Matrix Monday - 90s House Ads

I am taking a small break from Matrix comic reviews this week to post some Matrix House Ads that I stumbled across this last week.

Supergirl was prominently displayed in two house ads from a comic cover dated April 1998. Supergirl #20, a Millenium Giants crossover of all things, was on the shelves. She was two issues out from sprouting her flame wings and really exploring the angelic aspect, something which had been hinted at throughout the initial issues.

I know how big my love of Supergirl is. And I know how fascinated I was with the Peter David series in the late 90s, a semi-Vertigo spin on the character with tons of references to her prior incarnation.

But what I don't know is how she was being accepted by the comic community at large. And I don't know how embraced this new concept of Earth Angel was either.

Still, I think it is encouraging to think DC thought well enough of her character to have her on the subscription ad. (Remember those days when comics were mailed to people!) Yes it is a double play on words on how hot the deal is. One, I suppose there are people who think Supergirl is 'hot'. Two, fire is a big part of the art here (replicating the cover from Supergirl #14).

Still, they could have come up with any other quip - 'super' deals, deals 'as good as Gold', etc.

Instead they chose Supergirl!

But there was another!

Remember, this was the late 90s. Not everything was repurposed into a trade. Not every arc was written to fit into a trade. In fact, only things 'worthy' enough to be a trade were collected.

Here is the ad for the Supergirl trade collecting the first 9 issues of the David run. I love that initial arc as it established the rules of the book, introducing us to a darker Linda Danvers and a Matrix trying to become something more than protomatter. But the big thing for me back then was it included the David/Dodson story from Showcase '96 #8, the prologue to the book that I had missed at the time.

The ad does a good job playing up the duality of the character, another aspect I love about this incarnation.

Alas, no other trade was made of the series ... back then. I am glad the David book is now being collected in its entirety.

I am trying to think about the next section of Matrix books to cover. Either early appearances post-Panic in the Sky, or a jump ahead to her mini-series.