While New York’s Comic-Con didn’t bring one world-shaking announcement after another like July’s San Diego sister, there were certainly some good news to be had in terms of new titles, creative changes, and upcoming events.
For me, the most interesting creative change is writer Nick Spencer’s move to Supergirl after a wonderful run by Sterling Gates. For more than two years Gates has successfully taken Supergirl from “What do we do with her?” to “What do we do with her next?”
Jeph Loeb reintroduced the Kara Zor-El character back into DC continuity in the pages of Super-Man/Batman and then didn’t seem to know what to do with her once she had her own title. Joe Kelly took the book on next and didn’t do much better.
It wasn’t until issue 34 when Gates seemed to come out of nowhere and stripped down all of the character’s complexities and presented readers with a story about a teenage girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders, trying to find her way. Gates introduced a perfect foil in Cat Grant and a mentor in Lana Lang—this was an excellent use of these Super-supporting characters.
Enter white-hot writer Spencer and artist Bernard Chang to take over the reigns. Spencer's work on creator-owned Morning Glories proves that the guy knows a lot about character development and creating an exciting story. He also has a strong ear for teenage dialogue which I surmise will be used in this run on the Girl of Steel. Check out his Jimmy Olsen follow-up (and introduction of Chloe Sullivan) in the pages of Action Comics #893. Good stuff indeed.
This has been bittersweet news, but Gates is promising that word of his next gig at DC is forthcoming. I’m crossing my fingers for a move to the Justice League of America!
3 comments:
re do:
I'll slightly add to this...grand master Geoff Johns started off 'the right' direction with Supergirl when he tweak her origin in the pages of Action Comics 869. It didn't completely un do what Jeph Loeb did but certainly cleaned it up. Gates followed this direction with a polish and now we all love the maid of might. I am looking forward Nick Spencer's run. So thats two Super Books I'll be collecting...and still neither star the Man of Steel.
DC should pay attention to this.
Haha--I hadn't thought about that! Well, I keep reading "Superman" out of morbid curiousity. A new issue comes out this week! I read this weekend that "Superman/Batman" would be getting a regular writer. I hope this means they will go back to in-continuity stories now that Bruce is back.
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