Supergirl in the comics

I am enjoying the current Supergirl series, but I also highly recommend Sterling Gates’ series which tied into the show. Another limited series I recommend is Supergirl: On Being Super. It’s a different take, but a wonderful story nonetheless.

Argo

I'm not sure whether I can really deal with the drawing style of the really old comics. Do they have like ongoing stories or are they very standalone.

Do you think that it's worth getting the comics that have Reign in them?

The Silver Age Supergirl comics of the 60s (actually starting in 1959) were mostly standalone stories, and were very fanciful and totally unrealistic. In those stories, both Supergirl and Superman were virtually invulnerable and had extreme power levels. But the essential character traits of Kara Zor-El were established then. Melissa's take on Supergirl is really quite close to the original character - the sweet, cheerful Kara of the 60s.

The Silver Age Supergirl comics of the 60s (actually starting in 1959) were mostly standalone stories, and were very fanciful and totally unrealistic. In those stories, both Supergirl and Superman were virtually invulnerable and had extreme power levels. But the essential character traits of Kara Zor-El were established then. Melissa's take on Supergirl is really quite close to the original character - the sweet, cheerful Kara of the 60s.

To me Kara in the tv show has a lot of internal pain and even anger though, even going back to season 1.

Well, yes - the TV version of Supergirl has a bit of the angst of the "New 52" comics series. But for the most part, I like to think that Time magazine got it right in their comment: "Who says that superheroes have to be brooding? Supergirl saves her city with a smile!" I really believe that Sterling Gates nailed the character of the TV version of Kara in his "Adventures of Supergirl" tie-in series of comics last year.

And of course, even the original Supergirl of the 60s could get rather angry at times. Here she is going off on Mr. Mxyzptlk in Action Comics back then. And Mxyzptlk could be quite annoying at times, even if he wasn't really evil. (Even the sweetest, bubbliest girl can be pushed past her breaking point...) One thing about Mxyzptlk - he was one nemesis that Clark and Kara couldn't overpower, so they had to rely on their wits to defeat him.

Another recurring nemesis was Brainiac. The "Super-Cousins" couldn't overpower him, either. Here's Kara's heat vision reflecting off Brainiac's spaceship. And Clark even blasted him with his "solar flare" at close range, but to no avail!

In 1966, a Los Angeles-area pop group called the Turtles did a song called "You Baby" that was big hit in the US. I always thought it could have been written about he Silver Age Supergirl!
Love the bridge: "A little ray of sunshine, a little bit of soul. Add just a touch of magic, you've got the greatest thing since rock 'n' roll!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQjkZY0eGjg

If you are just starting out and really like the series, I would suggest starting with Sterling Gates TV Series/Comics crossover that he did awhile back. He did a really good job. The new stuff out is pretty good as well....and melds nicely with the series....though there are some changes, in that Alex is not a part of it, and the Danvers are not her foster parents, etc....but a really good read both the "Being Super" run and the "Rebirth" run.

The 1996-2003 (82 issues) run was very good. It features the Matrix/Linda Danvers Supergirl and is essentially one long story with lots of other little things along the way. Towards the end she changes into the white shirt costume (the origin of which is explained), and I gotta say I enjoyed it at lot more than expected. Unlike other Supergirl stories this series is heavy on the supernatural elements, with lots of angels and demons and such. The art in the beginning of the series is a little old school, but improves as you go along.

The 2005-2011 run was probably my favorite so far. It features the Kara Zor El Supergirl with the crop top costume that you're probably most familiar with, before the current TV version. The art is generally good, the villains are more traditional, and Kara's character is decently well rounded. She's a teenager in this series with problems and some attitude, but she's still got friends and a life. There are several big story arcs throughout the series, and towards the end it ties into the New Krypton arc which is also very good. The series actually begins in Superman/Batman #8-#13 which the the same story as in the Superman/Batman: Apocalypse animated movie. She also shows up sporadically in other series as well, such as Teen Titans, Action Comics, The Brave and The Bold, etc.

The 2011-2015 (New 52) series was my least favorite. It's Kara Zor El Supergirl again, but she's got a new wonky costume, she's either naive beyond belief or completely angry/angst ridden through much of the series, practically friendless, and her character is never fully realized. There's tons of crossovers which means you're forced to go read a bunch of issues from other series that you don't really care about just to make sense of what's going on. A number of the stories are not only stand alone but leave loose ends that are never resolved (or maybe they were in some other series that I wasn't aware of). And worst of all, the series ends just when it's starting to actually get interesting and you're starting to actually care about Kara.

The recent mini-series Supergirl: Being Super was pretty good. It was refreshing seeing Kara just being a teenager in high school having to deal with her powers/being different and hanging out with her friends. My only issues with the series were that there's very little super power use, and the issues are kind of expensive.

Unfortunately, I'm not caught up on the Rebirth series yet, so I can't comment on that one.

I'm not sure how interested I am in reading the Matrix Supergirl thing, since it's not Kara Zor-El.

I flipped through Being Super, but to be honest, while the art is gorgeous, I didn't care for the writing. The relationship with her parents in that story felt like too much of a Ma and Pa Kent ripoff and the character of Supergirl's punky friend felt like a self insert. I did not see the point of writing a new origin for Supergirl that makes it close to the same as Clark's origin (with Kara not remembering Krypton) except without any of the comic characters we actually care about. It made the whole thing seem like a waste of a talented artist, to be saddled with such a pointless story.

As for costumes, I like neither what I have seen of the crop top costume or the 52 costume (I'm very glad that the tv costume looks the way it does), but just disliking the costume wouldn't scare me off reading a title. Are there any noteworthy arcs in the 2005 Supergirl that one should start with? Or any one should avoid?

I'm not sure how interested I am in reading the Matrix Supergirl thing, since it's not Kara Zor-El.

I flipped through Being Super, but to be honest, while the art is gorgeous, I didn't care for the writing. The relationship with her parents in that story felt like too much of a Ma and Pa Kent ripoff and the character of Supergirl's punky friend felt like a self insert. I did not see the point of writing a new origin for Supergirl that makes it close to the same as Clark's origin (with Kara not remembering Krypton) except without any of the comic characters we actually care about. It made the whole thing seem like a waste of a talented artist, to be saddled with such a pointless story.

As for costumes, I like neither what I have seen of the crop top costume or the 52 costume (I'm very glad that the tv costume looks the way it does), but just disliking the costume wouldn't scare me off reading a title. Are there any noteworthy arcs in the 2005 Supergirl that one should start with? Or any one should avoid?

I agree with the "Being Super" comic, but it does get better.....they seem to have found their footing so to speak. The "Who Is Superwoman?" arc is one of the best in that series IMO....when they brought in Lucy Lane I was excited they were going to do something similar....I was wrong.

"I agree with the "Being Super" comic, but it does get better.....they seem to have found their footing so to speak."

Yes, at the beginning of the story, Kara doesn't remember life on Krypton. But as the story progresses, it comes back to her, in bits and pieces. In the last issue, she remembers it all, including the destruction of her home planet. My only complaint about the series was that the ending seemed a bit rushed, with a few things being left unresolved.

Also, I have no idea if the character of Dolly Granger in the "Being Super" comics series was intended as a self insert or not. But if it was, I don't necessarily see that as being a bad thing. Many great writers have admittedly done self inserts in some of their stories. For instance, the character of Captain Nicholls in the classic 19th-century novel "From the Earth To the Moon" by the pioneer science-fiction writer Jules Verne is almost certainly a self insert. Verne was sort of "winking" at his readers there. He wanted us to know that he was in fact a competent physicist, and actually knew that his fictional "Moon Gun" could never really work - but he wasn't going to let that fact get in the way of telling a good space-adventure story!
As for myself, I'm just an amateur writer, but my "physics professor" character (Ken Raynor) is admittedly a self insert. But my Susan Ramirez character is not. She's actually based on an English teacher I know. (I just changed her from an English to a chemistry teacher, so the Supergirl Team would have a go-to person for chemistry questions and advice