Supergirl (2005) #58

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Gates really humanizes Cat Grant here (I didn’t know she had a dead son, for example) and it comes a little late. If he’d done it earlier, she wouldn’t have seemed so shrill. Besides that delay in characterizing, it’s a good issue.

Igle does a great job with Supergirl, as usual, but something about his approach is a little different. This issue is the first in forever not to be laden with New Krypton scenery or props; it gives Igle a chance just to do the superhero stuff and he does it really well.

Gates’s pacing is a little off too, I suppose. He’s going for dramatic emphasis more than content.

Oh, now I remember how this issue ends… with Lois going to visit her psychopathic sister. It’s undoubtedly a setup for something, but it takes the issue away from Supergirl and Cat.

Regardless, it’s a good little Christmas issue.

Supergirl (2005) #57

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Thank goodness for the colorist because without him, you wouldn’t be able to tell who Chang was drawing as a Bizarro or as a non-Bizarro.

Chang actually manages to draw Supergirl okay (too lanky to be slutty even), but everything else is a bit of a disaster. His art lacks dimension, which messes up his proportions eventually.

Again, Gates uses the events on Bizarro world to make Supergirl feel okay about herself and the New Krypton thing, but here it works a little better. Maybe because he’s got an actual relatable event, maybe just because he really does make all the Bizarros sympathetic. Bizarro-Girl is such a good character by the end, she’s ready for a limited series of her own.

The issue has an epilogue back on Earth, teasing about the revenge of Cat Grant. It’s a necessary addition, but it still damages the momentum.

Otherwise, fantastic.

Supergirl (2005) #56

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It’s amazing how much I enjoy Supergirl even though the issues read so fast. Gates never leaves the Bizzaro planet this issue either, so there’s no subplot development.

It does open a little weak, with Supergirl telling the unconscious Bizarro-Girl helping her will be a cathartic experience (not in those exact words, but close enough). Gates doesn’t know how to do subtle self-reflection. It’s not a superhero comic standard for a reason—there just isn’t room for it.

But once Supergirl and Bizzaro-Girl land, the issue just gets excellent. There’s space bugs, the DC version of Galactus (oh, wait, didn’t he have bugs in Ultimate Nightmare?) and Bizarro. Gates takes the reader on an abbreviated tour of the planet and its population, which is just a lot of fun (even though some of them don’t make it). It’s strangely good-natured.

And Igle’s art is rather excellent.

Supergirl (2005) #55

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Another very fast read, but it goes very smoothly.

Gates resolves his cliffhanger pretty quickly—all while developing the Bizzaro-Girl character into a sympathetic character (some via flashbacks to her origin on the Bizzaro planet). Supergirl, of course, is the only one who can see her as a misunderstood creature and not a monster.But Gates also has time to bring in a second action sequence, handle some stuff at the Planet (Cat Grant has some subplot of her own going, in addition to the Lana discovery) and then come up with another end sequence.

It’s an excellent issue, the kind of thing one wishes Gates and Igle had been doing all along. It doesn’t develop Supergirl as a character very much, but it is a solidly diverting superhero comic. And it’s not making Supergirl slutty.

Igle has a great time with the art too; he’s got lots of variety.

Supergirl (2005) #54

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Besides one glaring problem (implying there’s a supernatural pedophile out there posing as a Metropolis cop and kidnapping kids), this issue of Supergirl is a great read. It’s a fast read too—really fast, but it all works.

Well, wait… more Cat Grant lameness as she discovers Supergirl and Lana’s relationship/ DC’s unable to produce good new villains.

The issue opens with Jimmy Olsen discovering Bizarro-Girl in a good sequence (so good Gates should do an Olsen series of some kind) then finds Kara (or Linda) moping while Metropolis gets destroyed. Lana has to call her up to motivate her and the scene works well enough. Gates is able to pull it off because the reader wants to see Supergirl in action, not moping. So he gets some slack.

Then there’s a strange one page panel where she pauses to enjoy flying before saving the city.

But, otherwise, great.

Supergirl (2005) #53

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It’s an issue of Supergirl without a bunch of crossover stuff? I mean, there’s still some crossover stuff (and apparently they’re keeping Lucy Lane alive because Superwoman’s just a great villain… eye-roll) but it’s mostly just Lana and Kara talking. Wait, Linda. She wants to be Linda Lang now.

I had to go read up on Wikipedia how the “New Krypton” thing finished up. It’s surprising, with such an iconic cover, the series is totally unconcerned with picking up new readers.

There’s some good stuff between Linda and Lana, but Gates can’t keep it up when he’s got Linda refusing to help people as Supergirl. It’s just too contrived, too forced.

As for his small Metropolis (Dr. Light is testing Superwoman, then goes and discovers the mystery villain), it doesn’t work either. Gates brings charm to Supergirl, but he doesn’t bring charm to the DC Universe as a whole.

Supergirl (2005) #52

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I didn’t read the previous issue in the crossover—even though the notice tells the reader to stop and go read it first (I figured that issue would instruct me to read something else and I can only handle so much of this inane crossover).

Let’s see… from here I can tell all three villains from Superman II are back (new costumes, of course), Lex Luthor is betraying Brainiac (shocker) and Supergirl and Brainiac 5 got together some time in the future. Or the past. I never finished reading that Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes book; I’m unsure if it’s in continuity.

Gates tries really hard for his flirting between Supergirl and Brainiac 5 and it’s just a complete disaster. All of it’s in narration boxes, which is a terrible idea.

Rodriguez’s art is generally decent, if too polished. He also draws an inappropriately short skirt on Supergirl.

Supergirl (2005) #51

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Poor, poor Supergirl. Once again, trapped in a crossover she didn’t make, she takes a back seat to Mon-El, the Legion of Super-Heroes (wait, Mon-El’s in the Legion, right… well, he’s not with them this issue), her mother, General Zod and some cute little Kryptonian girl.

Igle gets to do an action issue, which he handles well. He gets to do some iconic panels too and he likes those… shame they are only occasionally Supergirl-related.

Very little actually happens in the issue, which is probably editorially mandated. It goes… fight scene, fight scene, talking scene, fight scene, talking scene, talking scene.

I made that list from memory, but I think it’s accurate.

Gates also doesn’t sell the silly plot points, like when Supergirl momentarily thinks Superboy is trying to kill her mother or something.

And Supergirl’s mother’s a dimwit for not realizing Zod is a bad guy.

Supergirl (2005) #50

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Yay, Igle’s back. And he’s back for an issue where Gates gets around to doing everything.

Unfortunately, Superwoman and Sam Lane are back too. Apparently one can never get rid of Johns’s worst ideas for the Superman line of books. There’s a great moment where it seems like Lane might dissect his daughter. Then he doesn’t.

But the rest of the issue, featuring the return of the Insect Queen (Lana Lang) and Supergirl defeating her, is good. There’s even some Supergirl knows science stuff, which Gates doesn’t make a big deal about.

The end is pretty sad though. Supergirl abandons a recovered Lana because she doesn’t like the way human families work. It’s a great scene, great art from Igle, but a downer.

Then there’s a backup from Black and Slater, basically doing a little recap of Supergirl’s history. It’s got Cliff Chiang artwork so it’s beautiful.

Overall, excellent issue.

Supergirl (2005) #49

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Camp does a fine job, but I’m really missing Igle.

Gates does two things this issue. First, he resolves the Silver Banshee cliffhanger and does a great job with it. He’s able to do a relatively concise action sequence, get in some character development for the police inspector friend of Supergirl’s and introduce the possibility the Silver Banshee might be nice to people occasionally.

The rest of the issue is spent on Lana and there’s a giveaway this issue. A cockroach. Doesn’t Lana Lang become Insect Girl or something along those lines? Insect Lady? I sort of assumed it had already happened post-Crisis, but I guess not.

This issue ends with another cliffhanger–Camp really seems to have read the “Extremis” arc of Iron Man for how the bugs attack–after a padded sequence. Gates could have really used those pages better.

Still, it’s solid, with a great open.