A 3-issue mini-series released in 1997, Ultragirl was about an aspiring actress, Suzy Sherman, who one day figures out she's got herself the superhero starter kit: Flight, super-strength, if not invulnerability, increased resistance and rapid healing. She meets the New Warriors, and they team-up to try and stop a special effects wizard calling himself "Effex", who causes disasters all over L.A., seemingly just for the publicity.
The tagline for the book is, "Marvel's Sassiest Powerhouse," but I don't feel "sassy" is the word to describe her. Ultragirl (although in the journal entries Barbara Kesel uses as expository dialogue, it's written "Ultra Girl") seems like a bit of an earnest, Valley Girl-type who keeps describing things as "ultra". In the first issue, before the powers manifest, Leonard Kirk draws her as self-conscious about the fact she somehow gotten taller and more ripped recently, trying to wear dark colors to look slimmer, hunched over slightly and trying to hide the gun show.
Suzy comes out of it a bit once her friends come up with a costume from some swimsuits a sporting goods store gave her after some work she did for them, but she's extremely smitten with Justice, which sparks a bit of jealousy in Firestar that Ultragirl's either oblivious or unaffected by. She finds out she has powers when a Sentinel attacks her during a tryout photo shoot, and she's suddenly a hot item, so she decides to lean into it. But part of how she does that is by quoting Terminator, then the Adam West Batman show about how she'll see the press again. Really seems like more of a dork. To the extent she's sassy, it's when people try to make decisions about her life without consulting her and she tells them where they can stick their notions.
Which is fine! You could argue Kesel could stand to let Ultragirl be a little angrier or less cheerful towards something other than the Sentinel that tried to kill her (and even that she doesn't totally destroy, just dismantles its body and uses like a murder minded computer), but her being a more media-savvy Silver Age Supergirl is OK.
I'm not sure what Power Girl's status was at DC at this point, whether she was still in her Atlantean heritage, magic using stint or not, but it feels as though Marvel figured there was an opening for a woman that's a "flying brick" type in their character stable. We're still a couple of years away from Kurt Busiek bringing Carol Danvers into both his Avengers and Iron Man runs, and when he did, she was going to be struggling with alcoholism, anyway. Outside of getting a little play in Ostrander's Heroes for Hire, I'm not sure what She-Hulk was up to, so other than Rogue (and she was in the X-Books, which I think were more walled off at that time), there wasn't much competition.
In practice, the character never really took off. Ultragirl was part of a large cast in Avengers: Initiative, and did eventually end up in a relationship with Justice, after he and Firestar's ended. But I don't think it got referenced in the most recent New Warriors series (the Chris Yost/Marcus To volume from 2014). Kesel gave Suzy an entire supporting cast of friends, a sister, plus a science-inclined ex-boyfriend to act as tech support, but I don't know if any of them ever showed up again.
3 comments:
It's interesting that Ultra Girl hasn't been pulled into Krakoa, since she is a mutant, albeit a Kree mutant. They've got Warlock and now a mutant Ghost Rider, after all.
And, given that she's Kree, I'm surprised there hasn't been any significant interaction with Carol Danvers, but maybe Carol has been retconned so she's no longer Kree. I wouldn't be surprised.
And i have to say I'm quite fond of the design of this era at Marvel. There's a sort of rough, vaguely indie look to the comics at this time, which is probably because of a lack of money behind the scenes, but I quite enjoy.
I feel like the only time I've seen ultragirl and Danvers interact is, I have this vague memory Carol gave Ultragirl her original Ms. Marvel costume, the red one with the high color and full sleeves, but no pants or leggings during the Initiative era.
I feel like the "Earth hero who's Kree," slot kind of got gobbled up by Hulking, and maybe Danvers since I can't remember if she's still Kree or not.
I tend to assume any mutant not seen on Krakoa is living peacefully elsewhere. Maybe Suzy's still trying to make the acting career work, and the Krakoan film industry was too limited?
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