We’re back with a new set of Subway Shorts for the week and we kick off with new No. 1s and the female side of the World’s Finest! Today, it’s Supergirl: Rebirth 1 and Batgirl and the Birds of Prey 1, after the jump!
Supergirl: Rebirth 1
Written by Steve Orlando
Pencils by Emanuela Lupacchino
Inks by Ray McCarthy
Last fall, CBS debuted a Supergirl TV show, bringing a new level of prominence to the Maid of Might. DC Comics capitalized on this new TV show about Superman’s cousin by… not having an in-continuity Supergirl comic on sale at all during the show’s first season. They sold a weekly digital comic based on the show, but the New 52 version of Supergirl was pretty much nowhere to be seen in a terrible example of corporate synergy.
Now, as the show moves to the CW for its second season, getting integrated into the universe the network has established there, the good folks at DC Comics have figured that there should be a Supergirl comic. The groundwork was laid during the “Final Days of Superman” story, as the New 52 Superman set out to find his missing cousin, discovering she was in National City, under the supervision of the Department of Extranormal Operations, which is the setting of the TV show.
The new comic tries to make the TV show connections even stronger, introducing us to Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers, Kara’s “foster parents,” assigned to her by the DEO to help her adjust to her new life on Earth, since she’s only been on planet “for a few months,” according to DEO director Cameron Chase.
So, DC Comics has created a new Supergirl comic, they bring it somewhat in line with the new TV show (we’ve got no sister, no CatCo and no Martian Manhunter just yet, but never say never), now they just have to provide some good stories. The Rebirth issues have all felt like taster plates, whetting your appetite for the full meal. Steve Orlando gave what seemed to be a fuller story, introducing the Kryptonian werewolf, Lar-On, from the Phantom Zone while establishing the setting, so I am definitely encouraged by the first outing. We’ll see how things go when the new Supergirl 1 comes out in three weeks.
Batgirl and the Birds of Prey 1
Written by Julie Benson and Shawna Benson
Art by Claire Roe
Over in Gotham City, Barbara Gordon is back from her adventures in Asia (being chronicled in her own book) and is on the trail of a mystery – who has co-opted her old codename Oracle for their own evil needs? In order to figure it out, she’s recruited her old teammate, Black Canary Dinah Lance – who is back East from her adventures in Seattle with Green Arrow – to follow the clues. They aren’t the only ones on the same trail, though.
As they close in on a lead, the pair encounter another vigilante looking for answers – The Huntress, Helen Bertinelli, is looking to kill the mobsters who killed her family 20 years ago, and her methods are not in line with what Batgirl and Canary are willing to do. Of course, Huntress and Batgirl also have a friend in common, as Bertinelli worked with Babs’ sometimes paramour Dick Grayson in Grayson’s New 52 iteration as a spy, working for Bertinelli’s organization.
So, the first issue has the conflict between the heroes who will eventually comprise the new Birds of Prey, but it also has the trio agreeing to work together to take down a common enemy.
While we have a few cliches to start things off here – heroes fight then team up; two women who have a shared romantic history – the Benson sisters are crafting an interesting story, and props go to DC Comics for giving them a shot to reboot the Birds of Prey, a cult favorite from the pre-Flashpoint era. Hopefully, the book can find an audience.