I really wish DC had used the original version of Jamal Igle’s Supergirl #53 cover as coloured by Tom Chu for the issue. Or make it into a poster or something we can buy, because they could sell the hell out of Supergirl with a dynamic, iconic image like this.

Superman #700 featured a look ahead for the next year in each of the super books. These were also published on the DCU official blog, which is awesome, but kind of makes me regret buying SM #700 even more because these pages and the Gary Frank cover were the best parts for me =P

There was a tantalizing sketch of Kara standing in front of a closet full of Supergirl gear that had me asking a lot of questions, such as, “Has Kara cut her hair?” After reading SG #53 and #54, I think so!

Here are my reactions to Sterling Gates talks about Supergirl #53 and Beyond.

“It’s been a hard year for SUPERGIRL. The WAR OF THE SUPERMEN resulted in the tragic loss of New Krypton, thousands of Kryptonian lives, Supergirl’s mother, Alura, and her best friend, Thara Ak-Var (a.k.a. FLAMEBIRD). For the next story arc, Supergirl will be wrestling with guilt over her own perceived culpability in New Krypton’s destruction.

I was pretty sure that Supergirl would be the only super book to actually deal with the trauma of New Krypton in any meaningful way. It would be great to be proved wrong, but I’m not reading Superman’s road-trip-across-America to find out how JMS handles Supes’ manpain (watching Supes pound the bejeesus out of some superbaddie to express his feelings gets kind of old). So I’ll happily continue reading about a superhero who has actual messy feelings and expresses them like a real person and not a Spartan.

“Supergirl will discover that no matter how hard we try to run from our problems, our lives make other plans for us. While Supergirl struggles with her inner demons, a strange and twisted version of herself appears in Metropolis: BIZARRO-GIRL! Bizarro-Girl will take Kara on a terrible journey across dark regions of space, eventually leading back to Bizarro World. There, Supergirl confronts an enemy that threatens not only to wipe Bizarro World out of existence, but every other populated planet in the galaxy, too! Will Supergirl be able to stop it in time?

Wow! I’m kind of excited to get a visit Bizarro World in modern continuity. Will it be a cube? It’s gotta a cube! It’ll be cool for Supergirl to have a big ol’ space adventure of her own. Can Jerry the Merboy and Supergirl’s many alien boyfriends be far behind? Speaking of which…

“Speaking of time, fans of LAST STAND OF NEW KRYPTON saw the first meeting between Supergirl and the time-traveling Legionnaire named BRAINIAC 5. But Brainy seemed to know Supergirl, as if they’d met before…

“We’ll be picking up the threads of that dynamic this fall in SUPERGIRL ANNUAL #2, when Supergirl meets the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES for the first time! Yes, she’s met them a few times before, but the statement stands (and will make total sense when you read it). Supergirl and the Legion will square off against one of the scariest Legion villains of all, as a tear in the fabric of time leads to horrible consequences on Halloween in 30th-century Metropolis.

Supergirl #52 threw everything in Supergirl & the LoSH for a loop. That was definitely not the Brainy I know and love from the Threeboot. I…really loved the Threeboot Brainiac and did not care for the lovesick puppy Brainy we got in SG #52. I don’t want a retread of the Bronze Age Supergirl-Brainiac relationship. It just doesn’t feel right for this character, at this point in her life. OTOH I would appreciate Supergirl having a stronger place in the Legion; she was woefully underused by Mark Waid in the Threeboot, who once said he thought her defining characteristic ought to be “sweet” *twitches*

“Kara’s supporting cast will continue to play a major part in SUPERGIRL. LANA LANG, JIMMY OLSEN, NATASHA IRONS, INSPECTOR HENDERSON, DR. LIGHT, even GANGBUSTER – they will all influence Supergirl’s life.

After seeing what Dr. Light’s been doing to Lucy Lane, she may not be such a great role model. But Natasha Irons – yes! Another smart, techy geekgirl for Kara to hang out with.

Daily Planet reporter CAT GRANT will launch a massive new campaign against our Girl of Steel this fall, and she’ll be surprised when fan mail starts coming into the office. When some of that mail turns deadly, though, Cat will have to ask a certain teenaged superhero for help…

I admit I want to see Cat have to come crawling to Supergirl for help. I’d love to see Cat come around and become an ally someday. I’m a bit uncomfortable disliking Cat, and the way she’s portrayed seems too mean spirited. (I don’t agree with Sterling Gates that the Cat Grant we knew before could have morphed into this person.)

“Across 2010 and 2011, readers will see: SUPERWOMAN’s fate; the invasion of Supergirl’s home, Hammersmith Tower; syllabus day at METROPOLIS UNIVERSITY; the biggest mistake in Lana Lang’s life; the tragedy of the terrible TOYMAN; Supergirl’s ever expanding rogues gallery; and just what happens when Brainiac 5 and Supergirl kiss!

“just what happens when Brainiac 5 and Supergirl kiss!” I throw up. That’s what happens.

“the biggest mistake in Lana Lang’s life” – I thought that was pushing away Kara. Can’t imagine what that might mean.

So Linda’s heading to university? Hm. The superhero-goes-to-school thing tends to annoy me, but as long as university isn’t portrayed like high school on a stupid teen soap (see: Smallville), I guess I could come around. If Kara ever wants to have a good job in today’s world, she either needs to get a degree or fake one. I hope she blows away the science department! I’d like to see an educated, competent Linda who actually has some understanding of her adopted planet.

“By the time we reach the mid-point of 2011, Supergirl will have a much more defined sense of who she is and where her life is heading.

Yay!

Right around then, though, just as Supergirl’s happier with her life than ever before…that’s when her greatest enemy returns … and brings along friends.”

Oh dear.

I liked getting these sneak peeks, but it looks like I won’t be buying any super books beside Supergirl this year. Lex Luthor taking over Action Comics makes no sense to me, and I really don’t think he can carry an entire book. (I’m so over him as a villain, I don’t want to hear about him anymore.) And Superboy could have been awesome, but the degree to which they’re retreading Silver Age Superboy (even giving him a Lex Luthor analogue) has me baffled.

Ali Colluccio over on iFanboy has the best response I’ve seen so far to the new Wonder Woman direction.

But I really feel like this could, and maybe should, be an Elseworlds tale. I know that it may sound like I’m saying that the story isn’t good enough for a main title, but that’s not it. I wish there were more (or any) alternate timeline/out-of-continuity stories for Wonder Woman. Superman and Batman are getting their own OGNs this year, and I feel like every other month there’s a new Batman mini-series being written. But, right now, Wonder Woman is the only title in DC’s line of comics that features Wonder Woman. There’s no Wonder Woman OGN this year, no Secret Origin or Next Wave or All-Star mini-series with a superstar creative team in the works (yeah, I know about All-Star Wonder Woman, but get back to me when that actually comes out), and I don’t think Sensation Comics is coming back anytime soon. I guess what I’m saying is there should be more Wonder Woman stories out there in the DCU and JMS’ tale should be one of just a couple stories out there, not the one in the flagship title.

Yes! There should be two or three Wonder Woman series running concurrently and then we wouldn’t have this problem every time DC tries to revamp her.

From a purely capitalist standpoint, it’s the smart thing to do. Batman and Superman (or Spider-Man/X-men/Wolverine) do so well not just because they’re male characters, but also because of the plethora of product. A smorgasboard of tie-ins, spin-offs, miniseries, Elseworlds, original graphic novels, etc. suggests to readers that these characters are big and important. So they buy the books, and DC puts out more, and it’s a self-reinforcing feedback loop (this is where capitalism really shines, by tapping into human psychology to convince people they “need” or “want” your product first, and letting them justify their decision after the fact). And if not all of those titles is a hit, it’s not life and death and doesn’t require the firing of Gail Simone, because you’ve still got a bunch more filling the shelves and a half dozen more ideas on the burner. Readers don’t like this version of Wonder Woman? No problem: they can choose from All Star or Rebirth or Sensation or the main WW title or Donna Troy or Cassie as Wonder Girl (in her own book *and* Teen Titans) or the Paradise Island series or Hippolyta’s adventures in the Golden Age, or or or -

I’m not saying that if DC started putting out three different Wonder Woman titles next month it would be an automatic success – Wonder Woman will never do as well as Superman or Batman because she is a woman. And just like women in the real world have to work twice as hard to get the same amount of recognition, DC needs to work twice as hard, not less, to get people buying her. There should be more people writing and drawing her, and then every new writer on the book wouldn’t be her last, best hope for success. After all, when Paul Dini makes a hash of Batman, we don’t blame the character for being a “cipher” that “no one can write”, do we?

Ali talks more about the impact of this alternate-timeline story on the rest of the DCU:

I’m also very concerned about what this means for the rest of the DCU. Wonder Woman played a decent role in Blackest Night, and before all the upheaval she was a pillar of the Justice League. So now what happens with this new timeline? Is Wonder Woman wiped from the shared consciousness of the DC Universe? We just got Superman back, don’t take Wonder Woman away! If this was a Bat-book or a Superman title, Donna Troy would be starring in Wonder Woman and this JMS storyline would be happening in something like Wonder Woman: Rebirth or a newly resurrected Sensation Comics.

Indeed. A “year without Batman” did not in fact mean anything of the kind. With Dick Grayson in the “main” books and Bruce Wayne in the now-alternate continuity Superman/Batman, Batman Beyond and the kids’ books, Batman seems to be in more books than before! (I counted eleven titles for Batman in June.)

Did you know that in 1969, Batman was only the number 9 best selling book, while Lois Lane was number 3? I didn’t! That’s because DC hasn’t published a Lois Lane ongoing title or co-feature since they rebooted their universe in 1985, while they’ve published a shit-load of Batman.

DC is reinforcing a perception both inside and outside the company that Wondy is not as good as Supes and Bats because she only merits one book a month, while they get three to ten. If Wonder Woman had a publicity agent, she would fire them for doing such a poor job of marketing her. DC wants to boost Wonder Woman’s sales? Then show us she’s worth our interest by giving us more options (and maybe scale back on the Bat books a bit?). Don’t force her to succeed or fail on one book alone.

Wonder Woman #600 is awesome and a great buy. This thing is jam-packed. There are a ton of great ministories and an endless stream of amazing pin-ups (with only two clunkers: Guillem March’s and the porn-photo-ref guy). Where else can you get a story written by Gail Simone and drawn by George Perez starring over a dozen female heroes, followed by a Wonder Woman-Power Girl story drawn and written by Amanda Connor? Woo!

After three stories that illustrate Diana’s character in different and fun ways, we get a two part story setting up the new status quo. The stark visual distinction between the two halves signals a radical change in the universe. (It’s all very confusing if you flip through the book before reading it. I spoiled myself and got all worked up by reading the Behind the Scenes first :)

The prologue, whose credits come on the final page, is mysterious and tantalizing: we see a ghostly younger Diana ask her adult counterpart, “Don’t you wonder what’s beyond the next horizon? Let’s go see!” Diana follows her through a glowing event horizon of sorts, and then we’re into the next story with different art and a strangely-dressed Diana running down a dark city alley. Her costume’s gone alternate-timeline, she’s wearing dark eyeliner and lipstick, and she doesn’t know who she is. The timeline’s been change. Everything’s wrong and must be fixed. Duh duh DUH!

I’m not upset by the costume change or the timeline rewriting, because this change is supposed to be wrong and in need of correction. The weird thing is that DC is presenting the costume change as permanent rather than a temporary condition. Stracynski waxes on in the Behind the Scenes about how he thinks the new costume is an update and a reimagining for the 21st century (hahahaha), but I can’t seriously believe it’ll stick around longer than a few years. This new look only works within the altered timeline. It’s just not Wonder Woman.

There’s lots to complain about with a crazy-ass reboot that fridges the Amazons, depowers Wonder Woman, and suggests she’s as unimportant to the DCU as the 1985 reboot did. As always, these points wouldn’t be a problem if the book didn’t exist within a larger industry context of mistreating and disrespecting female characters and female buyers.

What I’m struggling with is how the DCU as a whole can possibly exist without Wonder Woman and Paradise Island having been in it for the past 18 years (when the timeline hiccuped). I also don’t see how she’s going to be a part of the DCU for the next year or so while she’s going through this quest to fix/reconcile the timelines. This reboot of Wonder Woman’s history invalidates every other DC book being published right now, which to me is a bigger problem than a reboot which isn’t really a reboot. The repercussions on every other character’s history are infinite and mindboggling. Without a replacement character for Wonder Woman, ala Mon-El for Superboy, Hippolyta for Diana, and all the other retcons that Crisis on Infinite Earths wrought, everybody in the DCU should be dead right now. That’s the problem with telling this kind of a story in a shared universe. I wish there were a way to tell this story contained within her own book.

Wonder Woman #600 is a terrific package to celebrate this momentus anniversary. This book is what Superman #700 should have been. Three boring and pointless stories that failed to set Superman up for anything interesting, no pin-ups, nothing to get anyone interested in where the character’s been or where he’s going. The mapping out of the upcoming storylines on the super books (reprinted on the DCU blog) was depressing in its lack of imagination (Supergirl being the exception). They’re literally repeating history with Superboy, Lex Luthor is taking over Action Comics, and Superman looks to be more boring than ever. For Superman and Superboy fans, this year looks like a big regression and a good time to drop three books. I expect Supergirl will continue to be the stand-out book just as it was during New Krypton.

Wonder Woman #600 shakes things up while celebrating all that she is, and while I think DC’s marketing of the costume change to the mainstream as the new status quo is ridiculous, I’m interested in the ride while it lasts.

Further reading

• DCU Blog: Unveiling Wonder Woman’s new costume, direction
• all the recent Wonder Woman #600 entries on DCU Blog
• Project Rooftop on The New Wonder Woman Costume

I’ve always enjoyed reading the interviews with new artists on Supergirl, back when there was a revolving door of creative teams. The artists always seemed really enthusiastic about the character, and while they never stuck around for long until Jamal Igle came on the scene (yay!), I always got caught up in the excitement their sketches and thoughts about the character generated. Newsarama has an interview with Amy Reeder, the new cover artist for Supergirl starting on #55. While I’m sad to see Josh Middleton go, I’m incredibly happy that we’re getting another amazing cover artist. Supergirl has had some really bad covers in the past, but we’ve been really lucky in that regard for a while now, and it’s great to see that trend continuing.

I didn’t even realize at first that Amy Reeder was the artist from Madame Xanadu, whose intriguing covers catch my eye every time I go into the store. After listening to a podcast on her site, I’m going to have to check it out (see the blogroll for links to her LiveJournal and DeviantArt page). It’s reassuring to know that she’s the one taking over the art on Batwoman.

Supergirl can be whimsical, even cartoony to a certain degree. The goal would be to have people identify with her….Something else I pay a great deal of attention to is just plain age. Supergirl is supposed to be 16 or 17. That’s a tough age to get just right, and you also have to be concerned with not making her too sexy because of that.

Nrama: How difficult is it to switch from being a sequential storyteller to just doing a cover?

Reeder: I think I’m probably better at interiors than covers, so I approach covers in much the same light, like I’m more likely to follow a Norman Rockwell philosophy and try to tell an intricate story with one illustration as opposed to thinking iconically, or with a high design sense. But if I think about it simply, a cover needs to be intriguing, while interiors make you work, and then reward you. Covers should visually sum up an idea or feeling that the book presents as a theme. Because of this, I’m high on visual metaphors. It’s the easiest way to present the real conflict without spoiling the story.

I think this bodes very well for future Supergirl covers!

And if you come up with three designs per cover like you’re supposed to, and actually put work into all three like you’re supposed to, that’s a big graveyard of missed opportunities.

I did not know that! Wow, think of all those potential covers that we never get to see :( I feel really bad for cover artists now.

Can you describe your approach to Supergirl? What qualities of the character are you hoping to portray and how do you convey her character in a cover image?

To me she is down to earth (no pun intended), very human (again…), full of energy, incapable of hiding her feelings, and very inquisitive. I try to present her in the light of learning and discovery, as she tries to achieve her goal of becoming emotionally strong and autonomous. As I said earlier, I try to approach these covers in such a way that we can empathize with her.

Yes, this!

June 5, 2010: DC Nation panel at Heroes Con 2010

Ian Settler, DC Senior Story Editor

A serious topic came up about how characters who are minorities who happened to be legacy characters like Ryan Choi are killed off so their caucasian counterparts can return and how they feel like they are being cheated or sidelined out of their roles. Sattler took a more serious tone. “It’s so hard for me to be on the other side because it’s not our intention. There is a reason behind it all. We don’t see it that way and strive very hard to have a diverse DCU. I mean, we have green, pink, and blue characters. We have the Great Ten out there and I have counter statistics, but I won’t get into that. It’s not how we perceived it. We get the same thing about how we treat our female characters.”

Not kidding. He really mocked real people of colour by talking not about them but about non-existent green, pink, and blue people!!!!

And then cited the horrifically offensive Chinese superhero team “The Great Ten” to add insult to injury. Oh, and some hypothetical “counter statistics” that he “won’t get into”.

There is so much wrong going on here. You must read Brown Betty’s breakdown in DC Comics: eliminating non-buyer’s remorse:

But I am also boggling at using The Great Ten in their defence. Technically, it could be worse. He could have pointed out Egg Fu, but The Great Ten is not so great either. Here are some quotes by Morrison and Bedard, on one of the Great Ten, Mother of Champions: These quotes from this Newsarama article, emphasis mine:

“Mother of Champions is a rather hair-raising concept,” Bedard explained. “She can give birth to, as Grant Morrison put it, ‘a 25-strong litter of genetically-identical supermen, each with a lifespan of one week.”

The racism inherent in a Chinese character whose power is her terrifying fertility should be apparent, but litter makes me so mad I can’t even. Sows have litters. Dogs have litters. Women have BABIES, you unbelievable piece of shit.

And also Odditycollector’s post What the shit is this on my computer screen? which has some awesome comments over on livejournal and dreamwidth.

Vejiicakes:
Incidentally, I like how the spokesman used his dismissive Invoking Strangely Colored People tactic as a segue to wave off any of the icky shrill feminists in the audience/readerbase as well. “So this one thing you guys complain about? Nope. Just no. Also this other thing, that’s a no too. You’re wrong.”

Odditycollector:
Yeah… I’m still not sure how to read that. Is it “And as analogy, our comics are full of gender! Just for instance, look at all the men! Thus the feminists who complain about lack of gender inclusion are *dumb*!”

Or is it “You know who else whines about stuff? FEMINISTS. You people complaining about the CoC situation don’t want to be like FEMINISTS, do you?”