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Mild Mannered Reviews - Supergirl Comics

Supergirl #42

Supergirl #42

Scheduled to arrive in stores: June 17, 2009

Cover date: August 2009

"Who is Superwoman?" - Part 6: "Epilogues and Homecomings"

Writer: Sterling Gates
Penciller: Jamal Igle
Inker: Jon Sibal

Reviewed by: Jeffrey Bridges

Click to enlarge



General Lane remembers Lucy and vows revenge on Supergirl.

Kara confesses everything to Lois, who alternately wants more proof but makes Kara leave her apartment.

Science Police are heading to STAR Labs to transport Reactron when a "psychic grenade" is used on them to make them believe they're being attacked, and Reactron is liberated.

Kara looks to Lana for reassurance she did the right thing concerning Lucy, decides she always wants to be called "Linda" while on earth, and heads back to New Krypton to look for more clues on Superwoman.

2Story - 2: This issue particularly aggravated me.

First, almost nothing of consequence happens other than Reactron being free again. The rest is rehashing what's come before and the real kicker... Lois acting out of character.

I was a bit appalled at Lois in this issue, and I'm a huge Lois fan and that bothers me. No Lois Lane I know would demand Kara leave her apartment after Kara poured her heart out like that, and it makes even less sense when you consider Lois was skeptical of the entire story. But then her skepticism didn't make much sense to me either, because since when would she not believe what Kara tells her?

Kara's decision to now and forever be "Linda" while on Earth comes completely out of the blue. She's literally in the sky and about to leave, and just tells Lana to call her "Linda" from now on... with no reason or motivation to do so.

This run started out strong, but sadly it's ending with a whimper. There's almost no story to speak of here, and even less in terms of character. This story's gone on for six months, and I know nothing more about Kara now than when it started. Which is very sad, considering we should have already known quite a bit by the time this arc started and, through many unfortunate turns of events this poor book has had, instead knew nothing.

This arc was all about the plot of "who is Superwoman", and I don't know that any of us really cared. It wasn't even about the character of Lucy or what pushed her to do that, which would have at least been something. But the greatest offense in this book (the uneven portrayal of Lois in this issue notwithstanding) is the failure to develop Kara.

Still.

I don't know why this is so hard, folks. Who IS she as a person? Will we ever see? Will we ever find out? Will Kara ever get to play lead in a story in her own book, and have it matter and develop her and deepen her?

Forty-two issues in and I'm still asking the same questions I was with issue 1.

3Art - 3: I liked the two-page splash of Kara, Lana and Lois. An unusual choice for a splash, but it accentuated the emotion and, for a moment, before un-Lois words came out of Lois's mouth... that was nice.

2Cover Art - 2: This is just... unrelated and dull. This makes me want to pick up a book why?


Mild Mannered Reviews

2009

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

January 2009

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