Agh. Every time I read this comic, I weep for what might have been. A whole new generation of superheroes to explore, between WW2 and Superman's appearance? Yes please.
*sigh*
Another neat piece of Chase's story filled in, and I begin to see why the series may have only lasted as long as it did. The main character's slightly unlikable, and she's not really very heroic. She doesn't look up to her ex-superhero Dad, she's angry at him. And with good reason, I suppose.
And though it's a brilliant, heartbreaking take on this narrative, one so prominent in superhero comics (think of the coeval Starman), it's not one that necessarily going to resonate with a large percentage of the superhero comics reading public. This complicates superheroes, and such complication isn't always welcome. Admittedly, it's unwelcome in a couple of ways. Some people like their superhero narratives to be black and white, straightforward. But it's also veering away sharply from something fundamental to the superhero narrative. This is a subset sort of superhero narrative. Some of Kurt Busiek's stuff on Astro City could fit into this subset - the narrative of the "ordinary" people in a superhero universe - what being in that kind of a fictional narrative does to people who aren't superpowered.
They're not quite superhero stories. They happen alongside them.
Chase is brilliant. Is that coming through? I cannot recommend this comic highly enough. My understanding is that the character may be appearing on the Supergirl television series, and I hope she's as amazing as she is in the comic.
More Chase tomorrow, and a return to the place it all began. Gotham.
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