Kara? How?

[sandmountainslim]

Please fill in a fellow who has been out of the loop for some time,  I notice that Kara is back, how? I know that she died in the original Crisis and I was there when the Protoplasmic "Supergirl" came around but how did our beloved cousin return?

[MatterEaterLad]

This is as best as I can understand it, the end of Matrix Supergirl, and the whole PAD supergirl deal involving Linda Danvers disappearance after going into the past and being an unsuitable substitute for Kara but hooking up with Kal pre-Crisis, and ending the supposed Kal/Lois offspring Cir-El run (whew)-- and all that stuff cleared the way for DC to say lets make a Kryptonian Supergirl based on post Crisis continuity, in this case Kara, sent to earth but delayed many years by suspended animation, where now she is much younger than Kal...and then there's some stuff about her splitting to an evil side and re-combining, and possibly being more powerful than Kal which even modern fanboys don't like...

I guess?

The sticky threads up top here have pretty good and exhaustive history too...

[Great Rao]

... how did our beloved cousin return?

None of those other Supergirls ever happened.  The new Kara is unrelated to the protoplasm and is Kal-El's cousin.  She came to earth a few months back in the Superman/Batman title, then spun-off into her own.  I believe that her origin and early adventures have been collected in at least one graphic novel.  The link to this item also shows a lot of customer reviews containing plot summaries.

[DoctorZero]

There's a spoiler here so if you haven't read the issue hold off on this







The story is that Zor-El and Jor-El were the Kryptonian equivalent of Cain and Able.  They were brothers and hated each other.  Zor-El made plans to send his teenage daughter Kara to Earth in suspended animation following Ka-El, but the plan was for her to kill Kal-El.
However, Zor-El programmed his daughter to act innocent and good upon her arrival, in order to fool Kal-El.  This programming took root too strongly and become and dominant personality.  This explains the dark side to Kara that Darkseid sensed.  

DC left some doubt that this story is true, but considering the dark and gritty DC Universe, unfortunately, it figures.

[Great Rao]

Yikes!

I'm glad I missed all that part.  What issue(s) was it in?

Just so I know not to buy them.

[MatterEaterLad]

From what I can track, Supergirl (newest series) #5 after Luthor apparently split her into good and evil personas with "Black Kryptonite"...

[DoctorZero]

Yes, and the next issue it was revealed that Zor-El sent his teenaged daughter to Earth to kill Kal-El.

[MatterEaterLad]

And now she's re-combined and decided to look on the brighter side of life?