Supergirl (2005) #48

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Gates finally gets to the Lana thing–her nosebleeds and everything else. Turns out she has an unknown form of cancer (or something). I understand the need for drama, but Gates handles it poorly. He doesn’t handle it badly, he just handles it unrealistically. Supergirl’s anger about Lana not telling her is overblown and her concern is meager.

Luckily, the rest of the issue is solid. It starts as a recap of Silver Banshee’s origin and leads into some expanding of that origin (there’s brief homage to Chuck Austen and John Byrne at the open of the issue–they both worked on the character, Byrne creating her). Gates does a good job of not making it feel like a retcon.

Then the action kicks off and Gates ends on a great hard cliffhanger.

The art from Dagnino and Fernandez is all right. Their faces aren’t great, but they’re generally fine.

Supergirl (2005) #47

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You know, I hate to rag on Jon Sibal’s inks when he’s not on an issue… but Matt Camp’s fill-in here looks a lot like Igle before the Sibal inks. It maintains some of the roundedness. It’s not all about having thin lines.

Also, this issue shows off what’s wrong with editors. Here, at the end of the New Krypton primary nonsense, Gates gets to define Supergirl’s mom. Her backstory–given earlier–would have made her a great, rich, conflicted villain. Instead, Gates gets to do it at the end when it doesn’t really matter anymore. I mean, it’s a really good issue–Supergirl’s barely in it, it’s the mom’s issue–and it’s really good.

Gates is also able to make New Krypton feel developed instead of silly, garbled and often goofy. He uses flashbacks to Krypton, showing how things worked there.

It’s a very good issue. Very good.

Supergirl (2005) #46

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I love not reading the other parts of this crossover, it makes my brain work a little to catch up. Rucka’s back as co-writer here (and Igle and Sibal get help from Pansica and Ferreira). Again, no idea what Rucka does and doesn’t do. Similarly, Pansica matches Igle (especially with Sibal on inks) close enough it’s hard to tell them apart. There were some pages I really liked, reminding me of Igle before Sibal… then I realized it could be Pansica and Ferreira.

Anyway, Gates and Rucka manage the action versus plot development well here. There’s also a nice tip of the hat to–oh, wait, no, complete rip-off of–“Battlestar Galactica” when it comes to everyone finding out the gods are real.

Still, it packages well. And Lois finally has something to do in this issue. Though she’s not surprised at all her father’s a mass murderer.

Supergirl (2005) #45

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And now it’s in the middle of another crossover… I love it when comic book publishers are hostile to casual readers.

Umm. Rucka co-writes here. Not sure what contributions he made.

From what I can tell, the world now knows Sam Lane is alive and he’s a hero and the Kryptonians (Superman included?) are the villains.

Does anyone else remember the nineties, when you had to read every Superman title just to understand what was going on? It’s very similar. Except they don’t have flashy hologram covers. The nineties stuff was probably a little better in some ways; at least it was the first time they’d done it in that manner.

Again, Sibal’s inks hurt Igle’s pencils. Especially on Kara’s cat.

Gates gets in a good scene with Lana Lang and almost a good one with Lois. The Lois one is undercooked.

Unfortunately, getting through this issue is trying.

Supergirl (2005) #44

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I really don’t like Sibal’s inks on Igle. He’s way too reductive. It’s almost like he’s trying to make it look like Ian Churchill or something.

This issue is part of a Superman family crossover. It seems like Sam Lane is trying to get a Kryptonian to assassinate the President. So Gates has to compete with the just plan stupidity of the crossover here. I mean, didn’t Marvel do something like this one in the nineties? Or Image? It’s just awful.

But Gates does a decent job with the action, even though he barely has time for anything else. Lois shooting Supergirl the evil eye is about as close as he gets to any subplot here. It just serves to remind the book can be quite good when it’s not slave to the crossover.

And the end, with Supergirl being possessed–is way too subtle. Hopefully it’s a short crossover.

Supergirl (2005) #43

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Kryptonian society really isn’t thought out enough. This issue is about Kara going from guild to guild (a guild is basically a career path–I’m assuming it’s all for the greater Kryptonian good, dirty socialists) and seeing what they’re like. Gates frighteningly frames it in a letter to her dead father. Because he’s using it for narration, it sort of cheapens the idea of it as a grieving process. It comes off as an easy way to narrate an issue and to feign emotional connection.

What’s so off about Gates using it is the actual content is good and shows Kara and her mother grieving. It goes far to humanizing the mother, who now gets the excuse of being in the Science Guild to explain why she acts to remote and evil all the time.

It’s decent; the narration device hurts.

Sibal’s inks here take away some of Igle’s enthusiasm.

Supergirl (2005) #42

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I love how Kara’s got a backpack for traveling between New Krypton and Earth. It’s a fantastic detail.

The issue opens on a low point—the revelation Sam Lane served under Sergeant Rock—but it quickly recovers.

First it’s Kara telling Lois about killing Superwoman. It’s an excellent scene, even if Lois is being a bit of a bitch and not particularly smart. I thought she was an investigative reporter and she can’t figure out her evil dad is back from the dead.

Then here’s some superhero stuff with the bad guy getting out. I guess this Reaction guy is a Supergirl villain, not a Superman villain? Because she needed her own Metallo? It goes on way too long, but Gates makes up for it with a lovely close with Lana and Kara.

Igle’s back and he handles everything quite well. He’s got a great finale sequence at the sun.

Supergirl (2005) #41

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It’s another fast issue.

Gates doesn’t reveal all about Lucy Lane being Superwoman (she dies so I figure it’s safe to spoil) but it’s pretty clear Sam Lane was having his daughter murder people in order to frame Superman. Did Thunderbolt Ross ever go that far?

The problem with Supergirl so far is the villains, whether Lucy, Sam Lane, the supervillains this issue or Kara’s mom… is their one dimensional personalities. Gates is following the DC standard—being really mean and evil makes a great villain—and it hurts the book.

Also hurting the issue is the fill in art from Dagnino. Igle always goes far not to make his Supergirl appear silly or slutty, but Dagnino doesn’t have the same approach. She’s not really slutty, but his proportions are Liefeldian.

This issue would have worked a lot better without the cliffhanger, just to give the reader a slight break.

Supergirl (2005) #40

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Okay, I did not expect that reveal for Superwoman’s identity.

Gates does manage to reduce his supporting cast by at least two and maybe three here, so it’ll be interesting to see if he uses that opportunity to finally get Supergirl running on its own.

But what he does with the Superwoman reveal is nice since he’d sort of set it up to be something different the last issue and then this issue, when Supergirl does figure it out, the reader isn’t privy to her thought process. It’s a surprise for everyone (well, at least for me).

He does take the time to do other things, of course. Like Jimmy Olsen flirting with high school girls, which is creepy and makes Cat Grant sympathetic because of her disgust. But the Lana Lang plot development is a little problematic because she’s barely in the series.

It’s well-executed, modern superhero stuff.

Supergirl (2005) #39

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This issue is a very fast read. It’s solid, because it should be a fast read–it starts with Superwoman revealed to be a villain and continues to get Supergirl up to speed on that point.

Gates manages to get in some decent moments. The way he establishes Lucy Lane isn’t particularly bad, just a jerk. He also gets in a nice scene with Kara and Lana. The series really needs a breather issue where Gates isn’t forced to spend half his time on crossover obligations.

It’s clear Gates hasn’t set the series up to run independently yet.

Caldwell fills in for Igle on a few pages–not special pages, just a few pages at the end of the issue. Their styles don’t match at all. Igle has a fluidity and roundness to his lines, Caldwell is sharp and jagged.

Supergirl shows potential, even with New Krypton weighing it down.