This Summer Belongs To Supergirl, According to DC

Summer of Supergirl Special #1 main cover art by Belén Ortega

Ahead of the release of the upcoming Supergirl movie, a 48-page comic, the Summer of Supergirl Special, is due to hit stores on June 24.

According to the publisher:

This celebratory anthology brings together an all-star roster of writers and artists for a trio of stories honouring Kara Zor-El’s legacy across the DC Universe.

The creators involved include writers Sophie Campbell, Mark Waid, and Gail Simone, and artists Belén Ortega, Cian Tormey, and Emma Kubert.

The main cover is illustrated by Ortega, with variant covers by Tula Lotay and Pablo Villalobos, plus a Supergirl movie variant cover by Mahmud Asrar.

The book's lead story is by the current ongoing Supergirl writer Sophie Campbell, with artist Belén Ortega. It sees the quiet town of Midvale shaken when Supergirl comes face-to-face with the galactic bounty hunter Lobo. Can the Maiden of Might stand up to the Main Man?

Clearly this is to echo the movie where Lobo and Supergirl cross paths in live-action, but I suspect in Campbell's hands the story will be more light-hearted and Silver Age. The movie trailer looks like it's positioning her halfway between Guardians of The Galaxy and the Snyderverse. I could be wrong... I often am.

I have to admit I've also never been a fan of Lobo (although, surprisingly, I enjoyed his appearance in the 2019 Krypton TV series, where he was portrayed by the excellent Emmett J Scanlan). The character was always seemed too much of a one joke/one note creation who outstayed his welcome.

But then again I felt the same about Deadpool and Venom when they were first "breaking out" and I've subsequently changed my mind on both of those characters (although comic book Deadpool will never be as funny as cinematic Deadpool).

The Summer of Supergirl Special also includes two other stories - one by Mark Waid and Cian Tormey, and another by Gail Simone and Emma Kubert - each celebrating Supergirl as she resumes her rightful place as the Heir to El.

Supergirl movie variant cover art by Mahmud Asrar

Variant cover art by Tula Lotay

Variant cover art by Pablo Villalobos

Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)

Building on the foundations laid in Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Zack Snyder's Justice League is a four-hour epic that sweeps its audience up and carries you along, whether through tightly-scripted character beats or frenetic, supercharged fight sequences.

Gone is the element of "heroic cruelty" that rather tainted the previous two films, this is pure, old fashioned, comic book action, served in a modern, celebratory, style.

Having sworn a pledge on Superman's grave, Bruce Wayne aka Batman (Ben Affleck) teams up with Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) to hunt down fellow metahumans and form an alliance against the coming darkness foretold by Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg).

Eventually they build a team consisting of Victor Stone aka Cyborg (Ray Fisher), Arthur Curry aka Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and Barry Allen aka The Flash (Ezra Miller), to face down the alien warlord Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds), who is preparing the Earth for the arrival of Darkseid (voiced by Ray Porter), the definitive uber-bad guy in DC Comics.

I don't want to dwell too much on the previous, theatrical, iteration of Justice League, as reshaped by the disgraced Joss Whedon, when he took over the project after Zack Snyder had to step away due to a dreadful family tragedy.

However, if you have seen that then you will recognise certain scenes and moments in this new cut, but so much of it is new - to us - material that was shelved for the version that was released four years ago.

The general thrust of the story is similar, but better developed, explored, and explained now that it's in the hands of its original creator.

All the characters come across as more three-dimensional, and Cyborg has been elevated from an almost incidental player back to the heart of the story, as Zack and scriptwriter Chris Terrio envisaged him.

Cyborg has been on my radar for as long as I've been collecting comics, as he was a founding member of the Marv Wolfman/George Perez era of the New Teen Titans, which transformed me from a dabbler in comics to a full-on collector and addict.

I have to be honest, though, until this movie, I'd never found him that interesting a character, but Zack (and Chris)  - and, of course, Ray Fisher - have totally turned me round on Victor Stone.

I'd been looking forward to seeing Zack Snyder's Justice League since it was announced, but had always considered it simply an "Elseworlds" alternate take on the characters, and a chance to see what should have been in 2017 under better circumstances.

And I'll watch any big budget superhero flick eventually, because I still can't believe we live in age where the comics I read as a child (and am still regularly reading) are being made into box office-topping blockbusters.

With its prevalence on the silver screen and small screen, the superhero genre has become as ubiquitous as westerns were in the early days of Hollywood and television, the new American (global?) mythology.

However, Zack Snyder's Justice League far exceeded my expectations and deserves all the kudos that I hope were showered upon it.

It may be four hours long, but it doesn't feel it. Never does the pace drag, nor are there any corny or uncomfortable scenes, or substandard CGI creations, to take you out of the moment.

Let's put it this way: about two hours in, I was already planning on watching it again.

Without a doubt, Justice League is Zack Snyder's tour de force.

It's such a pity that Warner Bros - for a minute - decreed that the earlier, inferior, cut of the film remained canon in the DC Extended Universe, when really all copies of it should have been shovelled into the same landfill as the E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial video game.

Yet, while Zack Snyder's Justice League is a magnificent conclusion to the Snyderverse trilogy, it's highly unlikely that we will see the continuation of this storyline and the resolution of the movie's apocalyptic cliffhanger.

Now, it appears as though we are getting into an era where Superman (and the DC Universe as a whole) is under the stewardship of someone who understands the four-colour comics of old and the positive value of superheroes. 

Snyder has had his moment, but now we are moving into the light of James Gunn.

Let's hope his Superman is everything we want it will be.

Batman v Superman - Dawn Of Justice, Ultimate Edition (2016)

My race through the Snyderverse continues with probably its most divisive entry, but for all its faults (and they are plentiful), Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice - in all its three-hour, ultimate edition glory - is a surprisingly good superhero movie.

The further we get from the initial hullaballoo around this film, and the more times I watch it, the more I find I get from it.

Like Man of Steel, it suffers from some egregious missteps that, as with the original curate's egg, were allowed by many to spoil the enjoyment of the whole.

But as I grow older, that one troublesome dialogue exchange that spawned a million memes (which we will get to later), doesn't bother me so much. Yes, it's still a dreadfully contorted - and unconvincing - exchange, but is, ultimately, small potatoes in a bombastic three-hour film.

A deranged Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) turns the world against Superman (Henry Cavill), then engineers a fight between the Son of Krypton and Batman (Ben Affleck), before unleashing a CGI Kryptonian monster, Doomsday, on Metropolis for reasons that aren't exactly explained.

Jesse Eisenberg is a fantastic actor and his young Luthor blends the modern age comic book take on the character with the mad scientist version in the older comics - with a heavy emphasis on the "mad" part.

I think we're supposed to take it that Lex is jealous of Superman's powers, but, despite his Machiavellian machinations, the one part of his scheme that is never truly made clear is his motivation.

While Ben Affleck's Bruce Wayne/Batman is impressive, the stand-out character of Dawn Of Justice is Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman.

Although her presence is only slightly more justified here than Spider-Man's introduction in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, her grin-inducing impact on the audience is about the same.

Her all-too-brief appearances are certainly helped by the incredible Wonder Woman theme performed by cellist Tina Guo, that still make me tingle with geeky excitement every time I hear it.

There are a couple of sequences that felt superfluous, when looked at just in the context of BvS.

However, knowing now that these were planting seeds for the Zack Snyder's Justice League movie (we shall ignore the Josstice League iteration, even though officially it remains the canon version of the film for the DCEU), we can appreciate that moments like Batman's striking 'vision' of the future, complete with Darkseid mise-en-scène and parademons are more than just great fan service

When BvS was first release, I read a number of industry people championing director Zack Snyder's love of comics, which is as nebulous a comment as saying someone "loves books", but whatever the truth of the matter it's clear that he just doesn't really get Superman.

Snyder is on record as saying he likes dark comics with sex and violence in them. And, while I suspect he may have been 'playing this up' for the expected shock value, that just isn't my (and a lot of people's) idea of Superman.

As, hopefully, you read earlier, I enjoyed his Man Of Steel as spectacle, but it didn't deliver a Superman that I recognised or could relate to.

While still quite moody here, Superman is certainly given the space to become a bit more like his positive and heroic comic book portrayal.

His Clark Kent alter ego shines (despite butting heads with a a very negative Perry White in Laurence Fishburne), but Synder's penchant for darker, anti-heroes comes to the fore in his presentation of Batman.

Again, a lot is left unexplained (Batman's been operating in Gotham for 20 years but the Daily Planet is unaware of him? Why - oh why - does he go round branding villains?), but he's got the tech, the brains, the charisma, and the drive to bring the Dark Knight to life.

One of the positive things about Batman v Superman is that it doesn't try to obfuscate the 'secret identities' of its leads for the audience, it's just a given that Bruce Wayne is Batman, Diana Prince is Wonder Woman, Clark Kent is Superman etc, without trying to explain it all (again).

Like Man of Steel, this initially appears to be a triumph of spectacle, but, again, in Batman v Superman (the Ultimate Edition anyway) we have a story that justifies the action and - generally - everyone stays reasonably true to the comic book source material.

However, rising above all the plot holes and strange character choices, the most awful, groan-worthy moment in the whole script is the "Martha" scene.

I'll be honest, if I'd tried to present that - with a straight face - in one of my scripts at university I'd have been laughed off my Scriptwriting degree course.

There was enough cheese in that scene to choke all the mice in North America. Especially coming in such a "serious" and "realistic" take on the superhero genre, it totally takes you out of the moment.

It's bizarre that amidst all the explosions and property damage, all the spectacular superheroics and tension, the line that stays with you - because it grates so much - is something so mundane and corny.

But that aside (and it could so easily have been avoided by changing the line to something about his "mother", which Bruce would have reacted to in much the same way) Batman v Superman - Dawn Of Justice is definitely a step in the right direction from Man of Steel and paves the way for Zack Snyder's Justice League.

Man of Steel (2013)

With the next iteration of Superman just around the corner, I've decided to take a whistle-stop tour through the Snyderverse take on the iconic character. 

I started with my first ever rewatch of Man of Steel, which I haven't seen since I originally saw it on its home video release and was simultaneously awed by the spectacle and disappointed by the story.

Now, removed from that original atmosphere by many years I find myself pleasantly surprised.

Man of Steel is a lot better than I remember it.

However, it still has an unforgivable problem in its finale: the Superman I grew up reading doesn't kill.

He always finds a different way to deal with a problem.

How else could he have resolved the situation? I don't know, I'm not Superman (Henry Cavill).

That's one of the things that makes him Superman and makes him better than General Zod (Michael Shannon).

The fact that he doesn't see that is due in part to the strange attitude his human-father, Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner), tried to instil in young Clark Kent that he had to guard the secret of his abilities at all costs, even if it meant letting people die.

But again, a young Superman should have been able to find a way to save people and conceal his super powers at the same time.

Outside this rather major character flaw, Zack Snyder delivers a fantastic, action-packed, superhero origin story, from David Goyer's scipt.

I had totally forgotten the impressive, alien-realisation of Krypton at the start of the movie, before his biological father Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and mother Lara (Ayelet Zurer) send their infant child off into space just ahead of the planet's destruction.

If this Superman had gained better box office traction and been allowed to run through multiple sequels, I would have loved to have seen - somehow - a revisit to Krypton as envisaged by Zack Snyder.

Henry Cavill cuts a fine, square-jawed, figure as Superman when dressed in the red and blue costume, and there are moments when you get fleeting reminders of Christopher Reeve (the definitive live-action Superman).

I even found myself warming up to Amy Adams as Lois Lane. Again, she's no Margot Kidder, but actually following the growth of the character, and her relationship with Clark/Superman, I realised that she was more 'Lois Lane' than maybe I had previously given her credit for.

One of the issues I've had with the Snyderverse was the grey and grim filter everything appears through, but approaching this with an open mind - and eyes - I've come to appreciate the fact that, taking the film as a whole, it isn't as grim as the initial trailers portrayed it.

The film still errs towards Zack's trademark grey palette a bit too much on occasion, and there are too many grey/black costumes for my liking, but the story is much stronger than I recall from my previous viewing. And story, ultimately, always triumphs for me.

Man of Steel is flawed, but it isn't quite the "style-over-substance" affair it was originally painted as.

That said, collateral structural damage has always been a given in comics and films when it comes to monumental superhero slugfests, but the destruction wrought in Man of Steel is off the chart.

Smallville is pretty much laid waste in the initial attack by Zod and his fellow Kryptonians (and a significant amount of it is caused by Superman himself), but then when the fight moves to Metropolis, the devastation gets cranked up to 11.

I know Superman ultimately saved the people of the city (and thus Earth), but, seriously, they need to look around themselves and tally the cost. Who pays for all that damage? I bet 'superhero fight damage' isn't covered by insurance.

I realise that this was his first battle, but you'd think the US Government - or the United Nations - might suggest some kind of training course, to reduce the large-scale collateral damage in any future superpowered conflicts.