Supergirl Special #1 – Mariko Tamaki, Writer; Skylar Partridge, Artist; Marisa Louise, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: We’ve got a bigger Super-family than ever before, and I for one love it. It’s given so many great characters spotlights—but others fade into the background a little more. Until now, Supergirl has been one of them, as she slips into the role of mentor to the younger members and the bridge to Krypton as the only one with a memory of it. She and Jon are both sort of in that same odd “in between” place as they’re not quite teenagers and not quite adults. But Kara hasn’t really gotten much of a focus until this one-shot, where Mariko Tamaki brilliantly takes us inside her head and shows us the turmoil that’s been triggered by this new phase in her life—plus the return of Power Girl, her multiversal doppelganger, to the Super-family. Kara finds herself trapped in a pointless competition with Paige, trying to prove herself faster and stronger, and only winds up triggering her own latent trauma in the process.
Tamaki has written Kara before, of course—in the acclaimed Elseworlds “Supergirl: Being Super”—but that was a unique take with Kara as the only Kryptonian in a world without a Superman. Some of the scenes this issue with Kara in a school race reminded me of that, but these scenes are set on Krypton and do a great job of capturing how some of her flawed coping mechanisms have carried over from her time on that planet. There isn’t all that much action in this issue—just a few segments of rescues that drive the plot—but that leaves more room for Kara to have powerful conversations with Paige, Lois, and Jon, as well as a bonding session with Osul and Otho, who desperately want to know more about Krypton from the only person who was there. This is only a done-in-one right now, but it fleshes out Kara’s current mindset and sets up so many more potential stories for the Girl of Steel. Hopefully this will be just the start.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
