The Daring New Blog of Supergirl

Tag: Supergirl Surprise

  • Supergirl Surprise #9: Supergirl (Vol. 4) #9

    Supergirl Surprise #9: Supergirl (Vol. 4) #9

    As I have been doing this Supergirl Surprise series I’ve generally found the single issues hold up pretty well on their own. This issue however I was totally lost reading through it. Tempus Fugit, cover dated as May ‘97, has credits that read “David, Frank, Smith, Prentice, D’Angelo & Digital Chameleon with Pittarese” It looks like the order is writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, and finally editor with both D’Angelo and Digital Chameleon on colors. Looking into it, it seems the reason I was so lost reading through this is because this is part 2 of 2 of the Tempus Fugit story.

    The story opens with a brief interlude showing the young Wally (who I’m pretty sure ends up being God) asking his grandparents to go out and see a friend – remember this for later – before cutting to what I assume is where the previous issue left off. A double scythe wielding foe named Tempus is obliterating the Danvers’ home while Buzz is sitting looking like an absolute d-bag. We get a reminder here that this is the Matrix Supergirl when she blasts Tempus with a “psi-blast”. Realizing her parents are banged up but otherwise okay, she tells Fred that she’s going to go after Tempus and try to alert Supergirl to the crisis at hand.

    From here we get another interlude with Cutter at the Leesburg Tribune, before we see Buzz and Tempus having an argument. In the midst of their argument, they see Wally and an attempted fireball soon gets knocked away by Wally’s baseball bat like it was nothing. Supergirl catches up to Tempus at the hospital and this is the main action sequence of the comic. Around this point some dialogue between Buzz and Tempus reveal that their plan is to push Supergirl over the edge into murdering Tempus. Before this can happen however, Buzz stops her and asks if she wants to continue on the Linda Danvers life or change to be more like Supergirl. This moment of clarity snaps our hero out of it and Buzz gets whisked away. The story then ends with Linda waking up the morning before and it seems Wally has turned back time so that the Danvers’ house wasn’t destroyed, Dick Malverne wasn’t brainwashed to being Tempus (yeah I forgot that too!), and everything is just back to normal.

    Peter David is an exceptional writer and this Supergirl series is often regarded as the best for our maid of might and this issue continues this trend. Me being lost as I read through this second part of a 2 part story doesn’t diminish the quality but it was an interesting thing to experience with this series, although I didn’t much care for the Groundhog’s Day starting over ending we got but maybe that’s just me. I’m interested to see how other comics approach the single issue vs larger storyline approach especially miniseries like Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade or Superman/Supergirl Maelstrom. The final panel at the end of the issue features a newspaper that while cut off can still read “Gary F Thanks R For Suppor” and it seems like this is meant as a send off since it’s Frank’s last issue doing art on the book. I don’t always like Gary Frank’s art and sometimes it falls a bit into the uncanny valley for me, but I do think there are some pretty exceptional panels in this book and the full page spreads are particularly successful. Linda does spend the first 10 pages of this issue half naked which is a weird outfit to wear to dinner with her parents but you do you.

    A couple cool ads this week for the second wave of Amalgam. The first page near the front is in black and white and advertises Lobo the Duck, Thorion of the New Asgods, and The Dark Claw Adventures and the ad page in the back (full color now) showcases Bat-Thing, Spider-Boy Team-Up, and JLX Unleashed. I’m not sure exactly why the front ad is in black and white, perhaps it was part of the marketing or maybe it was a printing error. The colorless ad is on the inside front cover and the ad on the inside back cover is also in black and white so I’m leaning towards either printing error or it was intentional as possibly a cost cutting measure. Looking at some other books in my collection from around this time, it seems like DC books from cover date April and May 1997 have colorless inside covers but it seems isolated to those two months based on the Supergirl and Nightwing books I have (I don’t have any other books from those cover dates). Otherwise I didn’t notice anything notable while reading through this but I really enjoyed this different experience with Supergirl Surprise and I hope to have more surprising adventures through my collection.

  • Supergirl Surprise #8: Adventure Comics #424

    Supergirl Surprise #8: Adventure Comics #424

    Adventure Comics #424 was released in 1972 and was the last issue of Adventure Comics where the maid of might was the star of the comic. This story, titled “Crypt of the Frozen Graves” follows Linda much more than Supergirl as she is working at the KSF-TV station. Linda has been in contact with a Bruce Ryan who has been leaking information about his connection to the Frisco Syndicate to Supergirl (Linda’s heroic secret identity).

    While Bruce had been giving Supergirl more and more information about the gang, he was starting to pull back on the information he was giving and decided to stop altogether when he gets shot at. This causes our heroine to take a different approach and talk to Bruce not as Supergirl but as Linda Danvers. As Linda she is able to play up her femininity to get close to Bruce Ryan and she notices that he is rather cowardly. His cowardice isn’t totally unwarranted and results in a grenade getting thrown at him while at dinner with Linda. Instead of trying to protect his date or get rid of the grenade, Bruce instead flees the scene leaving a live grenade in a full restaurant.

    Linda thinks quickly however and throws herself on the grenade to save the other patrons at the restaurant. to protect her identity she is forced to act dead after having a grenade explode under her but she is able to slip away before the police arrive to ID her. Linda uses this encounter to try to scare Bruce straight, or at least make him a bit less cowardly. Linda, having not actually died, dresses as a ghost and pays the former gang member a visit. While Supergirl does her best to scare Bruce, the pair are met by another ghost (at least he seems like a ghost) who startles Supergirl and kills Bruce Ryan.

    Back at work the next day, Linda is taken away by the Syndicate and brought right to Mr. Big himself, the leader of the Frisco Syndicate. Here she finds out that the Syndicate has been using teleportation technology to get rid of any witnesses and also how a supposed ghost broke in and shot Bruce Ryan earlier. Now with all the facts, Supergirl comes back down to earth, trashes the teleporter and gets the syndicate tied up for the appropriate authorities.

    The story isn’t quite over yet however, we get 1 more page of Linda back at KSF-TV where she tells the team she’s quitting and blames the death of Bruce Ryan for her abrupt departure. Although us readers know it’s actually because of her brand new “Supergirl” title starting up that she’s leaving. That’s right, after nearly 4 years as the star feature of Adventure Comics, Supergirl is now getting her own brand new comic magazine! As such we also have to say goodbye to some of the frequent supporting cast members including my favorite, Nasty Luthor.

    Unfortunately Nasty doesn’t get a whole lot to do here as she does in previous apperances. She is however still antagonistic to her co-worker Linda Danvers as they are both shooting for the same promotion at KSF-TV. It is also stated by Linda that she thinks Nasty let slip to the Frisco Syndicate about Bruce Ryan being a rat and therefore causing the death of Bruce. It’s hard to say if Nasty actually did such a thing or if Linda just lashed out at her in anger. I wouldn’t put it past Nasty to pull a stunt like this just to beat out Linda, but there isn’t much in the story itself to support it. This is also tragically the final issue where Nasty shows up and she doesn’t even get a proper send off in my opinion.

    While none of the letters or the ads in this issue really caught my attention, there was a backup story here titled “The Invasion”. This is a brief 6-page sci-fi story following an undefeated crew of alien invaders on another mission to invade and conquer a planet called “Earth”. While the first 5 pages are all building up this crew as a major threat to our planet, there is a very well executed twist at the end where we find out that the invaders are actually quite small and are taken out by an average Joe watering his lawn. He then spots the invader’s spaceship, but due to its small size he guesses it’s a toy and discards it which of course eliminates this terrible threat before it can even be known.

    The creative team on this book, Steve Skeates, Tony De Zuniga, and Bob Oksner all did brilliantly and led to an engaging story, although as Supergirl’s final adventure in Adventure Comics it felt rather underwhelming. Aside from the final page, this story could’ve easily been any other issue of the series and I would’ve much rather had Nasty Luthor play a larger role in the story to really secure her as a rival to Linda. All in all, a perfectly serviceable Supergirl story with plenty of good Supergirl and Linda Danvers moments. Join me next month for another random look at a single issue from my personal Supergirl comic collection.

  • 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!

  • Supergirl Surprise #5: Supergirl Vol. 2 #17

    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!

  • Supergirl Surprise #4: Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #17

    Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #17 was written by Mark Waid, had art by Barry Kitson, Mick Gray, and Natahan Eyring, and was lettered by Phil Balsman. This book is cover dated June 2006 and was part of the 5th volume of Legion of Super-Heroes that started the year prior. Supergirl took over the title as co-star and would remain in the book, and the 31st century, until issue 36 of the title.

    The story mostly centers around Supergirl as she has just arrived in the future and how the rest of the Legionnaires feel about her. On either side of the spectrum we have Invisible Kid infatuated with the Girl of Steel who even offers to give up his flight ring for her, and Light Lass who seems quite frustrated that a perky young blonde can just waltz into the Legion just because of the S on her chest. Throughout the story Kara seems perfectly capable as a Legionnaire, stopping a robotic threat to the city that had the Legion and the Science Police overwhelmed all in just 4 pages. Later on she encounters an earthquake and not only stops the disaster with a whistle, she also finds the source of the quake in a young man named Seiss who didn’t know he had created subsonic disruptions while having indigestion.

    It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, however, as Cosmic Boy makes the point that with all the trauma Kara has just been through in what seems like such a short period of time to her, she thinks that her entire life right now is a dream. This, coupled with Light Lass’s general dislike for Supergirl, puts the Legion in a tricky position. Obviously the girl seems a touch unstable, but she is doing a lot of good so they finally decide to make her an honorary member of the Legion. Honorary because they are unable to provide a new flight ring for her seeing that Brainiac 5 is currently M.I.A. That is until Atom Girl shows up with a special gift for Supergirl from Brainiac 5 himself, a flight ring.

    I’m not usually a fan of the Legion and generally get bored by the stories. This issue, and series, on the other hand was a lot of fun to read, and it definitely helps that Mark Waid is such a great writer. The story explores how Supergirl must be approaching so many crises in a row since leaving her home planet behind. This plot is expanded upon even more in later issues of the title wherein Supergirl does come to the realization that this isn’t a dream and she has to come to accept that. That’s not the case for this story though as Supergirl is given a world where she is a great hero, always has an easy solution to every problem, and gets anything she could wish for. There is also a scene, after he is saved by Supergirl, where Seiss is approached by the dominators in what is probably a set up for a future story but it’s not overly relevant to this issue specifically. There’s also a nice moment after the robot battle where Supergirl uses her heat vision on a piece of rubble to give to a nearby Science Police Officer as a souvenir. The issue really packs a bunch into such a small space and it really makes it feel worth the money spent on it.

    I’d previously only read these Legion stories as collected editions since I got those first for my collection and I think they left out these title pages that I’ll show above. It’s a way to introduce potential new readers to the Legion characters in an interesting way that shows there’s just a handful of Legionnaires to focus on this time but there’s way more on the team. I do however think it’s a weird set of Legionnaires that are picked for the line up this issue mostly because of the exclusion of Light Lass and Invisible Kid who seemed to be rather relevant in the story especially over Saturn Girl who I think only has one line. So while I like it visually it may not be the best explanation of characters in this issue specifically.

    Looking briefly at the ads I noticed this one for HeroClix which I never had as a kid and I don’t think I was aware of them until a bit more recently but I have heard of them and this ad made me want to look and see if there’s a Supergirl HeroClix. Looking into it (very briefly) it looks like HeroClix is not only still making new figures, but there’s also quite a few different Supergirls out there that I’ll have to keep an eye out for!

    Thanks for reading! As always feel free to send in any comments, questions, suggestions, or corrections to my email daringnewblog@gmail.com. See you next time!