With the older Supergirl stories, I find I can’t go back; their ‘cracktastic’ nature no longer interests me and I can’t read them like I could as a kid. I’ve out grown them. It’s sort of what happened to me with Archie comics…as soon as I was older than the characters, the comics lost interest for me.

Just as I can read the occasional Archie, I can re-read a Superman Family or an Adventure Comic(when I can find one!), but I couldn’t see spending a day re-reading past adventures.
Whereas, with the Peter David Supergirl, I could get back into it with no problem.

Bottom line: Peter David spoiled me!!:-P

I’m not sure what problem or problems you’re referring to. The Silver and Bronze Age stories were of their time; they had the same problems as any other comic if you compare them to modern comics. You can’t really compare the plots to today’s, and the art styles have of course changed a lot. I don’t think Supergirl comics were significantly better or worse than her cousin’s at the time.

“Do you think the series have gradually improved since the Silver Age to the pinnacle of Peter David’s series, then dropped again? Or were the series pretty uniformly average, spiked with Peter David series, and then plummetted back down afterwards?”

I don’t think it was a gradual improvement. Peter David’s series was miles above anything that had come before. The Silver and Bronze Age stories followed the trends of the time, but the 80′s treatment of Supergirl was a HUGE step backward for Supergirl. So there was no logical progression there. And things have definitely taken a turn for the worse since, but I’m hopeful they may turn around yet. Or maybe I’ve just become desensitized.

The one drawback with David’s Supergirl is that it wasn’t really written for young readers. I loved it, but I was old enough to be enjoy that kind of story. I wouldn’t have liked it if I’d been younger (my kid sister certainly didn’t; she stopped reading after the first few issues). DC seems to have forgotten how to put out comics that can also appeal younger readers. As cracktastic (and sexist!) as the old comics were, they had that going for them.

Given all the research, reading and cataloguing of Supergirl’s appearances from the Silver Age to the present you have done, what has been the most glaring problem with the Supergirl series through the years, the writing or the art? Is there ONE reason or is it a combination?

Do you think the series have gradually improved since the Silver Age to the pinnacle of Peter David’s series, then dropped again? Or were the series pretty uniformly average, spiked with Peter David series, and then plummetted back down afterwards?

Why, yes, I am a Peter David fan…why do you ask? :-)

The disconnect between art and story in Superman/Batman:Supergirl is much worse than that was. But enough posts have been written on the disconnect between the dialogue and what’s happening on the page in that story, so I won’t go into that =)

Does a favourite character, written by a favourite writer, diminish the effect of the art? For example, if Peter David were still writing Supergirl, would it be easier to endure the present artist? Did the change from Leonard Kirk to Ed Benes(an artist known for a cheesecake style) affect your enjoyment of the last arc of Peter David’s Supergirl series?