I frequently admit that I’m a sucker for superheroes. I love comic books, I love superhero movies, cartoons, and television shows. In fact, I consider myself fortunate as we seem to be in something of a golden age of superheroes on screen. Marvel has pretty much owned the big screen so far, coming up with at least one or two hits a year (though every year there are a couple of sour notes for them as well it seems). DC Comics, however, has quickly overtaken the small screen with good to great offerings like Arrow, Flash, Gotham, Constantine (now cancelled, cuss mah luck), and now, Supergirl.

If you’re going to do a comic book pilot right, I believe from now on I’m going to point people to Supergirl. Though it stumbles a bit like many pilots seem to, it never falters at all and even gets a couple great notes that if you’re a particular enthusiastic viewer will make you stand up and cheer.

The first great thing: Supergirl doesn’t drag you through the origin story. Oh, it’s there, but it doesn’t take up a lot of time. In fact, this is a full season television show, and they spent far less time on her origin story than the time spent on Superman’s origin in Man of Steel. Mostly because they assume you know Superman’s origin story and, seriously, who doesn’t? Superman is one of the most recognizable characters on the planet (and not just The Daily Planet). Even if you are vaguely interested, you know his story. So Supergirl has that advantage. And then they go, “I’m his cousin. I was sent to protect him, but I got waylaid and arrived later.” Tada! There’s her backstory. To the writers I say “Thank you.” Overwrought origins can bore the audience away from the screen.