You’ve probably already heard that TV network CBS will debut a new series on Monday to chronicle the adventures of a modern-day Supergirl. It’s the latest in a flurry of moves by various American networks to jump on the superhero bandwagon, with varying degrees of success – depending on what you mean by “success.”
(See last week’s geek-out entry on the Easter Eggs in the Flash and Arrow TV series for more on this phenomenon.)
Supergirl is a great choice of hero for a TV adaptation, though – superheroines are too few and far between to begin with, never mind those who headline their own TV shows. As an added bonus, the Girl of Steel is a lasting character with six volumes of her own ongoing comic book series. Most of those ongoing runs were short-lived, but the character is popular enough to justify hundreds of guest appearances in other comics and various media (TV’s Smallville, various DC animated series, and even her own misguided feature film back in 1984).
Supergirl’s death during the Crisis on Infinite Earths provided one of the most memorable images in DC Universe history. Issue 7’s cover depicts a weeping Superman holding his cousin’s lifeless body – serving as the DCU’s biggest spoiler ever on a DC comic book cover … that is, until issue 8 came out and spoiled the fact that the Flash dies in the pages of that book.
If you’re looking to catch up on the history of Supergirl or get a preview of what’s to come in the CBS series, we’ve got a quick list of links for your reading pleasure, and of course you can check out our current eBay inventory of Supergirl books if you’d rather read those adventures for yourself.
- Supergirl’s DC Wikia Entry - an exhaustive list of her various incarnations
- Pre-Crisis Supergirl Chronology - “This page is an issue-by-issue, appearance-by-appearance, chronology of the original Kara Zor-El run of Supergirl stories.”
- Hero History: Supergirl - Matthew Peterson’s entertaining recap of the main DC storylines for Supergirl
- How TV’s Supergirl Got Her New Look
- Variety review of “Supergirl” TV Series
- Supergirl-related inventory in the Atlanta Classic Comics eBay store
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(Christopher Holland)