It occurs to me that it's been six months since we started to see what the DCU looks like "One Year Later," and four months since we actually saw the last issue of "Infinite Crisis."
And I still don't know what has happened to the previous continuity of the Post-COIE "Linda Danvers Supergirl"! Nor that of the "Matrix Supergirl" who preceded her, then was merged with her, then was separated from her again!
Let me sum up what I do know. Three things happened all on the same day (May 3, 2006):
1. "Infinite Crisis #7" was released. Dialogue in that story made it clear that the "New Earth" of the Post-IC DCU was not exactly the same as the Post-COIE, Post-Zero Hour Earth had been before. A few retcons were specifically mentioned in dialogue right away, such as that Wonder Woman was now a Founding Member of the Original JLA. IC #7 didn't say much of anything about any of the Supergirls, Superwomen, etc., as far as I can recall -- but the mention of such things as Wonder Woman's longer career in this version clearly left the door open for other retcons to happen to other characters if it was deemed necessary, with IC as the handy excuse.
2. Meanwhile, in a Q&A session on Newsarama - Crisis Counseling: The Finale - Dan DiDio fielded a query about the role (in post-IC continuity) of the Linda Danvers Supergirl. It went like this:
Q: You made some teasing comments about Linda Danvers in the last Crisis Counseling session... care to clarify? Was she ever the Supergirl we remember?
DD: The matrix is one of the beats retconned out of existence by the Continuity Wave.
3. As a result, some fans on Geoff John's own board started a thread about this. Later that same day, Johns logged on and was apparently quite surprised to see people weeping and wailing about the erasure of Linda Danvers Supergirl from continuity. Here is what he said:
I'm back from Australia and New Zealand! It ruled! More on that later.
As for this...huh? Linda Danvers hasn't been retconned out at all.
Simple - Joe Chill killed Bruce Wayne's parents. Wonder Woman helped found the JLA. Superman did stuff before Metropolis...more to come on this.
Where'd you get that idea that Linda Danvers didn't exist?
Geoff
I then tried to help out by posting, in that thread, the same quote and link from Dan DiDio's comments that I am offering in this post.
I also pointed out to other people, in various forums, that the two statements by DiDio and Johns were not necessarily in direct contradiction to one another. After all, DiDio said that Matrix was retconned out, but didn't explicitly mention Linda Danvers Supergirl at all. Johns said that "Linda Danvers hasn't been retconned out at all," but didn't explicitly mention Matrix Supergirl at all. So it was possible -- though it seemed unlikely -- that John Byrne's Matrix Supergirl had been erased, but Peter David's later Linda Danvers Supergirl was still around in continuity, somehow!
(Granted: it was also possible that there had been some sort of temporary communications breakdown at DC on the subject of what, if anything, was changing in the Post-IC DCU regarding any of the Supergirls who had come along before the current incarnation of Kara Zor-El.)
Four months (and two days) have gone by since those quotes from DiDio and Johns triggered some confusion. So I'm asking: Has anyone heard anything new in the last few months that tells us what the final fate of Linda Danvers Supergirl (and/or the Matrix Supergirl who first appeared in the late 80s) has been? Still in continuity? Definitely erased from continuity? Or what?
If you have seen any further news on this subject, what was your source? A reference in a recently published issue of a DC title? An interview with a DC editor? Something else?
P.S. I had figured all along that with Infinite Crisis coming soon after the recent debut of Jeph Loeb's Rebooted Version of the "Kara Zor-El Supergirl" concept, there was a superb chance that some of the previous "clutter" (from DC's point of view) of the previous Post-COIE Supergirls might get drastically changed or erased to "simplify" the picture. But I now realize that I had optimistically assumed that if such changes were made, they would be announced in a very clear and straightforward fashion that wouldn't keep me guessing for months! (I'm just too trusting for my own good, right?)
And I still don't know what has happened to the previous continuity of the Post-COIE "Linda Danvers Supergirl"! Nor that of the "Matrix Supergirl" who preceded her, then was merged with her, then was separated from her again!
Let me sum up what I do know. Three things happened all on the same day (May 3, 2006):
1. "Infinite Crisis #7" was released. Dialogue in that story made it clear that the "New Earth" of the Post-IC DCU was not exactly the same as the Post-COIE, Post-Zero Hour Earth had been before. A few retcons were specifically mentioned in dialogue right away, such as that Wonder Woman was now a Founding Member of the Original JLA. IC #7 didn't say much of anything about any of the Supergirls, Superwomen, etc., as far as I can recall -- but the mention of such things as Wonder Woman's longer career in this version clearly left the door open for other retcons to happen to other characters if it was deemed necessary, with IC as the handy excuse.
2. Meanwhile, in a Q&A session on Newsarama - Crisis Counseling: The Finale - Dan DiDio fielded a query about the role (in post-IC continuity) of the Linda Danvers Supergirl. It went like this:
Q: You made some teasing comments about Linda Danvers in the last Crisis Counseling session... care to clarify? Was she ever the Supergirl we remember?
DD: The matrix is one of the beats retconned out of existence by the Continuity Wave.
3. As a result, some fans on Geoff John's own board started a thread about this. Later that same day, Johns logged on and was apparently quite surprised to see people weeping and wailing about the erasure of Linda Danvers Supergirl from continuity. Here is what he said:
I'm back from Australia and New Zealand! It ruled! More on that later.
As for this...huh? Linda Danvers hasn't been retconned out at all.
Simple - Joe Chill killed Bruce Wayne's parents. Wonder Woman helped found the JLA. Superman did stuff before Metropolis...more to come on this.
Where'd you get that idea that Linda Danvers didn't exist?
Geoff
I then tried to help out by posting, in that thread, the same quote and link from Dan DiDio's comments that I am offering in this post.
I also pointed out to other people, in various forums, that the two statements by DiDio and Johns were not necessarily in direct contradiction to one another. After all, DiDio said that Matrix was retconned out, but didn't explicitly mention Linda Danvers Supergirl at all. Johns said that "Linda Danvers hasn't been retconned out at all," but didn't explicitly mention Matrix Supergirl at all. So it was possible -- though it seemed unlikely -- that John Byrne's Matrix Supergirl had been erased, but Peter David's later Linda Danvers Supergirl was still around in continuity, somehow!
(Granted: it was also possible that there had been some sort of temporary communications breakdown at DC on the subject of what, if anything, was changing in the Post-IC DCU regarding any of the Supergirls who had come along before the current incarnation of Kara Zor-El.)
Four months (and two days) have gone by since those quotes from DiDio and Johns triggered some confusion. So I'm asking: Has anyone heard anything new in the last few months that tells us what the final fate of Linda Danvers Supergirl (and/or the Matrix Supergirl who first appeared in the late 80s) has been? Still in continuity? Definitely erased from continuity? Or what?
If you have seen any further news on this subject, what was your source? A reference in a recently published issue of a DC title? An interview with a DC editor? Something else?
P.S. I had figured all along that with Infinite Crisis coming soon after the recent debut of Jeph Loeb's Rebooted Version of the "Kara Zor-El Supergirl" concept, there was a superb chance that some of the previous "clutter" (from DC's point of view) of the previous Post-COIE Supergirls might get drastically changed or erased to "simplify" the picture. But I now realize that I had optimistically assumed that if such changes were made, they would be announced in a very clear and straightforward fashion that wouldn't keep me guessing for months! (I'm just too trusting for my own good, right?)
