Book Review: Supergirl vol #6 (New 52)

Book: Supergirl volume #6: Crucible (issues #34-40 and Supergirl: Futures End #1) by Tony Bedard (issues #34-35 and Futures End) and K. Perkins and Mike Johnson (issues #36-40)

Illustrations: Karl Mokine (issue #34), Jonboy Meyers (issue #35), Emanuela Lupacchino (issues Futures End, #36-40)

Ink: Jose Marzan Jr. (issue #34), Ray McCarthy (issues Futures End and #36-40)

Color: Hi-Fi

Letters: Rob Leigh (issues #34-35, Futures End, #37-40) and Dezi Sienty (issue #36)


Edition: Single Print Issues

Description:

She’s the Last Daughter of Krypton and one of Earth’s greatest heroes, but for Kara Zor-El, being Supergirl means feeling like she’s got no place to call home.

So when a deep-space school called the Crucible-an intergalactic academy that trains the universe’s most powerful beings-comes calling, Supergirl is happy to go. There, she’s no “super hero”-she’s just like everyone else.

But this strange school hides dark secrets. Just what are Kara and her new friends being trained for? And what does Crucible want with Supergirl’s clone “cousin,” Superboy? Once the truth comes out, Supergirl may not make it to graduation…

Book Review: Supergirl vol #5 (New 52)

Book: Supergirl volume #5: Red Daughter of Krypton (issues #28-33) by Tony Bedard with letters by Rob Leigh

Illustrations by Yildiray Cinar (issues #28-31), Emanuela Lupacchino (issue #30-33), Diogenes Neves (issue #30), Guillermo Ortego (issue #31) and Cory Smith (issue #31) and Jeff Johnson (issue #32)

Ink by Ray McCarthy (issues #28-33), Marc Deering (issue #30) and Scott Hana (issue #33)

Color by Dan Brown (issues #28-29) and Hi-Fi (issue #30-32) and Yildiray Cinar (issue #31)


Edition: Single Print Issue

Description:

She's done with people pushing her around, taking advantage of her and betraying her. She's done feeling helpless, lost and discarded. She's done with hope, faith and acceptance. Now, all that's left is rage. And she'll burn the universe down before she lets another person tell her who she should be. Supergirl's journey as a Red Lantern begins here.


Rating: 2 stars

Review:

Oh boy, was this bad. Just when I thought the Supergirl series was back on track with the 4th volume, it had to return to the abyss of bad writing.

This group of issues center around Supergirl's rage being the catalyst for her becoming a Red Lantern. These issues were also a crossover with the Red Lantern series but the writing and story for this was so bad I didn't bother picking up the RL issues, I doubt they could have improved this.

Volume #5 continues from the last issue with Supergirl and Lobo battling it out at Dr. Veritas hidden facility. As the fight continues, Supergirl's rage intensifies making it possible for the Red Lantern ring to find a wearer. Once the ring found her, Supergirl's transformation was instant which caused her to loose control. With her new rage fueled powers and inability to think clearly she wound up in another fight this time with her friend Siobhan. To have a fighting chance Siobhan had no choice but to turn into the Silver Banshee to try to stop Supergirl. However, unable to do that she found a way to get Kara to leave Earth.

Thanks to several Red Lantern recaps shown or explained throughout the volume, the reader learns that Supergirl joined up with the Red Lanterns who were being lead by Guy Gardner. However as a new Red Lantern, her rage was out of control and taking over her mind but thanks to a special treatment, she was able to regain control. From there she worked with the other Red Lanterns to fight off an invading alien army who were going around destroying worlds in order to make the survivors stronger. Yes, I know that really doesn't make any sense but that was the plot of this story.

After getting "fired" by Gardner, Supergirl was sent to find a way to remove her ring but as she was approaching her destination, she was attacked by the world destroying aliens. She found out something rather unbelievable about their leader. He was more than he appeared, and it required her to not only come up with a way to defeat him but to also finally get rid of the Red Lantern ring and the rage it ensued.

Throughout the volume, there was this weird subplot with this alternate dimension demon/alien who had been trapped in Dr. Veritas' lab. Once it escaped, it was trying to find Supergirl by tracking her down to her last known location on Earth.

I thought issue #33 was probably the best out of this group of issues, it was the only one that showed a Supergirl who was capable of doing something other than raging out. She managed to figure out a plan and finally achieved some growth. It's hard to find something good about this volume but the one consistent thing about this series has been the artwork. It really was the best thing about this.

Overall, this volume suffered from poor plotting, bad writing and no clear direction as to who Supergirl is.

The New 52 has not been good to Supergirl, it's as if all the writers just reached into a hat and pulled out random things to write about. Nothing pertaining to Supergirl (or for that matter the New 52 in general) seemed thought out. Something that sort of annoyed me was Guy Gardner, he was unrecognizable in this. From his shaggy hair and goateed appearance to his calm and collected personality he's Gardner in name only.

I'm hoping volume #6 which is the final volume will redeem Supergirl in some capacity because this series has been hit or miss. So far volumes #1 and #4 have been the only ones I enjoyed reading.

Book Review: Supergirl vol #4 (New 52)

Book: Supergirl volume #4: Out of the Past (issues #21-27) by Michael Alan Nelson (issues #21-25), Scott Lobdell (issue #25), Justin Jordan (issue #25), Tony Bedard (issues #26-27)

Illustrations by Diogenes Neves (issue #21-24), Chad Hardin (issue #23), Paulo Siqueira (issue #25) and Yildiray Cinar (issues #26-27)

Color by Dave McCaig (issues 21-22), Dan Brown (issue #22), Guy Major (issues #23-24), Hi-Fi (issue #25) and Dan Brown (issues #26-27)

Edition: Single Print Issue

Description:

In the aftermath of H'EL ON EARTH, Supergirl's world has been shattered in every way possible. Kara Zor-El searches the stars for a new home, but in doing so, encounters one of Superman's deadliest enemies in his New 52 debut: Cyborg Superman!


Rating: 4 1/2 stars

Review:

This was like a breath of fresh air, the Supergirl series was finally back to being an interesting read. This almost makes up for having to suffer through reading volumes #2 and #3. And the good thing is despite the multiple writers, this group of issues showcased a Supergirl who is likeable and is finally starting to learn from her mistakes and grow. She still has a problem with easily trusting people but she is learning.

In issues #21-24, Kara who was still dealing with kryptonite poisoning decided to leave Earth. She didn't want to die there, she was leaving because she wanted to live out her last days somewhere that would be more pleasant. But before she left, she went to say goodbye to her friend Siobhan. However, Siobhan who was irritated by her current living situation didn't have time for Kara to be whining about her problems or running away from them as she saw it. Her friend is usually very understanding and she would have been even more so if she knew Kara was dying but she was tired of Kara's self-centeredness and only thinking she's the only one with problems. Everyone has them as Siobhan pointed out to her.

Meanwhile out in space, Kara answered a distress call that had a greater connection to her than she could have possibly ever imagined. Finding I'noxia brought her into contact with beings that could do great things. They gave her a chance to relive Krypton but her pleasant moment was ruined when Cyborg Superman asked a truly unreasonable request. Something good came out of this terrible situation with Cyborg Superman, Supergirl was cured of kryptonite poisoning in an interesting way. Also, the villain Brainiac also factored into this story.

Issue #25 was part of the Krypton Returns crossover which found Superman, Supergirl and Superboy going back in time to ensure that Krypton was destroyed. I will be reviewing the entire Krypton Returns storyline at another time.

Issues #26-27 found Supergirl returning to Earth after her ordeal with Cyborg Superman and the events of Krypton Returns. While she was speaking with Dr. Veritas you could tell that she had undergone a change. She had started to let go of some of that anger she had been holding on to.

But while that was happening, Dr. Veritas' lab had received an unexpected visitor, Lobo. Yeah, I'm not a fan of the "new " Lobo but that's a discussion for another day. Anyway, it didn't take long before Supergirl faced off against Lobo but he tricked her and found a way to be brought into the lab. Remember I said that it seemed like Kara was letting go of her anger well that's true but there is also a bit of rage that is slowly starting to effect her. And it's manifesting even more the longer she has to deal with Lobo. Issue #27 ends with Supergirl angry and ready to go up against Lobo.

This volume turned out to be a good read and that's all thanks to the writing improving immensely. Not since the first volume have I enjoyed reading a New 52 Supergirl story. This was very well-written with the story being concise and exciting. I didn't have too many problems with the artwork either. Despite there being so many different artists, the style changed a bit but the changes weren't too noticeable or looked poorly drawn.

Besides the writing the other improvement was Kara's character growth. It was time for her to stop thinking with her fists actually start to think before she act. Something I do wish that would change is how she continues to think of Superman and Superboy in such a negative way.

With only two volumes left in this series, I plan to have those reviews up soon.

Book Review: Supergirl vol #3 (New 52)

Book: Supergirl volume #3: Sanctuary (issues #13-20) by Mike Johnson (issues #13-17 and 19), Frank Hannah (issue #18) and Michael Allan Nelson (issue #20)

Illustration by Sami Basri (issue #13), Mahmud Asrar (issue #14-17 and 19-20) and Robson Rocha (issue #18)

Color by Dave McCaig (issues #13-20)


Edition: Single Print Issues

Description:

When a mysterious Kryptonian arrives on Earth and convinces Kara that he intends on returning them to Krypton, prior to its destruction, in an effort to save the planet. When presented with the opportunity to return home, the young and sometimes foolish Kara fails to see H'el's whole plan, a plan that will leave the Earth in ruins. Wonder Woman and The Flash must facedown Kara in an effort to make her see the truth and save Earth before it's too late!


Rating: 2 stars

Review:

Please note, this review is only for Supergirl volume #3, I will review the complete H'el cross-over event at a later time.

In the first two volumes, Michael Green co-wrote the issues with Mike Johnson, however this volume aside from two issues was written solely by Johnson. But the sad thing is, the quality didn't improve. This continues with the same mediocrity with bad writing and poorly constructed stories.

Issue #13 continues where the second volume left off with Supergirl being surprised by Simon Tycho in her new Fortress of Solitude. After barely surviving the explosion of his space station (volume #1) he now had superpowers thanks to a procedure that was used to save his life. He tried to force her to make the Fortress obey him, so he could take control of it. But finally using her brain and with some assistance from the Fortress, she was able to stop him. At the end of this issue, the Fortress informed her that Superman was fighting some unknown Kryptonian presence, in which you're supposed to read Superman #13 to find out more.

Issues #14-17 were the Supergirl portion of the H'el cross-over story. Even if you didn't read the Superman and Superboy issues you can still easily follow this story. In this group of issues, Supergirl feeling lonely and homesick for Krypton, was basically preyed upon by H'el, a powerful Kryptonian. He manipulated her and told her exactly what she wanted to hear in order for her to help him in his plan to travel back in time before Krypton was destroyed.

I don't understand the way this Supergirl is written, although she was slightly angry when she impromptly met H'el, she immediately trusted him and believed in his plan to travel back in time so they could return to Krypton. She also was nearly willing to let him kill Superboy who she regards as "it" since to her he's only a clone.

Meanwhile, she continues to distrust Superman (and anyone associated with him) even though now she's finally accepted the fact that he's her cousin. However, it took the Fortress computer telling her he is before she finally believed it. 

The New 52 is by far one of the stupidest versions of Supergirl because no matter what, nothing and no one was going to stop her from helping H'el. Not Superman nor any of the other members of the Justice League were going to stand in her way. She never questioned H'el or his plan, she followed along willingly. It wasn't until she was forced to see the truth that she finally realized that H'el's plan was destroying the Earth.

Issues #18-20 follows the aftermath of H'el's plan which left Supergirl dealing with kryptonite poisoning. It also had an imprisoned Lex Luthor interested in her, he sent one of his minions to try to test her abilities in a fight. But Karen Starr a.k.a Power Girl (Earth 2's Supergirl) was there to help in the fight. Earlier, Power Girl had rescued an unconscious Supergirl who had been captured by the government. Away from Luthor's minion they headed back to Supergirl's Fortress but a problem occurred when the Fortress computer couldn't understand why there were two Kara Zor-Els. The computer then tried to eliminate "fake" Kara but the duo eventually came up with a way to stop it. But at the end it appears that the computer wasn't completely destroyed and will continue with it's plan to stop the "fake" Kara.

This was not a very good read and the artwork wasn't that great either. Even without the other issues of the H'el crossover this was still a disjointed and fragmented group of poorly written issues. There are scenes that pop up out of nowhere and add nothing to the story such as in issue #18, Kara was flying underground when a lava woman appears and starts attacking her. There was no point in that scene even being there as well as there was no point in Lex Luthor appearing in this volume.

I really don't understand the New 52 Supergirl because DC Comics didn't seem to know what to do with the character or the series. Kara continues to lack any depth and most of the time she's a total idiot with only a few times where she actually was shown using her brain. But I suspect that those instances were included so you don't think the character is a total idiot. She continues not to learn from any of her mistakes and always ready for a fight instead of trying to gauge the situation.

I think one of the biggest mistakes of this series up to this point was Kara's distrust of Clark/Superman and the fact that she has no real connection to anyone or to Earth. With Jonathan and Martha Kent being dead in the New 52 that loss made a huge impact in the Super family comics because it removed all the family togetherness and left Superman, Supergirl and Superboy as three strangers instead of a family.

Book Review: Supergirl vol #2 (New 52)

Book: Supergirl volume #2: Girl in the World (issues #8-12 and 0) by Michael Green and Mike Johnson with illustrations by George Perez (issue #8) and Mahmud Asrar (issues #9-0) with  color by Paul Mounts (issue #8) and Dave McCaig (issues #9-0)

Edition: Single print issue

Description:

Unlike her cousin Superman, Supergirl arrived on Earth from her dead home planet of Krypton fully grown, fully powered and totally confused. Unable to speak anything but her native tongue of Kryptonese, unsure of how she arrived on Earth, and distrustful of the now-adult Superman, Supergirl truly is alone in the world.

When Kara is quickly befriended by a Scottish punk rocker named Siobhan—who can mysteriously speak Kryptonese—she’s getting more than a best friend out of the deal. She’s also getting a new ally and an introduction to the strangest enemy she’s ever faced--the supernatural Black Banshee. But what is Siobhan’s link to this new, immortal threat?


Rating: 2 stars

Review:

This certainly wasn't as good as the first volume, it's boring and seemed to have taken quite a hit in the quality department. The writing, the stories and artwork were beyond mediocre. Supergirl in these group of stories is not very smart, she's unlikable and keeps doing stupid stuff. At this point she knows she needs help adjusting to being on Earth but yet she still won't accept Superman's help.

Issues #8-#10 finds Kara dealing with the military after she fought off the WorldKillers (from the first volume) and instead of thanking her for saving the people of New York City, they were trying to bring her in. But before they could start firing at her, a bystander who just so happens to speak the Kryptonian language steps in to try to reason with them.

That only seemed to make things worse and Kara had to quickly take off with her would be rescuer. Introductions found Kara meeting Siobhan Smythe who has the ability to speak any language once she hears it. And after another military attack, Kara and Siobhan escaped to Siobhan's apartment where she convinced Kara to change clothes so they could go out and have some fun without anyone spotting her since Kara was now officially sought after by the authorities.

I really don't get the world that DC Comics was trying to build in the New 52. I don't understand why they would want a world where people hate and fear superheroes.

The duo's fun was over once someone from Siobhan's past showed up. Her father the Black Banshee was there to capture her and to steal her powers. But Kara wasn't going to let that happen however, something Siobhan didn't tell Kara was that she was the Silver Banshee.

Despite how powerful Supergirl is she is no match for magic and the more she tries to fight Black Banshee the weaker she becomes. She had a plan to stop him but all that did was trap her in a subconscious world where she met Siobhan's brother Tom (who had sacrificed himself to protect Siobhan years ago) and had to fight off Black Banshee to escape.

In the end the only one who could deal with her father is Siobhan as the Silver Banshee. Side note: why is Silver Banshee one of the good guys now?

In issue #11, Kara was still staying with Siobhan and Tom getting a crash course on how to be a Earth girl and learning to speak English. While Siobhan had to work, Tom and Kara went out to enjoy the city when she was attacked by a guy wearing a nano suit. He was hired to capture her and take her to someone but she was able to defeat him.

This ends with Kara leaving her two new friends in hopes of getting answers to why she's constantly being chased and attacked. She's surprisingly off to see Kal-El.

Issue #12 has Kara seeking Kal-El's advice although she doesn't trust him or really want his help. Seriously, I don't get the New 52, how can Kara openly trust Siobhan and Tom but simply absolutely refuse to trust her own cousin Kal-El. That makes no sense.

Kal-El had located a missing piece of her space ship but it's at the bottom of the ocean. He thought this would be an opportunity for the two of them to work together but no Kara doesn't want his help because she doesn't trust him.

So off she goes to find the missing part of her ship where she ends up fighting mutated sea animals before finding what she came for. At the bottom of the ocean is a small version of the Fortress of Solitude and inside she finds someone she least expected Simon Tycho, the Lex Luthor wannabe from the first volume.

Issue #0, is a boring retelling of Kara's origin story which showed how Zor-El planned to save Kara from the soon to be doomed Krypton. He's also the reason why she has that awful costume. What kind of dad would give their teenage daughter that suit?

I can't believe after such an amazing first volume, this one was full of boring and disjointed story telling.

Book Review: Supergirl vol #1 (New 52)

Book: Supergirl volume #1: Last Daughter of Krypton (issues #1-7) by Michael Green and Mike Johnson with illustrations by Mahmud Asrar

Edition: Read the single print issues

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

Right off the bat, whose bright idea was it to give Supergirl this awful costume. This was not a good update and it's really sleazy even more since she's a teenager. Why did Smallville Season 11 do a better job with their update to Supergirl's costume than they did?

The first seven issues gives the reader an introduction to the New 52 Supergirl whose origin didn't change too dramatically because she still arrived to Earth several years later than her cousin but this time when she meets Kal-El she's less willing to listen to him which results in a whole issue (#2) of the two having a huge fight.

However, before Superman showed up, Kara was being attacked by a group who were sent to acquire items from space including her. Amidst the attack, Kara was becoming startlingly aware of all the new powers and abilities that had suddenly manifested.

Despite not knowing what was going on and why she was on this new planet she was more than capable of dealing with that group but as things were starting to get out of hand Superman showed up. He tried to talk to her but she didn't believe a word he said and things went from bad to worse.

Superman tried to talk with her after a few more fights and she did eventually listen but she still didn't believe him and then took off. She went back to find her ship or pod to see if she could go back home but it had been taken by the group. While standing there she was sent a message from the guy who orchestrated the retrieval.

Nothing seems to be working out for her because following that message turned into a trap from a crazy Lex Luthor wannabe. All this girl wanted to do was go home. She does that after getting away from the Luthor wannabe but all she found was the last remnants of Argo City and someone else looking for her. The person wanted information that she thought Supergirl could help them both gain the information they both seem to be missing. Kara refused resulting in her being left on Argo City while the woman took off to Earth.

Kara after getting away from the rapidly descending Argo City made her way back to Earth to stop not just the powerful lady but more like her. What I like was that Kara did her best to keep people from being hurt she tried to take the fight away from them.

Awful costume aside this first volume was pretty good. It's understandable that Kara would be upset because she doesn't understand what has happened to her and why's she on Earth instead of being on Krypton. And that guy couldn't possibly be her cousin because he was a baby the last time she saw him. The writing shows all the emotions that Kara was going through.

There are things I like about this series (since I'm still reading it) and things I don't (Kara constantly being angry and that costume) but as far as some New 52 series go this one isn't bad and it does get better (and a little worse at times) but I'm glad I stuck with it.