The Four Color Media Monitor

Newsarama spoke about how, despite the new Supergirl series premiering to a positive reception, there hasn't been any interest in the comics, and there isn't even an ongoing series just now:

CBS might be generating excitement about Supergirl with the debut tonight of the superhero's television show, but it's a frenzy that hasn't translated to comic books.

In fact, in current DC comic books, Supergirl has very little presence, with the latest attempt at her own Supergirl series ending earlier this year. Despite a documented spike in interest about the character, the current offering from DC, in the absence of a Supergirl series, is a DC Essential: Supergirl #1 collection that DC rushed onto the shelves for the TV debut.

And what does that draw from? The most brand new material published since 2005, rather than the Silver/Bronze Age material that's a better place to start if you want to learn the Maiden of Might's history? Most of the stuff published since 2005 was very weak, catered to limited segments, with several of its first issues featuring needless guest performers, and if one's wondering about a series starring a woman that did over-sexualize its star absurdly, that was it (mainly, the cover drawings). At the same time, it was ridiculous how the editors even went to such lengths to show Kara Zor-El did have underwear, when all they had to do was avoid drawing Kara at angles that would show her underside. And they didn't even try to establish a full-time secret identity for Kara. Though the 2005 volume ran for nearly 6 years, it was otherwise a big nothing, much like the rest of DC's output since 2004. The 2011 reboot may not have all the same problems, but not only is it still vapid storytelling, the problem that undoes it this time is how Kara was portrayed with surprising angst, and the costume suffers from the same problem Superman's post-Flashpoint outfit has: it looks like plastic armor.

Oddly enough, the vacancy of the Girl of Steel in comic book hasn't resulted from a departure from female-helmed series in general by DC. This summer, the company launched ongoing solo titles for characters like Black Canary and Starfire, and even gave space to an alternate-universe female president in Prez. And in early 2016, the future-based Justice League 3001, will have an all-female Justice League that includes Supergirl. That said, when compared to male character headliners — and in particular, the number of comics starring Supergirl's cousin Superman — the ladies are still at a disadvantage in comic books.

Well why do they think that's happened? The New 52 otherwise abandoned several of the heroines from the prior continuity, and either marginalized lady co-stars, or did away with them altogether, for entirely petty reasons. And the Starfire series suffers from an art design problem: Koriand'r, in this new rendition, is drawn with eye pupils, in contrast to the earlier and more inventive design where her eyes are entirely green colored spheres with no visible pupils. In fact, she looks more like an ordinary human than an alien, and less creatively drawn, as a result.

What should be done now is not to relaunch another volume for Supergirl, but to point everyone to the past archives from the Silver/Bronze Age, and Peter David's take from 1996, and let everyone be the judge for themselves. If there were better editors and writers now, I'd say it could help to publish miniserials. But an ongoing can only work out if they test the waters right, and that's something they've proven they cannot and have no interest in doing.

Labels: dc comics, misogyny and racism, Supergirl, women of dc