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Author Topic: Supergirl's secret marriage  (Read 8722 times)
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Genis Vell
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« on: May 07, 2005, 02:10:15 PM »

Do you know that Kara Zor-El married an alien before CRISIS? It has been revealed in SUPERMAN # 415 (a CRISIS tie-in).
It has been a real surprise to me because I didn't know that story...
I liked it, even if is very odd to see Kara married with an unknown character for some pages (a memory loss caused it all)...
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« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2005, 04:55:35 PM »

Personally, I detested it.

This reminded me of a celebrity gossip tabloid screaming "scandal" immediately after a beloved star's tragic death, when the poor unfortunate has no opportunity to defend herself against the dredged-up "dirt".

Kara Zor-El had just died in the Crisis, and while grieving fans were still in shock DC threw in this story that forever tainted her reputation as a RUNAWAY WIFE!  This story was strikingly "off" on many levels -- it's difficult to squeeze this incident into past continuity ("Jasma" is still wearing her blouse and hotpants costume, so it had to be prior to Supergirl #13), and how could Supergirl (or Linda Lee Danvers) stay missing for all those months without people noticing?  Also, how could Supergirl with her strong sense of ethics and morality keep silent about this marraige after her memories returned?  Simply leaving a recorded message seems almost cowardly -- NOT something one expected of truthful and straightforward Kara.

And WHY did DC feel obligated to suddenly expose this "skeleton in the closet"?  Especially right after Supergirl's death?  For me this revelation didn't make her "more human", but sent her sterling reputation tumbling and even diminished her ultimate sacrifice to an extent.  Kara supposingly had a premonition of her impending death -- did she actually welcome this fate over eventually meeting her abandoned husband?

It now seems evident that DC fumbled badly.  We already had eloquent "farewells" to Supergirl in the Crisis #7 memorial service, and DC Comics Presents #87/superman #414.  We did NOT need Kara's pre-recorded confession as the final lingering memory.  It seems that DC arranged this retroactive "shotgun marriage" simply to provide the always "luckless in love" Kara Zor-El with a glimmer of wedded bliss -- AND to finally squash rumors about her sexual orientation!  (Hmm... she's never had a lasting relationship with men, actually treated some past boyfriends rather badly, lives in an all-girl boarding house, hangs out with Wonder Woman, Batgirl...)  Oh, please.  Was this also the reason the Earth-1 Wonder Woman hastilly married Steve Trevor right before SHE was killed in the Crisis?

Considering that all of Kara Zor-El's history "never occurred" soon after when the Bryne reboot arrived, you'd think I wouldn't still be angry about Superman #415.  After all, there are other horrid Supergirl tales that SHOULD be classified as "Imaginary Stories" (the first Supergirl series is a good example, barely lasting ten issues).  But I prefer this aberration to be considered an "alternate timeline story" briefly intruding into the still-shaky Post-Crisis / Pre-Reboot transistion era.  In other words, it never REALLY happened.
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ShinDangaioh
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« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2005, 05:38:42 PM »

DC got cold feet because they killed off a girl that had not  been married yet(iow virgin sacrifice).  So they decide to correct that oversight.  They just  came across as being more misgynostic than usual

This story also the precurssor to Doomsday in it, so it has two strikes against it already.  

No, I don't like it either.
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Genis Vell
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« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2005, 07:57:03 PM »

Let me add a thing...

I've read this issue a few days ago (once again, thank you Mile High Comics!); just on these weeks, in Italy is appearing Spider-Man's storyline "Sins past", which features the arrival of Gwen Stacy' and Goblin's sons. Odd coincidence...
Reading "Sins past" I have seen a bad saga with bad revelations that ruined one of my favourite characters (obviously the sweet and beloved Gwendolyne) only to obtain audience. What a shame...
When I've read SUPERMAN # 415, I have found a similar story (a hidden affair between Kara and the alien), but it seemed so different, to me... "Sins past" cannot be explained. It's only a bad comic book written without (good) ideas. The story by Bates and Maggin, instead, has something different... Kara's marriage has motivations (the memory loss), so her choice, too: I think that she left her young husband because she couldn't face what happened... She was a bit shocked.
Maybe I'm wrong, besides I don't know very well Kara's adventures from that period. I'll read it again.
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« Reply #4 on: May 08, 2005, 05:07:28 AM »

Very ironic coincidence, Genis Vell, and there’s definite parallels between the two stories.  I didn’t follow Marvel when Gwen Stacy died, but I knew about her tragic end and was also angered when “Sins Past” revealed she was unfaithful to Peter and secretly had kids – by no less than Norman Osborne!  This was a disgusting “revelation” that unnecessarily smeared one of the few “saints” of the Marvel Universe.  Is no one safe from revision by character assassins?  Must EVERYONE be tarred to make them “more believable” in today’s morally bankrupt society?  Will we find out that Uncle Ben used to drink and beat up Aunt May?  Outrageous.  

(My distain for “Sins Past” continues even though the writer recently admitted that he wanted PETER to be the daddy, but was overruled by Marvel in favor of Norman.  This still doesn’t make it “right” and “acceptable” for either Peter or Gwen, as it flies in the face of their normally responsible characterizations.  And let’s not forget that Mary Jane doesn’t fare any better for keeping this secret all these years…)

Yet at least Marvel waited until now to sully the poor girl’s reputation.  Supergirl’s body had barely returned to her parents on Rokym when her name was dragged through the mud.  You must realize that back in 1985 Superman #415 was about as shocking and controversial as “Sins Past” is today (a sad commentary on our desensitized times).  Yes, DC sugar-coated it as best they could and loaded the story with implausible mitigating circumstances – Supergirl lost her memory for a while after colliding with a red kryptonite meteor and when she woke up in bed with a stranger Kara understandably fled rather than ask questions.  But that doesn’t completely excuse Kara of keeping silent after her complete memories returned, knowing she’d probably be dead before jilted hubby Salkor found her.  

And there’s uncomfortable implications surrounding “Jasma’s” wedding.  While Salkor’s planet might have different marriage laws, it’s hard to believe a person suffering from amnesia and with no background history would be permitted to enter such a binding agreement.  And if Kara wasn’t legally capable of providing “informed consent” as the couple consummated their marriage (as the shared bed clearly implied), that’s tantamount to statutory…  :shock:

Ugh.  Even as a kid twenty years ago I winced at this prospect.  Sure the marriage could have been annulled, but perhaps that was part of the reason Kara couldn’t face Salkor again.  Still, a person as honest and upfront as Supergirl should have mustered the inner courage to face this situation and deal with it.  Yes, it might have been an honest mistake, and it’s evident that she still loved Salkor.  But perhaps they could have found a means to end the marriage in an honorable fashion, or even struggle together to “make it work” while both continued their responsibilities protecting their respective planets.  That would have been more in character – Supergirl ALWAYS accepted responsibility for what she did, even once allowing herself to be sentenced to the Phantom Zone when confronted by evidence implicating her with crimes she couldn’t recall.  (The culprit was later revealed as a disguised Lesla-Lar.)  

But simply running back home and hiding her dark secret casts a cloud over Supergirl’s moral integrity, even if this concerned the most private of her personal affairs.  And being seen as a paragon of “Truth, Justice and the American Way”, this undermines the very basis of Supergirl’s heroic identity.  Had this story broke out in the tabloids, Supergirl’s career would have been ruined or at best severely compromised, as Kara would have lost much of the moral authority that the public entrusted in her.  (And by extension, Superman would also have been affected by this family scandal.)  For all these reasons, I still can’t stomach Superman #415.
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Maximara
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« Reply #5 on: May 08, 2005, 06:58:34 AM »

Quote from: "dto"
Very ironic coincidence, Genis Vell, and there’s definite parallels between the two stories.  I didn’t follow Marvel when Gwen Stacy died, but I knew about her tragic end and was also angered when “Sins Past” revealed she was unfaithful to Peter and secretly had kids – by no less than Norman Osborne!  This was a disgusting “revelation” that unnecessarily smeared one of the few “saints” of the Marvel Universe.  Is no one safe from revision by character assassins?  Must EVERYONE be tarred to make them “more believable” in today’s morally bankrupt society?  Will we find out that Uncle Ben used to drink and beat up Aunt May?  Outrageous.


Even more annoying is the fact just as there was no where in continuity to put "Sins past" even with a lot of handwaving the same was true of SUPERMAN #415. You could not fit it anywhere in Supergirl's Earth-1 history and have the thing make sense. Of course not making any sort of sence seemed to be par for the course with all of DC's post-Crisis pre-reboot stories. Even the well written "Where is the man of Tommorow?" had some glaring continuity errors and less said of the final issue of DC presents the better.

That Supergirl's sacrifice was retconned out of existance was IMHO more an insult than this but not by much.
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Genis Vell
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« Reply #6 on: May 08, 2005, 09:52:20 AM »

Quote from: "dto"
Very ironic coincidence, Genis Vell, and there’s definite parallels between the two stories.  I didn’t follow Marvel when Gwen Stacy died, but I knew about her tragic end and was also angered when “Sins Past” revealed she was unfaithful to Peter and secretly had kids – by no less than Norman Osborne!  This was a disgusting “revelation” that unnecessarily smeared one of the few “saints” of the Marvel Universe.  Is no one safe from revision by character assassins?  Must EVERYONE be tarred to make them “more believable” in today’s morally bankrupt society?  Will we find out that Uncle Ben used to drink and beat up Aunt May?  Outrageous.

(My distain for “Sins Past” continues even though the writer recently admitted that he wanted PETER to be the daddy, but was overruled by Marvel in favor of Norman.  This still doesn’t make it “right” and “acceptable” for either Peter or Gwen, as it flies in the face of their normally responsible characterizations.  And let’s not forget that Mary Jane doesn’t fare any better for keeping this secret all these years…)


I agree with you. Besides, as Maximara said, this story can't be put in the regular Continuity... I noticed it when I have read this saga in the original version months ago. The editors have modified some dialogues for give sense to Straczynski's errors, but doing so they made worst damages... This is one of the causes that made me decide to read a lot of comics in the original versions. I'm still reading in the Italian edition because I have the complete collection and I prefer don't quit.

Quote
Yet at least Marvel waited until now to sully the poor girl’s reputation.  Supergirl’s body had barely returned to her parents on Rokym when her name was dragged through the mud.  You must realize that back in 1985 Superman #415 was about as shocking and controversial as “Sins Past” is today (a sad commentary on our desensitized times).  Yes, DC sugar-coated it as best they could and loaded the story with implausible mitigating circumstances – Supergirl lost her memory for a while after colliding with a red kryptonite meteor and when she woke up in bed with a stranger Kara understandably fled rather than ask questions.  But that doesn’t completely excuse Kara of keeping silent after her complete memories returned, knowing she’d probably be dead before jilted hubby Salkor found her.  

And there’s uncomfortable implications surrounding “Jasma’s” wedding.  While Salkor’s planet might have different marriage laws, it’s hard to believe a person suffering from amnesia and with no background history would be permitted to enter such a binding agreement.  And if Kara wasn’t legally capable of providing “informed consent” as the couple consummated their marriage (as the shared bed clearly implied), that’s tantamount to statutory…  :shock:


I suppose that on Salkor's planet laws were different. Besides he seemed a good guy, so I don't think that he could harm her using her " mental problem".

Quote
Ugh.  Even as a kid twenty years ago I winced at this prospect.  Sure the marriage could have been annulled, but perhaps that was part of the reason Kara couldn’t face Salkor again.  Still, a person as honest and upfront as Supergirl should have mustered the inner courage to face this situation and deal with it.  Yes, it might have been an honest mistake, and it’s evident that she still loved Salkor.  But perhaps they could have found a means to end the marriage in an honorable fashion, or even struggle together to “make it work” while both continued their responsibilities protecting their respective planets.  That would have been more in character – Supergirl ALWAYS accepted responsibility for what she did, even once allowing herself to be sentenced to the Phantom Zone when confronted by evidence implicating her with crimes she couldn’t recall.  (The culprit was later revealed as a disguised Lesla-Lar.)


I think that she didn't clear her mind yet. Maybe she preferred don't face her husband before to fix her situation. That moment never arrived... Damned Antimonitor.

This is obviously only my interpretation of the events!  

I'm glad to talkin' about this tale with you. I didn't know very well how this comic book was considered by readers... Even because this story was unknown to me! In Italy noone talks about that period... I'm asking myself how many readers have these stories. Maybe less than 30 or 40...
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dto
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« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2005, 08:27:11 AM »

According to DarkMark's Comics Indexing Domain (a remarkable research tool for Silver Age DC fans at http://darkmark6.tripod.com/indexintro.html ), the most likely time Kara met Salkor was when she returned back to the 20th Century after her participation in Legion of Super-Heroes #294 (December 1982).  It might make sense -- Kara hadn't been to the 30th Century in a while and she might have made an error returning home.  Plus she had just been pretty roughed up by Darkseid.  But overall I still hate the idea of shoehorning Superman #415 into Supergirl's continuity -- it's one that I WISH was declared an "Imaginary Story".

And as for Salkor not "taking advantage of Kara" in her amnesiac state, such honorable conduct by alien "gentlemen" is sadly a vestige of an earlier (Silver) age.  One can only shudder at the thought of what would occur in today's comics if a lovely unconscious heroine is found adrift in space with no memory...  :shock:
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