Sterling Gates talks Supergirl with CBR and SciFiChick

Sterling Gates was interviewed recently about the latest Supergirl developments over at ComicBookResources and SciFiChick. Both are good reads, but CBR is the meatier of the two. They talk about the latest storyline with BizarroGirl, Lana and Kara/Linda’s relationship, Supergirl as the hero of her own story, and building Supergirl’s rogues gallery (I’ve never gotten the fan appeal of a ‘rogues gallery’, which is really just a list of enemies. Though I am curious about the “old Legion of Super-Heroes villain” that will make an appearance Supergirl Annual #2.)

CBR had an interesting question about Supergirl as a legacy character, and how Gates doesn’t see her that way. Neither do I – Supergirl isn’t taking over the mantle of Superman (Matrix and Linda Danvers would be legacy Supergirls, but that’s different). I loved Gates’ response to that:

CBR: The concept of legacy characters plays a major role in [DCU] comics, but what does being a legacy character mean for Supergirl?

Gates: I don’t know that Supergirl thinks of herself as a legacy character. Not in the same way as, say, Stargirl would. I don’t think the legacy aspect of the DCU plays into her mind like it does for other characters, like the JSofAers. From our standpoint, she’s her own unique legacy story – a girl who’s trying to live up to the expectations of the world and those of her family. It’s hard for her, and she’s got a lot to learn.

Gates talks about Lana acting “as a big sister-type to Kara, helping her in ways that not even Superman can.” on SciFiChick, and on CBR he totally made my day by comparing them to Lorelai and Rory from Gilmore Girls:

CBR: You said that Lana will be playing a bigger role, which makes sense because without her mother and best friend, Lana has to step into that role to help support Supergirl emotionally.

Gates: When I first started on this book, I described their relationship as Lorelai and Rory from “Gilmore Girls.” That’s still how I look at them. I think people were worried after the events of “Supergirl” #50 that Lana was going to disappear and that their relationship was over, but that’s not the case. They had an argument and they had a falling out, but that’s what made that scene interesting to me [and] made me wonder what happens next between those two. I love that relationship and I think it’s extremely important to Kara and for the book.

At the same time, I think Lana needs that relationship just as much as Supergirl does. Lana has gone through a lot of bad stuff and so she draws strength from that relationship – different from the way Supergirl does. At the end of the day, it’s two women – roommates and friends – helping each other learn and grow and change. That’s a relationship I don’t see a lot of the time in comics, so I really want to continue to foster that and build it up.

I love that Sterling gets that.