Earth-37 was originally called Earth-61 and is often associated with the Thrillkiller Elseworlds stories. Thrillkiller, and its sequel Thrillkiller ’62 were written by Howard Chaykin and depicted a Gotham in the 1960s that featured that all so common, at the time, 90s gritty realism. Barbara Gordon, and her partner Dick Grayson, patrol the streets of Gotham as Batgirl and Robin and are up against corrupt police and fiendish foes and a Gotham far removed from its normal 60s representations. Earth-37 however, also includes one of Chaykin’s other DC works Twilight. Twilight, much like Thrillkiller, represents more DC Characters in a gritty 90s realistic way but this time its classic DC Sci-Fi characters. Twilight has charachters like Tommy Tomorrow, Ironwolf, and (most important to this week’s post) The Star Rovers.
Karel Sorensen was a member of the Star Rovers and first appeared in Mystery in Space #66. The Star Rovers were a team of space adventurers and mystery solvers. In Twilight, they are working on finding the secret to immortality and are on the trail of the Methusoloids when Karel is caught in an atomic blast that would have normally killed anyone else. Instead, Karel survives and gains godlike powers and becomes a deity as mankind unlocks the secrets of immortality. She would gain an immense galaxywide following and the space museum would become her base of operations and church.
As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork. Karel Sorensen, former Star Rover, is depicted in the center of the page in her deity garb with lots of golds and whites. To the left you can see the Space Museum that would come to be her base of operations, on the right is Sorensen in her Star Rover uniform and a depiction of her getting caught in the atomic blast that gave her her powers. The top right shows a motif of a star (for her time as a Star Rover) with a 37 on top of it.
As you may be aware, I’m a huge fan of the DC Super Heroes and a huge fan of LEGO so the (short-lived) LEGO line for the girls is quite a treat for me. The line ran from 2016-2017 and had 10 main sets spread across 2 waves. This will be a pretty broad look at the line but I’d like to showcase all the sets and try my best to give a good look at everything the line had to offer. For those unaware that this line existed, it was part of the initial Super Hero Girls run when the series had webisodes posted onto YouTube. The series also exists adjacent to the LEGO Friends line. LEGO Friends is a LEGO property that aims to target more specifically to girls and does so by having brighter colored bricks and “Mini-Dolls” as opposed to the iconic Minifigures. The “girl” LEGO sets also tend to feature more stickers than standard LEGO sets and it’s not necessarily because they use fewer printed bricks, but more so as a way to portray a lot more intricate details. I unfortunately didn’t get any of these sets as they were coming out since I was in college and I’m not positive I was fully aware of them at the time. Getting these sets on the secondhand market isn’t actually as bad as some out of production LEGO sets so I have been able to get them without having to spend too much over original retail and I was even able to get most of them new in box!
As I mentioned, the series had 10 sets in 2 waves, but there were also 2 promotional items that came out. The first promo, and unfortunately the only LEGO DC Super Hero Girls set I don’t have, was produced for the 2016 NYCC and was a Batgirl Mini-Doll. Seeing as it was just the figure and not even a different variant from what we would get in the full set later on I’m not too upset about not having her as part of my collection. The next promo set was a proper set, although still rather small, and released as a polybag in 2017. This set featured Krypto in a little flying car and a Kryptomite with a jet-pack. The remainder of this blog post will look at all the mini-dolls, then all the vehicles, and then a quick little look at at least one fun feature of each set.
First up all our Hero Mini-Dolls. As you can see, some of the characters have different costumes, this is because these characters appeared in multiple sets. I will be referring to them as “A-Costumes” and “B-Costumes” where the A-Costume will be their main costume and the B-Costume will be a variant. Some of the characters also have little cellphone accessories that are fun little unique pieces exclusive to this line. First up is, of course, Supergirl! She first showed up in her A-Costume in 2016’s Super Hero High School (41232). Her B-Costume is from the next year’s Lena Luthor Kryptomite Factory (41238) and features a sleeveless costume and pants and a 2-color cape that is achieved by having both a red and a blue cape element included with the set. Batgirl is next, and if you count her NYCC appearance, she is the mini-doll with the most set appearances. Her A-Costume, with the black pants, is from Batgirl Batjet Chase (41230) and her B-Costume uses lighter purples (aside from her reused cowl from her A-Costume) and came with Batgirl Secret Bunker (41237). Wonder Woman seems to be the only one of the main 4 to not get a cellphone accessory but I may just be missing the piece. She shows up in her A-Costume in Wonder Woman Dorm (41235) and then later in a darker colored costume in Eclipso Dark Palace (41239). Our last figure with 2 variants is Harley Quinn. She first shows up in Harley Quinn to the Rescue (41231), and then in her pjs in Harley Quinn Dorm (41236). Poison Ivy would show up alongside Supergirl in Super Hero High School (41232). Bumblebee would get her own set in 2016, Bumblebee Helicopter (41234). Steve Trevor is the only civilian to show up in the series, and he shows up in his Capes & Cowls work uniform with Harley in Harley Quinn to the Rescue (41231). Flash, the second of 2 boy Mini-Dolls in the line, is part of the Eclipso Dark Palace (41239) set and features him without a mask on which seems bonkers to me. Last up for the hero team is Krypto who appears more than anyone else in 3 sets: Lashina Tank (41233), Krypto Saves the Day (30546), and Lena Luthor Kryptomite Factory (41238).
Now for the baddies! Lena Luthor is the only of the bad guys to show up more than once, but she reuses the same look in both Super Hero High School (41232) and Lena Luthor Kryptomite Factory (41238) where she faces off against Supergirl both times. Eclipso seems like the other main bad guy seeing as she gets her own palace (41239) where she’s up against Flash and Wonder Woman. Her Mini-Doll also features 2 cape pieces, one attached at the neck and one at the hips, both of which seem exclusive to this figure. Mad Harriet and Lashina are both members of the Female Furies and appear in Batgirl Secret Bunker (41237), and Lashina Tank (41233) respectively. Absolutely brutal that Lashina gets paired up with the dog instead of proper super heroes like all the other villains. Last up are the Kryptomites who appear in several different colors and in every single set in some variety and quantity.
The vehicles, somewhat in order of release. Most sets come with some sort of vehicle adding to the play features and giving the Mini-Dolls something to interact with. In Batgirl Batjet Chase (41230) you of course get a Batjet as the main feature of the set. This Batjet has a single cockpit seat in the purple bat shape, we get a couple mounted stud launchers, and at the bottom is a net launcher. Harley Quinn to the Rescue (41231) uses the same net launcher that Batgirl has but in red this time and the little rocket Harley uses is pretty small since the Capes and Cowls Cafe is the main feature of the set. Super Hero High (41232) has a couple smaller vehicles given to Lena and Poison Ivy but both are pretty nice since Lena’s hover ship has a claw out the front and Ivy’s motorcycle can be launched out of the schools tower in a cool way. If you were thinking that the Lashina Tank (41233) set would have Lashina in a tank, you’d be correct. Even though it’s the main feature of her set, it’s still a rather small build because of how small the set is. Similarly, the Bumblebee Helicopter (41234) is another small set with another small vehicle. Closing out the vehicle lineup for the first wave is a motorcycle from Wonder Woman Dorm (41235). It uses some pretty standard motorcycle LEGO bricks but with a mixture of stickers and transparent elements you get a very Wonder Woman branded build. Krypto Saves the Day (30546) is a polybag and the smallest of the Super Hero Girls sets, but features some cool elements including 2 custom printed elements.
Harley may have the short one of the stick in the vehicle department since her vehicle in Harley Quinn Dorm (41236) is also rather tiny, just being a skateboard pice with some handlebars. Batgirl on the other hand, gets a Battruck with built in jail cell that can transform into another Batjet in Batgirl Secret Bunker (41237). Lena Luthor Kryptonite Factory (41238) gives both Supergirl and Lena a boat, and while the factory is obviously the main sell, Supergirl’s Super-Boat is a pretty solid build and could be a nice polybag on its own. Eclipso Dark Palace (41239) also features a good guy and a bad guy vehicle. Eclipso gets her own small jet and Wonder Woman gets her iconic invisible jet that utilizes a lot of transparent bricks and even has a second cockpit seat to be used by Flash who also appears in the set, although any Mini-Doll can copilot.
The Batjet set is fairly simple and doesn’t seem to offer anything overly memorable to me. It does however feature the only Kryptomite specific vehicle so that’s nice to see, they’re usually just on their own or with a jet-pack as is show in Krypto Saves the Day.
The Capes and Cowls Cafe features some cool elements including an arcade cabinet, a coffee maker, and a breakaway window. I want to talk instead about this custom printed 2×2 tile that seems to be mimicking a comic cover. I’ve not been able to pin down if this is supposed to be a direct comic reference or just a generic overall reference. The circle in the top left and the starburst behind the issue number has the same vibes as the Johnny DC line of comics from the early 2000s that targeted young audiences, titles like Tiny Titans and Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade were part of this line.
Being the largest set of the first wave and the main locale of the series as a whole, Super Hero High School has a lot of cool features and Easter eggs, but my favorite is the play feature where the whole tower opens into a ramp and releases Ivy’s motorcycle that was hidden inside.
Lashina’s set features a tank that I showed earlier, but one thing I didn’t note is that it features a little cage in the back for Krypto who also came in the set.
As I mentioned at the start, I got all of these sets secondhand, and while I was able to get a bunch still in box, there were a few I got used and already put together. Most of the used sets I got were complete or only missing a couple inconsequential pieces, this Bumblebee set I got was the most incomplete. When I got it I got it with just the helicopter itself and the Bumblebee Mini-Doll (without her wings though) and I’m missing the chest, the yellow cord, and the Kryptomites. I think this set is the only one with red Kryptomites which is rather tragic. I probably will look into replacing this set at some point with a more complete or hopefully in box version.
There are a few of the Super Hero Girls sets that have some advertised connect-ability but the best connections come with the two dorm room sets that clip into the Super Hero High set. Pictured here is both dorms clipped into the High School, and the way the clips are set up it seems like they planned on doing more, so perhaps we would’ve gotten dorm rooms for all the girls if the line continued.
Even though the Krypto Saves the Day set is just a polybag, I really like the build and both the custom printed bricks are exclusive to this set. The S Shield printed 1×2 slope has a lot of potential for use in any Super Family related builds, and the wing with series logo on it is just a neat piece for a collection. Both of this elements are exclusive to this set but thankfully you can still get this set in new condition for right around retail price so go wild if you want any of these elements. Also the set has a pink crystal element that would imply that pink-kryptonite is canon in the Super Hero Girls universe.
For Harley’s Dorm set the wildest part to me is the inclusion of the Mjölnir piece. This was one of the sets I got secondhand so I always figured it was mistakenly paired with the set or maybe the previous owner decided Thor should take a whack at the hammer-bell game. Upon researching though, the set does in fact just come with Thor’s magic hammer.
The Batgirl Secret Bunker set has quite a few fun play elements and cool features and I also think Mad Harriet’s inclusion is the most absurd for the line. All that being said though, the part that exited me the most when putting this together was the little bench press section. Not only is the dumbbell represented by a set of purple skateboard wheels, they’re held up by a single black skeleton leg! Absolutely bonkers instance of nice-parts-usage in an otherwise pretty standard line of LEGO sets.
There’s a cool section in the Kryptomite Factory that represents Lena’s lab that has a few interesting elements. There’s a screen with Krypto, a Kryptomite, and a Brainiac symbol on it. Unfortunately it is a sticker as opposed to a printed tile so it’s a bit less exciting. There’s also a brick built microscope in here that’s very effectively portrayed.
Last up is the Eclipso set. Once again, as the largest set of the wave, it’s a very intricate build with lots of play features. My favorite portion on this one is the Eclipso Jet I showed earlier being able to sit on top of the set and also serve as the spire for the palace.
Thanks for sticking around! I know this post was a bit longer than I normally go but I hope you enjoyed. If you have any of these sets I’d love to hear your thoughts. You can send those thoughts to daringnewblog@gmail.com and stay tuned for more posts coming soon!
Rounding up our little trilogy of homage universes we come to Earth-36. Earth-36 is a bit more fleshed out in the proper DC multiverse unlike the previous Earths-34 and 35, but it’s still fairly bare bones. Thankfully, the universe is analogous to Big Bang Comics. Big Bang Comics was a series that was published by Caliber Comics and later Image and the series tried to recapture Golden and Silver age concepts and vibes in their comics. Each issue would be an anthology with a rotating cast of characters like Ultiman, The Knight Watchman, Thunder Girl, and many others. While generally when looking into these characters, their first appearances are often listed as Big Bang #1 but nearly all of these characters have their roots in earlier books. Heck, Dr. Weird dates all the way back to the 60s!
Ultiman (Chris Kelly) is of course the Superman analog for this universe and his daughter, Christine (Ultragirl) Kelly is the Supergirl analogue. Both these characters, along with Youngblood surprisingly, first show up in the very short lived Megaton Comics. Ultragirl gets her origin in issue 1 where we see that she is the daughter of a well known superhero “Ultraman” (this would change to Ultiman in the shift over to Big Bang). Ultraman had been an astronaut exposed to some radiation and, in classic superhero fashion, got super powers instead of dying. Unfortunately for young Christine, her father became addicted to the super-heroics and would have to preform more and more dangerous experiments to recharge his irradiated cells. It was during one of these experiments that Christine came into the room and was flooded with radiation that gave her the same powers as her father and seemingly killed Ultraman. Christine would go on to be a hero as Ultragirl, team up with Megaton, and once making her way over to Big Bang Comics she would be part of a future team called the Pantheon of Heroes.
As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork. This drawing is an homage to Superman #1 and shows Ultragirl flying above a city with her right arm angled down. The top right shows a motif of Ultragirl’s U symbol with a 36 on top of it.
Soon to be a major motion picture! Supergirl! Supergirl vol. 2 #17 is cover dated March of ‘84 so it makes sense that the cover would be advertising the Supergirl movie that would come out later that year. This issue was written by Paul Kupperberg, with art by Carmine Infantino and Bob Oksner, letters by Todd Klein and colors by Tom Ziuko and has absolutely nothing to do with the movie it advertises. Really exciting cover on this one, we’ve got Dick Giordano doing inks over Infantino, and it’s got a car getting absolutely obliterated by Supergirl. The main plot of this issue is a Doctor Metzner, Linda’s current employer, getting kidnapped by some goons and taken to an island called The Devil’s Maw. Supergirl of course gets him back home to Chicago, not before duking it out with the goons and Matrix-Prime first though.
While the Dr. Metzner stuff seems to be the action side of the plot, the conflict seems much more focused on Supergirl keeping her secret identity. From very early on in the issue we’ve got Linda contemplating her wig disguise as her neighbor, Joan, tells her she should mix up her hair. Linda also makes a bit of a jab at her cousin’s flimsy glasses disguise saying “I always figured he was just plain lucky nobody’s ever tumbled to his glasses routine!” Linda would also run into trouble moments later as she picks up heartbeats in her apartment with her superhearing.
Her overhearing the goons is of course not the trouble. She’s Supergirl of course she can handle 2 goons. It’s Linda, however that can’t seem to come up with an adequate reason to not go into her apartment when she makes it back with Joan. Thankfully Joan doesn’t seem too bothered by Linda’s lame excuses and rapid exit and we cut into the action portion of the issue.
I’m particularly fond of how Infantino and Oksner present Supergirl’s powers here. Especially the abstract representation of superhearing on page 10. The team also does some really interesting things with costume changes and flying and there’s a lot of detail and movement in every panel. Like I said however, the action isn’t the main conflict, the secret identity is. Supergirl has a pretty flimsy excuse: “I just borrowed your secretary’s identity for the afternoon” when Linda Danvers suddenly appears on the island and changes into Supergirl to get the doctor to safety.
Metzner doesn’t seem to buy the excuse however and even approaches Linda about it later as he remarks “the thing I still can’t get over is how much Supergirl resembled you when she was in that brunette wig!” Something Linda can now easily refute by tugging on her natural brown locks. A feat she can only just now accomplish thanks to a comb she invented that changes the molecules in her hair (this comb also shows up in in 2025’s Supergirl vol. 8 #1 that I wrote about here). We also get the introduction of the headband to Supergirl’s outfit this week which is hotly debated but I’ll hold off on my thoughts on it for another day.
With letters this month, found on “The Daring New Readers of Supergirl” page, being about issue 13 we get a lot of commentary on Supergirl’s new costume that debuted that issue. While most the writer/editor responses seem to note the response to the costume being “50/50” the letters here seem to skew a bit more towards negative. Her costume before was the v-neck/shorts combo that was her mainstay for nearly a decade and my personal favorite so I can see how it may be disliked by longtime readers. While the new costume isn’t my favorite I’ve got no issue with it myself and I’m quite fond of the little clasps and Supergirl in a skirt is nothing if not iconic. Aside from that I do want to point out 2 specific letters, one from a Brian that mentions his distaste of the overly wordy “The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl” title that the book had in its first year. I of course can’t get behind this statement, I love the “Daring New Adventures” tag, just take a look at the name of my blog. I next want to give some unfortunate bad news to Delmo who asks about what’s to come next year when the book hits its second anniversary. Unfortunately the book gets canceled at issue 23 and then Supergirl dies.
Just one ad to showcase this time out from Garcia I guess. While there were plenty of video game ads and an ad for some Warlord figures, it was this ad that featured both Spider-Man and Santa Claus promoting a fishing rod that really grabbed me. Absolutely bonkers to come across and it is quite memorable.
One last thing before I close out because I wasn’t sure where else to put it. This line from Linda to Joan seems to reference Linda’s time starring on the Secret Hearts soap. This was Linda’s job in the back half of Superman Family and a nice bit of continuity. If you made it this far, thanks so much for reading and I hope you stick around for more! As always feel free to send an email in to daringnewblog@gmail.com with any questions, comments, or suggestions!
Much like last week’s Earth-34 being an homage to Astro City, Earth-35 is an homage to the short lived universe that appeared in Awesome Comics. Awesome Comics was created by Rob Liefeld after his (forced) departure from Image Comics and featured such titles as; Youngblood, The Coven, and the most relevant to today’s post Supreme. Supreme was created by Rob Liefeld in 1992 but would be drastically retooled by Alan Moore in 1991. Supreme, as written by Moore, is a pretty clear pastiche of Silver Age Superman but instead of Supreme getting his powers from being an alien, Supreme was exposed to a meteorite (Supremium) at a young age that gave him super powers.
Sally Crane was the adopted sister of Ethan (Supreme) Crane who lived most her childhood as a normal school girl. One day however when her brother returned home on an adventure Sally was exposed to Supremium just as Ethan was many years before. While she initially though it only turned her hair silver, she would soon gain powers supreme and start her heroic super career as Suprema.
As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork. Suprema and Radar (the Dog Supreme) are shown on a grassy ridge. Suprema has her hands on her hips, each has a cape billowing to the right. A cloudy orange sky sets the background and the Citadel Supreme can be seen peeking out from behind the clouds. A motif of Suprema’s chest symbol is in the top right with a 35 in it.
