Weekly Comic Book Review

By: Kelly Sue DeConnick (writer), ChrissCross (penciller), Marc Deering (inker), Blond (colorist)

The Story: Just remember, kids: college doesn’t protect you from sinister hostage plots.

The Review: A lot of fanfare greeted Kara Zor-El when she finally returned to the DCU proper, but after over five years, with currently the longest-running female-led title on the stands (except for the inflated numbers on Wonder Woman), we still have no grasp on her character.  Each writer’s had a different take: the distant outsider, the party girl, the eager-to-please sweetheart, the girl who’s at once trying to live up to her famous cousin’s name and get out of his shadow.

The most consistent version of Supergirl is both serious and sincere, given to insecurity about her place in the heroic pantheon.  DeConnick tosses aside the inferiority complex to focus on the girl beneath the “S”-shield.  She does this the smartest way possible: getting Kara to interact with the real world with her costume under wraps, allowing her personality to take center stage.

It’s been a while since Kara got to rub shoulders with her Earthling peers, and this arc sets up a plot, which places her squarely amidst a whole university of them.  Comics rarely get into this setting (odd, considering a lot/most of us are of that age), but DeConnick shows the potential for stories that can come of it, with its wide range of personalities.  Half the energy of this issue comes from introducing a bunch of collegiate archetypes and letting them butt heads.

With DeConnick on board, no wonder the female voices are particularly strong this issue.  She manages to make their dialogue bold, but convincing, never turning them into caricatures, whether they be the hyper-bubbly (“Have you seen the dorm yet?  I love it.  Love!”) or the focused academic who has no use for time-wasting (“Congratulations, weirdo.  You freaked out the noobs.  We’re moving on now.”)

And as Kara reacts to each of these characters, we can see that in the grand scheme of university life, she’s the hapless R.A., whose instinct is to poop on any party yet inevitably gets dragged along for the ride.  This characterization brilliantly works off of Kara’s natural seriousness while also making it a source for laughs (“Do you know what you’ll major in?”  “No.”  “…Have you thought about having kids?”  “No.”  “Do you want to see if the cafeteria’s open?”  “No.”).

The plot mostly revolves around your usual “mysteriously vanishing folk” storyline.  Even though the mastermind gets revealed early on, his goals remain forebodingly intriguing as he targets the best and brightest of the nation’s undergraduates.  And since Kara gets wrangled into accompanying one of these intended targets (even as he claims to be one step ahead of his would-be captors), she’s stuck on the case in civilian guise, a cool premise for follow-up issues.

ChrissCross delivers a tasteful voluptuous style that flatters the many women in this story without going overboard, though he tends to distort their faces every now and then (especially since they all seem to get Angie Jolie lips).  His fluid style also seems well-tuned for sci-fi action  (love his flying robot monkeys—or M.O.N.Q.I.S), though we see little of it this time around.

Conclusion: We’ve had promising starts fizzle into disappointments before, but call me an optimist: I say this could be the start of something big—at least, until the title gets relaunched with a skirtless Supergirl come fall.

Grade: B+

- Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: - Lois gives heartfelt apology to Kara about not appreciating her enough, and as soon as Kara accepts it, she goes, “Good.  Because I need a favor.”  Oh, Lois—never change.

- Actually, I would pay good money for a series that stars Supergirl as a college R.A.

 

Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews Tagged: | Blond, ChrissCross, DC, DC Comics, Kara Zor-El, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Lois Lane, Marcus Fenix, Professor Ivo, Supergirl, Supergirl #65, Supergirl #65 review