Supergirl: Girl of No Tomorrow / Plain Sight by Steve Orlando, Robson Rocha, Daniel Henriques, et al.

Supergirl, Vol. 3: Girl of No Tomorrow

Collection published: 2018
Contents originally published: 2017
Read: February 2026

Writers: Steve Orlando, Jody Houser, Vita Ayala
Pencillers: Robson Rocha, Steve Pugh, Jose Luis, Carmen Carnero, Jamal Campbell, Julio Ferreira
Inkers: Daniel Henriques, Steve Pugh, Norm Rapmund, Carmen Carnero, Jamal Campbell, Julio Ferreira
Colorists: Michael Atiyeh, Jamal Campbell
Letterers: Steve Wands, Calos M. Mangual

The second half of Steve Orlando's Supergirl run moves away from the strengths that characterized the first. One senses that this isn't his fault, that editorial is revamping the premise periodically because the book isn't selling the way that they hoped. I don't have any proof of this, but it doesn't make sense to me that a writer would set up a bunch of concepts in their first eleven issues clearly designed to create a "storytelling engine" and then largely ignore or abandon them in their final nine. And it's probably indicative that after the last issue by Orlando, this volume of Supergirl took a four-month break and came back with a totally new creative team and a premise that completely moved away from what Orlando set up here. Though it continued this run's issue numbering, the volume numbering of the trade paperbacks reset, so it was clearly conceptualized as totally distinct. (It doesn't sound appealing, so I am not going to read it, but my understanding is that it moves away from this run's YA vibe and also puts Supergirl on her own in outer space. As far as I know, recurring characters like Ben Rubel have never appeared again.)

The series's third volume, Girl of No Tomorrow, begins where the cliffhanger ending of volume two left off, with Cat Grant seemingly shooting Supergirl. This is quickly shown to be the actions of not Cat Grant but a shapeshifter, and the gun doesn't kill her; it makes her powers stronger but also causes them to fluctuate. To be honest, I didn't really get or enjoy this subplot at all. I think my-powers-are-out-of-control subplots are rarely interesting because they don't really map onto anything comprehensible and the fluctuations can feel very arbitrary and thus the hand of the writer is a bit too evident. (The exception, perhaps, is X-Men stories where they can serve as an allegory for puberty; see X2.) Lots of stuff seems to happen but not mean anything: Kara gets attacked by a bunch of different villains, including the Legion's Emerald Empress, which means each one attacks her, then goes away, repeat. There's no development. Kara's powers fluctuate at school, but the reactions to this don't ring true at all—why, when a character falls down a hole that spontaneously appears in a hallway floor is every one just like, "lol kara is such a nerd"?

Well, this will certainly convince everyone you were being compassionate!
from Supergirl vol. 7 #13 (script by Steve Orlando, art by Robson Rocha & Daniel Henriques)

There's also one of my least favorite superhero tropes: the "regular people" turn on the superhero. This feels like a a bad fit for the Supergirl aesthetic in general and a big swerve from the inspirational approach of the first two volumes in specific. On top of that, when you don't have POV characters who embody this approach, it's just randos in crowd scenes going, "yes i used to look up to you but now you suck!" which just feels arbitrary and random. (Cat Grant is the one actual character we get who doesn't like Supergirl, but I didn't follow her reasoning.)

Look, I love the Emerald Empress, but I literally have no idea what she is going on about here.
from Supergirl Annual vol. 7 #1 (script by Steve Orlando, art by Steve Pugh)

The story doesn't so much end as stop (why all these bad guys were attacking Supergirl thinking she was a danger to the future is just not adequately explained), and there's a big status quo change at the end that doesn't pan out at all. Before that gets developed, though (which is more in the fourth volume), there's a one-issue story about Supergirl teaming up with the "New Super-Man" of China. This is fine but a bit short and facile.

Supergirl, Vol. 4: Plain Sight

Collection published: 2018
Contents originally published: 2018
Read: February 2026

Vol. 4, Plain Sight, unfortunately leans into the things that didn't work for me in vol. 3. At the end of Girl of No Tomorrow, Cameron Chase was fired as the DEO director in National City, and her boss, Director Bones, takes direct control of the DEO's operations there. For reasons that, again, I never really understood, Bones has some kind of vendetta against Supergirl. This means the setup of the first two volumes, where Supergirl works for the DEO is abandoned. Supergirl's adoptive parents are DEO agents; they quit. Who her parents are is scrubbed from the DEO records... somehow Bones can't figure this out, which doesn't really make any sense. What also doesn't make sense is that Kara continues to attend human high school despite the danger this puts both herself and her classmates in; for some reason, she also continues in her internship at Catco even though this means she spends much of her manufacturing anti-Supergirl content. Why does she need this internship so much?

This book does attempt to recapture the storytelling enginge set up in vol. 1 again, by including a subplot about Kara and Ben going—or not going—to nerd prom together, while a girl shows up who's a rival for Kara's affections. I felt, though, that this coordinated pretty awkwardly with the main plot of Supergirl continuing to battle bad guys sent by an increasingly and implausibly unhinged Director Bones. (Like, why would this guy be dumb enough to think, "oh someone from apokolips is definitely more trustworthy than supergirl"!?) Also it might have worked better if the rival character had ever appeared before! (Or maybe she did but was completely unmemorable? Either way, not well done.)

And this dude promptly never appeared again.
from Supergirl vol. 7 #18 (script by Jody Houser & Steve Orlando, art by Carmen Carnero)

The book does have a standout issue, though; the penultimate one is a lot like the story in vol. 2 where Supergirl redeemed a villain, in that it's character-driven and mostly focuses on seeing Supergirl through another's eyes. In this case, though, it's not a villain, but a nonbinary kid who finds acceptance with Supergirl when they can't get it at home. Great art by Jamal Campbell, and I felt that we were tapping into what make Orlando's version of the character actually work for the first time in a long while. Too bad the rest of the book couldn't do this.

To be honest, I didn't totally buy this argument. "If your parents reject you, it's because they love you!"
from Supergirl vol. 7 #19 (script by Steve Orlando & Vita Ayala, art by Jamal Campbell)

The last issue is very much an "oops we're being cancelled let's cram it all in and wrap it all up" one, unfortunately. Necessary from a storytelling perspective, I guess, but not interesting to read. Shame that this run started out strongly but fizzled out so badly.

How did Director Bones get to be so dumb?
from Supergirl vol. 7 #20 (script by Steve Orlando & Jody Houser, art by Robson Rocha & Daniel Henriques)

As I said, I'm not interesting in continuing onto the Marc Andreyko run that continues from here (even if it does feature Kevin Maguire on art!), but what I've read about the subsequent Sophie Campbell one makes it sound more my speed. Maybe someday!

Supergirl: Reign of the Cyborg Supermen / Escape from the Phantom Zone by Steve Orlando, Brian Ching, et al.

Supergirl, Vol. 1: Reign of the Cyborg Supermen

Collection published: 2017
Contents originally published: 2016-17
Read: February 2026

Writers: Steve Orlando, Hope Larson
Artists: Brian Ching, Emanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy, Matias Bergara, Inaki Miranda
Colorists: Michael Atiyeh, Eva De La Cruz
Letterers: Steve Wands, Deron Bennett

My seven-year-old is a bit of a Supergirl fan; they've read all of the Supergirl volumes in DC's short-lived "Silver Age" series of trade paperbacks, the Showcase Presents Supergirl volumes that cover what that series doesn't, and even The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl trades collecting the 1980s material. So one day, when I was flipping through the books in my library's "Friends of the Library" bookshop and found the first collected edition of Supergirl's "Rebirth" comics, I paid a dollar and brought it home for them (after doing enough perusing to determine it was age-appropriate). They enjoyed it and requested the next, and I ended up picking the other three volumes online, and once they finished the series, I decided to read it myself.

I'm not very au fait with Supergirl's "New 52" continuity, but writer Steve Orlando does a very good job of quickly orienting the new reader. Kara has recently lost her powers (and I guess Superman is dead, but by the time of vol. 2, he's not anymore, so it doesn't really matter), but has agreed to work with Director Cameron Chase of the Department of Extranormal Operations to cooperate with them in exchange for getting her powers back. Part of this deal is that Kara will be adopted and raised by a married pair of DEO agents and live as a human, even attending high school.

The art really nails the cute-but-dorky vibe.
from Supergirl vol. 7 #6 (script by Steve Orlando, art by Brian Ching)

But just as Kara is settling into her new home and family, the ghost of her old home and family return. National City is attacked by the Cyborg Superman, who I guess Supergirl has battled before—but what she didn't know until now is that he's the Brainiac-revived remnants of her father, Zor-El. 

You go Kara.
from Supergirl vol. 7 #7 (script by Steve Orlando, art by Matias Bergara)

This is basically perfectly-executed light superhero comics. I mean, there is some heavy backstory here, but overall the book's not going for exhausting; it keeps the pace moving and the energy up. I don't think I've ever read anything by Steve Orlando before, but he writes above-average dialogue for superhero comics, which manages to balance action and character and exposition. Orlando moves into position a solid cast of supporting characters, including Kara's new parents, Cat Grant, and a guy at Kara's new school named Ben. You can sense things being shifted into position for an ongoing run, in a good way; this is a setup that should continue to generate stories.

Poor Kara.
from Supergirl vol. 7 #3 (script by Steve Orlando, art by Brian Ching)

Orlando is ably aided by Brian Ching, who draws all but one of the seven issues collected here, and whose style is a perfect match for what Orlando is doing in the writing. Ching was one of the regular artists on the Star Wars ongoing Knights of the Old Republic back in the day, and was instrumental to that series's success; I'm glad to see him employed by one of the Big Two.

"Yes, we swear these characters who were previously from totally different continuities really do have a relationship!"
from Supergirl vol. 7 #8 (script by Steve Orlando, art by Matias Bergara)

I even really like Steve Wands's lettering. Contemporary comic book lettering is often very samey, but he does some different things here that I found very effective. 

Supergirl, Vol. 2: Escape from the Phantom Zone

Collection published: 2017
Contents originally published: 2017
Read: February 2026

The second volume is pretty good, too. It begins with three one-shots: one where Kara teams up with Batgirl (in the "Burnside era," though after the original creative team left and I stopped reading), one where Kara helps redeem a villain from the previous volume, and one where Kara connects with her cousin. Each of these is pretty solid; the best is definitely the middle one, a really well done story about Kara reaching out and helping someone who needs her, someone who was let down by everyone his whole life; Matias Bergara does a solid job fitting the Brian Ching style. I though the team-up was fine, though Supergirl seemed to be made a little dumb so that she had a reasons to need Batgirl's help. The Superman one has some good moments, but Matias Bergara's art seems rushed and the story is too obviously there to make sure you know how everything fits together.

The last three issues are one long story, "Escape from the Phantom Zone." On the one hand, I was glad Brian Ching was back, but on the other hand, I found the premise didn't play to the strengths; Supergirl, Batgirl, and Ben end up trapped in the Phantom Zone, and the setting of National City and Kara's supporting cast is largely irrelevant; Ben is there, but having him interact with Supergirl turns out to be dramatically inert. I did not think the villains were very interesting, either. 

I do appreciate how Orlando paces his ongoings. Usually each issue's story ends a couple pages before the end, then there's a bit of a breather/coda, and then the issue will end with a couple pages setting up the next one. It's a simple but effective device.

Hugos 2023: Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King and Bilquis Evely

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow

Collection published: 2022
Contents originally published: 2021-22
Acquired: July 2023
Read: August 2023

Writer: Tom King

Artist: Bilquis Evely

Colorist: Matheus Lopez

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

This is Tom King's third nomination for the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story or Comic, this time with artist Bilquis Evely for a Supergirl story. While the previous Tom King comics I've read have all been about taking apart heroes, breaking them down in the face of the violence at the core of the medium, this one takes a different approach to Supergirl, showing what makes her keep going (even if admitting to a bit of tragedy and darkness).

The basic premise is that on Kara's twenty-first birthday, she travels to an alien planet with a red sun in order to get drunk and feel it without her powers; she happens to get caught up in the quest of a girl named Ruthye to hunt down the man who killed her father—and then that killer makes off with Kara's ship into space. So Supergirl and Ruthye go on a quest across galaxies to find that man and bring him to justice. The story is narrated by Ruthye, and we entirely see Supergirl through her eyes, always at a remove. The narration is dense, but it really works, and what the narration doesn't give us, Evely's beautiful art does, highlighting the strength and flaws of this powerful woman.

The story shows what make Supergirl Supergirl: not the powers (though they certainly help), but how she chooses to use them—which goes back, as one flashback chapter points out, to before she had the powers. I though that issue (#6: "Home, Family, and Revenge") was the single best Supergirl origin I have read, really tapping into the tragedy in a way that other origins (such as Jeph Loeb and Michael Turner's shit) have neglected, and it's beautifully paired with Supergirl riding Comet the Super-Horse in a desperate race. King embraces the tragedy of Kara Zor-El, but he also doesn't shy away from the ridiculousness of the history of the character.

Overall, I really liked it. Surely the best of Big Two superhero comics, and I was glad to have an excuse to pick it up and read it. It's my first Best Graphic Story finalist, but it feels like the one to beat.

(I will say, though, that content appropriateness choices at DC continue to baffle me, just like with Strange Adventures. Genocide and mass graves? A-okay! Someone saying "fuck"? Better cover that #%$&@ up with grawlixes! They throw me out every time. Either actually swear or don't.)

Joe Casey's Adventures of Superman Supplement: Supergirls

Hungry Ghost: "Blood, Broads and Bushido" / "Blood Sisters" / "Blood Demands..."

Action Comics vol. 1 #806-08 (Oct.-Dec. 2003)

Writer: Joe Kelly
Penciller: Pascual Ferry
Inker: Cam Smith
Guest Art: Karl Kerschl
Colors: Guy Major
Associate Editor: Tom Palmer jr
Editor: Eddie Berganza 

This is my last side-step from Joe Casey's Adventures of Superman comics, and my second-last set of comics in the whole sequence. As with Lost Hearts and The Harvest, I picked it up because it co-features Traci Thirteen and I liked the covers.

Joe Kelly's story (called "Supergirls" on the covers but "Hungry Ghost" inside) features three female characters prominent in the era's Superman comics: Traci Thirteen, Natasha Irons (niece of John Henry Irons, one-time Superman himself), and Cir-El (the Supergirl I know the least about). Additionally, like the Kelly-co-written Lost Hearts, it features a prominent role for Lana Lang, one-time Superboy's girlfriend, now Second Lady of the United States of America. (Are you really Second Lady if there's no First Lady?)

from Action Comics vol. 1 #807
(art by Pascual Ferry & Cam Smith)

A weird ghost lady (she's a poorly explain pre-established character) stabs Superman, and Traci Thirteen tries to keep him alive. Of course, Natasha misunderstands and there's a brief fight, but soon all four women are working together to revive Superman and defeat the ghost lady.

To be honest, like a lot of Joe Kelly Superman comics, I'm coming to realize, it sounds better than it is. There's a lot of fight scenes, but a story like this really depends on the conflict and combination of character voices to be interesting... and I felt like this never really got anywhere. The covers have those cool quotes on them (Action #807's is my favorite, from Natasha: "I march. I protest. And I have a giant robot with a killer body. It's very complicated."), but that sense of voice is missing from the actual comics. There's too much space taken up by the generic fights and boring ghost backstory for these seemingly badass women to get to demonstrate their badassery. Kelly might have co-created Traci Thirteen, but (as is often the case with franchise comics), it was other creators who would go on to make her interesting and vital.

from Action Comics vol. 1 #806
(art by Pascual Ferry & Cam Smith)

Also Pascual Ferry just cannot draw women's foreheads for some reason.

ACCESS AN INDEX OF ALL POSTS IN THIS SERIES HERE

Return to the Threeboot: A Review of Supergirl and the Legion of Superheros: The Quest For Cosmic Boy

Given that in reading Mark Waid and Barry Kitson's run on the Legion of Super-Heroes, I had read five of the eight volumes of the so-called "threeboot" Legion, it seemed like the thing to do was just go ahead and read the remaining three. So here is the first of three reviews of what was done with Waid and Kitson's distinctive Legion after they left:

Comic trade paperback, 138 pages
Published 2008 (contents: 2007-08) 
Acquired and read August 2016

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes: The Quest For Cosmic Boy

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Writer: Tony Bedard

Artists: Dennis Calero with Kevin Sharpe/Robin Riggs
Colors: Nathan Eyring
Letters: Travis Lanham, Jared K. Fletcher, Steve Wands

Cosmic Boy vanished in the final issue of the Waid/Kitson run, Dominator War, apparently taken into the future. The Quest For Cosmic Boy sees a new Legion leader, Supergirl, begin a search for him under the advice of Brainiac 5. This essentially gives us three substories, each of which is the focus of two issues or so: Star Boy, Sun Boy, and Mekt "not Lightning Lord" Ranzz go to Mekt's home planet of Winath; Supergirl, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad explore the Gobi Rainforest; and Timber Wolf, Shadow Lass, and Atom Girl must stop an attempted assassination on Lallor, the planet where the Legion fought a bloody battle back in Teenage Revolution.

I want to see more of this guy, but I suspect we never will.
from Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #32 (art by Dennis Calero)

Of these, the Winath one is the most successful. For most of the story, it's a fun and complicated adventure underground on the dangerous planet of Winath, especially thanks to a United Planet judiciary member who's come along to arrest Cosmic Boy if they do find him, so that Cos can attend a hearing on the genocide of the Dominators. Tenzil Kem, the judiciary officer, is Matter-Eater Lad in some other continuities, and here he's good fun, eating tons of stuff (including a finger!) but also with lie-detecting sunglasses. Unfortunately, it all fell apart at the end for me, when we learn that Mekt's people telepathically implanted the impulse to commit genocide in Cos, completely undermining the end of Dominator War, and replacing moral ambiguity with black-and-white simplicity. Mekt's Wanderers had previously had the same goals as the Legion, but somewhat more dangerous methods; now they're just evil folks. I was really disappointed in this change, and it cast a pall over the interesting story Bedard had been telling up until that point.

And no one ever mentioned him ever again. Even after he told everyone he used to be on the team.
from Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #34 (art by Dennis Calero)

The other two stories are considerably less interesting. The Lallor story adds Wildfire to the Legion in a somewhat too complicated fashion (he was apparently on the team before the first volume, but seemed to be killed), and it's not as though the Legion really needs more members-- the roll call in the front of the book lists nineteen active, full members, and there are so many story and character hooks for them that Waid and Kitson set up in the first five volumes that still haven't been followed up on. The Gobi story is mostly there just to get Supergirl out of the way, returning her to the 21st century for the events of World War III and whatever it was she did in her own book after the Infinite Crisis.

I imagine his tenure as Legion leader will go off without a hitch.
from Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #36 (art by Dennis Calero)

The idea of Supergirl as Legion leader has promise, given she's instinctively nice and selfless, but also new to this time and place, but Bedard's story gives her almost nothing to do in this capacity except take orders from Brainiac 5. And though I like Brainy, he overshadows the other characters a bit too much with his complicated machinations (taking after his ancestor in L.E.G.I.O.N., except that that Brainiac was a lead, whereas this one is supposed to be an equal member of an ensemble). I found myself pretty dissatisfied with the thrust of Bedard's brief run on the title. I'd like to see more development of the characters that Waid and Kitson set up-- there are lots of Legionnaires we still know so little about, including Cos's cofounders, Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad!

I should say that Dennis Calero does a pretty good job on art. I'd hate to be the guy with the job of following Barry Kitson as artist on anything, but Calero does a good job on action. On the other hand, his figures and faces look a little too posed at times, especially when he seems to be tracing a facial expression that just doesn't look at all appropriate for the situation.

Revolutionary Reading: An Examination of the Legion of Super-Heroes Threeboot, Final Part: Dominator War

I had two reviews posted at Unreality SF last week: one of last year's Doctor Who audio trilogy with the seventh Doctor and Mel, and one of Series Four of Survivors. Posting this notice before this review makes me think there should be a Doctor Who comics by Mark Waid and Barry Kitson. They would be good at it. But then, I think they would be good at almost any comic.

Comic trade paperback, 124 pages
Published 2007 (contents: 2007) 
Acquired February 2016
Read May 2016

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes: Dominator War

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Writer: Mark Waid with Tony Bedard

Pencils: Barry Kitson with Kevin Sharpe
Inks: Mick Gray with Jimmy Palmiotti, Mark McKenna, Jack Purcell
Colors: Nathan Eyring
Letters: Travis Lanham, Jared K. Fletcher, Pat Brosseau, Phil Balsman

This is the final volume of Mark Waid and Barry Kitson's run on Legion of Super-Heroes, which means it will be my last post in this short-lived series of posts (though I do plan on eventually picking up what Tony Bedard and Jim Shooter did with this version of the Legion later on). In my review of Teenage Revolution, I set up the idea that a lot of fiction about revolutions deals with idea of "shrugging": how a character justifies the deaths that are needed to bring about utopia. Though Waid and Kitson's Legion of Super-Heroes has largely shied from depicting violence by the Legion against the state, this volume does have a pretty big example of justified violence, albeit in the context of warfare.

The last couple volumes have included among their many subplots the simmering threat of the Dominators; in this one, it finally comes to the fore. The Dominators are genetically engineered zealots. Each one believes in the genetic superiority of their species, and things are getting worse, as a Dominator scientist has introduced new genetic code that will propagate through the species, making every Dominator superpowered within a few generations. This means a conventional military defeat is insufficient; the Legion must commit genocide in order to win. If they just confine the Dominators to their homeworld, within a few generations, the Dominators will be unstoppable.

Cosmic Boy, still leader of the Legion, debates if he has the right to commit genocide:

from Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #30 (script by Mark Waid, art by Barry Kitson and Mick Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti)

Thus we have Cos assuming a sort of Ozymandias-like posture: this is a burden he must take, only he is capable of doing so. He's the only person advanced enough to sanction mass murder to save universe.

So the Dominator homeworld is destroyed by Mon-El:

from Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #30 (script by Mark Waid, art by Barry Kitson and Mick Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti)

I think this cops out on the series's confrontation with revolutionary violence in a few ways. The first is that the violence is all directed outwards; the Legion has never had to use lethal force against, for example, the Science Police during the course of the series. No one from the Legion's own society suffers as a result of their actions. The second is that the Dominators are basically genetically engineered to be evil. Obviously this can't happen in the real world, but it is often used to make genocide palatable in science fiction, like with the Daleks in Doctor Who. If every Dalek is an evil soldier, killing them is just what you must do during wartime, and the same applies here to the Dominators. There are no "innocent" Dominators, and thus Cosmic Boy is merely a general ordering the deaths of enemy soldiers. The third is that no genocide actually happens:

from Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #30 (script by Mark Waid, art by Barry Kitson and Mick Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti)

Both Mon-El and the Dominators are not actually dead, but shunted into another dimension. Everyone thinks Cosmic Boy committed genocide, but he actually did not, though the continued existence of the Dominators needs to be kept a secret for various plot reasons. Now I'm not complaining that I don't get to read a comic book about teenagers committing genocide per se, but there are a lot of ethical complexities to revolution, and since this book framed itself as being about one, I wish it had delved into them a little bit more. If it doesn't, it doesn't take sufficient advantage of its unique premise, and becomes just another superhero team comic.

But I think that's what DC wanted. In my discussion of Adult Education, I talked about how Waid and Kitson modeled the reading practices they wanted their readers to follow. But it wasn't working, at least so the sales indicated. Soon after Waid and Kitson left the book, they were replaced by Jim Shooter, who had written the Legion back in the 1970s. The metatextual message here seems pretty clear to me: here is the Legion you knew and loved in the past. If DC Comics had been trying to cultivate a new, younger readership with the "threeboot," they had given up and were now chasing after the older die-hards who had read the Legion as children. I haven't read Shooter's run yet, but I understand that under him, the idea of the Legion as a youth movement was diminished, and it became a more traditional superhero team book.

In an interview a couple of years ago, Waid reflected on the difficulties DC had with his and Kitson's run:

I thought we had a home run on our hands. I really did. The reader response to it was really good. In-house, people loved it. At DC. I felt like we were hitting it out of the park. But we were right at that point where the marketplace was deciding whether or not fresh takes on old things or whether it wanted what it read in the 1980s. "Why can't comics be good the way they were when Mommy was still alive?" And we lost that bet. It felt to me that we did exactly the right thing, which was, "Look, I’m going to treat this beloved franchise as if it’s been a moribund, dead property for 15 years and we’re dusting it off and give you a whole new spin on it." There was an appetite for it at first, it seemed like, but then it just... people love their Legion comics the way they were in 1985. I can’t fault them, but I thought that would have been over the fence.

Either ironically or inevitably, the very nostalgic reading practices they had used the comic to argue against proved its undoing. Not even Jim Shooter could save the "threeboot" Legion, however; in 2009, just two years after Waid and Kitson left, DC cancelled the book, and it was replaced by the "deboot" Legion, which restored the status quo to what it had been in 1986, ignoring everything that had come in the intervening 23 years.

Nostalgia had defeated the revolution.

Revolutionary Reading: An Examination of the Legion of Super-Heroes Threeboot, Part IV: Adult Education

Comic trade paperback, 190 pages
Published 2007 (contents: 2005-07) 
Acquired February 2016
Read May 2016

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes: Adult Education

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Writer: Mark Waid with Tony Bedard and Stuart Moore

Pencils/Layouts: Barry Kitson
Additional Pencils: Adam DeKraker, Ken Lashley, Pat Olliffe, Dale Eaglesham
Inks: Mick Gray, Rob Stull, Rodney Ramos, Greg Parkin, Livesay, Art Thibert
Letters: Nick J. Napolitano, Jared K. Fletcher, Travis Lanham, Phil Balsman
Colors: Nathan Eyring, Richard & Tanya Horie

This collection includes two stories that directly pick up on and work with the idea we've seen throughout the series, that this version of the Legion of Super-Heroes was inspired by the DC Comics publications of the 20th and 21st centuries. Here, the series creators model what we might call the "revolutionary" reading practices they want the readers of their comic to employ.

One is a set of stories within a story, about various versions of the Legion of Super-Heroes that are incompatible with the current one's history. If, like me, you are a little perplexed by how DC Comics characters can be reading DC Comics (including some that they themselves appear in; in Teenage Revolution, we saw the cover of Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4 #0), an anonymous stranger delivers a helpful piece of advice:

from Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 5 #15 (script by Stuart Moore, art by Patrick Olliffe & Livesay)

Well, that's me told. Recall, after all, that even though the Legion members memorize what issues DC characters first appeared in, what they really care about are the ideals the superheroes stand for.

This is reiterated in the book's final story, which takes place in the aftermath of Terror Firma's destruction of Legion headquarters (as seen in Death of a Dream). Rescue operations for the Legion followers caught in the blast are underway, and the story features a series of juxtapositions between damaged comic books in the rubble and the rescue operations being carried out in the present. For example, here's the cover of an issue of Batman with Commissioner Gordon and Batman looking at a body paralleled with a Science Police officer and a Legion follower covering up a body:

from Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 5 #11 (script by Mark Waid, art by Dale Eaglesham & Art Thibert)

There are six or seven of these, providing a visual reminder of how the comics of the past serve as inspiration for the heroes of the future.

But one of the Legion followers fixates on the comic books, embodying what we might call "nostalgic" reading practices. He goes around scooping up and saving the remnants of the comic books. A group of Legion followers notices him and attack him, thinking he's a speculator looking to pick up some rare back issues. He explains his motives as being purer, however:

from Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 5 #11 (script by Mark Waid, art by Dale Eaglesham & Art Thibert)

The other Legion followers set him straight, however. If what makes the comics important was that they were the Legion's inspiration, then what matters isn't the comics as physical objects, but that members of the Legion carry out the ideals they represent. You don't need the actual, physical comics for them to be important. Chastised, the comic-collecting Legionnaire drops his comic books to the ground and joins in the rescue operations, giving us one last parallelism:

from Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 5 #11 (script by Mark Waid, art by Dale Eaglesham & Art Thibert)

In this story, Mark Waid models the reading practices that underpinned the "threeboot" as conceived of by him and Barry Kitson. Inspired by the comics of the past, but beholden to their spirit, not their literal details. Continuity and nostalgia doesn't matter, idealism and revolution do. As much as Waid and Kitsons take on the Legion was about a revolution, it was itself revolutionary-- taking an old idea and reworking it for a contemporary context.

Unfortunately, the lessons of this story would go unheard by the readers of DC Comics. But that's something I'll cover when I get to the final volume of Waid and Kitson's run.

Revolutionary Reading: An Examination of the Legion of Super-Heroes Threeboot, Part III: Strange Visitor From Another Century

Comic trade paperback, 137 pages
Published 2006 (contents: 2005-06) 
Acquired February 2016
Read May 2016

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes: Strange Visitor From Another Century

​

Writer: Mark Waid

Pencillers: Barry Kitson, Adam DeKraker, Ken Lashley, Art Thibert, Amanda Conner
Inkers: Mick Gray, Drew Geraci, Barry Kitson, Rodney Ramos
Colorist: Nathan Eyring
Letterers: Phil Balsman, Travis Lanham

One of the clearest explanations of the Mark Waid/Barry Kitson Legion of Super-Heroes is found in the back of this book, where the Legionnaires answer mail from readers of the comic in character. This approach to the old tradition of the lettercol is a delight, and it allows the characters to sort of step outside themselves and describe the premise of the book directly to the reader:

from Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 5 #6 (art by Barry Kitson)

The Legion stands for color, against sterility, as embodied in the virtues of the heroes of the past.

Their virtues are put to the test in this volume, though, which depicts one of the few direct conflicts between the Legion and the society they seek to change. When a group of Legionnaires takes down a terrorist disguised as a Science Police officer outside the home of a guy called Klar who embodies the society they're trying to reform. Klar's wife considers him not "fully clothed" when he's wearing shirt and pants but not hood and goggles, and Klar communicates with his neighbors via screen. He complains the Legionnaires lack "decorum" and "traipse out of doors like savages"!

Here we see something of the dark side of the Legion, as they bully him, stealing his goggles, and mocking his age. This riles up Klar, who comes back with his neighbors to argue with the Legion, who only mock him further:

from Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #16 (art by Barry Kitson & Mick Gray)

There's some irony here, of course: the Legion has inspired Klar and other social conservatives to interact face-to-face for apparently the first time ever, and Klar's declaration that there is strength in numbers is exactly how the Legion took down Terror Firma in the previous volume. Their revolution has inspired another social movement, yet Klar doesn't recognize that he's abandoning his principles to ostensibly fight for them. Is he becoming a superhero himself? (That's what Matthew from Legion Abstract posits in this nice reading of the scene.)

This is probably the most direct conflict we see between the Legion and society, and on one level, it's pretty harmless-- the Legion shouts out some ageist insults and goes on its way. No real violence is required for them to change society.

That said, it's important to know there's been a major status quo change by this point. The events of the previous volume have shown the United Planets 1) that the Legion of Super-Heroes isn't going anywhere and 2) that the Legion has been successful whereas they have not. So the U.P. changes tactics, and gives the Legion official standing. What happens when they revolutionaries become the establishment? Well, this conflict shows that it actually makes them bullies to a certain extent. The Legionnaires flaunt their newfound authority to intimidate Klar (like I said, they steal his goggles).

It's one thing to punch up, but it's another to punch down, and the Legion is only starting to come to grips with what it means to go from underdogs to establishment, and how you much reorient your attitude appropriately. They're not exactly living up to the virtues of their role models in this sequence, even if they are making the world more colorful, and I'm glad that Kitson and Waid explore that here.

Faster than a DC Bullet, Issue #11: Superman Batman: Supergirl

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2005 (contents: 2004)
Borrowed from a friend
Read August 2009

Superman Batman: Supergirl

Writer: Jeph Loeb

Artist: Michael Turner
Colorist: Peter Steigerwald
Letterer: Richard Starkings

DC Universe Timeline: Two Years Ago
Real World Timeline: Late 2003?

(This story picks up immediately after the events of Public Enemies, with Superman confined to the Watchtower until the bits of the kryptonite asteroid from that storyline are cleaned up.)

Well, it's time for another rollicking team-up of the World's Finest. Jeph Loeb is back on writing duties for this second volume of the Superman Batman series, with Michael Turner taking over the art. This story explains some of the background behind what has happening in Public Enemies (no explanation for the abortive the-guy-who-killed-Batman's-parents-is-still-out-there plotline, though), telling us that the kryptonite asteroid had a Kryptonian space capsule with Supergirl in it at its heart, and the reason it came straight for Earth was because the capsule was following the one little Kal-El was sent to Earth in. I think the reason Lex Luthor knew this was Darkseid, but how Luthor was going to go public with that explanation and maintain his credibility, I have no idea.

The plot of this story is astoundingly simple. It opens up with Batman discovering a space capsule with a Kryptonian in it while taking part in cleanup operations-- a Kryptonian who turns out to be Kara Zor-El, Superman's cousin. The problem with this series is that it wants to show you the conflict that comes from Superman and Batman's very different worldviews-- something's that been done well in other stories-- but Jeph Loeb seems capable of doing this only by making the two characters act like total jerks. Superman wants to raise Kara and take care of her-- she is, after all, the only member of his race he's ever encountered-- but Batman doesn't trust her for some reason. Of course, it's because he's Batman, but we're never sufficiently sold on the notion that she might be in some way untrustworthy, so he just comes across like a snarling jerk. Especially when he, in a move I cannot understand, convinces Wonder Woman to help him kidnap Kara and take her to Paradise Island. No one even asks Superman if he would like this idea, and I have a hard time believing that any of these people would actually ever think it was necessary. Superman doesn't come out good here, either, though, refusing to explain anything to his friends, and making fun of Batman for losing the second Robin, Jason Todd, an act so out of character that Superman spends the rest of the book thinking to himself, I can't believe I made that crack about Jason Todd.

Loeb's inability to get the characters right is not limited to the Big Three, however. Harbinger, of Crisis on Infinite Earths fame, makes an appearance... an appearance where instead of being the scion of one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse, she giggles like a schoolgirl as she swaps teenage gossip with Kara. Harbinger would never shout "Go Kara! Kick her butt!" Her power was speaking in overly portentous prose! And then she gets killed off-- what a load of nonsense. The book's real crime in this regard is, however, Darkseid. Loeb's Darkseid is a brute and an idiot, not the cunning demigod created by Jack Kirby. There is no way that Batman could have brought Kirby's Darkseid and the forces of Apokolips to their knees within minutes given the centuries of battling the New Gods have put in. And the plan Superman and Kara (now operating as Supergirl) use to trick Darkseid makes no sense. Supergirl throws herself in front of Darkseid's omega beams to protect Superman, but actually teleports out at the last second, and some ash is teleported in to make it look like she's been vaporized. But if she wasn't actually there when the omega beams hit, surely they would have gone right through and killed Superman? Notwithstanding the fact that the power of the omega beams is that they always hit their target! They bend and twist to avoid any obstacle, to catch any runner. If Supergirl was in the way, they'd just go around her! But the worst part of this is that Superman beats up Darkseid and throws him into the Source Wall! What the crap? The entire might of New Genesis can't bring down Darkseid; there's no way that Superman can-- he might be the strongest man on Earth, but Darkseid is a New God! This is justified by Batman at one point, who says that Superman "knew Darkseid would get overconfident if he believed his Omega Effect killed Kara. And it certainly put Superman in the mindset he needed to go into battle." Um, what? Sure, Darkseid may have momentarily dropped his guard after he thought Supergirl was dead, but this isn't an RPG; someone getting the drop on you isn't a deleterious effect on the entire battle. Surely after Superman jumped on Darkseid and threw him into the sun, Darkseid would put his guard back up and stop gasping "I... am... Darkseid" like he's some ineffectual powerless goon. This isn't Mongul we're dealing with here.

Possibly the worst bit of characterization in the whole thing is the titular character, Supergirl herself. Or rather, her total lack of characterization. This is a girl who lost her home planet as a young adult (not as an infant like Superman)... but she doesn't really seem fussed about it at all, content to take baths with Harbinger. Really, the only thing we learn about her is that she loves shopping. Of course she does, she's a teenage girl, right? Hahaha, oh that joke is so great Jeph Loeb, and it never gets old. Girls like to shop! Of course! What else would they do after waking up on an alien planet, newly orphaned? Why does Kara decide to become Supergirl? Who the heck knows! She spends most of the book either amnesiac or under Darkseid's mental control; this book isn't about her in any way, shape, or form, it's about a bunch of people talking about her. She's agency-less in her own story.

In my Public Enemies review, I said the story was saved by some excellent artwork. Can I say the same here? You would think so, going by Loeb's introduction to the collection. He says of Michael Turner: "he drew the darndest sexiest women in comics. What made them sexy wasn't the typical pinup shot of adolescent male fantasies. Mike imbues all his female characters with a strength, both externally and internally..." I think Loeb was confusing the sparkly anime eyes every female character has for inner strength, because there's so such thing going on here. How is Supergirl stalking naked through the streets of Gotham not an adolescent male fantasy? Our first full picture of her is in the nude with a strategically placed sheet and cape magically held in place!

I would criticize Turner for drawing Kara with an improbably long torso and improbably large boobs yet thin body, but I don't think it's a fault with his drawing of Kara so much as his drawing of women, because everyone in this comic has the same body type. Even Wonder Woman. Even Big Barda, who's supposed to a be a colossus; in Turner's hands, she looks like just another teenage girl. She also wears improbably sexy outfits, of course. We're told Lois bought her clothes, but would Lois really buy her a shirt that does this?

What is that shirt even doing? How can it just tuck in in the front like that? Later we get her in a shirt that stops just below her breasts and a g-string that rises up above her jeans. What the heck? Who actually dresses like that? I guess that maybe maybe some girls do, but I find it improbable in the extreme that Lois Lane bought clothes like this for a girl she'd never even met! And she's supposed to be a teenage girl; this just makes me feel dirty. And DC wonders why no girls actually read their Supergirl comic. I also can't believe that Ma Kent would ever devise a Supergirl costume that looked like this:

Conservative, Kansan, sixty-year-old Ma Kent designs Supergirl an outfit that shows her entire improbably long midriff and has a miniskirt!? Right. And we won't even get started on the costume Darkseid puts her in. The art is not noteworthy otherwise: a little too rough from time to time, which shows up in how similar Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne look out of costume.
So, with Supergirl, the Superman Batman series has gone from bad to worse. These books are written so unsubtly they should come with a two-by-four; every narration box hits you over the head with, "They're different... but also the same! And because they're the same... but different they're strong together! Like a team of people who are different... but also the same! Makeout time!" And the only reason they're even different is because Jeph Loeb writes them like total jerks. And Batman doesn't even do anything in this book; why was he even here? Good Lord, what a bunch of crap and nonsense.

Note that this originally appeared on my old LiveJournal and included pictures back then. Sadly, the pictures are lost in the mists of the Internet.