It occurs to me we should have a centralized place to solicit comments when something of mine comes out. So on Fridays when a comic of mine comes out, we’ll do a “NU? WHAD’JA THINK?”
Curiously, a line of dialogue was dropped out on story page 10. The exchange, between Superboy and Mxy, is supposed to go like this:
SUPERBOY: Me and my buds, Young Justice, ran into a teen version of you. Why, we helped make you the, uh, man you are today.
(Mxy looks stunned.)
MXY: That was…you?
SUPER: Yeah!
MXY: That was you guys?!?
SUPER: That’s right! You remember?!
(And a giant robotic booted foot slams down on Superboy, wiping him out of the frame.)
Sfx: WOOOOM
(Angle on the foot, slamming down into the pavement.)
Sfx: THOOOM
(Worm’s eye view of the robot, about thirty stories tall, lifting its foot in the act of walking, and we see Superboy smeared on the bottom of the robot’s foot. Mxy is thoughtfully scratching his chin.
MXY: Can’t say as I do.
For some reason, the “That’s right! You remember?” line vanished. So Mxy’s “Can’t say as I do” reads very oddly.
Also, without desiring to give major storypoints away, I feel the need to respond to initial confusion from readers. The Superman who appears in the story and talks to Kara is *not* the real Superman. He is an actor whom Mxy endows with Superman’s powers. So all of his dialogue and advice to Kara is through the prism of a guy who has actor friends who have dealt with overzealous fans. Unfortunately, although this was made abundantly clear in the text, apparently a coloring error (the fake Superman from the current Man of Steel, which this ties in with, has red hair; the one in SUPERGIRL does not) prompted some readers to think that this was simply Superman being insensitive.
The Kara storyline is a tricky one. The problem is that Kara’s first instinct is to find Superman. If she finds him first crack out of the box, he’s immediately going to take charge of the situation, and I’m no longer writing a SUPERGIRL story. I’m writing a SUPERMAN story where Linda Danvers is a supporting character at best. The fake Superman who was going to be in MOS provided the perfect answer. Unfortunately, the colorist apparently didn’t know to make his hair red, and bam. Instead of the perfect answer, we have confused readers.
The joys of comic books.
So whad’ja think?
PAD
• 
Thanks for the clarification, Mr. D. Looking forward to reading it.
Thanks for the info about the red hair, as well — I understood that Mxy had made a fake Superman, but I wasn’t sure from the comic if the one who talked to her was the real or the fake one. Very confusing, but it makes so much more sense now.
Great comic, by the way. Love reading it.
Thank you for clearing that up. I am glad I read the Superman issue first, before I got to YJ.
This storyline is delightful! What a treat for fans of Kara; I’m also finding I like Linda a lot more now that she’s “on her own.”
Thanks for making it easy for new readers to pick up, also… I wasn’t really on board with issues #50-74, but it doesn’t matter. I’m on board now.
Thanks for clearing up the Superman thing – I was suprised at how brusque he was. It seemed really out of character for him.
I totally missed the text clue. Going back, I see it now, but it sure didn’t stick in my mind.
Fun story, though — and a clever way to solve the “Superman” problem. I’m looking forward to next issue.
Rob
Question:
What are the editors getting paid for? Emotional support?
– Ibrahim Ng
As much as I was a fan of the Earth Angel background, I have to admit I’m really enjoying the pure science-fiction take on Supergirl. It’s a pretty solid, more intuitive development, and I think it allows me to focus better on the stories currently taking place. And I’m really starting to like this Kara character.
Fantastic issue, I think. Should’ve been longer.
Since no one has commented on it yet, let me say that the “moving the Earth” gag was the funniest bit I’ve seen in a comic outside of “Barry Ween, Boy Genius”.
I have to agree that I like Linda now that she is “herself” (still wondering where these powers came from though)and appears to be confident in her actions. But hey, Kara is who I’m pulling for without a doubt.
I think the DCU has room for both. Anyway, great story, the art was excellent, and I’m counting the days to #77!
prhodan
This was only my second issue of Supergirl. I’m not even going to try to understand all of the stuff that’s already happened.
The clarifications were a big help.
So far so good.
But I’m still going to miss Young Justice.
Kevin
A solid issue. I had dropped Supergirl around issue 24 or so (I wasn’t into where it was going). When I saw the ads for this new arc in Previews, I decided it a good time to jump back on board. So glad I did! Enjoyed both these issues and am very intrigued about the truth about Kara.
What did I think? Loved it! After grabbing a couple of issues on a whim a few months back I got hooked and collected everything from #1 to the present. And while the quest arc from #51 to #74 is by far my favourite run in the series, the Return of Kara is shaping up to be just as interesting. Sorry about the colouring error that got some of us confused, but I assumed the intention was to leave the issue of whether or not this was the real Superman up in the air.
Looking forward to #77.
I liked it. Of course, I liked it back in September, when youread the script at Dragon*Con (which prompted me to jump on with last issue), so that’s not really much of a surprise.
Having only quickly flipped through the Superman issue, I’ve just got one question. Did the super young-uns make an appearance there?
As far as the issue goes, I loved it. I’m so glad I jumped on board with this a few issues ago (same with Captain Marvel). And I’ll agree that Kara trying to move the Earth was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while. Let’s hope more disappointing Silver Age shenanigens (sp?) pop up.
Rob R.
Thanks for the clarifications, Peter. Funny, your reasoning for not having Kara find Superman reminded me of Mark Twain’s comments about Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. He used to say that as soon as Tom was introduced in a story, the story became about him.
Guess I should start reading “Superman” again – I had no I idea about the new “Superman Red”. I just thought Clark thought Kara was one of the Linda wanna-be’s from the parade and had no powers.
I read Supergirl ahead of Man of Steel – and thought it odd that the Man couldn’t tell that there was something different about Kara from the start. Once I got through the second title, I backtracked and things made more sense. Thanks for the clarification. . .
See, like the poster above, I guess I should read the regular S-man titles more often, since I totally bought that bit of dialogue. Sure, it was brusque, but it was basically kind and and he was in the middle of a crises. When I spotted the later reference to the fake Superman, I flipped back through and checked again, but thought, “yeah, that must be the guy.”
Oh well.
Now, that said, the whole “‘What the hëll are you doing’ — ‘pushing the earth out of it’s orbit, it’s harder than it looks,'” bit absolutely cracked me up.
VERY Funny. Like laugh out loud, Bwah-ha-ha funny.
Funny in a NOT Bwah-ha-ha kinda way was the gravity-defying miniskirts. That’s just weird.
D’OH!
NOW I get it. I also missed the text clue that it was the *actor* speaking to Kara.
That aside, it still a fun story. And I’m looking forward to the next issue (of course I’ve been saying that of every issue since #1 🙂 ).
I read Man of Steel first and then Supergirl in one sitting. After seeing the horribly sin-ful art in MOS, Supergirl’s art truely looked like Heaven.
Although the it sounds like it might be wise to poke the colorist with a stick and tell them to wake up, read the actual story, and color it correctly.
I just thought Supes was in a really ticked off mood at the time.
BTW, even though I thought that was the real Supes talking to Kara, I did notice the last shot of the parade did have the fake Superman with the wrong hair.
Really great issue! Really fantastic! I loved when Kara was trying to move the Earth, and Linda critised by saying “This is wrong on so many levels”
Keep this level of story telling up! This was FANTASTIC!
I’m actually disappointed to hear about the hair coloring error, becuase now it brings up another question. Just how useful WAS this “super-telescope” Kara initially saw Superman in? For back in the Silver Age, Superman’s hair color seemed pretty distinguishable.
KET
Peter, thanks for the explanation re: Superman. I didn’t read MOS, & it didn’t hit me what the text said even though I read it. But after reading Kara & “Superman’s” interaction, I wondered if Superman wasn’t the real deal. Now I know for sure.
This issue was great! The interaction between Kara & Linda was very natural & I definitely would have reacted just like Linda to Kara’s “hand-stand” and her zooming off to save Metropolis.
I laughed at Kara’s attempt to move the Earth.
Can’t wait for issue 77!
I’m loving Supergirl. The writing, the art, and — even though he messed up on that one little thing, I have to say that the colorist has me extremely impressed as well. I hope he doesn’t read some of these posts and get the idea that he’s not appreciated on the book, because Supergirl looks better than ever, IMO.
I have a question, since I’ve just come back to the title full-time. If Linda Danvers is Supergirl, what has become of Matrix? Did I hear that she’s/it’s the Earth Angel, or was that misinformation from some other message board (I read so much of this stuff).
Thanks…
>>I’m actually disappointed to hear about the hair coloring error, becuase now it brings up another question. Just how useful WAS this “super-telescope” Kara initially saw Superman in? For back in the Silver Age, Superman’s hair color seemed pretty distinguishable.<<
Problem is, no one told *me* about the different hair color either. If they had, I would have covered it in dialogue. (“But Superman, you don’t understand…and…why is your hair red?”)
So aside from the fact that no one told the writer and no one told the colorist, it was smooth sailing.
Man, I try and initiate *one* lousy crossover and even that gets screwed up.
PAD
Peter,
i have to say that this is probably the best storyline i have read in a long,long time.
i’ve been collecting comics for 30 years now(god i’m old)and your betrayal of kara has to be the best one yet.
if only this was how she was done in the first place back in the silver age.the scene were she tells everyone she hears them and then breaks down is one of the best moments of this story.
thank you so much for bringing kara back to life.even if she doesn’t stick around after # 80 (which i’m hoping she does)you have done justice to a character that some of us still love and care about.
i am probably one of the many who wants her to meet Kal-el and let him find out who she is,but you are right,this is a supergirl story,so if we have to wait(and please don’t let her go without them meeting)then so be it.
before i go,i would just like to say,even though kara has always been supergirl to me,linda is a worthy successor to the name.keep up the fantastic work 🙂
Peter, this is the best done crossover in years. The stories intertwine like two snakes in mating season, then go their separate ways. If only more crossovers were this well thought out.
It’s a shame in this day and age that color errors still happen and dialogue still isn’t “heard”.
Mr. David, I must admit I strayed away from your books for a while. I just did not think you were putting efort in your books anymore. Maybe 3-4 books was alot to write? Well with all the hype and recent subscription to CBG, I thought we could get back together again?! Man not only was Captain Marvel #1 & 2 some of the best stuff ever, but Supergirl is also without a doubt back on my must read and must recomend list. Your artists on the two books are also doing some of the best art in comics. I heard Ed will be doing Thunder Cats(cool!). He is going places! I have been in chat rooms latley pushing your stuff, CBR chaters or so against anything with your name on it. So PAD fans please go defend our leader! (Comicbookresources.com)Also, I think JQ and BJ (BJ, silly aint it?)played you. They got you to pump up your sales and change your direction and take a good look at your books. Maybe they knew how great you were and needed a push. Just my opinion. HEY I love http://www.billjemas.com, what is his reaction? Love and fishes, Ken (reader of stuff) Madsen
Loved the new issue of Supergirl! I like the fact that it seems a little more light-hearted since the Earth Angel storyline ended. I loved that too, but this is a nice contrast to a darker story.
It’s a shame both the letter and colorist made mistakes on the same issue leading to confusion. I’ve noticed the last few years that editors haven’t been catching continuity errors like they used to.
The only thing I don’t like are the covers. Ed Benes needs to do them himself or DC needs to get an artist whose work more closely resembles Benes’ stuff. I’ve recommended the book to several of my customers and they have immediately been put off by the cover. Of course I tell them not to judge the book by its cover and take a look inside, but I know other people must be walking away from the book because of the cover art.
I’m really enjoying the new storyline, Peter. I like that Linda has decided to take Kara in. Sets up an interesting “sister” dynamic, which is something completely new for the title. Looking forward to seeing how that relationship progresses.
The Superman thing tripped me up, so thanks for explaining.
Ed Benes art is incredible. I really enjoyed Leonard Kirk’s work, and Gary Frank’s stuff too, but in my opinion Linda has never looked better than she does right now. Beautiful art by Ed. Too bad he’s going to be pencilling Birds of Prey in the near future. I would have liked to see him on Supergirl for a good long run.
I’d also like to see Ed do the covers. Richard is absolutely right when he says that the current art turns people off. I really think DC made a huge mistake by not showcasing Ed’s talent on the cover. His stuff probably would have generated a lot more impulse buys.
– Markisan
PAD>
Well, consider that the regular Superman titles can’t even do THEIR OWN crossovers very consistantly…. 🙂
KET
>The only thing I don’t like are the covers. Ed Benes needs to do them himself or DC needs to get an artist whose work more closely resembles Benes’ stuff.
IIRC, Haynes will no longer be doing covers after #77, and Benes and Lei will.
KET
Peter
I loved the new take on Supergirl. Thanks for your explanation. I thought Supes was acting like a big stiff. Nice to know it was not him.
Charlie
The scene with the fake Superman was the one bit that jarred – I could see it as a device to keep Linda in the picture but it did seem out of character for big blue. This makes more sense!
“I’ve never hated anyone or anything in my life, but I hate this world. I hate it!”
Through all the “space telescope” kookiness and silver age teasing it’s the bits like the above that have made the last couple of issues satisfying.
Good stuff.
I loved the “doesn’t possess the power of a 9th grade education” gag. Really enjoyable.
I can’t wait to see what happens back in Leesburg, and I’m eagerly awaiting to see folks like Cutter, Mattie and more of Linda’s parents. They were all great supporting characters, and it’ll be fun to see them interact with Kara (as well as see Kara attempt to hav a secret identity).
Peter,
I loved the issue. My only problem with it was that I thought you had really dropped the ball on Superman’s characterization. Really surprised me to see you doing something like that. Nice to see that explained.
My only complaint is a bit more long standing. The skirt Linda is depicted as wearing looks more like a strip of paint than a skirt. I’m not suggesting the return of the Kara skirt, but someting just a tiny bit more realistic.
Other than that, another fantastic job.
If Kara sticks around, Linda should changer her name to Superwoman. There was a Superwoman in pre-Crisis continuity and I believe she is one of the only characters not to be brought back after the Crisis in some form or another. She wasn’t Kryptonian and I believe she even hand some kind of mental blasts.
This all still leaves up in the air (A) the Kara from “Superman vs Aliens” and (B) Powergirl. If Powergirl isn’t Atlantean and doesn’t have magic-based powers as revealed in JSA, if she has Kryptonian like powers, if she has a virtually identical origin to this new silver age Supergirl (crashing to Earth and found by Superman) then I think there is likely some ties that need to be addressed. For any new readers who don’t know, Powergirl was Supergirl in an alternate universe (Earth 2). There is no reasonable way for readers to suspend disbelief enough to believe restructuring the timeline after the Crisis could change the identities of Huntress’s parents, change the planet of Powergirl’s birth, and change the Legion’s Projectra’s race to one of non-humanoid giant snake people and still expect us to believe that these characters would still exist in any form. I’m just saying that a little continuity doctoring can help make a character workable and believable again without making it overly complicated (See Hawkman).
I almost never buy Superman comics these days, but I always buy Supergirl, thanks to your storytelling and your fine artists. I rank Supergirl right up there with Powers, Tom Strong and the now-late-lamented Battle Pope when it comes to creativity. I think you could even write a good Supergirl/Powerpuff Girls cross over 😉 😀
Peter, great GREAT work. Just read #76 today. I’m one of those who jumped on the bandwagon at #75 when I heard Kara was coming back. Even though I was too young to read when Crisis happened Kara has always been THE Supergirl to me thanks to my Mom’s extensive 60s-70s Superman collection. I’d heard good things about Supergirl/Linda but that whole Matrix/ProtoplasmGirl thing turned me off and I couldn’t get into it. You’ll be happy to know I’ve since scoured the dollar bins for past issues and have come to love Linda as well (although not as much as Kara).
I also think you write Kara better than they did in the Silver Age, she actually seems like a teenage girl not someone who’s 14 going on 30 (like most comic and TV teens). If anything the past two issues have been more fun than some of your better YJ issues (which is saying something).
Although you (and DC) probably know already if Kara is staying (I’m assuming Linda is not going anywhere despite the cover of #79) I hope and am crossing my fingers that Kara will stay, she’s sweet and funny. Linda seems to work best when she’s got someone to bounce things off of. Mary Marvel was great. Kara is even better. Can’t wait till #77.
PS About the covers. My Mom (a big Kara fan growing up) didn’t want to read #75 because she thought the interior art would be as bad as the cover. I assured her it was not. Benes’ work the past 2 months have been some of the best I’ve ever seen. Can’t he do SG and BoP at the same time?
Well I started with the collected TPB of Supergirl, which I really enjoyed, but I for some reason didn’t follow through on. But now, this looks great. I read the issue and it was cool. Good flow and a very natural dialouge.
As for the slip ups well, maybe it was localised. Here in the UK we got most of the lines. But it was truncated to “That’s RIGHT!” Still the art was solid, the jokes superb and Kara’s speech tragic, in a good way. Well done, you got yerself another reader…now I got another website to make 😛
Mike
Honestly, I wasn’t really a consistant Supergirl reader, but after issue 75 that changed. Issue 76 didn’t disappoint, either. I’m here for the long run. BTW, what else can be done to spur an increase in orders? The books selling out now and yet it’s still underordered. Shouldn’t the fact that it is selling out be a big enough message? Honestly, I saw issue 75 as a much bigger event than Batman 608.
Am I the only one who doesn’t want the “pre-Crisis” Supergirl to stick around or fopr her to be “real”? I suffered (mildly) through ish 51- 74 waiting for the earthangel Supergirl to be back, waiting for her parents, Mattie and Cutter to come back. Now that she’s back in Leesburg, I was hoping for Linda’s return to a “normal” life. I was also hoping for a return to the blue and red costume.
Not to say I don’t want change, I want the kind of change Captain Mar-vell Jr. is going through, not a whole new character in the role (see every marvel in the late 80’s early 90’s)
A little off topic, but I just wanted to let everyone know something:
I got a copy of Supergirl #75 at Border’s this weekedn! So, if you still haven’t gotten it, you might want to check there.
Oh… it kicked ášš too!
BRAVO, Peter! Another triumph with issue # 76!
I thought the best part of the story came when Kara met Superboy and the two of then flirted out-rageously! OMG, did you the kittenish body language the both had going on for the other as she jiggled up to Superboy and breezed on about, no doubt with a giggle, “That’s a coincidence. Kon=El. Kara Zor-El.”
Somebody hose those two down!
All in all, 10 out of 10 stars, Peter!
I loved the issue. Lots of funny bits without it getting reduced to just a bunch of gags.
I didn’t find the missing bit of dialogue the least bit confusing. Kon actually starts off the exchange saying “Remember me?” so I thought that Mxy’s final answer was him finally answering that question.
I did get confused about the Superman actor though. I picked up on the cue, but when fake-Supes rescued Kara, I thought that it was the real SUpes having just arrived back. I don’t read the regular Superman titles, but wasn’t there already a Supergirl imposter, but with the Electro-Supes look (Strange Visitor?). I don’t know how it turned out, but I thought he might have been thinking of that.
Another great issue! Thanks, Pad.
The humor was great, and the emotional pain of Kara was written perfectly.
I’m really loving this arc. I must admit, I’d like to see both Kara and Linda stay.
As far as Mxyztpktl’s line goes, something weird happened as I read it: By the time I got to the “Can’t say as I do,” line, I immediately understood this as the answer to the question of “You remember?” Only now after reading this column, Peter, did I go back and realize that Superboy never asked that question. Weird. My mind supplied the question even though it wasn’t there.
And btw, what does the “Nu” in this column’s title mean?
As far as Superman, yeah, I wondered just a tiny bit if this was an imposter, but for the most part, I accepted him as the real thing, who figured this was a fan from the crowd by the time the scene was over. I did notice, however, that on story page 18, panel 3, his hair wasn’t black, but gray.
I also really liked the “moving the Earth” gag, and the “Yeah, the power of a ninth-grade science education” line was hilarious.
Re: Ed Benes’ art: Incredible. Whereas his work in Gen13 appeared to be intended to fill in the void left by J. Scott Campbell, he really has asserted his own style now, with a bit more of Joe Madureia and Jim Lee influence here and there. His line, his anatomy, and his rendering of details is gorgeous, and his spotting of blacks is far more naturalistic than Leonard Kirk and Robin Rigg’s artwork. Just look at Kara’s facial expression on story page 18, panel 4. Just priceless. Unlike the many less competent artists who can’t seem to suggest the beginning of tears without totally fake-looking jets of water pouring or gushing out of the eyes in different directions, Benes is able to show her emotions beginning to crack and tears just beginning to well up by not making her irises complete; he has small portions of white slightly eclipsing the irises to indicate the light reflecting off the water welling up in there. My hats off to you Ed. Stay on the book.
i just started collecting with issue 75. this and captain marvel are my 2 favorite new series.
about the covers… with such an amazing artist as ed benes on the book, why in the world are we getting these odd colored covers the past couple issues? no disrespect to the cover artist, but it’s giving the wrong impression to people of what the art is really like inside, and could be keeping them from even picking it up. i would have passed, if i didn’t see some sample pages at comics continuum weeks before. i would bet money it kept people from buying the comic. i see issue 79 has a benes cover. keep with that.
also, i noticed recently ed benes is going to be drawing another comic soon. i forget which one. is he leaving the book? can he handle 2 books a month? i’m worried, because i have seen some of the artists this book has had before, and i don’t want that look back. consider TAN of YJ if you lose ed. he draws a great supergirl.;)
as for kara, i love her. since i’m new to the comic i can’t say much for the linda supergirl. please keep both of them on the book, or consider giving kara the spotlight.
enough from me.
I enjoyed this issue quite a bit. The ending where she agrees to take in Kara was very moving. That cover for 79, though, man that is gonna be a tearjerker . . .
I was hoping for more of a Mary Marvel/Supergirl dynamic, because it was so magnetic in that previous arc. Any chance we’ll see more of that? I miss buddy teams! Johhny Storm and Spiderman, Blue Beetle and Booster, Abbot and Costello . . .
GJ!
…but why would you WANT to tell a story that’s so hamstrung by continuity that it can’t possibly stand alone, and no new reader could possibly follow it, coloring error or not?
What’s even stranger: that’s pretty much exactly what I was going to post. Peter writes so well he doesn’t even have to write it!
And the fake Supes threw me for a minute too; I knew PAD wouldn’t be so out of touch with the characterization.
Very balanced issue, and it seemed “fuller” than sometimes; more going on from start to finish. I hope there is enough room for old (Kara), new (Linda), and whatever other Supergirls we need (lemon? cherry?).
Looking at all of the clues in #76 my guess is that we are seeing the real Kara Zor-El who has taken a hypertime detour similar to the one taken by Superman in Action Comics # 370 – “Superman’s Lost Century”. She ultimately has to be put back in her rocketship and sent back toward the ultimate destination of her trip — Action Comics # 252 – to live out her life & suffer her fate so that the proper order of her universe will preserved.