The Lineage of The Magical Girl Warrior

In 1991 the Magical Girl Warrior Sub-Genre was born in Manga with Codename Sailor V and Devil Hunter Yoko which technically qualifies but came out too close to Sailor V for one to have influenced the other.  Of the two it is mainly Sailor V that is the literary ancestor of the Magical Girl Warriors who've come since, chiefly via it's more well known spin off Sailor Moon.

However I'd have to say the main literary ancestors of the Magical Girl Warrior were not earlier Magical Girls but other types of Superhero stories.

The original Magical Girl genre was mainly a Sit-Com premise, basically inspired by Bewitched but focusing on younger characters rather then a house wife, it's western equivalent would be stuff like Sabrina The Teenage Witch and Wizards of Waverly Place.  Next came the Magical Girl Idol sub-genre which is basically Jem and the Holograms but more like how the Japanese Idol Industry works, and it's most in the case of that Magical Girl sub-genre where I can definitely say the Japanese version predates the western equivalent, Creamy Mammy was popular for a few years before Jem came along.  Harmony Gold started work on a Creamy Mammy dub that never saw the light of day, so Americans in the Animation industry were aware of it.

I don't want to over emphasize the extent to which certain western works were an influence, directly or indirectly, on the genre.  But I have to talk about it somewhat since Naoko Takeuchi has publicly admitted to Wonder Woman being an influence.

Mechanically speaking it is mainly the Lynda Carter TV Show Wonder Woman who seems like a proto Magical Girl Warrior (Or Magical Woman if you prefer since she's an adult), since in that version she doesn't have her powers when in civilian form and has the spinning transformation.  And I'm unsure to what extent any other version of Wonder Woman would have been available in Japanese in the 80s and early 90s.  But I feel the spirit of the Magical Girl genre is more anticipated by Marston's original vision in the Golden Age comics which were often distinct from the Male Superheros of the Golden Age in how they were about at least trying to solve things non violently and reforming the villains.  And the Magical Girl genre has similarly been associated with sexual kinks being thrown in.

Wedding Peach might have been drawing even more on Wonder Woman, they got similar looking Bracelets and a general ancient Greek soldier aesthetic to the Magical Warrior costumes and using Aphrodite in a similar way.

The lineage of Superheros with Magical Transformations probably begins with Fawcett's Captain Marvel aka Shazam, I watched Linkara's review of the first Shazam comic and if only Billy were a girl and Shazam a cute animal it would sure seem like a Magical Girl pilot.  A little later the character of Mary Marvel was added to the Shazam mythos and since she doesn't age up when she transforms she is perhaps the first true Magical Girl Warrior.  Mary Marvel unfortunately wasn't included in the 70s TV version of the Shazam mythos, instead they created Isis another Magical Woman Warrior.  Then there are the many Western Superheros viewed as knock offs of Captain Marvel in some way, from Thor having a similar kind of transformation to Miracleman and Miracle Woman to Marvel Comics' Captain Marvel.

But leaving the transformation element aside, I feel Supergirl may likely have been a visual influence on the genre, in her early to mid 80s look (which is still her most iconic look) she anticipates the basic look of the Sailor Scouts and Love Angels in a lot of ways, especially Mina and Usagi being inexplicably Blond.  And it was largely Bronze Age Supergirl comics that first explored balancing the Superhero life with School Life using a female character.  Another interesting DC Proto Magical Girl Warrior was Amethyst Princess of Gemworld, but I'm unsure to what extent that character could have been known across the Pacific that early. And maybe She-Ra could be considered a factor as well.

But as I said the Magical Girl Warrior is a Japanese innovation.  In many ways the concept was arguably just a Hyper Girlification of the Tokusatsu Transforming Superhero formula most popularly exemplified by Ultraman, Super Sentai and Kamen Rider, but arguably the first was a character known as Gekko Kamen or the Moonlight Mask, the Moonlight Knight from the Doom Tree Saga of Sailor Moon was a direct homage to that character.  When I was watching SSSS.Gridman it really felt at times to me like the MC was a male Magical Girl.

And this Genre of Japanese entertainment had even already had Female Superheroes before the Magical Girl Warrior, but they were all more Science Based then Magick which is why they seem related to the Magical Girl genre only in retrospect.  The first of them, or at least first to be the main character was Go Nagai's Cutey Honey, Cutey Honey's perceived relationship to this genre is why after the 90s Sailor Moon anime went off the air Toei put a more Shoujo oriented reboot of Cutey Honey in it's time-slot, Cutey Honey Flash.

Once again however I don't think transforming characters were the only influence.  I can't help but wonder if La Seine No Hoshi was an aesthetic influence in some fashion.  But adding further weight to the possible DC Comics influence mentioned above, I have come to think Project A-Ko must have been a factor.  That movie used the same kind of Sailor Fuku that Sailor V and Sailor Moon would later wear, and it anticipated running late for school as a common recurring gag.  And all three of it's lead Seiyu wound up being on Sailor Moon, two of them as major characters.

Update: I have now learned that there were a few Toei Toku shows that were basically live action Magical Girl shows in the late 80s and early 90s as part of the Fushigi Comedy Series.  The most important being The Masked Belle Poitrine.

https://twitter.com/KuudereKun888/status/1301967357905170435

https://www.tuxedounmasked.com/what-magical-girl-was-sailor-moon-based-on/

DC TV fall 2016 reactions

I'm afraid I'm not likely to be regularly updateing my thoughts on the DC shows this season.  I shall share a few I have now.

I'm giving Gotham a second chance mainly for Jamie Chung, I love her.

Supergirl is still going strong, the first two episodes were perfect, the third was really great but I cringed at all the fawning over the President.

The Flash has me concerned, I've never been fond of Flashpoint and not just because of the New 52.

I stopped watching Arrow.

Legends is hit and miss still.

Superman Unbound is the best Animated Superman Movie

The idea it covers that I find interesting is the notion that ironically because Kara grew up on Krypton she can understand humanity better. Because they didn’t have powers on Krypton, she knows what it feel like to be helpless.

We get to see her be scared, which makes her bad@$$ moments even more rewarding.

And Supergirl aside, it is my favorite of the Superman animated movies. Of course I haven’t seen Superman vs The Elite yet, or Brainiac Attacks. I hated Superman Doomsday, Allstar Superman was an interesting little homage to the Silver Age,

Lois is snarky, and I love how she Flips off Brainiac.

Superman's strategy for defeating Brainiac at the end was pretty cool.

It’s also a pretty Libertarian film when you think about it. “You can’t control a living thing without taking away what’s Alive about it”-Zor-El.

My only criticism is the Planet they decided to place Kandor on at the end did not look Habitable to me, it looked like a barren wasteland.

Supergirl second episode

I really liked the second episode.  The show is pretty solid.

I was bugged by the reveal that Astrid is apparently answering to another villain.  I really get tired of how many female villains turn out to be subordinate to male ones.  And I don't want another Zod story.

Hank Henshaw seems to be a Cyborg already.

Having Maxwell Lord is interesting.

Supergirl Pilot reaction

It was pretty good, some dialogue I wasn't fond of.

The actors were all great which is what I care about most.

I'm annoyed we're seeing Phantom Zone villains again.  But at least it's not Zod... yet.

As the show finds it's feet, let's hope things get much better.

Supergirl Trailer

Before I discus the Trailer, let's discus the air-date.

I had said I wanted it to air AFTER Gotham, a Bat show and Super show on the same day would be awesome.  But now it's announced that Supergirl will be airing AGAINST Gotham, and I'm WTF, CBS why would you do that, you have lots of time slots not against another Superhero show.

The Trailer has it's Haters, but I enjoyed it.  I said in an earlier post how this show seems to basically have Cat promoted to Perry and Jimmy promoted to Lois.  The trailer confirms what I was suspecting that this future Toyman is basically the usual Jimmy role.

Only things I didn't like was the Lesbian comments, because I really like to see Supergirl as a Lesbian in my Headcanon.

I like that the costume goes through phases, and we will get to see those Super Legs some.

Some haters are comparing it to that recent SNL Black Widow parody trailer.  That was a Joke because Black Widow is a Spy character.  What I like about the Superhero genre is that it's so easy to combine with other genres.  Batman can be a Mob film or a Crime Thriller, Winter Solider was a political thriller, and we have mythology films and space films.  So yes I think a Devil Wears Prada with Superheroes is a valid thing to try, I don't think a Superheroine needs to be Masculinized to be credible.  If you want Supergirl to be a fierce Warrior Goddess, well sorry but that's Wonder Woman and Gal Gadot is gonna give us that awesomely on the big screen, I don't need Supergirl to be the same.

I like the thoughts the people at SupergirlRadio had.

The scene towards the end where Jimmy is telling Kara about Superman's plan and gives her the cape, I feel like that confirms my theory that Superman has died.  That's the emotional vibe I got from it.

It looks like it's gonna be a fun show.

Supergirl is a Popular character

This is my third post on the subject of Supergirl and her upcoming show.  In related news a comment of mine was read on the SupergirlRadio Podcast.  I'm MithrandirOlorin.

The title of this post probably seems to most people like stating the obvious.  But Supergirl has her haters out there, and I've been reminded lately of arguments I had years ago on IMDB with one annoying hater who was really attached to the original Post-Crisis no other Kryptonians rule.  I love the Crisis to Crisis era Superman, but my biggest problem with that era is how it screwed over Kara.

These arguments were had back when the Leob Supergirl was just starting in 2006-7.  This person insisted Supergirl, particularly the Kara Zor-El version, was not a popular character in-spite of the endless number of women who cosplay as her and create fansites for her, and cited as his proof that all of her own solo comics were canceled relatively shortly, the Linda Danvers version of the Matrix Supergirl (one who was not a Kryptonian) lasted the longest.

His logic failure was that a character doesn't get their own solo comic until they've already proven themselves popular.  Even Superman and Batman proved themselves in Action Comics and Detective Comics first, yes they were always the main selling point/cover feature but they were still anthologies and so hypothetically you could hate them and still like something else.

Spin Offs can fail because some characters don't work on their own as well as they do as supporting characters. But other times the creative team decides to change everything when giving one their own comic rather then naturally and organically continuing the stories that were already working.  Supergirl started collage twice during the Bronze Age, things like that created hurdles every time she had a new start, but still her solo adventures did do well.

Supergirl first got her own comic in the 70s, but before that her own solo adventures had already been the chief selling point of Adventure Comics since the late 60s, and she'd been the cover feature on a number of Action Comics also.

That first series "cancellation" was really it being merged with the Jimmy and Lois Lane comics to create The Superman Family.  The Superman Family had Jimmy Olsen's numbering because his numbering was the largest, and back then many newsstands weren't really interested in trying to sell low numbered comics.  The vast majority of the Superman Family comics had Supergirl and her adventure in that issue as the most prominently featured on the cover.  It was the Lois and Jimmy style stories DC wanted to faze out with the merger, because since Comic readers had gotten older and it wasn't the Silver Age anymore those kinds of stories were becoming out of fashion.

Supergirl's second solo comic came in the 80s, it lasted 4 years or so till the Crisis came.  DC constantly cancels comics in-spite of their popularity when one of these revamping events comes along, it happened to Gotham Central and the Cassandra Cain Batgirl after Infinite Crisis, and it happened to the Stephanie Brown Batgirl after Flashpoint. DC makes a lot of bad decisions when time to revamp comes along.  In 86 they made some good decisions too, but the more recent ones have just been all bad.

Kara was gotten rid of because they decided to throw out the Baby with the Bathwater, yes other people somehow surviving Krytpon's destruction had gotten out of hand, but Kara stood on her own merits and they should have realized having a Last Daughter of Krypton didn't undo Superman being The Last Son.

The Linda Danvers series from the 90s and early 2000s did better then the other non Kara Supergirls (including other versions of the Matrix) and to some people at least better then many of the Post-Crisis Karas because she was given the Secret Identity (Linda Danvers) and other aspects of the Pre-Crisis Supergirl.  But I'd argue a not insignificant amount of sales for the Matrix's various comics came from casual seeing it on the stand and from the costume assuming it's the same Supergirl as either the 84 movie of STAS.  I distinctly recall that's why I bought the ones I had.

The reason why acceptance of all the modern takes on Kara Zor-El have been mixed at best is because they never give her anything about the Original Pre-Crisis Kara besides being blond and Superman's Cousin.  I want Supergirl to be modernized like Superman is, but you can do that while also keeping the Danvers and Midvale, and Dick Malverne and Lena Thorul and Jerro and her villains and so on.   Superman's modernizations bring the supporting cast with, but Supergirl's don't.  Sadly it looks like the new TV show is more of the same here, they are using the Danvers name but that's it, they're instead surrounding Supergirl with the left over Superman characters that Zach Snyder isn't using.

There are plenty of things I like about the new 2005 and up takes on Kara, Superman Unbound especially. but all their failings I feel revolve around refusing to surround her with updated versions of her Pre-Crisis supporting cast and civilian life.  I would include those, and maybe throw in some characters created for the 90s Linda Danvers also.

Critics of my premise may say that Supergirl's supporting cast was basically just Superman's or Superboy's gender flipped.  I respond, Only to the extent that every Superhero's supporting cast uses Superman's as the template, we just notice it more for other S shield wearing characters. So many Superhero love interests are reporters that in the 90s the DCU had a View stand in made up entirely out of them. The Daily Bugle is basically the Daily Planet if Jimmy Olsen was the Superhero and Perry White was against the Superhero.

The cast for the new Supergirl show looks like Superman's gender flipped as much as that cast of Pre-Crisis characters I mentioned above.  They're simply promoting Cat to Perry and Jimmy to Lois.

Many people don't realize how many interesting villains Pre-Crisis Kara had, here is a short list.

1- Lesla Lar: an evil Kryptonian from Kandor that looks just like Kara, tried to replace Kara as both 'Kara' and Supergirl.

2- June Moone The Enchantress: a magical witch.  This character has become popular outside of Supergirl, she'll be in the upcoming Suicide Squad film.

3- Black Flame (Zora Vi-Lar): an associate of Lesla Lar.

4- Brains: leader of "The Gang" who fought Supergirl in the 80s.

5. Tor-An: a Phantom Zone villain who seduced Kara while posing as her High School teacher.

6. Kryotonite Kid: a kid made of Kryptonite.

And my favorite
7. Nasthalthia Luthor: a female relative of Lex Luthor. I suspect the Alex character will turn out to be her.

The two from Kandor could easily be reinterpreted into Phantom Zone villains, if you want to avoid the Kandor absurdities.

Speculation on the upcoming Supergirl show

I've said before what I don't like about it.  But I'm still going to watch it and still have some hope for it.

I've been following 2 Supergirl Podcasts.  Supergirl Radio and Supergirl TV Talk.

On this Alex character who is a foster Sister of Kara/Linda.  I think it's possible she too is only adopted by the Danvers and that we may eventually learn she is either a sister, niece or daughter of Lex Luthor.  There are a few characters from the Comics that could make a reference to, Lena Thorul, the daughter of Lex named Lena who became a sort of female Brianiac for the Our Worlds at War story-line.  As well as Nasthalthia Luthor.

About the Superman being cast for the Pilot, he's essentially just a Stunt Double.  Most people are thinking Superman leaves Earth in the pilot for some mission.  While there is Comic precedent for that, in Live Action it'll seem too much like SR and it's horrible implications.

I think he'll die before the story starts.  Killed in battle with Doomsday.

Casting an African American actor for Hank Henshaw means they are probably not going with making him Zor-El, which was a stupid idea anyway.  So I can only think having him on the show alludes to his most significant contribution to Superman history, becoming in the future the Cyborg Superman.

Some people hate casting him as Black because of the Cyborg Superman aspect.  Hank in the Comics did not look like Superman originally anyway.  If the Cyborg Superman shows up in like Season 2 or something, he'll be a different actor physically, with this actor's voice returning only once it's revealed (to the non Comic reading audience) that he's Hank.

Other DC characters I hope show up down the line.

Metorpolis Police Detective Maggie Sawyer.  She's DC's original Lesbian Cop, but Renee Montoya eventually overshadowed her.  Gotham has mishandled Montoya so far, so this could be DC's second chance to do one of their notable Lesbian characters justice in a Live Action adaptation.

Livewire, one of the more interesting Female Villains of Superman's rouges gallery.  And she has a History with Supergirl.

I'd like there to be a Cat named Streaky and a Horse named comet.  But no Superpowers.

Down the line, like Season 3 at the soonest, I'd like to see a take on Powergirl, but it'd be difficult to decide what origin story to go with.

I do not know whether for sake of Adaptation Slam Bradley would be considered a Batman character because of his ties to Detective Comics, or a Superman one because of being created by Siegel and Shuster.  But I want to see him on either this or Gotham, he's technically DC's original main character, he deserves a Live Action incarnation.

DC Cinematic Multiverse

I'm now more excited by what DC is doing on TV then what either is doing on the Big Screen.

Not because of any lack of excitement for the movies, certainly as each movie (excluding Fox ones) nears release they'll be what at the time I'm most Geeking out over  And Batman Vs Superman once it's actually approaching I predict I will be the most intensely excited I have been for a movie since 2008.

But TV I've said for a long time has the potential to do Comic Book mythos far more justice then Movies, and DC is finally realizing that.  The Flash season 1 alone is going to give us in less then 9 months more screen time of Comic Booky goodness then the entirety of Phase 1 of the MCU gave us in 4 years.  6 movies, 5 were 2 hours one was rounding up 2 and a half makes 12 and a half hours.  An Episode of Flash is minus commercials 40 minutes, so 3 episodes makes 2 hours.  So 12 and a half hours of screen time will be reached during episode 19.  It'll be the same with every other show that gets at least a 20 episode season.

Why am I not as excited for Marvel on TV?  Because Marvel's shared universe approach means TV only gets the left overs.  I did enjoy season one of AoS, especially the Winter Soldier tie in storyline, that was Historic.  And I enjoyed Agent Carter, but it was still mostly just the supporting cast of First Avenger, plus some generic Cold War nonsense.

I'm glad DC is not simply doing the same thing as Marvel.  I'm glad they are doing a connected Universe on the big Screen but with a different approach.  But I'm also glad the TV shows get to be separate.  Not just from the movies but also from each other.  CW has it's own mini DC Universe going now, but neither Gotham or Supergirl are gonna fit into that.  And probably not Teen Titans either.  I know some people are holding out for Supergirl and the CW shows being connected because of the CBS-CW relationship, but Supergirl is going to have a Superman established for awhile, which won't fit The Flash's premise.

But because DC has the long established in the comics Multiverse premise, it means the option still exists for them to something down the road.  Keeping it so each universe can day to do not worry about any continuity restrictions but their own.

After all the currently green-lite DC movies are done, maybe they could consider an Crisis on Infinite Earths and/or Infinite Crisis inspired story, perhaps as 3 films filmed at once.  Where they could bring the various TV show universes into it.

Because of the nature of the Crisis none of the shows would have to acknowledge it in their continuity if they didn't want to  But The Flash has already established a Crisis as part of it's future.  2021 is when I believe it's supposed to happen, that is after all the already announced JLA movies will be over.  So, who knows, maybe WB/DC already considers that in the cards.

In the comics there were many universe crossovers before the Big Crisis, they'd been going on since the 60s.  But the key thing that really matters is the concept of first Contact being made by two Flashes.  So could Ezra Miller guest start on The Flash in it's 6th or 7th Season?

Update: I'd misremembered, on The Flash the Crisis will happen in 2024, they gave themselves a decade.

Here is why I'm upset about the upcoming Supergirl show

I'd been thinking for awhile, and had expressed on IMDB, how I kind of don't trust a channel other then the CW or ABC Family to do a Teen or High School/Collage hour long Drama.  Other Networks are all about being "Adult", especially the non Cable ones, and Glee has no appeal to me.  CBS in particular is a channel that seems to care only about Cop and Lawyer shows.

Then I read that this Supergirl show will start with her being already 24.  And I was like THAT'S NOT SUPERGIRL, THAT'S SUPERWOMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All the Supergirl stories I like from the Comics, from all the various incarnations of Supergirl, are all set with her either in High School or Collage.

It's like her being a female Superman is all they really cared about.  24 is literally the same age Clark Kent was when Smallville ended.

Supergirl was an opportunity to do something like the Early Seasons of Smallville but without the extended Prequel burden or the No Flights no Tights limitation.

I think that's the source of the problem though.  Smallville even though it is by any objective standard the most successful Comic Book based TV show of all time.  Is for some reason known for it's Hatedom rather then it's Fandom.  So they don't want to be confused with Smallville, instead they're just gonna create a show more likely to resemble later Smallvile then early Smallville, which is when the show's quality took a nose dive.

They should have done Powergirl with the premise described for this show.  But that name isn't as marketable.

Supergirl being a Female Superman is a small part of her appeal.  It's also being a younger superhero.  Supergirl could've been the new Buffy or Secret World of Alex Mack, or Pretty Little Liars with Superpowers.  Any of those would have been interesting.  I wanted the drama of her possibly going to school with Nastalia Luthor or Lena Thorul.

But making it so the character's only difference from Superman is being a female Hero just draws attention to how they could have instead given a chance to a Superheroine that isn't linked by name to a male hero.  Like Stargirl, or Zatana, or Black Canary, or heck just give another try to a Wonder Woman pilot.

First Teen Titans ticks me off that it won't have Donna Troy, and now this.  And Gotham as much as I love it keeps screwing over Montoya.  At least Flash is good and Arrow is improving.