Jinkies! A Beginner’s Guide to Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Supergirl arc

It should come as no surprise to anybody that here at C!TB we are big fans of Kelly Sue DeConnick‘s recent arc of Supergirl that closed out the series’ run before the big September relaunch tomorrow. Our mantra here is basically “talk about good comics” and these three issues were some damn fine ones. We’ve enjoyed the series since Sterling Gates took it over and at first look, what Kelly Sue did with her issues was in many ways a departure from that. However, Issues #65-67 work best not when taken as a separate storyline - though they certainly stand up when viewed this way - but as a continuation of the stories that came before them and a wonderful summary of the series itself. Oh, and it also happened to be full of references to the 1980s, which I’ve been told were delightful.

Welcome to Jinkies! A Beginner’s Guide to Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Supergirl.

01. DON’T PANIC, BRIEFLY

AA. ISSUE #65: THIS IS NOT MY LIFE, PART 1

The Players:

• Supergirl, aka Kara Zor-El, aka Linda Lang, aka Linda Lane: Maid of Might. Kryptonian teenager, cousin to Superman. Trying to find her own way in the world since the loss of her planet and family. Weisenheimer.
• Lois Lane: Reporter comma trouble.
• Professor Ivo: Evil green genius, proof that you shouldn’t drink anything just because it says “serum” at the end of its name. Up to no good. In cahoots.
• The Silk Pajama Society, starring Henry Flyte: Stanhope College’s merry pranksters. Singers of insensitive songs, students in search of nighttime adventure.
• Shirley: Linda’s roommate at college orientation weekend. Significantly more fun.

The References:

• P1: “This is not my life” - Possibly the Talking Heads, “Once in a Lifetime”
• P9: Stanhope College - Previously attended by Linda Danvers, former Supergirl
• P18: “Moles and trolls, moles and trolls, work, work, work, work, work” - Real Genius

The Robots:

• M.O.N.Q.I.S, monkeys.

The Plot:

College kids with similar profiles are going missing. After saving one, Supergirl goes undercover at Stanhope College to investigate because Lois, I kid you not, “playing co-ed for the weekend, hanging out with kids your own age, nosing around on a secret mission… sounds like fun to me.” Isn’t Lois Lane just the best? At Stanhope, Supergirl (as Linda Lane, which is totally different from Linda Lang) meets Shirley, her roommate for the weekend, and the two get caught up with Henry Flyte, bastard ne’er-do-well and the Silk Pajama Society, who may have figured out a way to predict who will disappear next… Henry. Then Henry disappears, everybody looks sheepish.

BB. ISSUE #66: THIS IS NOT MY LIFE, PART 2

The Additional Players:

• Stanhope College President Gardner & her husband, Phillip: Guilty-looking, and with good “Oh hey Professor Ivo how is our secret plan going?” reason.
• The Silk Pajama Society: Elaboration.

The References:

• P13-14: “Robots, why… did it have to be… robots?” - Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
• P19: “Very Kübler-Ross” - Singing is my favourite stage of grief
• Let’s face it, youths investigating a mystery underground has a pretty sigificant “Goonies” vibe and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The Robots:

• Rats! Seriously, there’s like a metric poopload of them.
• Larger humanoid robots.

The Plot:

Investigating Henry’s disappearance, Linda, Shirley and the Silk Pajamas Society uncover a series of secret tunnels and catacombs below the college - because of course they do - and, investigating, invoke the ire of Professor Ivo’s army of robot rats. Linda is just barely able to stop them without blowing her cover and discovers Professor Ivo’s subterranean lab (and Henry). Meanwhile, Lois investigates Stanhope College’s President - who is totally behind things - and apparently “My love of onions will be the death of me” isn’t a particularly good explanation for why you’re digging around someone’s office.

CC. ISSUE #67: THIS IS NOT MY LIFE, PART 3

The Additional Players:

• Ngoze Onwualu: The Lois Lane kind of trouble. Pretty rad.

02. SUPERGIRL 2: THE GUIDENING

By itself, “This is not my Life” is a fantastic standalone story. It contains almost no references to anything that’s happened in the rest of the series, with almost none of the same characters and is set in a completely new place, or at least one that’s a sly reference to an entirely different Supergirl from those heady days of the 90s, when Hanson roamed the earth devouring small children. But when you look closely, DeConnick‘s arc not only continues the same kinds of questions and themes that the series tackled for its other 64 issues, but also serves as a great summary and coda of the series itself.

Ever since the series began, one of the core themes has been of identity, especially in regards to being an outsider. Kara isn’t from Earth. Neither is her cousin, of course, but he grew up here. Until New Krypton, Earth was the only home he knew. It’s where he belongs. But Kara? She came to earth as a teenager. She had an entire other life before she was forced to find a new one. Just when she was finding her own identity, here comes new Krypton. Here are her parents, alive and well, with the home and culture she thought was lost, but here is her new home and everything she has there. Who is she, Kryptonian or Earthling?

This was a big part of Sterling Gates‘ work in the series, and in the wake of War of the Supermen and the destruction of New Krypton, Kara had to work hard to finally find some sense of peace with who she was. She could be both from Earth and from Krypton without besmirching either heritage, and as Gates left Supergirl, she seemed like she was in a good place at last. This is comics, though, and as long as a series continues there are always other questions to ask oneself, other crises to resist.

As we find her in “This is not my Life,” she might know who she is, but she’s still a bit of an outsider. She might belong on Earth, but who is she there? It speaks volumes that in Issue #65 it’s Starman that she identifies with as someone who doesn’t quite fit in, who’s different. Despite having a life on Earth and a secret identity as a human, it’s the blue-skinned, red-haired alien who stands out in a crowd that she confesses her feelings to. When Lois comes to her with the plan, her first thought is, “That’s why you want me. Because my parents are dead.” She doesn’t know how to not be that person, so of course it’s what she thinks other people see in her. That means a lot, and “This is not my Life” spends a lot of its time dealing with this.

It does this through Kara’s identity as Linda Lang - or, for the sake of Lois’ crazy scheme here, Lane - the way she interacts with the world when she’s not Supergirl. Linda isn’t Clark Kent, though. She wasn’t raised here and she didn’t grow up as Linda. Linda is a necessity for Kara to survive in the world, but Clark is who Superman really is when he’s out of the costume. He’s Ma and Pa Kent’s son. His wife calls him Clark, not Kal-El. People don’t call Supergirl Linda; she’s Kara.

“People like Supergirl, they have a way of sticking around, but you and me… just… don’t forget me, okay?”

That’s why a story like “This is not my Life” is so important to the character; going off to college for a weekend isn’t Supergirl’s life. She doesn’t really know how to be Linda, and this is the story of that happening. Even if she doesn’t admit it until the very end, even if it goes completely off the rails when a green-skinned mad scientist gets involved, Lois is right when she tells Supergirl that spending some time being Linda would be good for her. She doesn’t fit in with her roommate or the Silk Pajamas Society at first, but by the end, she’s connected with them in a way that’s real. She’s able to just sit there with Henry as they’re just “some guys.” This version of Supergirl never got to really live as Linda, and maybe she never would have, but in three issues DeConnick made Supergirl the most well-rounded character she’s been in ages. We won’t forget her.

That’s the magic of a good story, and this is a comic about magic. It’s a comic about the kind of magic that lives inside us, even if, as Henry says, it’s just science we don’t know the rules for, or where our mind goes when we can’t do the math. It’s that feeling we get that’s poetic and wonderful, like feeling like we belong, coming together with complete strangers to do something powerful or a first kiss with someone we never expected. It’s magic. What other word is there for it? Comics, maybe. Definitely comics like this.

“This is not my Life” is a fantastic coda for a fantastic series, that summarizes who the character is and where she still has yet to go in a story that’s also a zany teen adventure where college kids fight robots. It works so well in part because the series is ending, because there’s no crisis that comes next. The final time we get to see Supergirl is when she’s having a moment of happiness and peace. The final word spoken is “magic”. I don’t know where she would have gone from there, but I like to think it’s someplace good.