In this week’s DC Nation, Editor Eddie Berganza made the following plea for women to read Supergirl, which I post both for the debate I hope it will spark as well as the fact it announces that I’ll be co-writing Supergirl with Joe Kelly as of Issue 16:

“Women. Who needs them?

Well, actually… I do.

Let me explain.

I’m Eddie Berganza, Group Editor of the TEEN TITANS, SUPERMAN/BATMAN, ION and the new JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA and JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, and I’m looking to attract women to read SUPERGIRL.

When Joe Kelly took over fully with issue #9, we discussed the many paths we could take Kara in. Jeph Loeb with the incomparable Mike Turner had already created the buzz, and Greg Rucka kept your attention during his all too short run. What could Joe do? After a very serious conference call that involved Joe, our amazing penciller Ian Churchill, and my then Assistant Editor Jeanine Schaefer (she was pivotal in giving us a woman’s point of view on the character—like, can Supergirl gain some weight, please?), it was decided to have Kara just try to be a real teenager. No standard hero on patrol bit here. We were gonna make Kara a typical teenager, which meant she wouldn’t listen to the grownups (in her case a guy named Kal) and wouldn’t appreciate being given chores (killing Kal for her dad, Zor-El). She’d just be a girl trying to find her place in the world.

Sure, some of you may not be keen that we didn’t go straight into America’s Sweetheart mode with her, but, hey, we know that’s what she will eventually become. For us, it’s the hero’s journey that’s interesting. I compare this to what’s being done with Clark on SMALLVILLE. Already, we’ve seen Kara try to be normal, whether partying or in a disastrous attempt at a secret identity. She’s come up short at being a wicked bad vigilante hanging with the OUTSIDERS. Now, she has a new love interest in Power Boy, a “hero” that Ian designed, keeping in mind the great attributes that are usually associated with female characters…and the reason most women don’t like the super-hero genre. Like the chest window of his costume? His constant posing? Yes, he’s a mimbo, but he’ll be a lot worse to Kara when issue #15 hits. Then things heat up for the last daughter of Krypton with #16, when Joe is joined by new artist Ale Garza (as Ian will eventually be going on with Joe to one of my other books) and co-writer Mark Sable for a story arc that runs through issue #19, which will delve further into the fragments of Kara’s past and give us a new understanding of the character.

So, ladies, I hope you’ll come out to the stores and give SUPERGIRL a shot.

-E

HOT LIST THIS WEEK

Posted under News