Posts Tagged ‘Tom Ziuko’

November 30th, 2015  Posted at   Supergirl Mondays

Supergirl MondaysSupergirl Mondays is a weekly celebration of the Girl of Steel, who has graced the pages of DC Comics in a variety of forms for more than five decades.

This feature’s primary focus is to take an issue-by-issue look back at Supergirl’s adventures in the post-Crisis universe. From an artificial being on a mission to save her home world, to an Earth-born angel on a mission to save her soul, each Monday, before the airing of “Supergirl” on CBS, reflect on the earliest days of the incredible and winding journey of a frequently divisive, sometimes confusing, but always entertaining era for the Maid of Might.


This time out, we will be looking at two issues: DOOM PATROL #10 and SUPERMAN (Vol. 2) #20. The Doom Patrol issue, which features the first appearance (kind of) of the mysterious new Supergirl outside the pages of the Superman titles, was published the same week as ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #442 (see Supergirl Monday 5). However, because the Doom Patrol issue takes place between the panels of SUPERMAN #20, and because it adds little to Supergirl’s story as a whole (and what it does add is meaningless without the context of the SUPERMAN issue), we’ll be looking at both issues together.

In these issues

Doom Patrol #10  Superman (Vol. 2) #20

Issue: DOOM PATROL #10
Cover date: July 1988
Cover price: 75 cents ($1 Can./40p U.K.)
Cover by Erik Larsen and Jerry Ordway
Story: “The Soul of the Machine”

Issue: SUPERMAN (Vol. 2) #20
Cover date: August 1988
Cover price: 75 cents ($1 Can./40p U.K.)
Cover by John Byrne
Story: “Doom in the Heartland!”

Credits

DOOM PATROL #10
Paul Kupperberg, writer
Erik Larsen, penciller
Gary Martin, inker
J. Giels Workman, letterer
Tom Ziuko, colorist
Robert Greenberger, editor

SUPERMAN (Vol. 2) #20
John Byrne, story and pencils
Karl Kesel and Byrne, inks
John Costanza, lettering
Petra Scotese, coloring
Renée Witterstaetter, assistant editing
Michael Carlin, editing
Paul Kupperberg, kibitzing
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

Overview

Beginning in SUPERMAN, all parties are surprised when Lana Lang arrives at the Smallville farm of Jonathan and Martha Kent with the mysterious woman calling herself Supergirl in tow. The Kents are amazed seeing a young woman in a Superman-like costume able to lift a truck, while Supergirl is taken aback at the very sight of Jonathan and Martha, believing they were dead. As fragmented memories continue to swirl in her mind, Supergirl’s eyes go white as she ominously determines to get to the bottom of things.

A short time later, Superman arrives in Smallville for a pre-arranged picnic lunch with Lana.

Over to DOOM PATROL #10, Clark and Lana begin their date, but Clark’s super-hearing picks up a radio report of the Doom Patrol mixing it up with Metallo and flies off to help.

Back to SUPERMAN (Vol. 2) #20, Lana, still at the picnic spot, listens to radio reports of Superman becoming involved in the fight as it through Kansas City. Hearing that the battle isn’t going as well as Superman had hoped, “Lana” makes a startling transformation.

Startling transformation

Shortly, however, the combined efforts of Superman and the Doom Patrol are able to stop Metallo’s rampage without intervention by — or even knowledge of — the new Supergirl, who flies nearby, keeping tabs on the Man of Steel, as he flies back toward Smallville for a little R&R.

Thoughts

Though more pages and spread across two issues, this is essentially another vignette furthering Supergirl’s story, but largely unconnected from the main story of the issue. The biggest revelation here, though, is that the new Supergirl also possesses some type of shape-shifting ability, having impersonated Lana during the picnic date with Clark.

Though that also ties one of the biggest puzzles presented these issues: How did Clark — with his super-senses — not recognize this wasn’t Lana?

There’s a bit of a leap, for those not reading DOOM PATROL #10, about how Superman became involved in the battle between the Doom Patrol and Metallo. To its credit, an editor’s footnote in the issue does make it very clear that DOOM PATROL #10 takes place between two specific panels of the SUPERMAN issue. But still, for readers of only the latter, it would’ve been nice to provide a little more set-up for the transition.

I did appreciate, though, that all the elements of the Supergirl mystery were kept contained in the SUPERMAN issue, which helped prevent confusion for DOOM PATROL readers who chose to not pick up the SUPERMAN issue. They’d still lack a resolution of the conflict with Metallo, but weren’t dragged into the beginning of a confusing mystery. Reading only DOOM PATROL #10, there’s no indication there is anything more to Superman’s picnic date with Lana than a way to bring him in to the story.

Also, it appears the coloring issues from SUPERMAN #19 (see Supergirl Monday 4) have resurfaced, as in the final panel for SUPERMAN #20, as her blue leggings and red hair have returned. Given the shape-shifting ability revealed this issue, is it possible Supergirl is changing her appearance? Or are these actually coloring mistakes not caught by the editor?

Whichever is true, one thing is clear: A collision between Superman and this mysterious new Supergirl is imminent!

Historical footnote

While not a factor in the Supergirl subplot, DOOM PATROL #10 features the first post-Crisis appearance of Reactron, a villain created by that issue’s writer, Paul Kupperberg, in a trio of Supergirl stories from 1983! The character also was re-imagined in “Fight or Flight,” the third episode from the first season of TV’s “Supergirl!”

Upcoming

A blurb at the end of the story promotes a big reveal to come next issue:

SUPERMAN #21 blurb from SUPERMAN #20

As does the next-issue chatter at the end of the letters column:

SUPERMAN #21 chatter from SUPERMAN #20

But wait, there’s more

Despite containing no Supergirl content in the story itself, the next issue-blurb at the end of the letters column in ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #443 (cover date August 1988) also promoted the upcoming Supergirl-centric story.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #443 next-issue chatter

Next time on Supergirl Monday: The ‘Saga’ begins!

October 26th, 2015  Posted at   Supergirl Mondays

Supergirl MondaysAs Supergirl takes flight in her newest incarnation in the form of her first live-action television show, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at an era for the character that is not only one of the most divisive, but also likely will be, in time, one of the most historically ignored: the post-Crisis Supergirl.

Coming into comics with the death of Superman, “Funeral For a Friend” and “Reign of the Supermen,” the post-Crisis incarnation of Supergirl also is one that cemented a love of the character that, for me, is nearly as strong as my love for Superman. And while there are podcasts, blogs and Tumblrs, centered on this era of Superman comics, none have done so with a specific focus on Supergirl’s story.

So to that end, we begin Supergirl Mondays, a weekly issue-by-issue retrospective of the Maid of Might’s story in the post-Crisis universe. Each Monday, before the airing of “Supergirl” on CBS, take a look back at the the earliest days of the incredible, winding and, yes, at times, somewhat confusing journey of the all-new, all-different Supergirl.

But first, a little history

While DC Comics’ copyrighting of the Supergirl name goes back to 1944, and a few of female characters calling themselves Supergirl (or even Superwoman) appeared throughout the next 15 years, the most well-known version of the character, Kara Zor-El, Superman’s Kryptonian cousin, debuted in ACTION COMICS #252 (cover date May 1959) in “The Supergirl From Krypton,” which was written by Otto Binder and illustrated by Al Plastino.

The character was an immediate success and went on to fill the back-up slot in that book for more than a decade. She then moved over to headline DC’s long-running ADVENTURE COMICS in 1969, where she stayed until getting her own self-titled, although short-lived, book in 1972. As comics moved into the Bronze Age, Supergirl shifted into a recurring spot in the then-new SUPERMAN FAMILY, her guest appearances in Superman-related stories increased exponentially, and she was given her own self-titled book in 1982.

Unfortunately, despite also starring in her own big-screen movie in 1984 (a move spurred on by the success of the Christopher Reeve series of Superman films), the character’s fate was sealed with DC’s landmark CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS in 1985 when DC editorial chose to kill the character in an iconic moment for the series and DC history. In the wake of that series, Superman’s history was rewritten, and Kara Zor-El no longer existed as DC sought to return Superman to being the sole survivor of Krypton.

But, despite the new editorial direction, the disappearance of Kara Zor-El didn’t mean Supergirl was gone forever.

The beginning

Superman (Vol. 2) #16

Issue: SUPERMAN (Vol. 2) #16
Cover date: April 1988
Cover price: 75 cents ($1 Can./40p U.K.)
Cover by John Byrne
Story: “He Only Laughs When I Hurt!”

Credits

Story and pencils by John Byrne
Inking by Karl Kesel
Coloring by Tom Ziuko
Lettering by John Costanza
Editing by Michael Carlin
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

Overview

After the main story details Superman’s inaugural run-in with Oswald Loomis, a.k.a. the Prankster, an epilogue takes us to later that night in Antarctica where heat sensors alert a group of U.S. Navy scientists of something buried within the ice. Investigating further, the men are stunned by what they find.

Superman #16, Page 22 final panel

Thoughts

I can only imagine what readers of the time — especially those who had been reading the books since before the reboot and, perhaps, still were mourning the loss of a much-beloved character — thought of this shocking end.

Is this Kara Zor-El returned somehow? A new character? A hoax? A dream? An imaginary story?

Adding to the mystery is Byrne’s redesign of the costume, which with exceptions of the lack of a headband and touch of red on her shoulders — and the hardly noticeable red piping on the top of her boots rather than yellow, is essentially the same as the final costume worn by Kara.

It’s an interesting way to begin the story of a new Supergirl, that much is sure.

Next time on Supergirl Monday: The mystery deepens.