The Supergirl title has been steadily going downhill… no wait. That implies it was good at some point. Supergirl has sucked from the start. I’ve meant to remove it from my pull list for some time now, but instead I continue to forget and thus flush my money down the proverbial DC Comics Toilet.
Every single horrible issue of Supergirl has focused on her identity crisis in one way or another and it’s time to move on.
I have absolutely nothing good to say about this series. Each issue is a clone of the previous issues.
The art is crap too. Supergirl is freakishly out of proportion and unrealistic. To quote Rachelle Goguen:
“Supergirl looks like an anorexic blow-up doll with a torso that’s longer than her legs (which are also very long) and eyes that are bigger than her waist.”
Also her boobs look like they could stab someone’s eyes out.
And what’s with seeing how often Kara can get naked? Isn’t she supposed to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 years old? And if she’s 15, why does she look like a 22 year old out-of-proportion supermodel?
I think that DC honestly believes they are appealing to two demographics:
Pubescent teenage boys with super hero fixations, and girls. I would assume they’re hitting the first for sure, but the second? Does anyone truly think that stuffing an unattainable barbie-like plasticine nymph into a revealing costume sells merchandise?
There is a third demographic that DC is making sales to: lonely virgins ages 30 – 55 who teeter on the verge of pedophilia.
I don’t fit in to any of those categories, so why oh why do I even own this comic? It’s time to make the pain stop. I’m calling the comic book shop tomorrow and telling them to get it off of my list!
Update 01.27.2007:
I just found out that Mark Sable will be writing for Supergirl starting with issue #16.
He had quite a bit to say in response to Rachelle Goguen’s Eddie Berganza / Supergirl bashing article.
Curse you mark, you’ve sucked me back in!
12 responses to “Supergirl Sucks and I Hate It”
Dude! Supergirl is a tasty squeeze! How dare you! I need to start reading comics.
So, you’re demographic #3 then?
So. Is there something wrong with that?
What does she look like now?
[…] Let’s kick DC’s ass, part two: Ryan from Film Fodder looks at editor Eddie Berganza’s plea for female readers to begin reading Supergirl, and wonders what the hell Berganza has been smoking. Ragnell, Rachelle Goguen, Joe Lewis, Dave Carter, Karen, Shelly, William Staples, Bitter Andrew, the Fortress Keeper and the folks at Scans_Daily pile on. Running out ahead of the crowd, Kevin Melrose finds brand new avenues of cruel Supergirl snark yet to be tapped. Poor Mark Sable — not the ausipcious debut you were hoping for, is it? (Right: Supergirl illustration ©2007 DC Comics; most links via When Fangirls Attack.) […]
[…] Cartoonist Dean Trippe, who draws a wonderful Supergirl, joins the blogosphere discussion about the Maid of Might: It’s easy to argue back and forth as to whether or not Supergirl has been portrayed as a ‘typical teen,’ because it’s a false model. Some say yes, some say no. But we’re not talking about a typical teenager, we’re talking about one of the most recognizable superheroines in comics. She even had a movie (well, not a very good one, but still). The recent internet uproar over the portrayal of Supergirl (and Batgirl!) demonstrate how strongly she strikes a chord with both male and female readers. And yet in Supergirl’s comics she has been portrayed as anything but heroic. It’s been incredibly disheartening for those of us who want to see a Supergirl we can admire. It’s also easy to blame ALL of the problems on the art, which, with the notable exception of Amanda Conner’s excellent fill-in issue, has shown her to look too old, too tall, too skinny, too slutty, and seriously unfashionable by anyone who knows teenagers. The writing and art often come off as a rant about how dumb teenagers are, rather than offering teenagers a model (even an imperfect one) to aspire to. […]
Totally agree. My only experience was with the Superman/Batman origin plot. BORING.
Also… I cannot stand Micheal Turner.
[…] The Supergirl title hasn’t been doing so well. From the infamous plea for readers in DC Nation #45, to the outright hatred of some readers, it would seem that Supergirl will sooner or later face the same fate as her predecessors which bore her same name. Why does DC keep bring Supergirl back, only to off her in the end? Is the world only big enough for one Kryptonian? […]
Ok, i know that i am a little late, but i want to say that i am a girl and yes Supergirl is really really skinny and created in an idealized way, but all girl comic heros are. Besides they even joke about how she looks in the comic, which i thought was funny. all in all i like Supergirl and actually like how they introduced her in the comic. Also i think you are just a little too angry about how she looks and not concerned enough about the storyline. One last thing Micheal Tuner’s drawings are beautiful, i don’t care about how you might feel about him personally, but in the end his drawings are wounderful and i have absolutly enjoyed the superman/batman comics. Also my boyfriend feels the same way as i do about the issue, and i think you all are crazy ;P.
Wow… a girl who actually likes Supergirl comics!
To be fair, I only focused on her looks for half of this post… the first half was briefly about the garbage story. If you do a search you’ll see a few follow up articles I’ve written on this matter.
I actually generally enjoy Michael Turner’s drawings, and you’re right, most women in comics are drawn unrealistically. Supergirl draws the most heat because that comic is specifically aimed (according to DC) at a female demographic. It’s foolish on their part to assume that the female demographic that reads comics would be interested in seeing their character portrayed as low IQ a sex symbol. Perhaps DC believes that since many young women are attracted to this image when it comes to pop idols, they will likewise be attracted towards this look in comics, but if this is the case it’s flawed logic as most girls who are in to the Britney Spears types wouldn’t touch a “nerdy” comic book with a ten foot pole.
C’mon people, am I the only one who can actually see that the only reason why characters like Batgirl, Supergirl, Spiderwoman, She-Hulk and so many other female counterparts were created only to broaden a franchise. I mean really, none of them have any real substance or character development. They are all pretty much empty shells who happen to ride the coattails of the male characters they are imitating. Can you imagine how ridiculous it would be to have a Wonderman? NOt to mention Captain Marvel’s Marvel family. I would much rather see Superman, Batman and Captain Marvel as originally intended_going solo, no sidekicks, no female impersonators and no families. Broaden these ideas into a franchise only put the cheese in cheesy.
The artwork on Supergirl is, and has been horrible. The only good issues were the ones with powerboy & the one done by the wonderful Amanda connor. However, the storyline has been just awful. I grieve over the money I spent reading every issue, waiting for it to do SOMETHING, get better, get even acceptable! You CAN write good female superhero comics, just look at Gail Simone’s run of Birds of Prey. Gail shows that yes you CAN write superhero fem comics, and have them intelligent, funny and with character depth. Too bad there aren’t 10 Gails to write the other comics.