For as long as I’ve been reading comics, I’ve been a fan of Supergirl. My introduction to the character was not to Kara Zor-El, but to the other-dimensional Matrix version of the maid of might. Her first full appearance, Superman #21, came in a three-pack of comics that I had when I was 6 or 7, and from the moment I saw her I was intrigued. I didn’t quite grasp all of the details – the pocket universe, the alternate versions of Lex Luthor and Lana Lang – but it didn’t matter. Of course I knew about Superman, but there was also a Supergirl? And she had different powers?

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Thanks to a comic book documentary that my parents got for me and that I must’ve watched until the VHS tape wore out, I became aware that there had been a previous Supergirl, and that she had died in something called “Crisis”. I tracked down Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 – for as long as I can remember the area in which I grew up and still live has been blessed with at least three comic shops, so the hunt did not take long – plus the rest of Crisis, and basically from there I was off to the races.

(Sidenote: the documentary was Comic Book Collector, released by Blue Flame Productions in 1990. It was hosted by Frank Gorshin, whom you might remember from his most memorable comic-related film role, Sharpie Lawyer in an episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. The whole thing is available to watch on YouTube and it’s both entertaining and educational.)

Supergirl, in that respect, is responsible for much of my interest in comics. I would probably have gotten there eventually, but Supergirl was the reason I learned there was ever a multiverse that included countless different versions of Superman, Batman, Robin, etc. I learned about ‘continuity’ and how it could be changed, and ultimately I found a continuity that I liked that happened to include Supergirl. I also met some characters I might not have otherwise through Supergirl, namely Ambush Bug, who appeared in an issue of Supergirl’s pre-Crisis title that I randomly picked up from a quarter bin, and who is now among my top five favorite DC characters.

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The ‘Matrix’ version of Supergirl is long gone, and admittedly I’d stopped reading her before she went away. In high school I was still reading most comics for the punching and less for the characters (The Flash notwithstanding), and I never totally grasped all of the ‘earth angel’ stuff that Peter David did with her. I was intrigued enough to pick the book up again when the pre-Crisis Kara Zor-El returned in Supergirl #75, a stunt that improved sales on the book but that must have been the final blow for Matrix/Linda Danvers, as the series ended six issues later. One year later, Kara Zor-El returned in Superman/Batman #8 and as far as DC was concerned all was right with the world.

I’ve heard people argue that the presence of Supergirl ‘lessens’ Superman, that the existence of other surviving Kryptonians makes the Man of Steel less ‘special.’ I don’t consider the presence of two Kryptonians instead of one to lessen Superman, but I do think that it goes a long way towards making him more relatable. I hate the idea of a Superman who’s a sad sack because no one understands him, but there’s no getting around that aspect of the character – there’s no one else on Earth who can truly understand what it feels like to be Superman, to do what he can do and experience things the way he does. There must be a degree of isolation to Superman, and who among us hasn’t felt that way at one point or another. And then, from out of nowhere, there’s someone who gets it, who understands completely, either through a shared experience or similar background. Maybe it’s a friend or a role model. For Superman, that’s Supergirl, extended family that he never knew he had who’s been through the same loss and a lot of the same experiences that he has.

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More than that, though, if anyone has a reason to be a sad sack about Krypton’s destruction, it’s Supergirl. Kal-El was a baby when Krypton exploded, and it’s likely he’d never even remember his birth parents once he’s grown up. Kara Zor-El, on the other hand, was a teenager. She had years to learn, to grow, and to develop attachments, not only to her parents, but to friends, to places, and to culture. Teenagers have enough going on in their heads without the sheer tragedy of the literal destruction of their world. That makes for some pretty powerful storytelling that just couldn’t be done with Superman.

Three episodes into the new Supergirl TV series, the character is starting to get some well-deserved attention from fans new and old. One place she’s seemingly being ignored, though, is DC Comics. There’s currently no ongoing Supergirl series in print or digital, and it doesn’t look like she’s regularly appearing in any other titles (though a version of the pre-Crisis Kara Zor-El has popped in and out of Justice League 3001 a few times). With a weekly TV series that’s being watched by millions of viewers, being able to convert even a fraction of that viewership into comic book readers would be a major win. Hopefully DC has something up their sleeve for Supergirl, and fast, before they miss the huge opportunity the TV show provides.

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In the meantime, with DC reprinting a lot of their mid-‘90s catalog (Nightwing, Robin, and Birds of Prey, to name a few of my favorites), it would be great to see some new collections of the Peter David Supergirl series. I’d love the chance to look at a series that was much-beloved by many at the time, to see if what I’ve already read would finally ‘click’ for me, and if what came afterward lives up to the hype. I know that’s not the same version of the character that’s appearing on the TV series, or that’s even currently kicking around in the DCU, but who knows. Maybe they’d like that version of Supergirl more, or just be curious about her, and it’d lead them into the larger DCU. After all, that’s how it was for me.

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