Summer of Supergirl Special #1 – Sophie Campbell, Mark Waid, Gail Simone, Writers; Belen Ortega, Cian Tormey, Emma Kubert/Sandra Hope, Artists; Triona Farrell, Trish Mulvihill, Alex Guimaraes, Colorists
Ray – 9/10
Ray: To celebrate Kara’s big movie coming out this very week, DC is releasing an oversized summer anthology celebrating the character’s complex history. First up is a story by regular writer Sophie Campbell, with Belen Ortega guest-starring on art. Picking up from the Lobo cliffhanger where she and the main man got thrown in jail, this issue finds Kara getting Lobo sentenced to community service before she and Krypto get bailed out by Crush – and take Dawg, Lobo’s chaotic Czarnian bulldog, back to Midvale with them. While Crush kicks off a romance with Princess Shark (you do you, girl), Kara eventually has to deal with Lobo returning to claim his dog after being released – but Dawg feels abandoned and isn’t warming up to Lobo just yet. This story is just as fun and chaotic as the main series, with some great art and a surprisingly sympathetic take on Lobo (even if his daughter disagrees).
Next up is “Lost Girls”, by Gail Simone and Emma Kubert, focusing on a past team-up between Supergirl and Mary Marvel. Set when both girls were fairly early in their careers, it starts when Kara goes up against a robot controlled by some disgruntled ex-Lexcorp engineers. The robot manages to generate Kryptonite, nearly killing Kara in a surprisingly harrowing segment – and then Mary shows up, using her magic to turn the tide. But when it’s all over, the two have an incredibly emotional bonding segment that ties in to the fact that they’re both orphans, sort of lost in the system for a while. I want so much more of these two joining forces now.
Finally, Mark Waid and Cian Tormey give us “Who Is Supergirl?”, a story that finds Conner, Jon, and Natasha opening Supergirl’s file on the Watchtower’s computer and delving into the Girl of Steel’s complex history. Kara has maybe the most tangled past of any hero save Donna Troy, due to the many retcons and time resets, and this story does a great job of untangling some of the weird knots around it – including why she wasn’t taken in by Clark or the Kents when she arrived, or how her death in Crisis on Infinite Earths works. It’s rare to see a recap story work this well, and it’s an excellent capper to this top-tier anthology.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
