Linda Danvers.Supergirl Appreciation 2024

[sunofdarkchild]

Keeping the faith alive even after 2 decades for the Superman line's most underrated character. Hopefully with the Dideo era finally over DC will remember Clark's step-sister and how her series was the longest-running Supergirl series of all time and that it was critically acclaimed from start to finish. And then we would see the return of not only Linda, but Fred, Sylvia, Cutter, and Mattie. It's a faint hope at this point, unfortunately, since the Superman line could really use what Linda brought and would bring again.

It's been nearly a decade since I first discovered Linda and became a fan, but her becoming one of my favorites in 2015 shows that the character has appeal beyond the old fans who read her series when it first came out in 1996-2003.

[Primal Slayer]

It is a shame that she is forgotten. While its a shame that Kara was banned at the time, it did bring about some great creativity and Linda was one of them.

[Frontier]

Happy New Year to Linda and her fans .

[kcekada]

I loved Linda as Kara's secret identity during the Adventure Comics years. I wish they'd at least bring back that aspect of Supergirl. I don't like Kara as her name unless she no longer has a secret ID.

[witchboy]

I have started rereading PAD's Supergirl, still one of my all time favorite runs. It's a shame DC can't find a place for Linda, as she has a lot to offer as a character in her own right.

[Factor]

Still the Supergirl with the best stories.
I’ll never stop saying she deserves a comeback as the family’s supernatural expert. Ideally, using a codename like Seraph.

[Captain Britain of Earth 20]

I think Linda Danvers has so much potential, as she is a consistent mystery as a former Supergirl & or a Fallen Angel who could be the key to so many mysteries of the DC universe or maybe the multiverse.

[red winter]

Love Linda Danvers wished she would’ve been a part Arsenal’s Outsiders team also think Fallen Angel was the evolution of Linda Danvers a shame PAD had to take her to another company

[sunofdarkchild]

Thinking about it, Conner might be a bigger obstacle to bringing Linda back than Kara is in terms of 'redundancy.' Conner's origin is actually very similar to Matrix's, in that both are artificially created superhumans designed to take after Superman and have some form of telekinesis. And once the retcon about Conner being a clone of Superman and Luthor was made, they were both even created by a version of Luthor. This didn't stop them from co-existing just fine and having distinctive niches and in the 90s and early 2000s, plus Linda's origin is far more unique but in these days it wouldn't surprise me if the higher-ups think we don't need 2 characters who are 'clones made by Luthor' while ignoring everything PAD introduced about being part-human part-angel instead of an artificial life-form. It's almost as stupid as saying Kara makes Linda redundant, but not quite as stupid, since there are actually a couple of things in common between Matrix and Conner that aren't their gender, as opposed to Kara who is so different from Linda the argument basically boils down to 'we can't have 2 women with superpowers.'

[walk]

Thinking about it, Conner might be a bigger obstacle to bringing Linda back than Kara is in terms of 'redundancy.' Conner's origin is actually very similar to Matrix's, in that both are artificially created superhumans designed to take after Superman and have some form of telekinesis. And once the retcon about Conner being a clone of Superman and Luthor was made, they were both even created by a version of Luthor. This didn't stop them from co-existing just fine and having distinctive niches and in the 90s and early 2000s, plus Linda's origin is far more unique but in these days it wouldn't surprise me if the higher-ups think we don't need 2 characters who are 'clones made by Luthor' while ignoring everything PAD introduced about being part-human part-angel instead of an artificial life-form. It's almost as stupid as saying Kara makes Linda redundant, but not quite as stupid, since there are actually a couple of things in common between Matrix and Conner that aren't their gender, as opposed to Kara who is so different from Linda the argument basically boils down to 'we can't have 2 women with superpowers.'

That's some pretty circular logic Matrix/Linda was literally created because John Byrne wanted a Supergirl but couldn't use Kara because of the whole "Clark must be the sole surviving Kryptonian" mandate at the time, Matrix/Linda was always an elaborate workaround to keep the iconic imagery of Supergirl in comics and was retired the moment DC lifted the mandate and put plans in action to finally bring Kara back because once they had the real thing from their perspective she was redundant, the reason she had even existed in the first place and had continued to exist all those years was no longer needed. It's never had anything to do with Conner.

Matrix/Linda true problem has always been how convoluted and detached from Superman everything about her is, weird shape-shifting goop experiment from an alternate universe that fused with a human girl to become a fire angel thing? It's pure nonsense and sounds like a joke and it was apparently a DC higher-up who left flabbergasted while reading her profile while waiting in line for the Superman rollercoaster at Six Flags who spearheaded her being shelved in favour of Kara's return mandate be dammed because... yeah when people think "Supergirl" they think Clark's cousin not any of that.

Linda might of survived similar to Conner had they like him a) created stronger ties for her to other heroes/a team and b) retconned her origins into something more digestible and that directly tied back to Superman but really once they had decided on Kara she was always on borrowed time.

[Factor]

They should just distill her origins to basic aspects. Linda was a human girl who became super by merging with an alien being. They don’t need to explain Matrix’s whole confusing backstory again. It’s not like every time Conner is mentioned, people need to know how he once wasn’t actually a clone of Luthor.

[GreyFox]

Linda was not an Earth-Born Angel in the final 30 or so issues of her series. I'm getting the impression that those who want to bring her back want to ignore this.

So how would Linda's origin be revised in the modern day, ignoring the final 30 issues and perhaps the pocket universe?

EDIT: Factor's reply was not up when I started wriring this.

[walk]

I've said it before but the cleanest way to retcon Linda is to say she was a human girl who fused with the Kryptonian goddess Flamebird.

You still keep the supernatural aspect of her origins, the spiritual/religious themes and dual identity of ones personality merging with a non-human entity it just now ties back to Superman's mythology more directly and her unique powers like flame wings make a lot more sense.

You can still keep the broad strokes of her history of an ex cultist who was saved from sacrifice and took her second chance at life to redeem herself by using her new powers to fight demons and the like in honour of her favourite hero Supergirl. Not sure if Kara still supoosed to have "died" in current continuity but you could just say she was out of commission for a while.

Heck she was almost originally going to be Flamebird (and Conner Nightwing) during the New Krypto arc before Dan DiDio stepped in and it had changed to Thara and Lor Zod/Chris Kent

[Thor-Ul]

I've said it before but the cleanest way to retcon Linda is to say she was a human girl who fused with the Kryptonian goddess Flamebird.

You still keep the supernatural aspect of her origins, the spiritual/religious themes and dual identity of ones personality merging with a non-human entity it just now ties back to Superman's mythology more directly and her unique powers like flame wings make a lot more sense.

You can still keep the broad strokes of her history of an ex cultist who was saved from sacrifice and took her second chance at life to redeem herself by using her new powers to fight demons and the like in honour of her favourite hero Supergirl. Not sure if Kara still supoosed to have "died" in current continuity but you could just say she was out of commission for a while.

Heck she was almost originally going to be Flamebird (and Conner Nightwing) during the New Krypto arc before Dan DiDio stepped in and it had changed to Thara and Lor Zod/Chris Kent

Indeed, I don't know what the hell DiDio wanted to accomplish.

[sunofdarkchild]

Indeed, I don't know what the hell DiDio wanted to accomplish.

Didio was infected with 'Batman and Robin syndrome.' It's where the desire to sell merchandise overrules any concerns about quality, storytelling, and character. It's the same thinking that led to 1997's Batman and Robin being turned into nothing more than a 2-hour commercial to sell toys after Batman Returns' gory moments killed that film's merchandising potential. Bob Harris brought this thinking which helped ruin Marvel in the 90s with him to DC, and Didio was its biggest proponent. He looked at comics readers as collectively having the intelligence and attention span of a six-year-old and sought to have characters that appealed specifically to that lowest-common-denominator and not to anyone else.