Earth-45 is a world without heroes, or at least it was. Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen worked together to build a machine that can turn thoughts into real tangible things. They wanted to use this machine to create a hero for their world. Unfortunately soon after creating the machine their funding ran out and they sought out sponsors. Unfortunately Overcorp gained control over their machine and worked together to give people what they wanted; a brutal powerful antihero named Super-Doomsday. This brutal monster would work with Overcorp to eliminate crime and the result was the world pushed into a corporate dictatorship with Overcorp and their monster in charge.
Once again we are met with a universe without a Supergirl. My idea for this universe’s girl of steel is a successor to Super-Doomsday. Overcorp, after the raging success of their first hero, go about and create a follow-up, Super-Reign. Super-Reign is just as brutal and menacing and helps further push Overcorp into leaders of the world. While Super-Doomsday is of course a combination of Superman and his foe Doomsday, Super-Reign is likewise an amalgamation of Supergirl and one of her more brutal foes; Reign the Worldkiller.
As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork. Super-Reign stands tall hoisting a large sword over her shoulder. There is a decimated landscape full of rubble and fog all around her. The top right features a motif of the Overcorp symbol with a 45 on top of it.
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!
In short, Earth-44 is a universe where members of the Justice League are merged with members of the Metal Men. Characters like Gold Superman, Platinum Wonder Woman, Iron Batman, and others make up a team called the Metal League. The Metal League is a team of robots designed and built by Doc Will Tornado based on heroes from comics he read as a kid.
A version of this universe does show up in Infinite Crisis: Fight for the Multiverse and there is a Supergirl-44 much like the Arcane Supergirl from all the way back on Earth-13 of Supergirl in the Multiverse. The Supergirl-44 that is shown in the comic however is relatively unexplored and I’m personally not that big a fan of her look. For my drawing this week I have put together what I’m calling Electrum Supergirl. For her design I’m leaning a bit more into the classic Metal Men (and Metal Women) look and using electrum as opposed to gold to help set her apart from Superman.
As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork. Electrum Supergirl is standing in front of a large computer displaying “INTRUDER ALERT”. Electrum Supergirl is deflecting laser blasts coming from offscreen. A motif in the top right has Electrum Supergirl’s symbol with a 44 on top of it.
The Doomsday Special was a one-shot comic tying into the main Superman titles under the banner of Action Comics Presents. This book was released in 2023 and was written by Dan Watters, with art by Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, and Adriano Lucas, and letters by Dave Sharpe. There was another Action Comics Special that came out around the time of Action Comics 1000, but this is the only book under the “Action Comics Presents” title. Action Comics, for the past 85 years, is most often associated with Superman, but other heroes have taken up the headlining spot in the book periodically and Supergirl is no stranger to the title. The story obviously centers around Doomsday, but this is not his story and the protagonists are instead Supergirl and the Martian Manhunter.
We open the story with a terrifying nightmare that Kara is having that obviously seems to still be affecting her the next morning at breakfast with Clark. After noticing Kara is a bit off, Clark asks her what’s up and the pair begin talking about the subject of her dream; Doomsday. Clark goes into his history with the creature and Kara fills us in that on Krypton he was a kind of “shik’lrith” or “urban truth” however she also refers to the stories about Doomsday as “campfire stories”. The super-twins come in after the history lesson and pull Clark away and Kara leaves the apartment with the mindset that “It was only a nightmare…what else would it be?”
Unfortunately for the girl of steel, she is met with the Martian Manhunter who informs her that it was no dream but was instead a Kryptonian message that the Martian received and relayed to Supergirl. The pair join minds to further piece together the message when suddenly they are transported to a fiery horrible place that could only be Hell. Supergirl is unconvinced saying that rationally Hell can’t exist but J’onn says “Humankind believes in it. So it is real.” So here we have a Kryptonian and a Martian in a very human Hellscape against their will and the first thing Supergirl does is see someone in need and saves them. Supergirl more than anything else wants to help all these damned souls but it is an unsurmountable task and our hero is soon overwhelmed before witnessing the reason they’re in Hell.
Doomsday has not been suffering in Hell like many others banished here but has instead been thriving, finding more and more ways to be killed and revived stronger, finding more beings to torment, and being named “KING DOOMSDAY”. Snatched away before their demise, Kara and J’onn meet with The First of the Fallen who we find out is the reason the heroes have found their way into hell. The First of the Fallen informs them that Doomsday has become stronger and stronger and is well on his way to become King of Hell where he could use that power to break out of Hell and go back to Earth. The First of the Fallen has brought the heroes to Hell for the selfish reason of not wanting to give up his throne and uses the threat of Doomsday on Earth to convince the pair to help him push Doomsday back.
With a new goal in mind, the heroes set out on their mission. Supergirl, now adorned with Hell armor, takes the fight directly to the beast while the Martian uses his psychic powers to help sway the minds of the damned. Supergirl is outmatched and struggles against the monster, but she is able to fight back enough for J’onn to start the residents of hell towards the gates where they begin to make a seal. By the time Doomsday realizes the ploy against him, there is already a solid wall of flesh keeping Doomsday stuck where he is. Doomsday is furious and he is about to take it out on the maid of might helpless in his clutches when he is met with an empty set of hell armor between his claws.
Now back on his throne, The First of the Fallen no longer needs the heroes and has sent them back to earth. Back in the land of the living, Supergirl worries about the value of life if a place like hell could really exist, but J’onn convinces her that humanity is still in good hands because those fallen souls, even after all they’ve been through, still joined together to protect the living and if that’s not hope what is? The story ends with a page reminiscent of Doomsday’s earliest appearances where we see him punching his way out of hell with a tease that Doomsday will continue past this. There is also a short Bloodwynd story included in the back of this issue where we’re introduced to a new version of the character who is called “A Superman for Hell”. The story is fine from what I remember but the main story of the book is what we’re focusing on here since it’s the story with Supergirl.
The story can be summed up as “Supergirl goes to Hell and fights Doomsday” which is definitely an interesting idea for a story and it absolutely delivers. The art throughout the book is really stunning and does a great job of visualizing Hell with great coloring and heavy inks. I’m particularly fond of how the artists draw our 2 main heroes, Supergirl is drawn really pretty and the Martian has a distinct alien look to him and the characters show a wide array of emotions quite successfully in the 30 pages of story. Dan Watters seems to have a really solid grasp on Supergirl in my opinion, he captures her heroic nature quite well and we get some good insight to her Kryptonian heritage as well. While Clark Kent isn’t in much of the story, and Superman only shows up in flashback, I really like how Watters portrays him. I’m also quite fond of the Doomsday logo on the cover, the angled line that goes between the letters M, S, and D is a really great bit of typography that gives the title a bit of character without being anything overwhelming. If I’m not mistaken, this is the first and possibly only use of this logo but I would love to see it used more. The cover as a whole however doesn’t really excite me. I mean no disrespect to Björn Barends and it does seem to be well rendered, it’s just not for me. The book had quite a few covers released for it including a couple retailer exclusives, but my favorite for this book was the Jon Bogdanove on which I put at the start of this post. Unfortunately this was a 1:50 incentive variant and I was unable to get it when the book came out.
The Hell armor that Kara puts on about halfway through the story is a great look. The design is great and my only complaint is that we didn’t get more of it. It also sticks to a red and blue color scheme but goes for a blue cape as opposed to her standard red but it’ still a really solid look. Going back to the tease of Doomsday breaking back to earth, Doomsday did find his way back fairly soon after this and would face off against the man of steel himself and the newly powered up Lois Lane. His return did result in a pretty intense battle between the power couple of steel, but was soon sidelined when the Time Trapper showed up and revealed himself as a much further evolution of Doomsday, so the ultra powered up from hell version of Doomsday that shows up in this story doesn’t really amount to much so rereading this book doesn’t quite have the weight to me knowing where Doomsday ends up after this.
Let me know your thoughts on this story or your thoughts on Doomsday as a whole by commenting below or emailing daringnewblog@gmail.com. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time!
Threatened by scarlet acid rain, a somehow more menacing Gotham is inhabited by the supernatural creatures know colloquially as vampires. Earth-43 has gone by many names since its inception including Vampire World, and Earth-1191 but is most know for the story that introduced the concept: Batman and Dracula: Red Rain. The general concept for the universe is that vampires are real, and throughout the events of Red Rain, Batman himself gets infected with this undead disease. While the initial trilogy of stories from this universe focus pretty strictly on the Dark Knight, more recent iterations have explored a wider DC roster of characters to encounter a vampiric foe.
The maid of might has yet to show up in this universe in any version, although a Ultraman does exist in the most recent version of Earth-43. My concept for this universe’s Supergirl is not as a vampire, but as a vampire slayer. My thoughts are that Kara Zor-El lands on earth after surviving the destruction of her home-world and is quickly met with a vampiric threat. Kara soon realizes her enhanced powers on this planet can come in handy to take on this unnatural threat. She takes to studying how to take out these monsters and finds out her cousin is one of these monsters and sets her mission on taking him out.
As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork. Supergirl of Earth-43 stands in the foreground, her iconic look of a blue tunic and red skirt is further adorned with a dark red overcoat, she holds a wooden stake up in her left hand. The background shows stone walls leading to a dark hallway with a coffin at the end of it. The top right corner features a motif of Supergirl’s S symbol with a 43 on top of it.
The Daring New Blog of Supergirl 