Review by Frank Plowright

Supergirl’s presence since her 1959 introduction was as a more innocent and even more positive version of Superman. It’s not that she was without problems, but they generally lacked intensity. It was also the case that the 1960s was her era, and her commercial appeal subsequently diminished. She was included in John Byrne’s updating of Superman in the 1980s, rebooted not as his cousin from Krypton, but as a synthetically created lifeform who adopted both the Supergil identity and that of human student Linda Danvers. It was this creation that Peter David launched into her own series in 1996.

David messed with Supergirl’s origins and purposes extensively, but gradually, over what became Supergirl’s longest run in her own title. What’s obvious from the start is David delivering a new mood by introducing darkness to Supergirl’s world, and seemingly being influenced by David Lynch in exploring the seedy underbelly of suburbia, especially via the sleazy Buzz. He’s first seen consorting with a demon, and features in one of the highlights here. During a period where David still hasn’t quite pulled everything into place ‘My Dinner With Buzz’ is a brilliantly written piece of cat and mouse.

It takes some while before this Supergirl series becomes David’s usual confident project, but that’s greatly disguised in the first instance by Gary Frank’s art. His cast are distinctive, his storytelling is instinctive, and the page layouts re expansive, and the colouring of Gene D’Angelo is the final touch in the brightness of the art contrasting material that’s very dark at times. After Frank it’s Greg Land and Leonard Kirk both early in their careers who draw most of the remainder. Land’s not yet moved into his objectifying women phase and is the more confident of the two as Kirk is talented, but learning on the job. There’s considerable improvement over the course of the book, and by the time he starts on the following material, in the DC Finest line as Die and Let Live, he’s the full package.

As clever as David is, there are annoying quirks to his writing such as never being able to resist forcing in something smart when it doesn’t always fit. When ranked alongside his talent for dropping massive surprises, though, it’s something most readers will forgive, not least because the stories written by David are infinitely better than additional material that isn’t. The best aspect of those is delicate art from Robert Teranishi on a tale of a possible future version of Supergirl, while Anthony Castrillo’s art on the longer tale of Supergirl’s date with Brainiac is also notable.

This material was previously packaged as Supergirl Book One and most of Supergirl Book Two.