Supergirl #26 – Marc Andreyko, Writer; Kevin Maguire, Penciller; Sean Parsons, Scott Hanna, Wade Von Grawbadger, Inkers; FCO Plascencia, Chris Sotomayor, Colorists
Ratings:
Ray – 8/10
Corrina: Space Allies
Ray: Coming off last month’s excellent anniversary issue, Supergirl #26 gets back to business as Kara’s quest to solve the mystery of the destruction of Krypton leads her into more peril. When we last left off, she had been captured Krypto and her new Coluan ally were left to watch helplessly from their ship. This issue reveals the identity of her captor – Harry Hokum, a former low-level Earth-based scammer who has graduated to a mid-level intergalactic alien trafficker and torturer. He’s got a particular interest in capturing one of the last few Kryptonians, and he intends to get Kara’s DNA and then dispose of her. The first half of the issue is pretty disturbing, essentially a prison thriller where a depowered Kara is abused by the guards and finds herself alongside other traumatized captives. It’s pretty disturbing stuff, actually, but there’s little doubt Kara’s going to get out of this – and she gets her chance thanks to an abusive guard.
Kara using her enemy’s energy blast to charge herself up is the kind of clever thinking the Girl of Steel is best at, and her escape is compelling stuff. But it’s the surprise guest stars that I enjoyed most this issue – the Omega Men. It’s been a while since Tom King and Barnaby Bagenda’s cult-favorite sci-fi series wrapped (and launched King into the DC Comics A-list), but they’re back and looking to raid Hokum’s lair. Kara wastes no time teaming up with them, but the issue does seem to be glossing over their true nature a bit. They might as well be portrayed as DC’s Guardians of the Galaxy here, while they’re far darker characters. I’m not sure if this title is going to deal with the horrors of the war the Omega Men come from, but it’s still great to see them again. Z’ndr Kol has very little to do this issue, taking a back seat and dealing with some lingering problems from his home planet. But overall, Kara’s journey through space continues to be a winning plot for this series.
Corrina: The best part about Kara being off in space is that she’s missed all the mess with Jor-El over in Superman. Okay, maybe the best part is a chance to see Kara in action, without her powers, though I do miss her Earth-based supporting cast.
The prison stuff is disturbing but it pulls back from the worst implications. One, Kara is never without hope or determination. Two, the story avoids making this sexual, for which the art team deserves credit as well. Indeed, half the fun of the issue is seeing the various aspects of disdain and determination on Kara’s face as she prepares for her inevitable break-out.
The story has somewhat lost the thread of finding out what happened to Krypton but I’m pleased to see the Omega Men, though they appear to be not quite as ruthless, as last seen in The Omega Men series. Overall, this arc has done a fine job of giving us a Supergirl to root for.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
Hey! I’m new at blogging and was thinking about writing media reviews. But I am confused about one thing. When you use all these images from comics and even for tv series for that matter, what are some copyright issues you have to deal with. Can you please guide me? It will be a great aaset!
Thank you!
Not a member of the team here but copyright law has explicit exemptions for snippets posted in the context of review, which this and other articles on the site clearly fall under. Basically, so long as you’re not posting close to the whole piece of media and you are adding review commentary you should be fine under proper copyright law.
Hey Geekdad. Super girl has many crossover story lines. With year of the villan, red superman and regular superman. Is there a spot where your tracking the other comic issues that complete the stories?