« Home | How is DC trying to fix the mistake they made with... » | Greg Smallwood protests companies pandering to mod... » | What's this, is Marz suddenly changing? » | Murphy Anderson, RIP » | Nick Spencer once worked for Democrats » | New conventions in Larissa, Greece and Tuscany, Italy » | We Got This Covered fluff-coats the dark direction... » | 2 more liberal "defenses" of new take on Capt. Ame... » | Busiek considers Captain America liberal property ... » | Waid warbles about Benghazi probe and upholds anti... » 

Thursday, October 29, 2015 

Why else does Newsarama think the new Supergirl TV show isn't translating to comics sales?

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: , , ,

Perhaps its the fact that previous live-action attempts in adapting comics have run the gamut from idiotic soap opera fascinations (TV shows) to exploring metaphysical nonsense or warping it to either extreme darkness/comedy (films) to flubbing the job completely (all of them). This version of Supergirl may seem to be on the ball, compared to previous attempts, but it's still has a smidgen of grimdark and soap opera trappings for my taste.

As for the New 52 and All-New Marvel series, they have all the markings of all of Claremont and Wolfman's faults and worst attributes (among other writers/artists), ramped up to 11 and seeking to go even higher as the years go by.

Post a Comment

About me

  • I'm Avi Green
  • From Jerusalem, Israel
  • I was born in Pennsylvania in 1974, and moved to Israel in 1983. I also enjoyed reading a lot of comics when I was young, the first being Fantastic Four. I maintain a strong belief in the public's right to knowledge and accuracy in facts. I like to think of myself as a conservative-style version of Clark Kent. I don't expect to be perfect at the job, but I do my best.
My profile

Archives

Links

  • avigreen2002@yahoo.com
  • Fansites I Created

  • Hawkfan
  • The Greatest Thing on Earth!
  • The Outer Observatory
  • Earth's Mightiest Heroines
  • The Co-Stars Primer
  • Realtime Website Traffic

    Comic book websites (open menu)

    Comic book weblogs (open menu)

    Writers and Artists (open menu)

    Video commentators (open menu)

    Miscellanous links (open menu)

  • W3 Counter stats
  • Bio Link page
  • blog directory Bloggeries Blog Directory View My Stats Blog Directory & Search engine eXTReMe Tracker Locations of visitors to this page  
    Flag Counter

    This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

    make money online blogger templates

Older Posts Newer Posts

The Four Color Media Monitor is powered by Blogspot and Gecko & Fly.
No part of the content or the blog may be reproduced without prior written permission.
Join the Google Adsense program and learn how to make money online.