Though her current writer has a more enthusiasm than talent, I enjoy the current Supergirl series a great deal at least in concept. This Supergirl certainly contains a great deal more of the spirit of "classic" Supergirl than my old pal Petey David's (never trust a man with two first names). When a future writer, perhaps with a greater gift for plotting and characterization takes over, look for the Loeb Supergirl character to flourish.
I can think of far more similarities between the Loeb character and "Classic" Supergirl than any other version - apart from the obvious stuff about a streamlined origin (which in and of itself is a breath of fresh air from "Supergirl as a matrix robot slash angel").
This Supergirl, like "classic" Supergirl was someone that was far more passionate (remember, when Super-Teacher tested Supergirl, she actually DID kill someone). Classic Supergirl was comfortable with being openly sexy: she had a modelling job for Christsakes (she didn't have immature Silverclaw-esque sex anxieties), she had her own career(s), her own home city, and her own aspirations - including the political.
I kind of like the idea of the "hero-worsipping" aspect of Kara in her first decade. It's like you've found your long lost cousin... seen him do great things and he's your ONLY connection to your family (yeah, I know Zor-El and all were in the Survival Zone, but Kara and Kal didn't know that). You would have a real bond to that person and look up to him and emulate him. It's natural. I have an older cousin that I emulated til I became my own man. My step-son has an uncle he emulates. There's a bond. Kara surely felt that bond with Kal-El.
I like Supergirl's Silver Age characterization too, but for the exact same reason I enjoy "doormat" Wanda from the early days of AVENGERS: because the character eventually grew out of it, and that made for a great story.
Here's the thing about Supergirl's "Super-fangirl" characterization:
1) If she's an appendage of Superman (and wouldn't have it any other way) she doesn't have her own unique identity.
2) Supergirl's hero-worship characterization is something that, by definition, is something you outgrow eventually - she's going to have to lose it at some point, just like she's going to have to stop being a teenager eventually. I admired my charismatic older brother and wanted to be a filmmaker just like him...but eventually that stopped and I wanted to pursue a different career.
In other words, Supergirl as a hero-worshipping character has a short shelf-life. I'm glad they built away from it...because otherwise that would leave the character fossilized in arrested development.
People diss Power Girl, but she is the template for how Supergirl OUGHT to have been brought back with, and I applaud the work of Loeb and Busiek and others as steps in the right direction. But if anything, I don't think they went far enough. There's no REASON to have Supergirl be a teenager again, for instance. She already stopped being one and it's getting repetitive and regressive. And Supergirl's ALWAYS been a character whose sexuality to men is a big part of her appeal, from Jim Mooney to Nick Cardy, so why be hypocritical and coy about it? Just give Supergirl big bazongas outright!
The biggest mistake TEEN TITANS ever made was calling the group "Teen Titans." It added to the untrue belief they have to remain teenagers forever, when what makes being a comics reader interesting - what the big payoff for reading comics in the long-term - is that characters grow and change with time. Just about the only thing the X-Men movies did right was not have them be teenagers again.
I gotta disagree with you on that, Rao. Boy, was that thing awful. "Pink Kryptonite?" Supergirl living in Disneyland? Supergirl as cheery, "gee golly" and somewhat dimwitted?
This is the problem with stories that attempt to pastiche the Silver Age: they attempt to duplicate the absolute worst elements of the period instead of its high points like great plots and art, as well as grandeur, high stakes, and wild imagination.
The absolute worst book ever published by DC in the 1990s is THE SILVER AGE. Because their focus was on duplicating the stupid things about comics in the period, instead of the great things. Here's an example of what I'm talking about: there was a story where the Flash, in the body of Mr. Element, tried to convince everyone that the Flash was creating a whirlwind by sending up magnesium to create a red blur, and use helium to float the objects away.
First: as a boating enthusiast, I've seen lots of red flares in my time. None of them have EVER looked like a running guy to me.
Second: HELIUM DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY.
Here's the thing: If someone really DID try to pastiche the Silver Age and succeeded in the attempt, the subsequent work wouldn't be recognizable as a Silver Age pastiche. People forget that Paul Levitz's LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES run was very much in the spirit, if not style, of the Silver Age Legion: big cosmic battles, boy/girl love stories...hell, he even wrote sequels and built directly on sixties ADVENTURE stories, and his big Legion stories were a pastiche of the "big multi-issue Legion tales" done by Jim Shooter. But nobody points to Levitz's incredible achievement with LEGION as being in the spirit of the Silver Age, because he didn't use the Space Canine Patrol Agency.
It bothers me that people don't see "Veronica Mars" as being a direct lift of Nancy Drew, because she isn't given dialogue appropriate for the severely mentally retarded, like "Gee whillikers." Veronica Mars captures Nancy Drew's grit and resourcefulness and brains...but not her poodle skirt.
By that same token, I have no idea who this pastiche Silver Age character was in that David story, but she wasn't classic Supergirl.
Supergirl in the Silver Age had three dominant characteristics: 1) brainpower (Supergirl was arguably the smartest Legionnaire), 2) intuitive improvisation and wits (closely related to 1), and 3) she was pretty cute - strike that, she was pretty SEXY. By playing her as a dopey byproduct of the 1950s - which apart from stereotyping, it's also not accurate to how Supergirl was in the actual Silver Age comics. Supergirl was NEVER Gidget (well, except maybe in the Kupperberg stuff). Supergirl was "Veronica Mars."
By the way, when did "tongue and cheek" become another synonym for "immature and annoying?" Probably around the same time GEN-13 and other copycat groups like YOUNG JUSTICE were tearing up the comics world as pizza-eating slacker nitwits.
There'a an asenine type of "fun" that is a thousand times worse than darkness, which YJ and occasionally, David's SUPERGIRL exemplify. I'd rather have a thousand DARK KNIGHT RETURNS than a single Giffen JLA run or YOUNG JUSTICE. At least to be dark, you have to take characters seriously and play them straight.
Baby, what's the big deal?
Amanda Conner is a very talented artist and her coming to Supergirl is great news. In fact, I'd rank her with Alan Davis as being one of the greatest Marvel illustrators of the 1980s. The exact moment I fell in love with her pencils was her Yellowjacket vs. Fixer story in SOLO AVENGERS STARRING HAWKEYE - detailed machines, cute girls with button noses, action, laser beams...amazing stuff.
Supergirl spent an issue at a club having a good time. So the h-e-l-l what? Supergirl was always fun-loving and extroverted. That's perfectly in character behavior.
Yes, and it was written by Peter David, who while he wrote it all rather tongue and cheek, came a lot closer to the real deal than the current Power Girl clone.
So she's not the "real" Supergirl because, of her many characterizations, they didn't go with the one that you like?
Can you spell A-R-B-I-T-R-A-R-Y?
This reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend of mine, where he started whining about how Dan Slott's portrayal of the villain in GREAT LAKES AVENGERS was out of character and inappropriate. I asked, "well, did you read his appearance in FANTASTIC FOUR QUARTERLY?" Of course he hadn't. And because he hadn't, that issue and what it did just didn't exist for him.
I don't know why I typed a response to all this, because to be honest, I don't seriously expect a direct, non-dodgy response to it all (just like I never got one for why the Gerber P-Z mini was "bad"), and like with the Gerber P-Z mini, the objections to the Loeb version of Supergirl are all turgid and emotional in nature. Applying concrete reasons against that attitude is like a psychologist trying to cure autism by spraying the kid with a fire extinguisher.