No More Invisible Girls

I have about 800 favorite characters, but my number one is Supergirl - Kara Zor-El.  In large part I love her because of what she represents: the greatest, most iconic superhero of all time, in teenage girl form.  (I feel there are very few characters who can’t be improved by turning them into teenage girls.  Indiana Jones, teenage girl?  Yes!  Sherlock Holmes, teenage girl?  YES!  King Arthur, teenage girl?  OMG SO MUCH YES.)

But what I love about Kara specifically is her spirit.  She comes from a place of greater tragedy than Superman.  He lost a planet he’d never known, and traded it for an idyllic childhood with the world’s best parents.  Kara lost her entire civilization, and she can never get it back.  She’s the true last survivor of Krypton, not Superman.

And yet - particularly in the Silver Age - she carries on with this sense of buoyant joy and inspiration.  She’s not the wise adult Superman who’s been all over the universe and is showing us the way.  She’s just a kid, who’s doing the best she can from a place of much less privilege and experience (phenomenal cosmic powers aside).  She has his power to inspire even as she learns and grows and makes mistakes herself.  And through this overwhelming tragedy (and all the crap Superman put her through in the Silver Age), she keeps going, helping others because she can.

Superman has always represented inspiration to me.  But Supergirl represents inspiration coupled with joy in a sprightly teenage package, and those are always a bonus in my book.