Some of you probably have seen Supergirl crop up comic circles lately. Partially because of a recent overhaul in the character seen in the comics, and partially because of Laura Vandervoort's upcoming portrayal of the character on
Smallville. It got me thinking just how much Supergirl has changed over the years -- like DC's never really been sure what to do with her. Here's a sampling of covers and you can tell just from her costume changes how all over the map she's been...
I think it's particularly amusing how, back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the art department couldn't keep up with her frequent costume changes, such that the little corner icon of her frequently didn't match the main image of the cover!
In any event, I, being the non-conformist and generally contrarian guy that I am, have my own opinion on the "best" incarnation of Supergirl...
I think she wore this particular ensemble for exactly one issue before adding some dreadful gloves. As a runner-up, the puffy sleeve thing with the sandals and choker is kind of a good look, too.
What do you say, DiDio? How about bringing back the go-go boots? Maybe combine that with the puffy sleeves number? You still get some cleavage action, a good way to highlight her legs,
and you don't have any feminazis looking to kill you for tarting up the character. I don't see a down side here.
Of course, I have been accused of being myopic on occasion.
I think she wore this particular ensemble for exactly one issue before adding some dreadful gloves. As a runner-up, the puffy sleeve thing with the sandals and choker is kind of a good look, too. 
2 comments:
In fairness to Supergirl, lots of other long-running characters have been depicted every which way over the years. Batman. Thor. Green Lantern. Etc., etc. But in Supergirl's case, there's never really been any defining version, has there? No Simonson Thor, no Ditko Dr. Strange.
Ah well. It is interesting to note that threadbare costumes were obviously not invented with Witchblade. Supergirl would definitely not be permitted to board a Southwest flight in a couple of those outfits in the top row of covers!
In the early seventies DC decided to modernize a lot of their characters. The editors of Supergirl ran a competition to have the readers design a new costume for her.
Your list of images includes four from the costume competition, three from non-DC adaptations (the movie, the animated version, and the live TV show), and one from an entirely one-off story where the character goes bad and gets an evil variant costume (a trope hardly specific to Supergirl). What's left is five designs on a character that has been rebooted as an entirely different person four times over a period of fifty years. Hardly "all over the map".
I bet there are long time Legion members who have been through more changes of costume. Come to think of it, the Fantastic Four have been through four changes to my knowledge (not counting evil variants and other one-offs) and they don't even have the excuse of being rebooted as entirely new characters.
Oh, and your favourite incarnation of Supergirl always had the gloves, from its first appearance in Adventure #397. The cover you show from #399 is miscoloured. Inside she is wearing the gloves. I checked.
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