Post New52 Supergirl is all over the damn place

[Iron_Leopard]

So let me get this straight.

1. Supergirl relaunched with New52 and got her own solo book.

2. Then it got cancelled.

3. Supergirl: Rebirth happened and she got her own book again

4. Supergirl: Rebirth series ended with issue 20.

5. Bendis comes along and sets fire to Superman and Supergirl again

6. Supergirl now has a new book that spun off from The Man of Steel but isn't a new series cause it starts with issue 21.

What did I miss?

[Sacred Knight]

Only thing you missed is that the continuity is still a major mess because Supergirl's history is largely based on the New 52 one, while next to nothing about Superman's history reflects New 52 anymore. They're literally from two different continuities at this point. Its easy to just not reference it, and indeed they are just ignoring it which works well enough. But its grating nonetheless. Supergirl's history depends on Superman's. If Superman is pre-FP again, and he 95% is, Kara's makes no sense if she isn't as well.

[Kuwagaton]

I was gonna say, "all over the place" was really the point for a while. Although it's suspicious to me that setting her up with a base of operations, small cast, antagonists, and mission statement at the end of the first year went up in smoke with the H'el crossover. I've never been confident that the following issues were too intentional.

That book lasted about as well as any New 52 book outside the top ten, but they retooled it with the new volume to better match the show. I'm not confident in the true motivations behind the hiatus, but I don't think sales were great. Rather than do filler stories while Bendis was setting up, they just brought it back later without the "New #1!" gimmick. I think that's better than relaunching, easier to archive going forward.

And really with that volume, you don't need to know about the New 52 going in aside from maybe the origin of one villain, who's explained in one arc and then a special one shot.

[Robanker]

This is how I felt pre-FP too, frankly. Her characterization and history changed so often I had no idea what was up with her. Is she Linda (later Matrix)? Wait, maybe Cir-El? Belly revived Kara Zor-El? Okay that stuck, what is she like? Rebellious? Flirty? An All-american girl? Quiet?

I can never get a handle on her and the one time I did (Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle's run), they fired Gates for writing her "like a 40 year old."

It's the main reason I prefer Power Girl to Supergirl, her character has been way more consistent since Geoff worked on her in JSA and then moved into her own series by Gray, Palmiotti and Conner. She's Kara Zor-L, has a generally upbeat personality though she is very serious about helping people and has issues with being from a dead universe. That was true for longer than any Supergirl iteration I can think of, though I missed her in the New 52 so perhaps PG is different now as well.

[Kuwagaton]

Superman of course has been revised even more than Kara. Kara gets a little mercy because her replacements were actually different characters.

Power Girl less convoluted? Well I did like that volume of her comic but being the Atlantean cousin of Earth Two Superman is a doozy.



And uh... the tip of an iceberg, actually.

https://www.cbr.com/things-that-turn...gin-pregnancy/

[Robanker]

Superman of course has been revised even more than Kara. Kara gets a little mercy because her replacements were actually different characters.

Power Girl less convoluted? Well I did like that volume of her comic but being the Atlantean cousin of Earth Two Superman is a doozy.



And uh... the tip of an iceberg, actually.

https://www.cbr.com/things-that-turn...gin-pregnancy/

Hey, I recall saying...

...her character has been way more consistent since Geoff worked on her in JSA and then moved into her own series by Gray, Palmiotti and Conner.

Basically, since Johns took over the character she remained consistent. They figured that character out and as such everyone generally seems to agree "Earth-2, older Supergirl who has ties to the JSA" is the proper way to approach Power Girl. I think the only debate, really, is if she and the JSA belong on the same Earth or their own separate one. Like Mr. Freeze (though not nearly as good), once "Heart of Ice" hit, that's basically who he was going to be forever. PG has her cornerstone in Earth-2 and the JSA, as well as being Superman's cousin. She has consistency in that now.

And hey! If we're talking about aerobic Atlantian royals and babies, we're going to start bringing up Supergirl's horse boyfriend!

Since '86, I can't think of a time when Supergirl wasn't changing on a dime. They figured out PG, I think it took until the TV show to solidify where they want Kara to be, and even then time will only tell.

Anyway, I didn't intend to fracture the conversation into being about Power Girl, I was simply trying (and arguably failing) to illustrate a point regarding Supergirl not having a cornerstone to touch on in order to steer her as a character outside her relation to Superman. Whereas her offshoot has one that most can agree on, I've heard so many people refer to the Gates run, PAD's run, the New 52, and the show. Just about the only thing that sticks is that she's Superman's cousin and /was/ older than him. I was also thinking of Hawkman or Aquaman, in which there are two predominant (Carter vs Katar, Silver Age vs '90s hook hand) characterizations, but I wanted to keep it in the Super family for thematic clarity.

[Kuwagaton]

Since the problem in the OP is with the radical shifts through the creative teams/volumes with Kara, I'd just say that the problem hasn't reached a Power Girl level yet. Where they have had to take her away from Superman to resolve it. Power Girl since New 52 has been in just about the same weird spot as ever. Meanwhile Steve Orlando in the Rebirth run did a great job of "housekeeping" and I think even if some of the tv influences are found marginal it can be appreciated how Kara is fully workable in the world of Superman. Steering outside of that... I guess I'm not sure on how that works since I don't read the Robin or Nightwing titles. I'm not sure what Kara needs and hasn't had to take her "away just enough."

Johnson and Green together were doing a long arc that I think was great but the biggest scuttles, the events, hit just about every other title, too.

[kjn]

Sadly, this seems to be one of the default states for female DC heroes: either they're all over the place with regards to characterisation and backstory, or they're ignored. Barbara Gordon/Batgirl also suffers from this, as does Wonder Woman.

[Miles To Go]

And uh... the tip of an iceberg, actually.

https://www.cbr.com/things-that-turn...gin-pregnancy/

This is the kind of weirdness I don't want to see happen to Jon in my lifetime. Like..ever.