I have a soft spot for superhero stuff, specifically Superman, from the early 80s. In Supreme, Alan Moore offers the conjecture that as a universe approaches a particular point, one where it is about to be revised, it begins to throw out all the ridiculous and bizarre variations on characters and stories that it can, in order to find something to save it. This issue of Superman appears a few years before the large-scale reordering of the universe that was Crisis on Infinite Earths, and, as with many of the DC books in the 80s, it's gloriously weird and bizarre. Supergirl's rocking the Farrah-hair, Superman is shrunk, and puts "super" before just about every noun in the book (I'm surprised he didn't say "super-mad" on the cover there). There's a back-up story that proclaims it's identity, in bold, epic lettering, as part of "THE IN-BETWEEN YEARS," perhaps the least epic title of a series of stories I've ever heard.
This said, there's something wonderfully innocent about these comics. This is pre-Watchmen and Dark Knight, pre-Moore's Swamp Thing. There's dark corners out there in the DCU, but for the most part it's mad, colourful superhero shenanigans, even over in Gotham. It's like the writers and artists understand that there needs to be just a bit of the camp of the old Batman television series, wrapped up in epic stories, with just a dash of soap opera and human interest story mixed in. Not a bad recipe for a superhero story.
What makes all of these stories from the last few days that feature Supergirl quite sad is knowing that Kara is destined to die in Crisis, just a few short years from this point. While Supergirls have shown up in the comics since, including new versions of Kara, this particular Supergirl, the one with a direct lineage to that first appearance, never comes back. There's something sweet about her, about her struggles with balancing a normal life and a super life, with her interactions with the feminist movement in the 70s (there's many comparisons in the older series to the depowered Wonder Woman stuff from that era), and with her relationship with Superman. I see a lot of this reflected, albeit in and iPhone screen, in the new TV series.
In other news, I'm planning some theme weeks in the coming year. So far I've decided on westerns, romance, kid's comics, adult comics, and war comics, but if there's a particular theme you'd like to see, let me know. I'm also working out how to get the graphic novel portion of this project back off the ground. It may go to a monthly basis, since my reading time's at a bit of a premium these days. And, over the Winter break, I'm hoping to get some of my Wednesday features written and queued up so those'll become a bit more regular again. So many plans, so little Tom. More from the dollar bin pile tomorrow!
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