Riiiiiiiiiight...
Okay, let's look back over this. After years of being the deferential weaker cousin to Superman, the New 52 provides a real gem amongst the crazy - we get a new Supergirl who actually thinks and behaves consistently with her back story. She's strong, independent, forms her own allegiances, immediately calls out Kal on his Earth-loving nonsense, rejects humanity and strikes out in her own believable direction.
Some people don't like the new Kara, others (like me!) love her. To me, this version of her is more like a confused and disorientated Wonder Woman, or a young Power Girl, than the previous version of Kara.
*SPOILERS*
And so now, twenty-three issues, in...she's killed stone dead. Oh - but not just dead. The writers didn't deign to give her a heroic end, where she could have defeated Cyborg Supes and then succumbed to her illness after a bitter-sweet triumph. Nope. Neither did they write a death that she could come logically back from, like dying from the poison even without first overcoming Cyborg Superman's trap, which would have just been sad and not outright shocking.
No. It had to be the most unceremonious, futile, cruel and disturbing death possible. She's completely disintegrated, so now even if a version of her returns whoever that is blatantly won't ever be the person who just died. Her story is over and it's a pretty horrific, bleak and incredibly dark story full of pain and suffering where a confused and lonely Kara is basically clubbed over the head with bad things until she finally dies.
Now alright - we all know that there can be a questionable element of "sexy women in peril" in lots of comics, but seriously? What sort of emotions was this issue supposed to invoke besides anger and disgust? What message does this send out about her schism with Superman and rejection of humanity? How about the undercurrent of sheer sexism and misogyny inherent in the final pages? I'm actually impressed that the team showed enough restraint not have her her clothes stripped off before she dies, given how close this development skirts the edge of disturbing snuff/titillation territory. I guess they compromised - she's killed out of her clothes - which are left behind intact.
Really surprised and saddened by this issue. Unless she was miraculously teleported away (like in World's Finest when Kara was originally reintroduced), I don't see how there's ANY coming back from this point. "Remaking" her won't change anything, the original's still been vaporised.
Nice job DC. Nice job. /sarcasm. Don't even get me started on how the Ame Comi girls thing ended, lol.
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