Supergirl #16 Review

Writer: Jody Houser, Steve Orlando / Artist: Robson Rocha / DC Comics The ‘Plain Sight’ arc continues Kara’s inner struggle of being a superhero in hiding, unable to do what she feels is her duty by protecting National City. To bait her out into the open, the newly-evil Department of Extranormal Operations – the government shadow organization that formerly managed her – is releasing super-powered prisoners one by one, luring Supergirl into the open where they hope to take her down. It makes for a solid plan and, for the reader, a straightforward conflict, but the plot still needs an objective for our hero to pursue: she doesn’t want to hide forever, so what should Supergirl do? The most obvious answer is to go toe-to-toe with the D.E.O., so until we get there, the rest feels like stalling. The action scenes are quick and verging on formulaic, with simple solutions to simple enemies who were never meant to pose much threat to begin with. Instead, the tension lives closer to National City Technical High School where investigators are determined to uncover Supergirl’s identity, and Kara must balance her self-imposed responsibility to the people of National City with her parentally-imposed responsibility to keep herself safely hidden, as she can do no good if she were captured or killed by the villain of the week or the government agency out to get her.

Artistically, Supergirl #16 is among its better issues, with virtually none of the exaggerated, toon-ish expressions that occas…