Writer: Mariko Tamaki
Artist: Joelle Jones
2017
Grade: A-
If your superhero story can be stripped entirely of its superheroic elements and remain a fully engaging narrative with thoughtful and well developed characters, you have done something rare and wonderful. Such is the case with this quietly amazing four-issue arc retelling the origin of the titular Supergirl. This story had two things going for it before I opened the cover; Mariko Tamaki who I recently became acquainted with through her solid first issue on Zatanna: Bring Down the House, and of course Kara herself.
Let us begin with the cover of issue one of which the above image is a small portion. I honestly cannot think of another comic cover that so fully captures the tone and character of the book beneath it and its lead. It may be a bit literal to have Kara’s world being turned upside down when the story is figuratively doing the same, but it is so excellently done and a clear sense of hope and wonder in Kara’s expression that I can’t but be grateful for the honesty of it all.
The success of the art is hardly limited to the covers as Joelle Jones does a masterful job throughout the series creating the characters, but it is her work with Kara that is truly inspired. Her soft, somber, and endlessly emotive art really brings Kara to life. She skillfully ranges from the mundane,
To the grand scope and iconic imagery that is the hallmark of heroic art,
and she has more than a few impressionistic pieces that really illustrate the intense emotions that the work is delving into.
If it were only the art though, the conversation about the text would end here, and the story deserves no small amount of praise in its own right. I’m finding myself more and more convinced that stories that jettison the baggage of continuity spare themselves many of the weaknesses of comic writing, and, while this one holds to the spirit of continuity, feels free to invent and avoids the cringe worthy dialogue exposition dumps.
The story follows Kara as a high school student in a small midwestern town struggling to find herself and dedicated to her friends. Her childhood in this telling is a mirror of Superman’s in that she is adopted and hidden by loving parents and told to conceal her powers for fear of what might happen. The first issue carefully introduces the Danvers family, Kara’s closest friends, Dolly and Jen, and Kara’s extraterrestrial origin. It does an outstanding job of creating genuine affection and realism in all of the characters big and small, and, were it not for the final few frames, allows the reader to almost forget he or she is reading a story about a superhero. The second issue, and highlight of the series, is phenomenally written and truly tragic. I think one of the most powerful things a comic story can do is confront the hero with the fact that he or she ultimately cannot control everything. The death of Jonathan Kent in the 1978 Superman The Movie is so heart wrenching because Clark has to admit that despite all the things he can do, he was as helpless as anyone else when it came to saving his father from a heart attack. A variation of that theme is played out here during the artificial earthquake, and I was unprepared for how painful that moment was going to be. This speaks to Tamaki’s great skill but also to the benefit of a limited series. Nothing is done to cheapen or soften Kara’s loss, and it is all the more real because of it.
The closest thing the story has to a weakness is the manner of its end. Tan-On, a captured Kryptonian upon whom Lexcorp had been experimenting, threatens to destroy as much of humanity as he can get his hands on and starts with his captors. What’s fascinating about his character is that the reader is left to judge for him or herself about how much of his benevolent scientist story to believe. Considering the absolute murderousness of his behavior upon being freed, my own position is certainly skeptical. Unfortunately, the battle ends indecisively with Tan-On at large and Kara headed to Metropolis to find her cousin and her own path. It’s as though, for a brief moment, the series forgot that issue four wasn’t the beginning of a long running monthly series, but rather the end of a short one.
Even still, this is a fabulous series that I would gladly hold up as examples of the medium. Supergirl is a character I hold very dearly, and to see her written so well and painted so lovingly is a joy from beginning to end. Though the first half is certainly stronger than the second, I would recommend this to any and all.
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