The Inevitable Mediocre Spin-off

A Look At Supergirl's Rogue's Gallery
Looking at the new DCU blog post it looks like the Supergirl annual will have yet more Superwoman and her relationship with her father and Lois. That's nice but its not really material for Supergirl. The purpose of a villain is to bring something out in our hero. Through recurring roles we learn more as an when we need it so that the threat to the hero grows or the relationship deepens. We saw it with Lex and the Joker and Cheetah and Sinestro. With Superwoman I feel like we have a total information dump. Like the load is being totally blown prematurely with little room for further development. We should want to know more about a character so that they are worthy of a reappearance. That means some mystery should be upheld.

We have had the mystery and the answer, we know how she acts as an opposite for Supergirl and their relationship. We need answers to how she infiltrated Kandor, how she speaks Kryptonese and how she got her powers. However we don't need her life story unless there is a bit that affects Kara. The preview I assume is the Supergirl annual as it comes straight after the colourist announcement. It seems more like Action Comics material for Lois than something belonging in Supergirl or we could always get a Superman's Wife, Lois Lane special!

A better handled villain is Reactron in his first recurring role in the series. He is fastly becoming Supergirl's nemesis. As a pre-crisis villain of Kara's it seems apt that he should take a prominent place in her collection of Rogues. His first appearance was the best arc between the departure of Joe Kelly and the arrival of Sterling Gates which was littered with crossovers and the cancer plot which alienated the opposing point of view of a controversial issue. His first look stayed true to his original form from the 70's in an updated way. He brought out Supergirl's inquisitive nature which fit a girl raised by scientists and highlighted the differences between the super-cousins. Superman hits things until they fall down and as Atlas shows has no plan B at all. Supergirl is more thoughtful and inventive. Pre-Crisis she invented cancellite and X-Kryptonite after all when she tried to nullify the effect of kryptonite. Something Supeman never tried. Reactron played this up. Since his revamp I've been on the fence about him. He's not much of a cosmic threat, he's been toned down to a less famous Metallo with a cliche connection to Kara. 'You Killed my Father, prepare to Die!' as the famous quote goes. However he has been built up and he has evolved. The man behind the mask is still as mystery. I know as much as I want to know about him for now, I'll be content if he smashes and bashes his way through the rest of New Krypton and if we leave developing him more for another time. There is something more sadistic about a gold-K core rather than a kryponite one. It means that he has to get his hands dirty and he seems to love that.

Other villains that the Supergirl team seem to need to get back too include Silver Banshee and the new Blackstarr who appeared in Action #850. An extremely important issue that set up the future of the titles as far as the return of Alura and Zor-El. Blackstarr is another of the 'Daring New Adventures' cast with Reactron. I only hope they don't bring too many female villains into the fray. Wonder Woman has a similar problem of a predominantly female rogue's gallery and the men have too few. I love a bit of equality. Men and woman are very different and they can both be grave threats in different ways without even landing a punch.