A Girl Named Kara?

By: Arnold T. Blumberg
Date: Saturday, September 28, 2002

Peter David's SUPERGIRL has been for some time one of the great undiscovered pleasures of the superhero genre. With solid scripting, superb character development, excellent art and a healthy helping of humor, the series has been one of the most consistently entertaining reads in comics. Unfortunately, Linda's exploits just haven't been drawing the numbers of a SUPERMAN or an X-MEN.

In SUPERGIRL #75, however, David is making a move to entice non-fans to try the title on for size. It's a "stunt" as he freely admits, but it's a well-reasoned stunt. Linda is about to meet the original Supergirl for the first time in current DC continuity - or is she?

"It started in my mind with essentially a cover image," says David of the historic issue. "The notion of our Supergirl in total astonishment as she finds a downed rocket ship, and popping out of it - just as she did some 50 years ago - is someone who purports to be [original Supergirl] Kara Zor-El. I thought this could be very fun and exciting and would keep the fans off-balance and talking."

While the series has garnered favorable reviews for years, SUPERGIRL has needed a shot in the arm to widen its reader base, and David believes this nostalgia-tinged story arc should get the fans ready to take to the air with Linda.

"In the past when DC has done stuff like that, say for example the return of Flash - is it really Barry Allen or is it not - it got a lot of discussion going," says David. "The bottom line is that I think that we've been turning out a really solid book, but solid books don't get people talking - events get people talking, stunts get people talking. I decided that this would be a really interesting stunt if you will to get people reading the book now. I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't think it could be a really good story as well. I sure wouldn't be doing it if I didn't think I could come up with an angle that would be different than what people are expecting. You know people are immediately going, 'Oh it's a clone, oh it's this, oh it's that.'"

David knows there will be certain presumptions about this new/old Kara Zor-El, but he's looking forward to playing with readers' expectations. Any doubts he had about the storyline vanished when he saw the first pages from new SUPERGIRL art team Ed Benes and Alex Lei.

"The moment I knew I was right in embarking upon this story was when I saw Ed Benes' double-page spread when Linda comes face to face with Kara," says David. "[It's] the sequence we see on the cover, but with all respect to the cover artist [Rob Haynes], it's even more effective in the interior. I looked at that shot, I called for it. It was based upon my description, I know everything that's going on with it, and even I got chills looking at that moment."

Continuity buffs might remember that there have been some convoluted adjustments regarding the original Supergirl, and David will be addressing them to some extent...perhaps.

"Theoretically, according to [CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS], nobody has any recollection of Kara Zor-El," says David. "Now I've always played a little loose and fast with that in the comic. I had an issue where Power Girl and Supergirl make passing reference to their predecessor, [and] I had an issue where Linda finds herself face to face with an angelic being that claims that her name is Kara - the concept being that this Kara who may or may not have been the late Supergirl was serving as Linda's guardian angel. That if nothing else was consistent with DC continuity, because they did a Christmas special that had an angel named Kara, so I figured why not?"

The notion of pulling a nostalgia-based stunt to draw readers touches on some basic aspects of the comic book industry, as David observes.

"It's a matter of analyzing your sales base," says David. "Who's buying the book right now? People who enjoy the book. The question becomes who are the people who are not buying the book? That falls into several categories. One is people who buy the Superman books and feel because they buy them, they don't have to bother to buy SUPERGIRL because it's purely ancillary and who cares what's happening? Also in this group are people who say, 'I don't accept any Supergirl who's not Kara Zor-EL?' Traditionalists."

David expects that this new story might address the interests of all of these potential readers.

"Here we've got a story that should impact on both groups," says David. "Number one, we've got Kara Zor-El...maybe? So ideally, the people who are long-time fans of Kara out of curiosity alone will not want to be left out of the loop. Also, the series will definitely be tying into the regular Superman series, most conspicuously MAN OF STEEL #132. There will be, presuming we do this right, events going on in the background of MAN OF STEEL #132 that directly pertain to what's going on in SUPERGIRL #76, which comes out the same week. Can you read each of the stories without reading the other? Sure, but won't it be fun? It'll give you the surround sound experience."