and recover Powergirl before the Chinese Government could begin training her to their cause. After being found by the Metal Men in a Chinese government facility, Powergirl leaves to go find her own path and her own life that isn’t tied to either the Chinese or American government. She would later show up during the events of Superman’s Reign as Superman’s right hand and lover. It is unclear how she got involved with Superman or how he convinced her of his role in ruling the world after seeking independence after we last saw her. She would continue to stay by his side until the heroes of New Earth defeat them and send them back to Earth-9.
As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork and it depicts Powergirl floating and projecting an energy blast from her left hand. In the background is the city of New Atlantis as it exists on Earth-9. A motif in the top right shows Powergirl’s symbol (the Hanzi character 力 which can be translated as power) and an 9 on top of it.
The Daring New Blog of Supergirl 