This article contains spoilers.
Just likeThe FlashandArrow,Supergirlisnt shying away from the characters comic book roots.
She was created by Otto Binder, Al Plastino, and all-time great Superman artist Curt Swan.
If you want more (and I meanlotsmore) on Supergirls comic book history, click here.
Im glad theyre using it here, as it adds a nice dimension to things.
I just included this image because its amusing to see baby Kal-El already rocking the iconic spitcurl.
Thats something weve only ever seen in comics and animation before.
But, yknow, just in case you didnt already know thats Superman, there it is.
Its nice to see thats brought back once again for this show.
Kara even does the its not an S thing fromMan of Steellater on in the episode.
The Phantom Zone is a major component of Superman mythology.
Its been around almost as long as Supergirl, first appearing inAdventure Comics#283 in 1961.
Its greatest fame has come in the movies, though.
Karas adoptive parents, the Danvers, are played by Helen Slater and Dean Cain.
Alex Danvers is a creation of the series, but I cant help but wonder about the Alex/Lex similarities.
Lex Luthor had an estranged sister named Lena, and Alex (and her parents) is scientifically minded.
Nah, Im imagining things.
Cat Grant was originally created in 1987 by Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway.
The thing is, he has always had his greatest success in other media.
I dont need to chronicle the characters further appearances, do I?
Just know that Jimmy taking an active role on TV feels like something of a homecoming for the character.
See for yourself:
I love that poster.
The running down an alley change is such a classic Superman trope that I had to include it here.
It was most notably deployed early on in Richard LestersSuperman II, but its always around.
In the originalAdventures of SupermanTV show, it was a blimp.
InSuperman: The Movie, it was a helicopter.
In the 1986Man of Steelcomic book as well asLois & Clarkepisode 1 andSuperman Returnsit was a space shuttle.
Well, here we are with Supergirl…
Oh, and the bridge that she flies the plane over?
Thats the Otto Binder Bridge.
Otto Binder was the writer who co-created Supergirl in 1959!
I was looking to see if there were any national broadcasts in here, but apparently not.
So, sadly, no Channel 52 fromArroworThe Flash.
But also, no sign of Galaxy Broadcasting, WGBS.
Cmon…shouldnt WGBS have a west coast affiliate?
Jeremy Jordan is playing Winslow Winn Schott.
The show borrows something else from John Byrnes mid-80s reimagining of Superman…the cape isnt bulletproof.
Well, at least not until she replaces it.
But the basic idea here is that Kryptonian invulnerability is more than just a dense molecular structure.
This weeks villain is Vartox, who actually isnt quite as much of a villain in the comics.
Sean Connery inZardozlookalike Vartox first appeared in Superman #281 in 1974.
The TV version has a much more reasonable and subdued fashion sense than his comic book counterpart.
Also, for reference…this is Sean Connery as Zardoz.
You will never unsee this, either.
The holographic communications from dead Kryptonian parents?
Yup…another hangover from the Donner movies.
There are a handful of potential alien supervillains visible on this screen.
I could be wrong, though.
This isnt quite the Hank Henshaw of the comics, it turns out.
Needless to say, he wasnt really Superman.
Fort Rozz is indeed from the comics, as well.
By the way, I rather enjoyed most of the flying effects in this episode.
This shot in particular kind of recalls the Christopher Reeve/Helen Slater super-era.
Alright, so I dont expect there to be quite this many references per episode going forward.
These pilots always have a lot to set up.
But well see what else we get in future episodes!
Bookmark this page and keep coming back each week for more deep DC Comics dives!
He first appeared inBrave and the Bold#80, created by Bob Haney and Neal Adams.
Hes menaced Superman a handful of times.
Trust me, you arent missing much.
Holy moley, does this show love the Donner Superman movies, or what?
You cant tell me this wasnt intentional.
Plastino Chemicals is named for Supergirl co-creator Al Plastino.
And, of course, theres a Sector 52 there.
All of these shows need to chill with the 52 stuff!
So…how about Hank Henshaws red eyes at the end there?
This pays off in a big way in future episodes.
Supergirl Episode 3: Fight or Flight
Maxwell Lord first appeared in 1987sJustice League#1.
Actually, those are some of the bestJustice Leaguecomics ever, and you should totally seek them out.
Max has some dark secrets, though.
Did you know he was the villain of the unproduced George MillerJustice League: Mortalmovie?
No?You should read everything I wrote about it.
Hes a radioactive jerk, sometimes wearing an exo-skeleton to control his powers.
They really went pretty much all out adaptins his look from the comics, didnt they?
Thats right, the signal watch is older than Kara.
It has yet to make it into a movie.
Heres hoping we get to hear the trademark zee-zee-zee!
sound one of these episodes.
Shes had some weird stuff happen to her in her life.
I cant imagine were going that route on this show, though.
They mention a power plant in Bakerline.
Bakerline is indeed a neighborhood in Metropolis.
I knew this without looking it up, and Im not terribly proud of that.
I know the general geography of Metropolis almost as well as I know New York City.
I probably dont like you that much, though.
Supergirl Episode 4: Livewire
Livewire had a kind of non-traditional path to the screen.
It was written by the brilliant Gail Simone and had art by the legendary John Byrne.
Worth seeking out if youve got the patience!
Helen Slater, as you probably already know, played Kara in the not really awesomeSupergirlmovie in 1984.
She was on the money as Kara.
The rest of the movie…less so.
I dont really need to introduce former Superman, Dean Cain, do I?
Kind of a puzzling choice for that particular scene.
Surely there are more mean-spirited Ramones tunes that could have made that point, right?
This week was the first mention of Wynn Schotts Dad being in prison.
Who is Winslow Schott and why should you care?
Hes the Superman villain known as the Toyman.
More on him when we get to his episode.
Supergirl Episode 5: How Does She Do It?
Cat Grant is up for a Siegel Prize in Metropolis.
Jerry Siegel was the writer who co-created Superman, alongside artist Joe Shuster.
Carter Grant appears to have been created just for this show.
In the comics, Cat had a son named Adam.
Again, I cant imagine theyre going to push this connection too hard.
I wouldnt know anything about that, of course.
Theres another inescapable Lord/Luthor parallels, though.
is a classic Superman/Luthor beat.
Lord makes a joke about whether Supergirl is allowed to drink and fly.
Morrow has been kicking around the DCU since 1964.
He was created by Flash geniuses John Broome and Carmine Infantino in the pages ofThe Flash#143.
And yes, hes pretty much always been this much of a dick.
General Lane talks some crap about how some of the aliens at the DEO have wings.
Any chance theres a Thanagarian waiting to come out to play?
The General also gives Jimmy some crap about how hes not special.
I think that comic book creators like Jack Kirby, Grant Morrison, and Frank Quitely would disagree.
Theyve all given us very proactive, quite special interpretations of the character.
Cool use of Jimmys signal watch.
The zee tone is faint.
It mostly comes off as kind of a homing beacon for Supergirl to train her hearing on.
Like the tone is a faint alert that draws her hearing in.
It makes more sense than the ol Zee!
What the hell has Jimmy gotten himself into now?
Wynn is drinking a super soda at one point.
What about the recent crack onThe Flashabout how theres a Big Belly Burger everywhere in the Multiverse?
I dont think Ive seen one show up onSupergirlyet!
He was considerably less villainous than what we saw here this week.
Cat Grant talks about how people can feel isolated and alone.
Thats an interesting choice of words, and I cant help but feel it wasnt accidental.
The words she uses?
What, something else happened in this episode?
Oh yeah…
Well, I was wrong and a whole bunch of you were right.
Hank Henshaw is indeed Jonn Jonzz, the Martian Manhunter.
Thats his newer, New 52 costume design theyre using here, and thats just fine with me.
Martian Manhunter has been around sinceDetective Comics#255 back in 1955.
But more importantly…
Adam lives in Opal City!
Dirk Armstrong was created by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove inSuperman: The Man of Steel#61.
So, Astra is married to…Non!?!?
Non wasnt created in the Superman comics, although many of the other Phantom Zone villains were.
He didnt make the jump to comics untilAction Comics#845 in 2007.
It seems like everyone on Krypton has the pentagonal shield that contains their crest or rank indicator.
I think I preferred it that way, as the current model is a little too uniform.
Any sharp-eyed DC Comics fans recognize the multi-eyed mind-reading alien that Non kills?
Jimmy is trying to break into Maxs Room 52.
Im really tired of chronicling the DC Comics magic number of 52 in all of these shows.
They need to give it a rest.
Kara using her cape to shield everyone from the bombs effects is a pretty classic, straight-out-of-the-comics maneuver.
Was it me, or did her cape appear to get bigger to contain/deflect the blast?
That was something we often saw happen in the Superman comics of the 1970s and 80s.
But yeah, ol Mr. Schott isnt exactly the most distinguished.
He is, however, less evil than former Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott.
But hey, they got the glasses right!
Shes primarily known as a Batwoman supporting character these days, though.
Chester Dunholtz played a role in the comic book Toymans origins, too.
You get the idea.
you’re able to also spot two other incarnations of Toyman in the episode.
Kara makes reference to being isolated and alone.
This has come up before, and every time, that choice of words isnt accidental.
Thats what Lara feared about how Kal-El would feel on Earth at the beginning ofSuperman: The Movie.
Thats right, Bizarro is old enough to be your grandbizarro.We have an entire history of Bizarro right here.
Its said that there are potentially seven Bizarro clones in waiting.
The gang just assumes that this means she was the seventh attempt.
But shes probably only the first.
You know what that makes her?
The opposite Kryptonite that they developed was blue in color.
In the comics, Blue Kryptonite is the one that effects Bizarro.
You kids wanna talk about Kryptonite?
I can do this all day.
Not that Im complaining.
So, ummmm…did that one cannon hit Bizarro so hard that it turned her S backwards?
Did I fall asleep and miss a scene or something?
I dug the horror movie pipe organ style music it cut to at the commercial breaks.
That story came from the Watchmen creative team of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
If you havent read this story, well, I dont know what to say.
Its one of the greatest Superman stories of all time.
Just read it, and enjoy 48 pages of perfection.
Right out of the gate they give us Kelex!
You might recognize Kelex from the opening scenes of Man of Steel.
But Kelex actually first appeared inMan of Steel#1 in 1986.
This TV version of Kelex looked quite a bit like the version John Byrne designed.
I was really happy to see Kelex.
What can I say?
Why the hell were the guards wearing House of El insignia?
Like maybe its a little subconscious alarm that something is wrong?
That really annoyed me.
Sometimes, I am easily annoyed.
Kara was said to be suffering from Argo Fever.
Its citizens later became sick with radiation poisoning, although it was never called Argo Fever.
If you havent, ummm…I dont necessarily recommend it(although Helen Slater is awesome).
But for real, would it have killed them to have this be an Omegahedron?
Id like to just pretend that the name of this unnamed thingy is an Omegahedron.
c’mon indulge me.
Did…did my ears deceive me?
Did I hear a mention of the name Lar-Gand on Krypton?
Somebody help me out.
Its really cool, though.
Youll just have to trust me on this.
All of them sucked, and none are particularly worth getting into right now.
You just have to trust me on this.
That bit about knowing if someone was in town?
I cant imagine them bringing Lobo on this show, but then again…anything is possible.
It has to be, because I have to figure theres no equivalent of Green Arrow on this Earth.
I love that theres an actual prayer to Kryptonian Sun God, Rao.
The overall crytalline look pays tribute to the design seen inSuperman: The MovieandSuperman II.
But did I hear Jimmy right?
Does Indigo remind you of Brainiac?
Shes basically Brainiac 8.
And of course, Indigo brings with her our first explicit references to Brainiac, so thats pretty great.
If there are no plans for Brainiac on the big screen, then Ill settle for him here.
And if theyre ever going to do a proper Superman/Supergirl team-up, Brainiac is just thethreatto bring them together!
Well, screw that noise.
You know what this means?
I am almost indescribably happy about this.
The truck that Supergirl stops has a license plate that says PLASTINO.
Al Plastino was the co-creator of Supergirl, but also the co-creator of The Legion of Super-Heroes.
See my above freakout about them.
you’re able to totally spot Kryptonese on the screen when Winn is hacking into the computers.
This is also better.
Okay, that was TOTALLY an Omegahedron that Non was using at the very end there, right?
Work with me, everyone.
Supergirl Episode 16: Falling
Red Kryptonite traditionally has unpredicatable effects on the Kryptonian of your choice.
And I dont mean unpredictable the way gin makes me unpredictable.
I mean, Superman now has the head of a lion unpredictable.
But the idea of Red Kryptonite turning a cape wearing Kryptonian into an arrogant jackass is nothing new.
It was most famously done in Superman III.
While that movie used synthetic Kryptonite instead of…wait a second…thisissynthetic Kryptonite!
So thats anotherSuperman IIIreference for the books!
For the second episode in a row,Supergirlwas on a mission to rehabilitate concepts fromSuperman III.
And heres a slightly deeper cut.
You see the banner that the fire department is hanging for Supergirl?
Those are the Smallville High colors that we see at Clarks class reunion inSuperman III!
Yes, I knew that without looking it up.
hey dont judge me.
I cant believe we got a Khund on TV.
The Khunds were an alien race that gave the Legion of Super-Heroes a bunch of agita.
Somebody call Deadpool, because Martian Manhunter did a textbook superhero landing!
Im sorry, but there is no way that did I kill anyone?
is NOT a jab at Zack Snyder.
But this same point in the origin story also sets up the original Hank Henshaw as a tremendous penis.
to make everyones lives miserable.
DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire, which you absolutely must read one day.
and he dates all the way back to 1942.
Later, Harper/Guardian was revived as a clone during Kirbys run on 1970s DC Comics.
During the flashbacks, the girls go to Swan Beach.
That can only be a reference to one of the greatest Superman artists of all time: Curt Swan.
Not a ton of em stuck, but ol Siobhan is still here.
Barry mentions a possible Earth where the Nazis won World War II.
He hasnt been there (yet?)
but this is a reference to Earth-X, which was the home of the Freedom Fighters.
Wynn calls our favorite pair dynamic duo which was traditionally the nickname for Batman and Robin.
I wonder if they exist on Karas world?
Flash totally would have won that race, by the way.
Traditionally, Flash wins any Superman/Flash races.
Why was she here?
Did they just need to fill an extra couple of minutes or something?
Nevertheless, lets talk about Maxima for a second.
When Kelex (give it up for Kelex, ladies and gents!)
tells Kara that Superman is offworld thats kind of a Supergirl joke.
Cats joke about refusing to date Harrison Ford is priceless.
Calista Flockhart is indeed married to Harrison Ford.
Non is sure talking like General Zod these days.
The whole son of Jor-El kneel before me thing is something we heard an awful lot of inSuperman II.
Although, Non also sounds faintly like former Pink Floyd bass player Roger Waters.
Hes ummmm…progressive to a fault, and he has little use for human follies.
He also makes a reference to humanity amusing themselves to death.
Had to dig IndigosTerminator 2homage, walking through the flames before skewering Jonn.
I usually love a good countdown.
Was this Max Lord making a meta-commentary about what a mustache-twirling cliche he has been all season long?
So, the President is a woman.
I guessSupergirltakes place in 2017.
Kara and Cat are both right.Working Girlis a wonderful movie.
