The Maiden Of Mayhem
March 21, 2006 by The Fortress Keeper
One of the most common knocks against the Girl of Steel is that she is just darn too nice.
How could any self-respecting heroine be smiling all the time? Doesn’t she know it’s HARD to be nearly as powerful as God? Where’s the angst? Where’s the complexity?
WHERE’S THE REALISM?
And while we’re at it, what’s up with that flying horse?
The answers are right under your fanboy nose, buckaroo. (Well, except for the question about the flying horse …) Kara Zor-El is much, much, more than a super-powered Gidget look-alike. In fact, the Silver Age Supergirl is DARK and VIOLENT enough to power a legion of Image characters and a few second-string X-Men as well.
You don’t believe the Fortress Keeper? Read on and learn…
1. She’s locked in a constant battle with her inner demons!
2. She kills helpless animals!
3. She has a bad attitude!
4. She tortures criminal scum!
5. She’s a freakish outcast, scorned and exploited by the world she protects!
6. She makes Luthor cry!
7. She makes Superman cry!
So be on guard the next time you call Supergirl a goody two-shoes. She’ll stuff those words down your throat - or worse! Just ask the Anti-Monitor…
My first Superman comic had Supergirl and Krypto. I think it was issue #317–maybe #309? Supergirl has managed to convince Kal he’s not from Krypton at all, and in fact, there’s no such place. She explains that they are actually mutants (?!) and their respective parents were atomic researchers.
I’m at work right now and wish I was reading this comic. The previous issue, which I found well over twenty-five years later, has Supergirl smashing Kandor on the cover, in order to show him that Krypton was just his delusion.
Of course, Supergirl had switched the real Kandor with a fake. Superman didn’t buy the mutant story at all, because it didn’t explain Krypto. (Krypto has no dialog or thought balloons in this issue, but seems like a very good dog.)
This was all Kara’s attempt to get Kal to just be Clark, and let go of the past. Now of course it seems like Supergirl is a Dick Too, but I still love this comic. I’m scrolling through your site’s archives today, if you haven’t seen it, give it a look!
Sounds brilliant. I’ll have to track it down.
Thanks!