I was dismayed and thrilled to see that Warren Ellis initiated what he calls a Remake/Remodel Supergirl thread at his Engine forum. For those of you who don't follow comics, Ellis is a writer who doesn't really care for the superhero genre. He's written great stuff in the adventure, science-fiction and "alternative" genres, but his superhero stuff generally stinks of reluctance.
So for him to introduce a thread about reinventing Supergirl, of all characters, is a little odd. He's either desperate to borrow some of Dean Trippe's Project Rooftop moxie for promotional purposes, or he's actually starting to like superhero comics. In the thread's expository text, Ellis explains what he's looking for:
So why did I decide to call this one? In the end, the interest level from the rest of the net was what became interesting to me. Supergirl should be one of the big gems in DC's crown, surely. But even a cursory glance at the material shows that, at best, there's not a clear longterm plan for the character. Hell, Marv and George knocked her off in 1985 and that was the first time anyone had given a shit about the character in 15 years. Interestingly, the current Paris Hiltonesque iteration of the character came from ex-DC staffer Valerie D'Orazio suggesting cheesecake specialist Ed Benes as a revitalising artist for the book, leading to her current visual as a carb-free stick with a collagen pout balanced shakily on top.
Is she a gateway girl's character? Common sense would seem to suggest so. In fact, common sense suggests the character shouldn't be published in regular comics format at all -- or, at least, in some adapted version of the format. She can in fact be seen as a failure of the direct market, a failure of thinking on the publishing level.
So put yourself in Dan Didio's shoes for a few moments, just as an exercise. What would you do with the question of Supergirl? How would you remake and remodel her?
Weirder still is that the submissions, some of them, are really good.
[THE STARRY WISDOM OF WARREN: REMAKE/REMODEL: 5 - Supergirl - The Engine]
The best characterization of Supergirl as a teen is actually seen in Stargirl, Courtney the former Star Spangled Kid.
Supergirl as she was written in Superman/Batman and the current Supergirl is a train wreck in terms of plot and substance. The only decent characterization I've seen of her has been in the new Brave & the Bold. The rest has been such utter trash I've taken to considering both Superman/Batman and Supergirl as out of continuity.
Holiday
|
Registered
|
2007-05-13 02:08:23
I love the artwork that doesn't expose her navel region. They've got taste.
