Post by comicsandwho on Jul 9, 2018 21:19:02 GMT -5
I never figured out what DC wanted to do with Supergirl in the early '80s...obviously, because DC never figured it out!
What I remember from the 'Superman Family' days (1979/80 or so when I first saw it) was that she was a counselor/resident advisor at this 'experimental school'. I guess that sounded a bit too 'seventies', so, in 1981 came this huge career change where Linda Danvers just decides on the spur of the moment that her job sucks, and she needs a change. She reads that some actress has just left a high-rated GBS soap opera, and flies up to New York to audition. She instantly memorizes all the dialogue in the script, nails the audition, and spends the next couple of years juggling 'soap stardom' with Super-jobs(and fending off the obligatory romantic interest from the usual 'weird annoying boyfriend', who also works on the soap opera).
The notable thing about this era is that Linda is drawn in a way suggesting she's a few years older than we're used to seeing. She's no longer the perpetual 'late teen to maybe 20-year old' of the last few years worth of stories.She looks, and acts, like a young woman, certainly further along in her 20s. There is still a little difference in age between her and 'cousin Clark/Kal', but it's nowhere near as noticeable. If Clark is "29"*cough*NOHEISN'T*cough*, then Linda might be...25? Daring idea!
Oh, but...1982..'Superman Family' is cancelled. New book is 'The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl'...but instead of actually being 'daring and new', like we've been reading about for the last year...we get yet another 'Cousin Superman, I'm BORED!' development. Now, she's moving to Chicago...and back in college...and drawn by Carmine Infantino, and looking like she's 19(supposedly because she's been 19 all along). And that new costume...yeesh! 'You know what all the kids are into these days? HEADBANDS!' They wrote something into the storyline that Kara wore the headband as a mark of respect for Krypton...but it looked like something out of an MTV video, not the 'respected citizen of Krypton' symbol.(Mark Knopfler and Olivia Newton-John are Kryptonian now?)
I guess the costume change was driven by the Salkinds, and their mediocre movie...but that whole era, and the lackluster new solo comic, undid a lot of interesting stuff. And once the movie tanked, it was all a moot point, anyway.
But at least Supergirl wasn't retconned to be the 'identical daughter' of the character everybody thought she'd been, like Roy Thomas did to Black Canary back then..in yet another pointless retcon that was 'Crisis'd into non-existence.
What I remember from the 'Superman Family' days (1979/80 or so when I first saw it) was that she was a counselor/resident advisor at this 'experimental school'. I guess that sounded a bit too 'seventies', so, in 1981 came this huge career change where Linda Danvers just decides on the spur of the moment that her job sucks, and she needs a change. She reads that some actress has just left a high-rated GBS soap opera, and flies up to New York to audition. She instantly memorizes all the dialogue in the script, nails the audition, and spends the next couple of years juggling 'soap stardom' with Super-jobs(and fending off the obligatory romantic interest from the usual 'weird annoying boyfriend', who also works on the soap opera).
The notable thing about this era is that Linda is drawn in a way suggesting she's a few years older than we're used to seeing. She's no longer the perpetual 'late teen to maybe 20-year old' of the last few years worth of stories.She looks, and acts, like a young woman, certainly further along in her 20s. There is still a little difference in age between her and 'cousin Clark/Kal', but it's nowhere near as noticeable. If Clark is "29"*cough*NOHEISN'T*cough*, then Linda might be...25? Daring idea!
Oh, but...1982..'Superman Family' is cancelled. New book is 'The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl'...but instead of actually being 'daring and new', like we've been reading about for the last year...we get yet another 'Cousin Superman, I'm BORED!' development. Now, she's moving to Chicago...and back in college...and drawn by Carmine Infantino, and looking like she's 19(supposedly because she's been 19 all along). And that new costume...yeesh! 'You know what all the kids are into these days? HEADBANDS!' They wrote something into the storyline that Kara wore the headband as a mark of respect for Krypton...but it looked like something out of an MTV video, not the 'respected citizen of Krypton' symbol.(Mark Knopfler and Olivia Newton-John are Kryptonian now?)
I guess the costume change was driven by the Salkinds, and their mediocre movie...but that whole era, and the lackluster new solo comic, undid a lot of interesting stuff. And once the movie tanked, it was all a moot point, anyway.
But at least Supergirl wasn't retconned to be the 'identical daughter' of the character everybody thought she'd been, like Roy Thomas did to Black Canary back then..in yet another pointless retcon that was 'Crisis'd into non-existence.
