Kara Lohan
When the news broke a few months ago regarding the new editorial direction of "Supergirl," I had a particular picture in my mind how the character might be envisioned under the reign of Matt Idelson. I based this largely on how Idelson's "Catwoman" developed -- moving away from the tits & ass Jim Balent years into a woman-friendly, slightly "indy" vibe.
Looking at these concept pics by Renato Guedes on Comicon.com/Pulse, I feel justified.
Okay, so DC did Something Good.
I mean, there *is* a shot with her doing the Marilyn Monroe up-the-skirt routine, which isn't necessary. I mean, you never see Spider-Girl doing poses like that.
But basically, this art is a vast improvement, and almost brings me back to those halcyon Gary Frank years of yore.
As new "Supergirl" scribe Tony Bedard said to Pulse,
"Now, if I was 17 and ruled by hormones, the zero-bodyfat, nearly-naked Supergirl would probably be my fave. But Renato's take is much more like a living, breathing person, which makes her all the more endearing and fascinating."
Oh, one more thing...
With thanks to Chris of the excellent Expertologist
Considering the Marilyn Monroe shot demonstrates that instead of wearing a thong she's wearing SHORTS, I'm not particularly upset about it. ^_~
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteShe looks... good?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I can process that this early in the morning.
Wow! That concept art is absolutely gorgeous. I haven't heard of Renato Guedes, but I must find more of his stuff. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteSeriously i dont understand peoples' obsession with PAD
ReplyDeletePeter and I share the same sense of humor and cultural touchstones - where else can I find references to Twilight Zone, Real Genius, Lassie, and Sandman in my comics?
Not only that, but I think PAD knows how to tell a story with interesting subplots, great characters, and sharp dialogue.
He has a huge body of work - that I find incredibely readable - and I think "The Death of Jean DeWolf" was amazing.
Plus, he wrote Space Cases, which was brilliant for what it was!
And, I really enjoyed his Supergirl - as did many people - which I think makes it a little more difficult for readers to get used to yet another Supergirl.
ugh god... i like my churchill supergirl better still... :( i lovveeedd lovvveeeddd kelly and churchill's supergirl and now its like peter david's bullplop all over again.
ReplyDeleteseriously i dont understand peoples' obsession with PAD, other than X-Factor.
I deleted the rest cause it was a bit harsh. I wouldn't say PAD sucked as much as I just don't find his storytelling interesting.
Dont get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE his X-Factor, but a lot of his other stuff just doesn't resonate with me.
I find Whedon and Nicieza's humor more in tune with mine.
I guess I just don't understand the OBSESSION, PAD fans remind me of Claremont fans, not matter how bad they are, their fans still act like they are God's gift to comics.
I just never dug his Supergirl, and I am kind of tired of everyone dogging on the newest one, and saying how PAD's was so much better, but anyone dogs on PAD's and says this one is better, they are a terrible person.
Hey,
ReplyDeleteI also want to thank the many blog readers who emailed me the link to the Comicon piece this morning. I'm on the job (such as it is)
:-)
and Michael Turner goodness
ReplyDeletedon't mean to go on, I just don't understand this puritan outlook.
ReplyDeleteso what if she doesnt wear her dress down to her ankles?
sure supergirl dressed a bit slutty, she's a freakin 17 year old girl!
show me a thin blonde 17 year old girl and tell me she dresses like that? shorts under her skirt? my ass!
of course she'd have a thong on.
i loved the contrast of her to wonder girl.
one last thing...
ReplyDeleteThin vs Fat
You think making Supergirl chunky is going to get girls to like her?
Maybe it is just the angle, but that is stocky Supergirl...
I guess I am coming from the if it's not broken don't fix it, but the rabid female fans seem to hate the current Supergirl.
But are they the ones who are going to buy it?
I say fuck the feminists and gear the title towards the gays, we are the ones who read it every month!!!
I still love you ladies, but this is the one subject I just can't see eye to eye with you on.
god im sure you hate me but i had to aslo post this link
ReplyDeleteBeth Ditto blames gays for having to be skinny
kind of goes with what i said earlier....
Sammy,
ReplyDeleteI read the same Beth Ditto piece about ten minutes ago--but thanx for the link!
I don't know about gay men being responsible for this "skinny" trend; rather, I've never had a personal experience with that. But women can potentially be very cruel about other women's weight. When I was in my twenties and rather chubby, my mom was always like: "you're fat, you're fat, you're fat, you'll never get a man." This is horrible, and very common; one of my best friends had her mom say the same thing, and she became buliemic. Then I lost about 60+ pounds in early 2006, mostly due to a diet change for health reasons, and it was like another world. I was treated like I did some heroic feat, like I climbed Mt. Everest. Inspired by this admiration, I tried to lose even more weight. Then I started to see big fat fuzzy dots hover before my eyes. And then my doc said: GAIN WEIGHT. I was terrified. I thought that if I gained some of the weight back, I wouldn't be attractive & people would think I was a "failure." But people who really love you don't care. And so I ate more, and threw the size zero jeans away. I actually have breasts again, and it's super. But the problem with anorexic Supergirl & Nicole Richie and the rest is that they influence already insecure girls & women. And that's just no good. It has to stop. I understand your point-of-view regarding the aesthetics of the "thin look." But the risk of setting off all those borderline eating disorder cases out there -- both female & male -- is just too high.
Kara L-Han, surely?
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for the link!
i understand what you are saying v, but to be honest, does EVERY female superhero have to be a role model for girls?
ReplyDeleteWonder Girl isn't anorexically thin. Neither is Wonder Woman, or Zatanna, or Speedy, or Catwoman (she does have big bajangas, though).
Grace isn't either.
I just don't see why every girl has to live up to these real world standards.
I guess my issue isnt "ohmygod i have to have a tiny skinny supergirl"
but more a "ive become quite attached to this kara, and dont really want her redesigned every week, or at all"
Homegirl is looking HOMELY in that new design. She may look more "real" if by real you mean less attractive and less super hero-esque. We don't read comics to get a taste of the real world. We read them to envision an exciting world full of amazing people.
ReplyDeleteI like the Marilyn Monroe pose.
ReplyDeleteBut only cos I think it makes SG look like a badass rollergirl. ;)
Whether *every* superheroine should be a role model for girls is irrelevant. There's plenty of room for flawed stars int he comics firmament.
ReplyDeleteBut there's no question that Supergirl should be a role model. It goes with the S.
But there's no question that Supergirl should be a role model. It goes with the S.
ReplyDeletePerfectly stated.
I think if the character was Starfire or one of those Outsiders chicks or even Wonder Girl, the role-model thing wouldn't be so much of an issue. But Supergirl is an icon. It's an icon that, frankly, DC would be smart ($$$) to market aggressively to young women. And as such, I think she should be of normal weight.
ReplyDeleteAre adolescent females really so impressionable? I'm going to go out on a limb and perhaps underestimate them and say, "yes." There is no person so frightfully singleminded and determined than a 14-year-old who thinks she's "fat" and wants to rectify the situation by starving herself.
Well. Lindsay Lohan has the right initials to be a Superman/Supergirl character, anyway.
ReplyDeletei'd have less of an issue with the weight of the current supergirl if support characters actually noticed she was skinny.Y'know, like the way it was with cyclops before he bulked up.
ReplyDeleteIn her current incarnation, It really should be made a feature that she is an adolescent girl who is tall and possibly a little gawky because she's yet to fill out, rather than the current portrayal of choice of her being a size zero and therefore a sex symbol
btw, what supergirl wears closely resembles a tennis skirt, and what do most tennis players wear under them these days? Shorts. Clearly the purpose of that particular pose was to deliberately show off whart other artists should depict under the skirt, should the need arise. Those pages were presumably meant as a character guide after all!
And yeah, they were all bitchin' :)
but 14 year old girls read MANGA, not comics!
ReplyDeleteare there people who dislike this that are young, impressionable girls?
ReplyDeleteor is this all coming from burkenstock wearing, lillith fair attending, women over 30?
sorry totally kidding.
in all seriousness are the "demographic" it should be protecting, are they raising an objection?
or is it the demographic of older women who wouldn't read the title even if supergirl was fat and homely?
and who exactly DOES read Supergirl?
I know I do, and I am happy with it. Is it doing poorly in sales to warrant a revamp?
Cause I thought this was the best Supergirl I have read.
plus wasn't the whole point of Supergirl is that she WAS flawed, she WASN'T her cousin, and living up to that image is hard when you just want to be a 17 year old girl trying to fit in?
ReplyDeleteDoesn't that seem better than:
"Chunky girl who is blonde and is an exact copy of Superman"
That sounds LAME.
Connor was flawed and everyone loved him. He is one of the best characters in DC history.
There are plenty of ways for Supergirl to feel the weight and importance of her cousin's legacy without her comic being something I wouldn't feel comfortable giving my niece.
ReplyDeleteAnd this Supergirl isn't chunky. She's got a trim, athletic build.
Fat Sammy? Seriously? Maybe if you consider weighing 100 lbs instead of 80 lbs fat. I sure don't. She doesn't have love handles. She just isn't drawn to be so impractically thin.
ReplyDeleteI think it does look pretty cool, and has an "indie" feel to it. If the writing is good I might actually read this comic.
this is interesting. i like the concept art. much better than the stick figure giant boob supergirl..this one looks like she can actually beat some ass. i like a little more realism in the comics. not a whole lot but enough to make me believe in the character. so i will check things out come august. cautious optimism? i was never that big on supergirl but this new portrayal got me interested enough to comment about it.
ReplyDeleteshe looks stocky and chunky.
ReplyDeletemaybe its just the angle and since it has no coloring, but in SOME of those images she looks like she could stop goin to the burger joint with boomer and start fighting a little crime.
I'm sorry Sammy, but if you think those drawings of Supergirl make her look "fat", you may need to get glasses.
ReplyDeleteI for one LOVE this new look. She actually has hips, wear a real skirt instead of a napkin and looks like a *real* person.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I'm sorry, but skinny doesn't equal weirdly mutated. Churchill's Supergirl smply did not look anything like a teenager, even a skinny one. The anatomy was always off, not to mention the really odd body movements and language.
And don't get me started on that physics-defying skirt...
Aside from the fact that Renato Guede's a wonderful artist (which can be seen from his work on Smallville and Action Comics), he's brought, IMHO, some real life that was much needed to the character.
*This* homo is VERY happy with the possiilities of the new look.
I think she looks like Alicia Silverstone
ReplyDeleteI went to Catholic school, where all girls wore skirts of a certain length (I think the dress code said something like the shortest they could be was two to four inches above the knee, I forget which exactly).
ReplyDeleteAnd an awful lot of the girls wore shorts under them.
A lot of cheerleaders wear something under their skirts aside from panties too (well, high school ones), there's a name for them...tap pants or something? Like, not quite panties but not quite shorts either....sorta in between?
My knowledge of the undergarments of teenage girls is pretty outdated at this point...over ten years outdated...but THIS costume looks more realistic to me.
At the very least, it behaves like real material on a real body would.
i dont think that the 'perfect' body that supergirl had should be remedied by a stockier built, but by a realistic one in regards to her character. Being superstrong and having constant strain on your body from saving the world all the time would leave you w/ a muscular and probably flat-chested body. maybe even leave the coustume the same just for the sake of not altering her entirely.
ReplyDeleteP.S. i dont think anyone would want to wear a thong while saving the world. 1) theyre uncomfortable and 2) there are way too many perves verus people supergirl would acutally want to get with and thus want to impress
Is it just me or does Supergirl's face actually kind of look like Val?
ReplyDeleteIs it just me or does Supergirl's face actually kind of look like Val?
ReplyDeleteAre you suggesting that they are one in the same? Because I have never seen them both together at the same time.
I may actually buy that book again, based on the character sketches alone - I especially like the classic line of the nose and that big, expressive face. My only fear is that the writing will be overwrought cliche akin to the Smallville/One Tree Hill ilk, rehashing what everyone's been doing for years, but pretending it's fresh and new by dressing it up in soundbites and a left-wing sheen.
ReplyDeleteThat issue where Supergirl went to high school was the point I stopped reading first time around, as I didn't find a story that basically took a roundabout path to say "goth kids = BAD, WASP kids = GOOD" to be the kind of broad generalisation masquerading as a story payoff that I wanted to endorse with my custom.
i liked the high school issue...
ReplyDeleteto each his own, but i am sure there are plenty of people who did like the current supergirl and didn't want ti fucked with every 3 weeks.
A fair comment, Sammy. you like what you like everyone's tastes are different to some degree. However, I think where people take issue with the current Supergirl is the fact she - and her book - have no discernable character, even after a few years on the shelves. Readers and reviewers are left to assume that there isn't much beyond the sexual objectification of a minor, some ugly anatomical drawing, and a muddled writing direction that seems dictated more by whim than a solid idea of where the book is going in terms of character or story.
ReplyDeleteFor most readers, there's nothing to actually 'like' just yet. I don't think the musical chairs on the writing and art teams help matters, either.
I really like the design. Kudos to the artist.
ReplyDeletei guess i liked it cause i loved the superman/batman stuff, and wish loeb had continued to write the supergirl title
ReplyDeleteSteve Flanagan said...
ReplyDeleteWell. Lindsay Lohan has the right initials to be a Superman/Supergirl character, anyway.
True, but let's not take it too far. I don't want to see an inebriated Supergirl inadvertently swallow the entire population of Kandor (after all, the city comes in a bottle).
She doesn't look stocky in those drawings, she probably looks exactly like whatever real-life person that artist took photos of, then traced.
ReplyDeleteShould Supergirl look like a stylized drawing, or should she look like a traced photgraph?
To those who consider the Churchill Supergirl the "real" one, the real Supergirl was drawn by Jim Mooney in the sixties and she wasn't a thong-wearing, self-loathing crystalline avenger.
ReplyDeleteThe original Kara wasn't always sure of herself either, but there's ways to do that without turning the character into a psycho.
And the reason DC is probably changing the focus a bit is that sales on the title dropped big time after Jeph Loeb left.
(Although I will agree that the "high school" issue was pretty damn good.)
How can anyone say she looks fat? If by fat you mean she looks like she could actually have interior organs, then maybe. Those drawings aren't fat at all.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree she doesn't really look like a superhero. She looks like a girl who bought a Supergirl costume to wear for Halloween.
And just because the guy draws in a realistic style doesn't mean he traces. He might have had a model but that's how real artists learn how to draw.