Reviewing DC Comics Presents 86 (3:26) and the double-sized Crisis on Infinite Earths 7 (26:46)! Your feedback returns next week!
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SiC 22 — We Will Miss You, Kara (07:04:1985)
3 replies on “SiC 22 — We Will Miss You, Kara (07:04:1985)”
This was an excellent episode. The subject matter is tough to deal with, especially if you’re a fan of Supergirl, but you did a good job. Your description of the final scenes, complete with dialogue and voices, was very exciting and succeeded in bringing the events to life.
Like you, I was a Supergirl fan in those days. I read her 80s series, “The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl,” from issue 1 until it ended. I thought it was a fun series, and gave Kara an entertaining supporting cast to hang out with. Sadly, because it happened right before her death in Crisis, none of its events ended up mattering very much. My impression is that it’s largely forgotten these days, which is too bad. I liked it.
You said that news of Kara’s death had leaked a few months prior, and I’m sure you’re right. But I’m pretty sure that I hadn’t heard about it, so this issue was a real gut-punch for me back in the day. Soon as I saw that cover, I knew nothing good could come from that issue, and I was right. At least Kara went out like a badass.
Speaking of covers, I had never heard the notion that this cover was an homage to the “Robin Dies at Dawn” cover. Like you, I don’t see a lot of similarity between the two images, beyond the very basic idea. Quite the contrary, I’ve always thought that if it was an homage to anything, it was to John Byrne and Terry Austin’s cover to Uncanny X-Men #136, which features Cyclops cradling Dark Phoenix’s lifeless body in his arms. The pose is almost exactly the same, Cyclops has a similar anguished expression on his face, and the other X-Men are in the background looking on in horror. I’m certainly not the first person to make that observation; it doesn’t take a lot of internet searching to find several side-by-side comparisons. Perez must have been aware of Byrne’s cover, and perhaps he was inspired on some level. I’m not accusing Perez of plagiarism, but it’s not hard to see a strong influence there.
Not to spoil too much, but the shock of this issue somewhat overshadows the fact that there’s going to be another huge event in the next issue! I guess we’ll get there soon enough! Take care!
Oh, wow! This was a hard one to listen to. Not because of your work, but because of the subject. Like Scott McFadden above, I had not heard any of the leaked news about Supergirl’s fate, so Crisis #7 came as a complete kick in the stomach to me. I have always, to this day, refered to the day I read this issue as “the worst comic book reading day of my life.” I had loved the character of Supergirl from her first appearance, and had followed her since then. This was just awful for me at the time, and I still have hard feelings about it, and its aftermath. All those people saying, “We’ll never forget her”, and then, after a fairly short time, forgetting even that she had ever existed. That was the worst. Thank heaven for the Deadman story in 1989, for at least a little comfort.
You did both stories justice, and treated Supergirl with respect, for which I thank you, but I think I need to go take a walk and mourn a bit.
I mentioned before how finding DCCP on the spinner racks was always a challenge and this issue was one I didn’t read in the moment. I was very surprised to see the Kara/Barbara conversation from Crisis repeated verbatim here. The issue was fine, but as you say, it wasn’t a great way to have Superman and Supergirl team up for the last time. Clark was a bit of a jerk and I share your desire that it had been written another way with their relationship, as well as the idea that Kara felt “impending doom.” Both those things really affected the whole tone and the grim was imminent.
As for Crisis #7, I was really struck by the info dump nature of the first part of the issue. When I read it at 14, I was fascinated by all the history and it was cool to have one hero from each world there. Now that I know the history, it doesn’t hit me quite the same. The second half of the issue continues to be thrilling, though, as the powerhouses of the DCU are struggling and bleeding. It is really Supergirl’s moment to shine as she makes the ultimate sacrifice. It’s too bad she never had a moment like that before this comic (although I admitted didn’t read her series). The heroism and the anguish is all so well done and you did a great job covering the issue.