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Kara (Pre-"Crisis on Infinite
Earths" Supergirl)
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Kara
Zor-El is a Copyright of DC Comics. Used without permission for information
purpose only.
The images appearing here are taken
from "Christmas with the superheroes" 2, Copyright (1989) DC Comics, art
by Dick Giordano, written by Alan Brennert. Commented by D. Brigo on september
2000.
"The
greatest hero of them all" is perhaps a forgotten young woman:
SHOULD
AULD ACQUAINTANCE BE FORGOT
Introduction
Christmas
1989: Should auld acquaintance be forgot
Recent
developments
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INTRODUCTION
Kara Zor-El
originates as a kind of silver-age female rip-off of Superman, and
this is how this character is often perceived nowadays. However, after
an admittedly alternate career as a super-heroine, her final fate in "Crisis
on Infinite Earths" (1985) has transformed her in a touching figure. In
said Crisis, Kara sacrificed her life for the sake of the multiverse and
of her cousin Kal-El (Earth-1 Superman) battling the antimonitor. She sacrificed
her life well aware of what she was giving up. There was no other way out
and there was no one else to help at that moment. After this sacrifice
the Crisis continued, other heroes did what needed to be done and perished
(like the silver-age Flash Barry Allen), eventually avoiding utter destruction
of the universe but unable to prevent the multiverse from collapsing into
a single universe. In fact, history was retroactively changed with a new
Big Bang, and in the new order there has never existed any Kara Zor-El.
So Kara saved the multiverse (and indirectly
the later collapsed universe) but nobody remembers her and her sacrifice
in the new timeline.
The current mainstream
DC universe features a different Supergirl, originally a shape-shifter
from a pocket universe (see Lar Gand for the
pocket universe) who has no link with Krypton and Kara. Thus
the Kara-Supergirl is gone, erased from present and past existence with
the Crisis in 1985, and has no connection with the current continuity of
the DC universe....
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Christmas
1989: Should auld acquaintance be forgot
Nonetheless, in a
story coming out in 1989 in the Christmas special of DC Comics, the Ghost
of Kara visits Boston Brand (Deadman) in a particularly sad moment of Boston's
life. Boston has the ability to enter human bodies and control them, with
the host's original mind being turned off during Boston's control. The
host comes back to his senses when Boston leaves. Boston uses this power
for good, but the problem is that, being him dead, nobody can see him,
except a few people with mystic abilities. Therefore, nobody sees the good
he does, and at times he feels lonely and desperate. This is one of those
moments, as Christmas 1989 approaches...
Some reward. All the good I do,
all year, and this is what I--
[...when a young woman enters the
scene.]
Is that why you do it? For rewards?
What? You can see me?
Obviously. Cute costume. Very seasonal
(Deadman's costume is red and white,
as Santa Claus')
Thanks, I wear a green one on St.
Patty's day.
Who are you, one of madame Xanadu's
smartass mystic friends?
Me? No, magic and I have never been
boon companions, I'm afraid.
Then how...?
Does it matter? A minute ago you
were raging against the gods for being alone. If you want, I can always
leave ag--
No, no, don't-- (Who the hell is
she?)
[....]
[Boston cannot imagine who the woman
is and why she can see him.
She offers to leave him alone,
but Boston asks her to stay.]
Could it be that what's really bothering
you is the fact that all these people around us
don't even know what you've done
on their behalf?
And what if it is? I knock myself
out, fighting for them. But does anyone know? Does anyone care?
Probably not. I mean, you are dead,
you know. Comes with the territory.
Gosh, thanks. I feel much better
now.
So you want recognition then? You
want glory?
(There was something about her.
About her tone... that made me feel like lichen, compared to her.
I'd been feeling like Job, and
here she was, making me feel like Judas. And I didn't know why)
It's not that, it's not glory. It's
just... I was a performer, you know?
I played to the crowd, that sound,
the sound of applause... there's nothing like it.
You soar. I soared, literally.
Then, suddenly, it's gone. Forever.
You are playing to an empty tent,
and... I guess I've never gotten used to it.
You soared, and you were cut down...
at your height.
Maybe there was a reason for that.
Boston... take off that silly mask,
and listen to me.
We don't do it for the glory. We
don't do it for the recognition...
We do it because it needs to be
done. Because if we don't, no one else will.
And we do it
even if no one knows what we've done.
Even if no one knows we exist.
Even if no one remembers we ever
existed.
Yeah, I guess we do. Look, don't
mind me. I'm just a putz sometimes, you know?
No, you're only human. You are still
human, Boston.
Don't be ashamed of it.
Rejoice in it, because it means
your spirit -- as flawed or selfish as our spirits can sometimes be --
is still alive.
(Alive. Maybe... maybe so. The bells
of St. Patrick's cathedral started to chime in the distance, and she started
away, too soon.)
Well... I have to go. I have business
to attend to.
Merry Christmas, Boston.
Hey...! Wait a minute! You didn't
explain-- who are you? How can you see me?
I... I don't even know your name...
My name is Kara. Though I doubt
that'll mean anything to you.
(She was right, it didn't. I still
didn't know anything about her, other than what she gave me, that night...
and I've got the feeling I never
will. Like maybe that was the whole point.)
Merry Christmas, Kara. Whoever you
are.
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RECENT
DEVELOPMENTS
I wrote the following sentences
in autumn 2000: "The introduction of hypertime
in the DC cosmology ("The Kingdom", 1999) gives a little hope for a possible
appearance of a Kara Zor-El from a different hypertime branch, although
it will be difficult to see her again in the mainstream DC universe. Yet,
we have already seen the return of the pre-crisis Superboy (see Lar
Gand for a few details on this) in a different hypertime branch, during
the `Hypertension` story arc in Superboy."
In the interesting crossover "Superman
vs Aliens" (1995) a girl named Kara appears, a clear homage to the pre-crisis
Kara Zor-El. Although a different character, this Kara retains some interesting
elements of the pre-crisis Supergirl. However, since this Kara appears
in a story owned by two companies (DC Comics and Dark Horse) it is improbable
she will appear again in the DC universe. And although the homage is a
nice, respectful touch and this Kara character is rather interesting, she
has no metahuman abilities.
Later, the "Kara Zor-El" Supergirl
has appeared in the last issues of the Supergirl series (Supergirl 75-80,
October 2002-March 2003).
A rocket lands outside Leesburg
in 2002 and a pre-crisis like Kara Zor-El, all teen naivete and simplicity,
exits the rocket and meets the somehow more disilluded post-crisis Supergirl
Linda Danvers. The contrasts between the two versions and the irony on
the silver-age cliches are a prominent feature of the first issues.
Following a possibly universe destroying conspiracy involving Xenon, the
Spectre, and the Fatalist, a time loop is enacted with some alternate realities/hypertime
developments. The plot does not make complete sense from a logical point
of view and there are some possible inconsistencies. Anyway we have Linda
trying to fill the past role of Kara in 1975 and planning to die in lieu
of Kara in 1985. Indeed, Kara has to die in the 1985 Crisis, so that she
has to be sent back to her past from where she misteriously appeared in
2002 and restart her past life, leading to her death in 1985, or the whole
(hyper) universe will be damaged (this is in contrast with what was established
in 1999 on hypertime in "The Kingdom", and is one of the possible inconsistencies
of this arc). Linda decides to save Kara and to sacrifice herself, and
thus fills the role of Kara in the past (circa 1975), knowing that she
will have just ten years before death in 1985. In doing so Linda creates
an alternate timeline where she marries (??) Superman and has a daughter
(???) from him (this daughter could possibly become the DC One Million
future Supergirl). However this will not do and the Spectre insists that
it is Kara that has to go back to her life in 1975 and die during the Crisis
in 1985, accepting no substitutes (again: Why, given the fluid characterization
of Hypertime in "The Kingdom"?).
Personally I don't find this arc
to be a good display of what can be done with hypertime and hypertime versions
of pre-crisis characters, both from the point of view of showing affection
and respect to pre-crisis characters or from the point of view of writing
a good story involving hypertime.
I liked stories such as "The Kingdom"
and "Hypertension" (Superboy) better. I have to concede, however, that
here the final outcome for the Kara-Supergirl is somehow established and
that this renders writing interesting stories more difficult.
It is still possible that at some
point a writer will have a diverging hypertimeline mature Kara Zor-El interacting
with the current mainstream DC universe, but that is not happening anytime
soon.
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