Sorry for the DC hiatus, folks! I had to move rather suddenly. This month, I’m focusing on characters who have yet to be glimpsed or mentioned in the DCnU. Consider this a combination memorial for what we’ve lost and reminder to DC of how awesome these ladies are.
Publisher: DC Comics
First Appearance: Supergirl v4 #1 (September 1996)
Created By: Peter David and Gary Frank
Biography:
Linda Danvers was a talented but troubled young artist chafing under the rule of uber-conservative parents. Like so many rebellious young people, she joined a satanic cult and started a relationship with a minor demon named Buzz. The relationship turned sour, though, when Buzz tried to sacrifice her to a giant cat-demon. Men, am I right?
Enter Supergirl, otherwise known as Matrix, a shapeshifting protoplasmic being from a pocket dimension. (Comics, everyone!) Unable to save Linda’s life, she instead merged her protoplasmic body with Linda’s mortal one, leading to unintended consequences: one, she and Linda were now one and the same, with merged personalities and memories, and two, her sacrifice had turned Linda/Matrix/Supergirl into the Earthborn Angel of Fire, an emissary of God with the ability to manifest holy flame and judge the sins of the damned.
Linda’s new, divine powers made her a target for demonic adversaries, and she eventually lost her angelic/Matrix half in a cataclysmic battle with the Carnivore, the first vampire. Undaunted, Linda donned a blonde wig and a kicky new midriff-baring costume and soldiered on with reduced powers.
Confused? You ain’t seen nothing yet. Things got really complicated when the perky, naïve Kara Zor-El showed up, accidentally rerouted on her way to Silver Age Earth. Upon learning that Kara was meant to die in the Crisis, Linda offered to take her place and journeyed to the Silver Age – where she fell in love with and married Superman and had a daughter. Informed by the Spectre that her sacrifice in the upcoming Crisis wouldn’t do the trick, she was forced to abandoned her husband and daughter, return home, and send 15-year-old Kara off to her eventual death. Heartbroken, she retired from superheroics, and has been seen only fleetingly since.
So What’s So Great About Her?
Linda is proof that good things can come out of bizarrely convoluted comic book continuity and executive meddling. As you can see from the (extremely simplified, I assure you) biography above, she’s always been tricky to explain, and the echoes of the Silver Age Supergirl that Peter David scattered through her series make things even more complicated (among other things, she has a “guardian angel” named Kara). Linda is the main reason people’s eyes glaze over when you say the words “Supergirl continuity.”
And yet Linda’s series, brought about because no one could figure out what to do with Matrix, the loophole Supergirl, is really freaking good. A lot of that is down to gorgeous art, tight plotting, and a rich cast of supporting characters, but it’s also thanks to Linda herself. She’s an interesting character – an ordinary girl who, of her own volition, became a satanist and a murderer, combined with the essentially personality-less but unrelentingly good Matrix. It’s this struggle to reconcile her disparate elements and dark past that make her so human. And as the series goes on, she grows into her newfound morality and vulnerability, losing Linda’s cynicism and Matrix’s arrogance until she’s a really likeable, inspiring, funny young woman who just happens to be able to fly. The maturity and tongue-in-cheek affection with which she takes in Silver Age Kara towards the end of the series highlights this transformation; Linda in the beginning of the series didn’t have enough of a handle on her own self to be a mentor.
Plus, as a woman who came of age in the late 90s, I think her horribly dated red Doc Martens and midriff-baring ringer tee are totally fresh. So chic! So Britney!
Linda’s origin is far too complicated to be retreaded in the DCnU, but I’d love to see her appear in some form – possibly as a semi-divine advisor to the alienated (see what I did there?) new Kara Zor-El. Come on, DC. You’ve got four Robins and about six billion Green Lanterns. You’ve got room for two (or three!) Supergirls.
Notable Appearances:
Supergirl v4 #1-80. Seriously, just read the whole thing.
Pingback: Sylvia Danvers | Dimestore Dames