Writer: Steve Orlando / Artist: Brian Ching / DC Comics
Kara Danvers isn’t doing anything amazing, but what this series is doing, it’s doing well. On its 4th issue Supergirl feels miles away from the semi-origin story where we began, now in a full conflict that ties part of her past with her life on Earth, pitting her old parents – or some version of them – against a new, more honest reality of her current life. Cyborg-Superman is her father and has revived their entire city to be alive again and return to Kara everything that she lost, including her mother… only each revived Kryptonian requires the life force from a human.
It’s a sacrifice Kara’s dad is easily willing to make, and one that’s meant to give Kara a choice between a comforting lie embracing the past or a harsh truth of dead parents and extinct city. It should be a difficult choice, honestly – or at least offer a moment’s pause, a weighing of the pros and cons, the seduction of choosing the blue pill and living in the Matrix, but it’s one Kara makes easily. It loses a bit of the potential tension but moves the plot along, similar to issue #3 and this arc’s quick pace. The series doesn’t suffer from it, at least partially due to its dialogue where Kara is challenged not with her own decision, but convincing her half-alive mother to find what’s left of her soul and abandon the sacrifice of an entire city to bring her people back to life.
A few fun action scenes don’t hurt either, mostly coming from Director Chase of the D.E.O. Real talk, Chase is most fun character of the series, always finding herself in combat for some reason or anything and, somehow, landing more of the funny quips that are expected from Cat Grant, even with less screen time. Chase sees the cyborgs coming to the city like a swarm of bees and has a while conversation about this prototype gun that just might work. Chase cocks the heater and blasts purple rain, flipping off rooftops with a trench coat on, blonde hair flowing, just mad she’s putting in all this work while Supergirl’s MIA.
Overall, Supergirl isn’t groundbreaking, but it hasn’t set out to be. Instead, it’s exploring an old character in a way that nods to an origin story without falling into its most common pitfalls of overfamiliar entry plots. This is likely the best issue to date, and the arc already running full speed as it comes closer to its climax. It should be fun, and then we should be due for a pace breather, but not a second too soon.
Reading Supergirl? Catch up on previous reviews here. Watching the TV show? Enjoy our Supergirl recaps after every episode.
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