Crisis: Death of Supergirl

[TELLE]

Epic Fail

Just re-read issue #7 of Crisis oon Infinite Earths from 1985 for the first time in years.  The infamous "Death of Supergirl" comic. 

When I read it the first time as a teenager, I was not attached to the Supergirl character at all, especially her 80s "headband" incarnation.  I wasn't very knowledgeable of the Superman Family mythos, but I knew this was a big deal. Unfortunately, I probably agreed with the DC-editorial idea and larger fan opinion that it was a good idea to get rid of the character and start over.  At the same time, the miniseries really fired my collecting bug and led to me buying all the old JLA/JSA team-ups and eventually huge chunks of old Superman, Superboy and Supergirl adventures from the 50s and 60s.

Reading it now, despite the Herculean efforts of Perez, Ordway, and Giordano in the art department, and despite the various strengths of the Crisis series as a whole, artistically, Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 has to be judged as one of the worst-written comics of all time, especially given its pivotal role in superhero comics history.  Horrible (mis-)characterizations, plot holes, epically boring exposition madness, bad ideas: this issue has them all.  The whole series' cobbled-together, desperate, team-fumble nature is best exemplified by this double-sized (too short and too long) issue.

Of course, it goes without saying that the classic 1950s-1970s Supergirl character is now one of my favourite superhero characters.

[Gernot]

It may very well have failed in every aspect you mention, Telle, but back in 1985, we'd never seen anything quite as epic as this.  We were willing to forgive a LOT back then!