Supergirl: Being Super

Bought at my school's Spring book fair.

Title: Supergirl: Being Super
Date: May, 2018
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Mariko Tamaki
Artist: Joelle Jones, Sandu Florea
Colorist: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Letterer: Saida Temofonte
Cover: Joelle Jones, Kelly Fitzpatrick
Editor: Paul Kaminski, Andrew Marino, Robin Wildman

Trade paperback collection of Supergirl: Being Super issues #1-4 from 2016-2017.

It feels like rebooted origin stories are getting to the point where they are separated by months, rather than years these days. So I had a bit of trepidation approaching yet another origin reboot (putting aside the question of whether this was main-canon continuity or not; that's also something that's become more and more fuzzy these days).

But this was really good. Not for the plot, necessarily, although the plot did its job adequately. It was the dialogue and supporting cast that really made this work. Kara Danvers of (Smallville stand-in) Midvale, Kansas, turns sixteen years old, having hid the powers that make her different from her peers since childhood, only to have those powers fail her when she needs them most.

In the face of tragedy, Kara begins to question everything about her life, and she uncovers the secrets that will set her on the path to, well, to being super.

Kara's interactions with her friends were interesting enough that I was to some extent disappointed that this is essentially the story of her leaving home to start her hero's journey. I would happily read further adventures of Kara's best friend Dolly, without needing a bit more superhero stuff. And her relationship with her parents was intriguing, and definitely worth further exploration.

The villains introduced here (two new ones and one very familiar one) are likely to be seen again and all of them have plenty of story potential.

Joelle Jones does great work with the art all through the series, ending with an awesome visual on the last page.

This was a great fresh start for a classic character, and I would be happy to have this be the definitive Supergirl origin story moving forward.

Rating: 8/10

Dog Man: Mothering Heights

Bought at Foreign Languages Bookstore, Shanghai, China.

Title: Dog Man: Mothering Heights
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2021
Writer: Dav Pilkey
Artist: Dav Pilkey
Colorist: Jose Garibaldi

So, as it turned out, Dog Man: Grime and Punishment (reviewed here) was not the end of the series. This new installment includes a romantic subplot between Chief and Nurse Lady, a bit more about Petey's mother (hence the title), giant evil animated sippy cups, lots of malic acid, and some references to the first law of thermodynamics. Oh, and poop jokes. Lots of poop jokes, because apparently the series had not actually moved beyond poop humor so much as to take a brief scenic detour away from it.

As with most of the more recent Dog Man books, the serious stuff here was quite well done, and never felt like it slowed things down or weighed things down. The bathroom humor has never been a favorite of mine, but my son (13 now) still finds it hilarious. The main source of much of this was Molly the psychokinetic tadpole, who is Lil' Petey's best friend, which seemed a bit weird because this wasn't an aspect of her character in previous appearances.

I did feel like this relied a bit too much on tropes and gimmicks from previous installments, while not adding too much to the longer-term plotlines. That being said, it was still cute fun, with several really great jokes.

Rating: 7/10

Diary of a Wimpy Kind: The Deep End

Bought at the Foreign Languages Bookstore, Shanghai, China.

Title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Deep End
Publisher: Amulet Books (a division of Abrams; series website at wimpykid.com)
Date: 2020
Writer: Jeff Kinney
Artist: Jeff Kinney

Following the mayhem that resulted from their home improvement efforts (As seen in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball, reviewed here), the Heffley family is stuck living in Greg's grandmother's basement. As stir-craziness sets in, the sudden acquisition of a camper provides a possible escape for the rest of the summer, so it's road-trip time!

First of all, after complaining that the ending of the previous book felt like too much of a no-consequences reset, it was nice to see that there were, in fact, some consequences and continuity from the events of Wrecking Ball. This series works better with a bit of continuity.

This installment starts slow. We've already seen the family trip adventures a couple of times now, and in the beginning, it's the usual stuff, with Greg's mom set of ruining everyone's fun for the sake of, well, having fun. This interaction has never been very entertaining, and it's not any better here.

What is a lot better is a subplot that begins when the family arrives at the Campers' Eden campground. Greg actually has a pretty fun adventure with a crew of kids who are regulars at the camp. They end up in a battle with a gang of teenagers who have been using a giant slingshot to lob watermelons at the campers in the lake. Greg's new friends have a lot of personality, which is a nice change from some of the throwaway characters encountered in previous books, and it really helps improve this story in terms of plot and humor.

The jokes build up nicely toward the end, and there is even a bit of a happy ending.

Between this book, Wrecking Ball, and Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure (reviewed here), Jeff Kinney's most recent works have been a lot more appealing to me than his earlier stuff.

Rating: 7/10