It is important to have Kara deal with all these things, specifically since they are so close to her family. But it's even more important for her to go off on her own adventures with her own side-characters. I don't know too much about the Supergirl comic and this is the first one I'm reading. I don't want to take all the time (and spend all the money) to catch up on all 35 previous issues, not including the Zero Issue and Future's End Issue. I do know about the events that have gone on and those are what intrigue me.
All that said, this is a great comic for someone unfamiliar with the character to get on board with. It's the start of a new arc and as such introduces new readers to what's gone on previously. There are some things that are left up for readers to actually have to research, but that's part of the business. All of the chunky things are explained with enough detail to help someone put the pieces together, without having to explicitly state what's going on. It also introduces us to the possibility that this will be mainly a Supergirl arc, with little intrusion from other characters. There is tease of another but we'll see how far that pans out.
So, let's get into it, shall we?
The cover is okay. It separates in a strange way, almost like a Venn Diagram, the three villains Kara will come to fight in the issue. My only question is why it doesn't tease the new suit she gets? It's what she wears for the majority of the fighting and is probably going to be her main suit of armor for this little story-arc. Sure, you've got the design of the cape flapping and having that as the cut-off between the villains and a mystery character, but the new design has a cape too. Also: the menace of the Crucible? The Crucible is meant to be helpful, not menacing. Daunting, maybe.
We start the issue with Kara flying high in the sky, remembering her time as a Red Lantern and watching an ally of hers fall to her doom, all the while a voice is telling her to let go.
Basically.
No, in reality someone is telling her to let go because she's going to break the coffee machine. You know, that problem that all super-heroes have! Kara complains that human tools are complicated, and you know what, I have to agree. Why's a cash register so darn weird?
But, to save the day, Clark Kent shows up! Kara nearly blows his cover (smooth) and I just realized how much alike Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail looks like Kara Zor-El. Neat.
The two chat outside briefly as Superman berates her about being a Red Lantern. Luckily, Kara fires right back about how Superman was taken over and turned into a giant killer monster for an extended period of time and nearly killed everyone. Nice going, Clark, way to bring up poor crossovers. Clark tells her that she needs to learn to control her powers, pointing out that she has extreme limits considering how she was able to break a bond with the Red Lantern ring and survive. Because nobody has ever done th--
Except Mera! Oh, yeah, forgot. Continuity break.
Kara claims that Earth is her home now and she wants to learn to settle here, just like Clark. Yay, a story-arc on Earth for Supergirl! This should be fun. Clark tells Supergirl to get training from S.T.A.R. Labs, then wonders if super-heroes like he and Supergirl are actually a threat, given the circumstances of the "Superman: Doomed" storyline. Yeah, that was pretty bad. Kara, though, tells him that she's in control of her own life. She is her own woman! You go, girl.
Somewhere with big screens and probably something alien, some aliens are watching Kara and wonder if she has "earned the name" of Supergirl. While on her way home. Kara is suddenly lifted in the sky and is being transported somewhere new, even being shifted into her Supergirl costume, then briefly changes into a new one before a bright light appears on a small panel and...
A whole new world!
I kinda like the new costume only because it's meant to be the pinnacle of Kryptonian armor, and it looks like armor, almost like the New 52 Green Arrow design. Instead of just some cloth thrown together, this thing looks like it deflect high-powered weaponry atop the strength Supergirl already possesses.
Supergirl gets attacked but adjsuts to her environment. She beats it. Next planet, she battles a fire-lady and beats her up by freezing it. And on the next page she gets attacked by meteors then chases a guy through space and WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!
I mean seriously! Three fights in like six pages! There is literally no breathing room in this time. The whole pacing of it is insane. It just doesn't stop, and not in a good way. There is hardly any time outside of the first fight to get a feel for the environments, and because of that, the other two battlegrounds are just bland. Seriously? Lava and space? All you have to do is splash orange and black on a few spreads, which is called lazy. The fights, or "tests" themselves aren't even that impressive and don't really prove anything. A small voice, seemingly robotic, carries itself throughout this fight remarking on Supergirl's skills, but I never saw anything extraordinary. If they've been watching her like they say, then why didn't they throw something dangerous at her?
Why not have her battle a mental image of herself as a Red Lantern? Or instead of dodging a couple of asteroids, have one already hurtling toward a planet, then have to catch up with it in space and prevent it from crashing into the planet? These tests are just a couple of punches and then Supergirl jumps to a brand new world, there is hardly anything good or impressive about them.
As we come to find out, from Lys Amata, the preceptor of Crucible Academy, these three goons weren't even going at full-strength so what's so darn impressive about her abilities? At least have them at full-power and see how much of a dent Supergirl can make on them? Ugh, it's dumb!
Anyway, Lys Amata tells her that the Crucible Academy is a place basically for super-beings to hone their abilities so they can protect places. Obviously, something is going to be up with these dudes. Kinda getting the same vibe I got as a kid watching Teen Titans when they introduced the H.I.V.E. school place...thing. Lys basically tells Kara that while she has power, she has even greater potential, and that they will come to unlock this potential. IN SPACE!
Thus, the comic ends in Rome where Superboy claims he wants to find some purpose. And he's at a Monastery. Why the heck is Superboy at a Monastery and not with the Teen Titans?! That doesn't make any sense! The only reason he should be involved in this book is if he is/ were already at the Crucible and serves as a familiar face for Kara!
Duh! Then Lys and her "recruitment team" could have an easier time coaxing Supergirl to stay there, and would actually improve their chances of sizing the two up. Speaking of, why the heck didn't they also go after Superboy at the same time as Supergirl? Or, even before that, since Superboy hasn't been really doing much?
I hope that Lys Amata and her goons ("recruitment team") get a whole lot smarter the next issue than this one, because that was the one thing that dragged this comic down. It had a good enough amount of exposition at the beginning to help new readers adjust, then added in some good character interaction between Clark and Kara (which promises that when this story arc is over the two are going to meet up and make up, it's cliched and bound to happen). But then it's pacing went completely berserk and the people of Crucible just started to act ridiculous.
Still, good comic, and if you're interested in Supergirl, check it out!
Next week, we're taking a look at an okay comic, Green Arrow #9. Because it's got snow and it's in the wintertime...yeah. Plus, Arrow Episode 9.
If you want to stay up to date on when I post, follow me on Twitter @seanovan13 and on Instagram @seanovan10. Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment