Diamond Distribution listed SUPERGIRL #79 to be shipped for February 26th instead of February 18th as originally solicited.

THE SECRET ORIGIN THAT WASN'T: HOW PAUL LEVITZ TRIED TO SAVE THE PRE-CRISIS SUPERGIRL FROM DEATH
Posted: November 19, 2002
by Beau Yarbrough, News Editor

(excerpt)

Every DC Comics fan, or close to it, knows what happened to the original, pre-Crisis Supergirl. In the 1984 "Crisis on Infinite Earths" maxiseries, the Girl of Steel eats a (metaphorical) bullet to save reality from the Anti-Monitor and help clean up continuity for the John Byrne Superman relaunch.

Barring an out of continuity holiday story, and some recent fun in Peter David's "Supergirl" series (which stars another Supergirl entirely), the original supergirl, Kara Zor-El, was gone.

But not without a fight: Current DC Comics chief Paul Levitz was Paul Levitz, "Legion of Superheroes" writer back then. Supergirl had been a sometime cast member of the series -- her longest and most steady (although that's too strong of a word) romantic relationship was with LSH member Brainiac 5, interestingly -- and Levitz wanted to bring the character back after her dramatic death, as commemorated in the classic cover of Superman holding a battered Kara in his arms, weeping openly.

[ Read more on Comic Book Resources ]

(Vu: Is it just me or is everybody talking about the death of Supergirl?)

Who's Who on the SUPERGIRL #79 Cover (spoilers)
posted November 19, 2002 10:38 AM

comics.toonzone.net

Spectre (Hal Jordan)
Martian Manhunter
Black Canary (Dinah Laurel Lance)?
Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) --- Outdated costume.
Plastic Man
Saturn Girl (Post-Boot)
Guy Gardner Warrior --- Outdated costume.
Dr. Fate (Kent Nelson)
Colossal Boy (Pre-Boot)
Brainiac 5 (Pre-Boot)

*Row 2*
Superboy (Kon-El)
Robin (Tim Drake)
The Huntress (Helena Bertinelli) ?
Batman (Earth-2 Bruce Wayne) ?

*Row 3*
Batgirl (Cassandra Cain)
Oracle (Barbara Gordon)
The Flash (Wally West)
The Flash (Jay Garrick)
Brainiac 5.1 (Post-Boot)
Batgirl (Barbara Gordon)
Power Girl (Kara Zor-L)
Superboy (Clark Kent/Kal-El)
The Huntress (Helena Wayne)

*Row 4*
Wonder Woman (Diana)
Batman (Bruce Wayne)
Superman (Kal-El/Clark Kent)
Superman (Kal-L/Clark Kent)
Streaky the Super-Cat
Krypto the Super-Dog
Sentinel/Green Lantern (Alan Scott)
Dr. Mid-Nite (Dr. Charles McNider)
The Flash (Barry Allen)
Black Canary (Dinah Drake Lance)

(Vu: I know this has absolutely nothing to do with George Perez, but I thought it was fun and interesting.)

You must be able to see into the future. The preview of February comics are up at Comics Continuum and the cover to SUPERGIRL #79 is a homage to CRISIS #7.

From Comics Continuum

SUPERGIRL #79

SUPERGIRL #79 Written by Peter David; art and cover by Ed Benes and Alex Lei. Linda winds up living someone else's life…that of the Silver Age Supergirl. But that's just the beginning of this issue's shocking twists. 32 pages, $2.50, in stores on Feb. 19.

The cover to CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7 has always been one of my favorite covers of all time. Here are some of the stories and artworks relating to this topic. The last spotlight I did was October 30, 2002 | Spotlight on Comics Interview, which a lot of people read and liked. So let me know what you think of this one.

THE MIGHTY THOR #127 (Apr 1966), cover art by Jack Kirby/Vince Colletta	SUPERMAN'S GIRLFRIEND, LOIS LANE #128 (Dec 1972), cover art by John Rosenberger/Vinnie Colletta	UNCANNY X-MEN #136 (Aug 1980), cover art by John Byrne
ESSENTIAL X-MEN #2 (Reprint), cover art by John Byrne	CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7 (Oct 85), cover art by George Pérez	MIGHTY MOUSE #4 (Jan 91), cover art by George Pérez
SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #10 (Apr 92), cover art by Jon Bogdanove/Dennis Janke. Thanks to ES	YOUNG JUSTICE #35 (Aug 2001), interior art by Todd Nauck/Andy Lanning.	MARS ATTACK IMAGE #4 (Apr), cover art by Bill Sienkiewicz. Scan from www.skater-x.net. (Updated 11/20/2002, thanks to ES)
VALOR #18 (May 93), cover art by Stuart Immonen/Dick Giordano. Scan from www.comics.org. (Updated 11/20/2002, thanks to ES)	MAJOR BUMMER #12 (Jul 2000), cover art by Doug Mahnke/Tom Nguyen. Cover reads: "Crisis of Infinite Jerks". Scan from Mile High Comics. (Updated 11/20/2002, thanks to ES)	SUPERGIRL #79 (Feb 2003), cover art by Ed Benes/Alex Lei. (Updated 11/19/2002, thanks to ES)
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7 (Advertisment) (1998), art by George Pérez	CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7 (Promotional Poster), art by George Pérez	CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7 POSTER, art by George Pérez
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS MEDIUM STATUE (1999), based on art by George Pérez	CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7 Original Art (1985), art by George Pérez
Death of Supergirl (from CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7) Commission (1999), art by George Pérez	Death of Supergirl (from CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7) Commission (2002), art by George Pérez	Death of Supergirl (from CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7) Commission (2002), art by George Pérez
Death of Supergirl (from CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7) Homage (2001), art by Yusuf Madhiya	Death of Supergirl (from CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7) Commission (2002), art by George Pérez, colored by Marcus Mebes	Death of Supergirl (from CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7) Commission (2002), art by George Pérez, colored by Kent Milton

The following excerpt is from an interview by Andy Mangels from DAVID ANTHONY KRAFT'S COMICS INTERVIEW #50 - which ran about 127 pages! Lots of rare artwork and information, I highly recommend getting a copy if you haven't got one yet.

Andy Mangels: Can you explain what happened with the starling similarities with CRISIS #7 cover to X-MEN #136 - which in turn looked liked LOIS LANE #128?
George Pérez: Well, that was incredible sheer coincidence. I didn't even notice it until BUYER'S GUIDE or someplace showed both covers, and I thought, "My God!" it's an incredible resemblance. My main influence in doing that was a cover of THOR, where Odin is holding the body of his son… that was my inspiration for that cover. I didn't know or remember the X-MEN cover, and haven't the faintest idea when people mention a LOIS LANE cover, which cover they're talking about. So there was definitely a comic-book inspiration there - but not the one that everyone thinks it is.

Andy: So that was totally all a coincidence then?
George: Totally. I was rather stunned because the emotional expression on Cyclops and Superman were so similar. Now that was a sheer coincidence. Supergirl and Phoenix are both facing the same way, their head on the same side of the page, so it's like… a weird coincidence. The one exception being not a single one of the covers that people mention did any other artist go as crazy in drawing that many characters in the background. (Laughter)

Special thanks to Mile High Comics, The Artist's Choice, Ebay, Comic Art L and Outpost 2000 (for giving me the Crisis Posters).