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Supergirl Vol. 1: Last Daughter of Krypton (The...

DC Trade Paperback

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Took awhile to find some focus.

Jan 27, 2013

by Madpenguin
posted in Speech Bubbles: Comics & Graphic Novels

Rating:

The Earth is being bombarded by a very small meteor shower; a possible meteor lands in Siberia with a surprise. It appears that the meteor was in fact a space pod, and a young blond girl surfaces wearing Superman's colors and she begins to develop his powers quickly. She's then under attack by men in mechas until Superman arrives. Who is this girl and what is her relationship with Superman? -summary

Supergirl has a rather complicated past that can take forever to get into. The bottom line is that after her death during Crisis on Infinite Earths, she got the raw deal when brought back into the main DCU for a very long time. It wasn't until Superman/Batman #8 when Jeph Loeb re-introduced her to the DCU that she was finally handled with some precision and care. She eventually became featured in her own stories written by Sterling Gates most notably, and the character was fun to follow as she tried her best to be accepted on her new adopted world. It all begins again with Michael Green at the helm, and although it began rather messy at first, the story shaped up into another solid New 52 outing. I'm happy to see that all of those individuals out there who wrote the New 52 off without reading them are forced to chow on their words. This TPB collects Supergirl Vol 1 - The Last Daughter of Krypton issues 1 - 7.

Now this is something you will hear around the comic fans campfire and I have no choice but to echo this opinion. Supergirl reads a hell of a lot better in a collected edition. This is one of the books I almost gave up on in single issue format. The beginning has moments of being really bad, and not in a good way. Although it plays into Supergirl's state of mind which is quite believable, the wheels were spinning and I found myself practically begging for some plot progression. She awakens to an attack on her, and she's completely out of it since this entire world is alien to her. In fact, it feels like a dream. Once you get pass the over the top action, and the constant hooks Superman takes to the jaw; then you're treated to one fine story that portrays Supergirl as a sympathetic character.

The story is very character driven; Supergirl is beyond confused and it's difficult for her to believe anything Superman is saying about their world being dead. The way Green tells this story feels so genuine and just down to Earth. There are so many things going against Supergirl, and so many reasons for her to believe Superman is a con artist. For example, the last time she saw Superman he was still a baby. And even if they are cousins, then why can't he speak their language as well as she does? She mentions that his Kryptonian ascent is pretty bad, and this only gives her more reason not to believe him. I really love the complete use of the setting; Supergirl is lost in this world and she cannot understand or speak English, which makes getting around far more difficult. The story moves well when Supergirl is captured by a very greedy man on his orbiting space station. Unfortunately, this part feels like missed potential in regards to further development of Supergirl's plight, and the focus seems to be more on giving her a nemesis for later on. This part was slightly disappointing yet it still worked out.

These first seven issues cover a lot of ground setting the foundation for future stories, and I have no doubt believing they are going to find solid ground in the books of Superman delivering something epic. This can easily be foreshadowed with the introduction of the Worldkillers, whom are a group of very powerful beings that give Supergirl a tough time. For the moment there's only four of them, with the mention of a fifth. I think fans can easily guess who that last member is. My only problem with the Worldkillers is that besides being very strong, there really isn't much to them and I think the ending was slightly better than the beginning, which really isn't saying a whole lot.

Supergirl doesn't get the same super star artist treatment many of the big name books received. Mahmud Asrar's artwork is passable at best. The backgrounds are bland and lacking detail for the most part. They seem to only speak when the sci-fi fantasy theme comes into play, and outside of a warp gate here, and a blue sun there, nothing really grabbed me. Supergirl's armor costume design is based on Superman's, and it looks good, but I do hope to see her get the superstar treatment. I'm definitely sure someone can and will go wild with the pencils. The action is entertaining, I can't really knock it and the action fiends are going to eat this up. There's loads and loads of fisticuffs.

Supergirl Vol 1 shaped up to be pretty good. Despite the weakness in the start and even finish, there's still so much here to like. The action is beyond passable, character development is really strong, and Supergirl's world is developed enough to the point she can stand on her own, plus guest stars can be squeezed in and not feel like bodies to fill up a count. This is one book that shouldn't be missed.

Pros:
-A character that you can care about, well developed world

Cons:
- Has its messy moments

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