| Supergirl: Day of the Dollmaker | |
| January 2011 — February 2011 | |
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| Writers | Sterling Gates |
| Artists | Jamal Igle |
| Comic Book Story Arcs | |
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Supergirl: Day of the Dollmaker is a storyline told in the pages of the Supergirl comic book. It's the last story arc of the Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle's run.
Supergirl #58
- Date: January 2011
- Written by Sterling Gates
- Pencils: Jamal Igle
- Inks: Jon Sibal
- Colors: Blond
- Cover by Amy Reeder Hadley
Supergirl returns to Earth after helping Bizarrogirl saving Bizarro World and fighting Satan Girl alongside the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st century. Unfortunately, she finds an unpleasant surprise upon going back home.
While Bizarro was tearing up Metropolis, Cat Grant overheard a conversation between Lana and her. Cat hasn't discovered Kara's secret identity but she has figured out Lana is acquainted with Supergirl. Needless to say, she looked to expose their connection until realizing she had a bigger trouble to deal with. Someone has been sending her dolls. At the beginning she dismissed it as a prank until she realized there was a connection between those dolls and several missing children around Metropolis. Even more troubling, those dolls' craftsmanship looks like the handiwork of the man who murdered her son several years ago, Toyman.
Cat simply cannot deal with this by herself, so she blackmails Lana to get Supergirl help her.
So, Kara and Cat enter Arkham Asylum and go to see Toyman. Cat asks Schott why he is sending her dolls and what it has to do with the missing children around Metropolis. Toyman protests he has not done anything and refuses to talk anymore. Supergirl has no patience for his denials, though, not when children are missing. She grabs Toyman's neck, slams him into the wall and threatens him, wondering if she should check to see if he is the real Toyman or a robot.
Toyman gives in and he examines one of the dolls. He seems to recognize the handiwork and wonders where Cat got it from, when suddenly the doll animates and stabs Toyman in the chest.
Supergirl swiftly takes Toyman to the hospital where he undergoes emergency surgery. As they await news, both women argue. Despite the help Kara is giving her, Cat goes on insulting, mocking and slighting Supergirl until Kara has had enough of it. Realizing she doesn't need to sit there and take Cat's abuse, she leaves Cat alone after hearing the Toyman is stable. The Toyman lead was a dead end, so she will try to look for the children on her own.
As Kara goes all over Metropolis, looking for the children and trashing super-villains such like Riot, she talks to Lana, who explains how Cat's son Adam died at the hands of one of Toyman's robots, and that's what changed her into the angry woman she's become.
Meanwhile, Cat goes to visit Adam's grave, unaware that a toy robot is watching her. When she gets home her door is open and she's attacked by another toy robot. Quickly Cat tases and puts him down only to discover it was one of the missing children in disguise.
And that's when Anton Schott "The Dollmaker" introduces himself to her.
Supergirl #59
- Date: February 2011
- Written by Sterling Gates
- Pencils: Jamal Igle
- Inks: Jon Sibal, Robin Riggs
- Colors: Blond
- Cover by Amy Reeder Hadley, Richard Friend, Guy Major
At S.T.A.R. Labs, Lois goes to visit her sister Superwoman who is still being restrained. Lois bluntly tells her sister disgusts her. She cannot forgive her father for murdering thousand of lives and twisting Lucy into a monster, and she cannot forgive Lucy for being so stupid to help him, and losing her soul in the process. She says goodbye to Superwoman, stating she will not miss General Lane but she already misses her sister.
Back in Cat's apartment, Dollmaker has the woman tied up, and explains that he is the son of Winslow Schott. When he grew up he became uninteresting to his father, so his mother took him away only to abandon him in Metropolis earlier this year. With no where else to go, he wandered back to his father's abandoned lab. He found Toyman's old workshop, picked some of his dad's old tricks, and decided to continue his legacy, kidnapping other children he feels have been abandoned.
He found out about what his father did to Cat, so he decided Cat can help him get revenge on Toyman, and in exchange she will get to be his new mother. Naturally, Cat is less than impressed, and she declares no one can replace her son Adam and she would not love Anton if he was the last child in the Metropolis. Hearing this, Schott decides that he will kill all the children in the city to see if Cat really means it. As he and his dolls march for the door, Cat gives in and calls out to Supergirl.
Kara, who has been beating up all villains in the city Batman-style, and feeling really conflicted about helping a person who has spent one whole year slandering her, hears Cat's yell. She crashes into the Dollmaker's lair and easily destroys his toy army. Then she frees Cat, who knocks Dollmaker out with a well-placed hook. Once defeated the villain, the missing children are discovered and returned to their parents.
The next day, Kara and Lana head to Smallville for Christmas with the Kents, where Kara tells her family that Dollmaker is in intensive care but should pull through. Clark, Lois, Lana, Conner, Krypto, and Linda are all there. And then Lois brings a copy of tomorrow's Daily Planet headline, titled "The Day I Needed Supergirl" in where Cat states that she still stands by her first Supergirl article, but she is willing to give the Girl of Steel another chance.
The story ends with Kara pondering: "Lives can be boiled down to a few things: our families ... the people who hate us ... the ones who love is ... and the work we leave behind. Some of us try hard to make the world a better place than it was when we found it. I know that's what I try to do. I won't always be successful. But that's life. I'm Supergirl. This is my life ... and y'know what? I'm pretty happy with it. (For now at least.)"