Why I'm Not Reviewing Supergirl

I've stopped doing any blogging habits outside of Tumblr where with the click of the button I can just regurgitate whatever someone else posted and add 2 cents if I'm charitable.

There's a lot of reasons I haven't written any posts. The anniversary of my mom's death came upon me a week ago. My aunt has cancer, my cousin's visiting. Food poisoning, friend's birthday, and I got a cold and a bad case of period hemorrhaging (won't be on hormone therapy for the foreseeable future) at the same time. Lovely.

So in between these times I've let my viewing of Supergirl slipped. Last Monday it was the birthday and the cold. This Monday, cold, ear ache and aforementioned hemorrhaging.

In the end though, I'm just sick of the Monel as the writer's choice of the ultimate love interest. No matter how much Monel changes the narrative still doesn't justify the reward. I wouldn't hate the character if they just left that off the table, but they won't stop pushing it.

The show has had better writing for the most part this season than last, but it's that damn character that ruins it. Contrast this with Flash where I'm devoted no matter what plans, or how sick I get. Last season is generally more well received than this season has been so far, but there's a big difference in my eyes for why I can stand it better in spite of the wasted Flashpoint potential that didn't need to happen to write this season, awful character dynamics, wasted Dr. Alchemy, stupid Savitar, wasted Iris, the quick resolution of Caitlin going off the deep end and other problems I can't remember to mention. What I will say is that what makes this season worth watching even more than last is that there's no Parry Spivot! Yeah that's a large factor, but I also like the stronger West-Allen in spite of my gripes with Iris being wasted, I love Julian in spite of my gripes with Dr. Alchemy, I love the cast in spite of my gripes with the character dynamics. I'm intrigued by the fallout of Savitar in spite of my wish for Savitar to go away.

I don't think Supergirl has many things left to keep me hooked, just enough to maybe marathon it in the future and then be disappointed by the end result that she's stuck with Monel, Winn will get with Lena and James might get with Lucy off screen. Yeah none of that interests me in the slightest. At this point I'm more interested in J'onn and M'gann in spite of feeling wrong saying that because I'm so used to M'gann being portrayed as martian teenager not as an equal to J'onn. Than again Monel is nothing like the sweet boyfriend he is in the comics to Shadow Lass either so both mine as well be two different chracters who share a similar name. I support Alex and Maggie, but I'm not really invested in them either. I hate to admit this, because I've wanted a gay couple in the CW superhero shows and have found the lacking of it odd when it's produced by a gay man and so many gay and bi actors are cast in the shows. It's also hard to be invested in Alex and Maggie when it's a writing device to play keep away with Alex and Kara time where she could use her support instead of relying on a tool.

This has been my frustration with the show and why I've become apathetic and have even missed two episodes in a row and will probably skip the next one. This show has everything going for it except for the central love story and friend support group that the first season did better in spite of some inconsistent writing. Don't get me wrong. I liked that this show expanded the world, included more aliens, gave Kara a job promotion, gave Kara another friend in Lena when Lucy couldn't come back, gave us Clark for a few episodes, and then Monel had to wake up and ruin all goodwill.

I'm pissed at the sidelining of James as the love interest after I've waited two decades for DC to to do something with that squandered potential only for them to mess it up with a gross white boy privileged stereotype taking on the name Clark bequeathed to a superior character in the comics who came from an awful xenophobic society and still with Clark's example of brotherhood, not forced through a one-sided toxic romance, became a better person.

I think it's a poor choice that the writer's decided Alex is going to ditch Kara's birthday to date Maggie instead of bringing her girlfriend along to her sister's birthday party and then take her out on more intimate dates later. This is supposed to be a move in maturity for Kara to realize her sister's not going to always be there, but they could have illustrated that lesson for something less than a birthday. I've noticed the shows gradual crumbling on the sister dynamic to make room for romantic relationship as if they can't coexist. In what world? Basically Maggie ends up being a means to an end to keep Alex away from Kara and that becomes transparent. Alex benefits here because she's not the one dating an asshole, but Kara's saddled with the inevitable foregone conclusion that she'll have to uphold the straight patriarchy. Why? It becomes a problem that they're using a sweet gay couple to distract us from a potential toxic straight couple and it's not working.

They also conveniently uses Alex as an impediment on Jimmy and Winn being upfront with Kara about their activities so that we the viewers can be blindsighted and then the topic of telling Kara can quietly be dropped. This is the writer's solution to have Kara's stuck babysitting an asshole, because where's Alex or Winn to talk sense into her? Insulting.

Tonight's Supergirl Was Great

Tonight's Supergirl was great. It reminded me of Star Trek and Stargate before Wynn referenced them. If CW can make desert sets and rubber masks and Legends can make the Waverider I don’t see why mainstream TV can't stretch further to make a main network Star Trek show.

Monel was alright this episode and best yet they didn’t do any obvious romantic stuff with him and Supergirl. My prediction that he's the Prince of Daxam is confirmed with the Dominator and other alien bowing to him.

Speaking of Romantic, Alex and Maggie get all kissy and happy until Alex blames her happiness for interfering with her work and Maggie gives her the ultimatum that this is her last chance at making it work. They have a beautiful hug at the end.

Harley-Quinn Smith appears and she and Supergirl get to hug. How many people get to hug their heroes like that?

Wynn has a crisis of conscious after getting beat up by thieves and then realizes that he got to go on another planet and survive to tell the tale. He’s living the dream Jimmy Olsen probably lived back in the day with Superman.

Snapper Carr's coming around to Kara.

Roulette was wasted in screen time that was taken up by her alien thugs, but she really proves to be wicked scum that will sell out humans to aliens who don’t seem concerned with how they sell each other out working for her.

I love Joe the alien who speaks in third person and got to go back to Earth with Supergirl and crew.

Review Supergirl Season 2 Episode 6 Changing

First of all Parasite kind of sucked and was wasted just like Metallo. I'm also shocked they actually addressed though wordlessly that Supergirl kills him. I feel like the global warming angle didn't earn itself as the topical cause of the episode, though. There's better villains that would have served that purpose while Parasite is wasted as a knock off Yeerk turned purple, hulking Red Skull. I feel like Flash's episode about Everyman does this concept more justice. Than again I feel Metallo was wasted too. A pattern perhaps.

They're getting Alex's development down and done better than last episode. This could be the first dreaded friend zone trope to apply to two gay characters on tv. Alex's rejection felt real, I can relate to the forget I ever said it should of kept my mouth shut sentiment. That her memories are filling in childhood moments of identity that were buried is also a common experience and it needed to be addressed. After many misdirects they actually have Kara supportive. There's never too many shows that have believable sisters that hits you. She also has time to work, and convince M'gann and Mon El to rise above themselves.

Maggie's presumptions and brush off aren't wrong, but condescending in trying to be a friend to a child kind of way. This Maggie while irritating in some ways is what I wish we would have gotten for a liveaction Renee Montoya than that plot device on that Fox show. While she has comic Maggie's confidence, she doesn't have her comic book backstory baggage. She does like comic Renee have an implied blink and you'll miss it drinks alone mention that could lead somewhere, or go nowhere as the writers choose. It didn't go so well for Laurel Lance so I don't think it will work here. Alcoholics rarelhy make compelling characters, especially on CW.

I'm sort of interested in how they resolve Mon El's kidnapping and his job as n enforcer. I was not expecting the enforcer angle, I thought they were going to go with not stripper, but maybe male model. I like to see him interact with James and more Winn. I'm glad Alex inspired him to be a hero, but maybe James and Winn got to show him how to be a proper human being since Kara's doing a fine job at it and Alex has her own problems besides the obligatory rescue that she and Supergirl will come up with.

I'm not sure what to think about James's vigilantism. I'd have rather they'd done a wacky gains superpowers for an episode to revert back to normal but most of those stories reek of a stay in your place mentality. If his should be a stepping stone for Winn's turn as the new Toyman than that'd suck.

I'm liking the slowburning development of J'onn and M'ann's friendship that could rip apart any second. One nitpick I have is that I like the actress who plays M'gann, but basically the symbolically oppressive white martian is doing the shapeshifter equivalent of blackface. I mean so is J'onn, but M'gann's race is explicitly genocidal and conquering (they're not only white, but they're coded white). It only works because of the initial misdirect and the actors are just that good. While I'm used to Miss Martian being a bright, sunny teenager with a shameful secret in need of a father figure, this Miss Martian whose distrustful, remorseful and older with a shameful secret in need of a friend, or something more works for me in a CW drama. I can see the Young Justice cartoon fans pissed as I was when they dumped Tim, Bart and Cassie, replaced it with Teen Titan characters and screwed up Kon, so fairs fair.

A Long Winded, Confusing Compilation Of My Pre-Crisis Earth-1 And Earth-2 Theories

For the sake of discussing Earth-1 and Earth-2 doppelgangers, I'm going to refer to superheroes by their alter egos instead of their masks so we don't have none of this Jay is Barry crap unless the character in question doesn't have an alternate secret identity like Deadshot who as far as I know is always Floyd Lawton.

One of my complaints about Pre-Crisis Earth-2 comics is the notion that there are no doppelgangers of Silver Age heroes unless you count Kara Zor-L Power Girl as Kara Zor-El Supergirl (I don't, you're not the doppelganger of your sibling are you? Admit if one of your siblings of the same sex was skipped over you'd have gotten their name too). Even Helena Wayne is alive when Barbara Gordon remains unborn so Commissioner Gordon has to be childless so Bruce Wayne can breed. Weird rules. Of Course on Earth-1 we get doppelgangers of Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Oliver Queen, and in the first Earth-1 and Earth-2 crossover Johnny Thunder (as a criminal) and in issues of Brave And The Bold, Ted Grant and Eel O’Brian. Of course Bob Haney didn't care nor let Roy Thomas's stupid ghetto classifications ruin the flow of his stories nor should he have. Of course Roy Thomas the spoil sport had to go out of his way to explain that Zatara and Airwave (Larry Jordan) were Earth-2 refugees so much as to decide that Earth-1 Helen Jordan was Hal's relative and not Larry or maybe he was and he decided to marry his alternate bloodline and have a kid anyway. Sure Roy, whatever floats your boat. You're the same creep who decided Black Canary inhabited the body of her own daughter or her daughter has her mother's memories or whatever which makes all the details surrounding her grieving of Larry Lance creepy. What is it with Earth-2 Larry's and incestuous spouses?

Now imagine if Roy Thomas had tried to pull another constraint with Clark, Bruce, Dick, Diana, Ollie and Arthur and decide that they too were refugees from Earth-2. Imagine the many Bronze Age Batman stories that were invalidated if The Golden Age stories involving Hugo Strange or Deadshot were only canon on Earth-2. In fact many of the Golden Age stories of Batman aren't canon on Earth-2 as they are on Earth-1, like Catwoman's retirement and not marrying Batman which was status quo before Showcase #4 kickstartyed the Silver Age and status quo into the 60's when Catwoman showed up and didn't marry Batman as she some how did on Earth-2. Admit it, Earth-2 deviated from Batman canon more than Silver Age Earth-1 Batman did.

This suggests there was a secret Golden Age on Earth-1 the general public is unaware of other than in comics. Jay Garrick could have been a Flash on Earth-1 who had licensed comics about his fictional exploits. Unlike Earth-2 Jay, Golden Age Jay had no secret identity.

What I'm saying is that The Golden Age could have happened on Earth-1, but a memory wipe happened erasing the memories and evidence of Jay Garrick's existence except for some licensed comics. Alan Scott was forgotten, but Hal remembered the name Green Lantern and the oath (which originated with Alan) and made up a story about how he came up with the oath and then The Guardians and Corps took credit for both name and oath as early on in the comics. I think Hal was subconsciously thinking of Earth-1 Alan and The Guardians and the older generation of heroes like Bruce and Diana are covering up his existence for the general populace's safety and then meeting the Earth-2 counterparts make the lie more palatable and convenient. Though nobody asks the question if Bruce is Batman on Earth-1 and 2, where's Barry and Hal on Earth-2, where's Jay and Alan on Earth-1? It's a grand cosmic distraction. This also accounts for false memories and status quo changes like Superman's adoptive parents, false memories of Krypton that are inconsistent, Aquaman's inconsistent origins, etc. In fact I bet this whole conspiracy and possible mind wiping is why Earth-1 Johnny Thunder is a criminal. He doesn't remember who he once was and Diana who used to know him as he was, isn't talking.

One other observation before I get into the lost Silver Age of Earth-2. Variant covers, Barry Allen in Showcase #4 is reading Flash Comics #13.

The real life version of Flash Comics #13 looks like this:

Picture credits go to Silver Age Gold

Thanks to Pat Curley (profile link not available) who pointed this out.

One thing everyone excepts about Earth-2 is that Bruce and co. were born earlier while on Earth-1 they're born later. I don't buy that. How is that worse than my theory that they are all born in the same timeline, but Earth-2 vibrates in real time while Earth-1 operates in compressed time? Whenever I've presented this theory to anyone on any DC message board they flip out and call it a too complicated theory that breaks logic. Sorry, but the acceptance that Bruce Wayne can be born to Thomas and Martha in 1915 on one Earth but born thirty years later on another is less logical. It's not hard to think that on Earth-1 people age slowly while events, trends and changing administrations move by without a reflection. Neil Gaiman alluded to this idea in The Wake (Sandman) where Clark, Batman and Martian Manhunter are at Morpheu's funeral. It's a one off meta joke, sure, but a good writer can take a crazy idea or joke and use it. Here's the panel:

Whatever my headcanon for Earth-1's secret Golden Age, one thing is certain canonically on Pre-Crisis Earth-2 there's no Silver Age. Nope, this an Earth where history was different because The Golden Agers retired en masse and set no example for anyone to follow in their footsteps unless they were raised by them or inherited mutant powers through them, thus Infinity Inc. Something happened in the 50's and 60's on Earth-2 to make people generally selfish and look out for number one, which makes it all the ironic that the Reagan 80's is when the next generation comes in full force to fight crime. The Silent Generation and Baby Boomers on Earth-2 must have lacked the social activists we had in real life or on Earth-1. Perhaps the Communist witch hunts really reinforced the notion of Capitalist looking out for number one mentality, creating an Ayn Randian nightmare that makes corporate, yuppie, dynastic, bloodline legacies like Infinity Inc. the natural heroes. At least they're trying to step up when they're not using marriage proposals and secret identity outing for tabloid fodder. Blackmail or not, it was still crass.

As you know, I don't buy that Power Girl is Supergirl. I think she's an older sibling. Why? Because she was born before Clark and was put in a ship that was put in time suspension that kept her the same age while Clark grew up on Earth. If that sounds familiar that's because they've stolen that origin for Supergirl since the terrible Jeff Loeb reboot that has carried into the New52 and TV show to keep the two in line. In the Silver Age however, Supergirl was born after the destruction of Krypton on Argo when it was engulfed in a bubble, putting it on limited time before it too would be destroyed and she'd have to get rocketed to Earth. I actually prefer this origin and I think with better tweaks could work. Perhaps the Zor-El's were on colonization trip before the destruction and were off Krypton when it exploded. They call their new colony New Argo. This is not different than how Daxam was created. Perhaps New Argo runs out of supplies and they send an older Kara on a ship to Earth to get supplies to bring back to them, but she's too late. Anyway, my point is that Power Girl was born before the destruction of Krypton, Supergirl after. They're from different sperm and egg stock from the same parents. They're siblings. They share the same genetics, but not the same traits, much like siblings. That they're named Kara is because Earth-1 Zor-El and Alura didn't have a daughter earlier and would have named any first born daughter Kara. One more thing. El vs. L. How often do we see Egyptian and Greek words Latinized. Both translations are valid. Earth-1 just decided to standardize Kryptonian with visible vowels and Earth-2 never bothered.

Back to my next point. If you believe Roy Thomas, there's no Earth-2 Zatanna or Harold Jordan because their parents migrated to Earth-1 to have kids. Fine fair enough, it would have just been easier to say they were childless. Nobody complains about Earth-1 Bruce/Selina and Diana/Steve lacking children.

As for Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Ray Palmer and others. It'd have been nice to just once show their doppelgangers doing something ordinary in a one scene wonder kind of way. Oh Wait:

Original picture credit goes to postmodernbarney

Crew-cut Blond haired kid in a red shirt, geeking out about superheroes to a cop. That's gotta be kid Barry Allen on Earth-2. I know it's not confirmed, but I'll take what I can get. As for Hal and Ray, we just assume they're some where doing something unsuperheroic. It'd be odd to say they're unborn since their parents as civilians don't affect whether they need to exist or not. The only problem with Barry as a 60's child as that it invalidates the compressed timeline theory of Earth-1 and brings us back to the Born later theory every Pre-Crisis junkie clings to. My wild mass guessing for why Barry is still a child in the 60's on Earth-2 and not a grown up is that Earth-2 vibrates in linear time while Earth-1 time exists simultaneously. Barry could be experiencing the 50's and 60's as an adult and child at the same time as time doesn't truly exist. After all, if time marches on, but the characters don't on Earth-1, 1956 Showcase #4 Barry who's presumably 25-30 would have born in 1926-1931 (hey he's no younger than my grandma!). Dead Barry of Crisis On Infinite Earths #8 1985 aged between 30-35 would have been born between 1950-1955. A year before his comic debut, making him a child of the sixties! So there's a parrallel timeline where Barry is both an adult and child in the 60's. Admit it we saw the same thing unfolding with Wally as a teenager in both the 60's and 80's. Mindfuck. This doesn't disprove or prove the compressed timeline or born later theories, but they do enlighten both.

As for the other missing Silver age doppelgangers. Perhaps Earth-2 Hal lived and died in a test accident. Earth-2 Ray Palmer's studies in meteorite experiments got him blackballed in the scientific community and he lived out his days in quiet seclusion, disgraced. We'll never know. Personally I think Earth-1 Katar and Shayera are just mind-wiped Carter and Sheira, or Carter and Sheira were put in witness protection and their identities were taken by the Thanagarian couple or the Thanagarians are alien parasites who took over their bodies and lives and everyone bought the sudden information that they're aliens. I mean come on, same job and civilian identity. Ignore the stupid hair color changes. It's called hair dye. No story lines up with these theories, it's just my preference because there's way too many cosmic coincidences at play here. I don't buy the whole souls being born on different planets in different universes.

Thoughts On Justice League 3001 #8 And Other Comics

I had been late in picking up my pull list for last month, JL3001, the final issue of This Damned Band, Invader Zim for my brother and now The Legend Of Wonder Woman. My mother died last Saturday after a sudden month long deterioration from her cancer. It having come back with a vengeance spreading to her liver. Before that I had attended a memorial service to a departed friend that Thursday and a Record Collector's show the Sunday before that where I bought 15 dollars worth of records and a DVD. That's about as much as I spent on this week's comics. I got to watch my money more carefully. With all that's been going on there wasn't a much room for me to care about my weeklies until I was ready for a distraction other than Star Wars: OT fanfic.

To the review:

Justice League 3001 #8

I'm still of mixed opinions on the direction, but as always just the sheer ride alleviates my worries. Scott Kolins has given the book a different look that I much prefer even if it isn't as packed of details as Howard Porter. His art is sketchy, but bright and cartoony. I like.

I'm glad to see Supergirl rally the troops after almost a whole issue of moping. I love her messy short hair, it suits her. Remember when she had short curly hair for all the fifties and sixties until long straight hair was in and suddenly Power Girl looked revolutionary with a bob? Yeah I wasn't alive at the time, but I'm used to seeing Plastino Supergirl with the short cut in various reprints. It's not a doppelganger tribute if she had it first. Just saying.

Flash has PTSD and Wonder Woman's is frustrated by the retreat. So is Tina who takes her armor out to battle scullions, robots that regenerate. Not a wise move on her part if they're to keep undercover. I'm relieved Tina's obnoxious behavior is called out by Supergirl and Wondy who make time to call each other out as well. That Tina gets as much criticism as the others makes her slightly bearable, she may learn yet.

Fire and Ice address the issue of being outsiders amongst the group while looking around the ruins of Paradise Island, the League's hideout. Guy reminds them they share a past and assures them he has their back. Awww. I don't want his mind to be erased by Shiryalla Tome, but I don't see the story going any other way. Perhaps the dysfunctional team does need a traditional motherly type with sound advice and a level head, but is not afraid to slap a hysterical woman once in awhile.

The last part of the issue sets up Lady Stryx a pre-52 character introduced in 52 or at least a version of her as she doesn't resemble her quite. She's working with a version of the Legion of the Superheroes if Imra Ardeen didn't tip us off. I'm a bit uncomfortable with this plot. I'm by far not a fanatic of that side of the DC Universe, but heroes are heroes whether they're living in a crappy dystopia or not, and I don't trust Giffen's reinventions of these characters. Maybe Dematteis will reign him in, but as Stryx's lackeys or allies I don't have hope. Unless they're part of some cabal to overthrow her, or Stryx is meant to be a benevolent despot in which we're back into deconstruction territory and I won't be too happy. If a deconstruction is on the horizon where the protagonists are in the wrong and the antagonist is ruling the citizens for their own good then I'll probably hold out and then quit in frustration because I want to give the writer's a chance to wow me with a twist I tend to get bored of in Fantasy fiction. I get it vigilante rebellion is bad. The establishment and secret police is good. How many times do modern cape comics have to stress this? And under a guise of flipped traditional white hats vs. black hats skewed and subverted. I get it already.

Terrence Magnus's fate is revealed where he was cruelly lobotomized (just give him a mercy kill, sheesh) before he is zapped by Stryx and is reborn. Whatever that entails, Stryx wants to use him against his sister and the League bringing one backburner plot back to the forefront.

This Damned Band #6

This is a mini-series I probably want to reread in order in one sitting because after a month I can't remember everybody's name each time. Satan makes his appearance and reveals his plan and punishment. The rest of the band getting screwed over manage to make a counter deal and sacrifice the member who sold them out, or at least I think that's what happened. It's sort of hard to keep track of what's going on. When I get around to reading it all as a whole I may do a proper review of the series. There's many interesting observations I'd like to talk about throughout the issues, but I'll leave that for later.

The Legend of Wonder Woman

The book has a lot going for it because it's not connected to the crap in the main universe. We see the history of the Amazons. Why the Gods turned away from man's world, which probably correlates with the gradual disbelief of them by modern man. We see Diana's childhood on Paradise Island and her frustrations with her lot in life as a do nothing Princess while she senses something off about the Island. It turns out she isn't the only one, but her mother's in denial.

I have a few quibbles about this one. Why grant the top official Amazons immortality to rule over the mortals of the tribe? Seems misguided. In theory a long lived ruler would collect all the experience, but in reality experience corrupts and corrodes idealism and justice, or maybe I'm bitter about politics. My other quibble is that Hyppolyta doesn't fashion Diana out clay herself, Diana just forms from the clay beach of the Island or something and Hyppolyta's hope. I guess this is to make the old tale less about playing god or whatever offends people about classic Wonder Woman these days. It's certainly a step up to the many offenses done to Wonder Woman since the reboot and knowing that it could be a lot worse.

That's it as I've not caught up with Invader Zim and we still haven't found an issue of number 3 though we have the rest from day one.

Justice League 3001 #6 Preview & Interview

A preview for Justice League 3001, the only DC title I read in floppy any more with a following interview from co-writer Keith Giffen.

Preview & Interview Here

Some thoughts from the interview:

I love this title, even when I don't always agree with the choices they make, which I'll get to later. It is one of the few books out there where I can compare it to old comics I've read in my younger days (and reprints) without it being an out of context comparison of a dead continuity. Here's a universe where The Silver Age-Bronze Age and Post-Crisis can exist at the whim of the writers. Fingers crossed that The Golden Age makes its way in even if it can only be done through the Big Five, Superman, Batman, Aquaman (missing), Green Arrow (missing) and Wonder Woman. I'd love for some indication that this Universe had their own JSA, Freedom Fighters, Fawcett City and anything else from that publication era if the writers should choose instead of giving into to the nonsense of embargoing those vast characters onto separate Earths exclusively.

I'm glad to finally read a Supergirl that seems like Supergirl. The determined, do what it takes type who has an honor code but is still has her patience tested amongst thick people. I feel like those traits got passed onto Power Girl who had her own traits and issues that didn't always mesh with those. Off topic they then had to make every subsequent Supergirl a whiny, angst-ridden, jerk with identity issues to make her the anti-Power Girl which is dumb because Peej absorbed a lot of original Supergirl's traits. This of course wouldn't be the first time a legacy stole the traits of their inspiration with the various Robins and Batgirls borrowing each others personalities, costumes and backstory. The Wonder Woman cast of course got the worst of it with Donna siphoning all of Diana's compassion and romance among a lot of other things while the new 52 abomination calling itself Donna steals Diana's origin and craps on it while DINO (Diana In Name Only) stole Cassie's already derivative and boring origin.

I'm glad the Guy thing is getting addressed and that he is only default female (to go with the all-themed team) because of his host taking over gradually and not because of him. I say this as a trans-male, if a body switch cliche had to happen at least they're going down this route to explain Guy's out of character traits rather than blaming hormones which I thought was a commentary on Guy's stupidity more than the writer's assumed lack of research.

As a disclaimer I was reading this book back when it was Justice League 3000 before the Guy debacle. It both annoyed and amused me that the one book I read became a hotbed for trans issues being one myself. I was reading a book for characters I liked not scrutinize the impossible setting. Of course the idea of overwriting your DNA down to gender sounds fascinating to me as someone put off by the long term expense of hormones and getting the surgery to fix something that can't be truly be fixed so long as I have this body. I can't say I care to have any trans-representation if the writer's thoughts weren't in it to be honest. I'm also not going to count out explorations of gender just because it doesn't line up with the scientific reality of transitioning. The book's setting is in an alternate 3001 where fantastical science such as mind to body swapping (as what happened to Lois and Ariel) or ghost genetics (which has no basis in reality) happen regularly. To then introduce a trans-character who has to go through the real life process would seem jarring or hand waved as a class issue which brings a whole other issue. It begs the question which is the more convenient route for the trans person? Which is legal? Which is more expensive in the long run? In the short run? Which puts you more at a health risk? A person more close the subject at hand could write a psychological story around this premise. Maybe that will be me someday even if the hard science snobs were to dismiss the pulpy premise. Fantastical super-science is just a window dressing and a means to explore things we'll never figure out in 986 years hence.

Also what a shame they can't make a Wonder Woman romance happen because she's just too badass and one of the guys for it to work. Seriously she's one of the better written Wondie's in comics currently. They not only give her moments to shine and be inspirational, they also steer into the skid when it comes to her sexuality and violent antics without making it gratuitous or disgusting or do it half-assed to make her demure and virginal at the same time to make her safe. In regards to possible romances, I'd have liked to see her with Hal Jordan or Barry Allen and be the Big Barda to their Mr. Miracle, but alas nobody can really make badass women romances unless said badass woman is an established wife or mother like Mera. Why else has Black Canary failed to click romantically with anyone not Oracle post-crisis? Back in the Silver Age her and Ollie worked, but enough retcons and modern times work against that now.

I hate to be that guy but:

Oh great new Batgirl, the bratty teenager is also another superhero bloodline legacy, two character types I can't stand. I knew they had to introduce blood legacies eventually but of course it had to be Bruce Wayne's who sires some of the worst superheroes. This means of course everyone else will eat Tina up like they did two other heroes I won't dishonorably mention who've worn out their welcome. Hopefully Tina's just a nuisance (though her teenage status prevents her from getting punched in the face Guy Gardner style sigh...) and not a pet character that will make me drop this book fast.

If this Harley Quinn is another bloodline legacy, I call shenanigans. Why does it have to be a blood dynasty thing? Why is it hard to think an unrelated person would idol worship someone else to the extent of roleplaying that person or to reinterpret the motif into your own? If it sounds crazy then that would be another reason to take a villain identity. However, if she's supposed to be sane then it worked for Ted Kord too and Hal and Barry depending on the continuity.