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It was quite a week for comics, what with Battle for the Cowl and Supergirl. I may talk about Battle for the Cowl tomorrow, but I want to talk about Supergirl right now.

The whole of New Krypton has been a bit unexpected to me. I didn't really expect any of it to work. Surprisingly, it does seem to be working. Even more shockingly, Supergirl is managing to keep pace with the quality of the other Super-books. After all the missteps and false starts for the book and character over the past few years, it's a breath of fresh air.

Even more refreshing is the fact that Supergirl has managed to shock me. Precious few comics are able to shock me these days. Battle for the Cowl had some interesting revelations, but nothing particularly shocking. But the last few pages of this week's Supergirl had me staring at the book with my jaw dropped. Characters die in comics all the time. But rarely do we see deaths that play out like that.

The events of the Superwoman storyline will undoubtedly have far reaching consequences for Supergirl. Fortunately, I have absolutely no idea what those will be. And that's a nice change of pace...

No real post tonight. I went to see my sister's play (she does the drama thing, as I once did) this evening and just got home. So I'm a little tired.

But I did get a quick chance to peruse some of this week's comics. And I just want to say this:

I think this Supergirl now officially has a more convoluted origin than the Peter David Linda Danvers Supergirl. Well done, DC. Somehow you have accomplished the impossible.

Well, my weekend sucked. But I'm not going to talk about that. Instead, I'm going to talk about Supergirl!

I've never liked this new/old Supergirl. I was a big fan of Linda Danvers, but I understood the desire to bring the Supergirl character back to her roots. But I never felt like they did that. Even with all the successive writers, constantly cycling in and out. They never seemed to hit the sweet spot for me with the book and the character.

I think that might be changing. For me, one of the important things about super-heroes are secret identities. Don't give me any of that Marvel claptrap about how secret identities are outdated. Heck, even Marvel finally figured out they'd screwed up and retconned Spider-Man's secret identity back (following on the heels of Geoff Johns brilliant retcon of Wally's secret identity).

But nobody seemed to think that Supergirl needed a secret identity. Why couldn't she just be Supergirl all the time? Well, I think Sterling Gates is finally pointing out why that just doesn't work. Either for Kara or for the readers. I think comic readers need to see super-heroes in down to earth civilian identities.

Sure, not many of us can understand what it's like to be a multimillionaire or a reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper or a test pilot or a police scientist. But But those people still have to deal with things in a very different way from super-heroes. And it provides perspective.

So let me again congratulate DC, Sterling Gates, Jamal Igle, and Keith Champagne. It took thirty-four issues, but you're finally starting to get Supergirl right. And you got me to start buying the book.

As always: Thursday Night Thinking!

Tonight: a dastardly duo conspires to keep Superman out of his Fortress of Solitude!

Fun fact: Supergirl and that horse used to date. No joke.

Okay, so. Who's the burly Monitor in the Anti-Monitor armor?

Where did he come from, what is he doing around, and why is he dressed like that? Is he the same Monitor we saw from the back in Brave New World? Does the world he's from in some way have an effect on the way he dresses?

And more importantly, does this totally destroy all the theories I've had about where the DCU is heading?

So I have to admit that I was a bit taken aback by the images that accompanied the interview with Tony Bedard where he talks about taking over Supergirl.

When I started looking at the images I thought to myself: "who is this incredibly normal looking girl who happens to be wearing Supergirl's costume? Certainly she cannot be Supergirl, as this girl seems to look like an actual human being."

Or Kryptonian, as the case may be. My point is this artwork by Renato Guedes is amazing. It's some of the most realistic art I've ever seen put forth for a super-hero comic book. Supergirl looks like a girl. She looks cute in a way that's not overly or overtly sexualized. And I like it.

And to top it off, Bedard seems to have a refreshing take on the character. Here's hoping he can give her some stability. Because right now, Supergirl's all over the map. She needs some constancy in her own book. Maybe she needs a secret identity. Maybe she needs to go to school. I don't know. But she needs something.

I hope she gets it, because despite myself I've started to like her. She's a teenager who's different and doesn't fit in. And I think most of us (at least those of us who are reading comics) can relate to that.

I'm going to come right out and say it: I'm really starting to like Supergirl.

I know I'm not supposed to. I'm supposed to hate what's being done. I'm supposed to rail against the injustice perpetrated against sweet, innocent pre-Crisis Kara. And I'm supposed to be pissed that Linda Danvers got the shaft.

But I can't. Joe Kelly (whose work I've always enjoyed) is taking Supergirl in unexpected, intriguing -- and most importantly weird -- directions. And I'm finding that I love it.

After all, this is the guy who did a legendary run on Deadpool, the only comic to ever make me actually like a Marvel character. And now he's taking something else I initially had no real interest in (picked the book up out of curiosity) and making me like it too.

The early issues of Supergirl had a few cool scenes, but seemed largely mired in Mary Sueish team-ups, anger issues, and confusing continuity glitches. But Joe Kelly is taking those things and sort of running with them. So yeah, Kara made out with an evil alternate universe version of her cousin. And that's weird. But you know what? Kara Zor-El is really screwed up kid.

And yes, a lot of kids are screwed up. A lot of kids are angry and confused about where they are in their lives. But there aren't a lot of screwed up kids who also have godlike powers and the world's greatest super-hero as a cousin. And that, my friends, creates drama. And drama = good. At least in my book.

Joe Kelly continues to draw me in. Here he talks about some of the things he's got planned for the book. And I must say that I'm intrigued. The crystal weirdness, the creepy revelations about her father -- even her apparent need to try and kill Superman. All of these are mysteries that I actually want to learn the answers to.

And yes, these are all things that you'd never have seen with the pre-Crisis Kara. But if we'd gotten the exact same Supergirl as before, we would've gotten the exact same stories. And that's no fun. New stories need to be told. And that's What Joe Kelly is giving us. And despite myself, I'm actually enjoying the ride.