DC Superhero Girls #Supersleeper

DC Superhero Girls has been a highly lucrative and rather wide-reaching format since its inception. I have to say I was pretty shocked by how far this property went. From cartoons to clothes to school supplies to Hallmark Christmas ornaments, the Shea Fontana led DC Superhero Girls was a phenomenon.

I have to say that as the seasons of shorts moved forward, the stories became a bit more saccharine. The super-heroics were still present. But it was clear there were messages to the episodes. This was a way to discuss bullying, loneliness, missing people, and even therapy. Obviously I am not the target audience but there was a gentleness to the format that made it less adventurous than I am used to in my super-hero tales.

A while back it was leaked that producer Lauren Faust was taking over DCSHG. Faust had done a semi-version of the concept way back in Super Best Friends Forever. But Faust's take on Wonder Woman, Batgirl, and Supergirl was a bit more physical comedy and a bit more snark than Fontana's. They 'feel' very different. Faust made My Little Pony a huge hit. And those early MLP shows had a mix of message and slapstick that just clicked.

So it seemed a bit strange to me that DC would jump rails from a creative standpoint. This is like taking characters from multiple seasons of After School Specials and putting them in Looney Tunes. Even the opening group shot seems a bit more aimed at action and ethics.

I wonder if there is room for two versions of DC Superhero Girls ...

The first DC Superhero Girls episode under Faust was just released on Youtube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuex1QPFTlI

There is another short, The Late Batsby, but that is just a retread of an SBFF short so I can't think of it as new.

And so we have #SuperSleeper .

 We start out with Kara having a sleepover at Babs' house. Supergirl warns Babs that she sometimes talks in her sleep.

So we aren't in a dorm room. We aren't at Superhero High. Will that still be a thing here?

Also, you immediately get a sense that there is a big change in the Supergirl character. This shock of blond spiky hair. The baseball t-shirt. That awkward meekness that was a big part of the original DCSHG Kara already seems gone.

Turns out Kara doesn't just sleep-talk, she sleep flies.

Early in the evening, she crashes through the window and floats off.

Already, we have a sense that physical comedy will have a bigger part to play here.

 And then the silliness that ensues shows us that we are in Toontown.

Babs dons her Batgirl gear and tries to pull Kara down. Instead she gets dragged down the street. She slams into a parked car.

That is a Tom & Jerry moment there.

Batgirl hopes tying Supergirl to a school bus will stop her from taking off but that doesn't work either. Kara ends up flying with it ... that is until Babs cuts it loose, crashing it to the ground.

And then even more physical comedy. Babs gets dragged through a skyscraper. She gets dragged through a penthouse pool. She almost gets chopped up in a bunch of wind turbines.

 But then she says 'go back to bed' and somehow that gets through to the dozing Kara who turns around and heads home.

Realizing that Kara could fly off again, Babs stays up the whole night watching her friend.

Look at how exhausted she looks!

In the morning,  to the dismay of the fatigued Babs, Kara says she slept great. She punctuates that statement with a wide smile and a flex of some serious muscle.

Okay, this is not the DCSHG Supergirl who was in Shea Fontana's work. This is the sassy Supergirl from the SBFF, the one ready to toilet paper Lexcorp and throw down with Solomon Grundy.

In fact, sass might be the best descriptor for this DCSHG. I know I am judging it on what little has been released but I get the sense there will be way more zing here.

I still think there could be room for both versions. Fontana's seems like a PBS Kids version of the IP. This seems more like a Cartoon Network take.

For me, this worked a little bit more. I like a fierce Kara. And I am all for slapstick.

What did you think?

Posted in: Reviews