Peter David

The WRONG people keep dying!!! 

So many people of questionable character and intent doing more harm than good are still sucking air while good decent people die.

Among those good and decent people: Peter David.

Peter David was a writer whose work I enjoyed immensely.  His writing was notable for it's humor and humanity but man could he ratchet up tragedy and drama.  He wrote novels, TV scripts and some of the best comics. 

His 12 year run on the Hulk established a lot of characteristics and plot points that have been used in the MCU.

There's nothing I can say that Mark Evanier or Mike Sterling couldn't put better so click those links for their posts.  

I'm gonna focus on a series he did for DC, Supergirl.

But it's not the Supergirl you think. 

Background: in the post Crisis revamp of Superman by John Byrne, certain "extraneous" elements were stripped from the Superman mythos. Such as other survivors of Krypton. 

Kara Zore-El of Krypton, the Supergirl who valiantly sacrificed her life in Crisis On Infinite Earths#7 was retconned out of existence. 

But "Supergirl" is still IP that DC does not want to lose so we get this: a new Supergirl who is a man-made lifeform made of synthetic protoplasm created by the heroic Lex Luthor of a "pocket continuum".  Just to complicate things,she looks like Lana Lang.  

This new Supergirl can fly and possesses super-strength (like Superman) but she also has psychokinesis, shapeshifting, and invisibility.

This is the Supergirl Peter David was tasked to write a solo series about.  

So he takes this complicated concept and adds complications.

While saving a young woman named Linda Danvers who had been stabbed in a cult sacrifice to a demon, Supergirl's protoplasmic form merges with Linda to form an entirely new person.  

A new person who may be part angel?! 

OK, way too much going on here but I'll be damned Peter David makes it work, crafting a storyline about how two lost souls have a chance at redemption and a new life. 

There series last 62 issues which is the longest run ever for a Supergirl solo title and I was there for everyone one of them.

Until she got reconned out of existence when then DC publisher Dan Didio decided it was time to get back to basics with a Supergirl who was Kara Zor-El of Krypton.  

Peter David's Supergirl may not count in continuity or canon but it mattered to me and I was more than happy to remember Peter David's work on this, one my favorite series.

Rest in peace, Peter!