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

Detective Comics #4

Title: Detective Comics
Issue: 4
Date: February 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Tony Salvador Daniel
Penciler: Tony Salvador Daniel
Inker: Sandu Florea
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Katie Kubert, Harvey Richards, Mike Marts
Cover: Tony Salvador Daniel, Tomeu Morey

When I did my review of last issue, I said that this title needed to show some improvement if I was going to keep spending my money on it.

Well, it did improve. This conclusion to the Dollmaker storyline spent a lot of time explaining and filling in gaps, and it spent a lot of time setting up future plotlines, and it did all of that fairly smoothly.

The Batman came off looking strong (as did Bullock and Gordon), and the stage is now set for the return of one the classic Batman rogues. Dollmaker is also still available as a future threat, and a number of smaller plot threads have potential to grow into major stories.

This didn't completely make up for the nonsense that preceded it, but it was a big help.

Rating: 6/10

Detective Comics #3

Title: Detective Comics
Issue: 3
Date: January 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Tony Salvador Daniel
Penciler: Tony Salvador Daniel
Inker: Sandu Florea
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Katie Kubert, Janelle Asselin, Mike Marts
Cover: Tony Salvador Daniel, Tomeu Morey

The Batman has to do battle with Dollmaker's "family" while fighting the effects of a paralyzing drug, and that's just the start of things in an issue that was pretty heavy on violence and mayhem.

Unfortunately, it's all a bit too much, and writer/artist Tony Salvador Daniel resorts to bad cliches like cannibal serial killers and evil kids all while ratcheting up the violence including a purposeless beatdown/torture session by the Batman on one of Dollmaker's surgically-altered minions that went on for two pages. And of course, another Gotham cop killed. Just put them in red Star Trek uniforms and be done with it, already.

Jim Gordon is pretty much the only bright spot in this. He's a captive of the Dollmaker and actually displays some reasonable intelligence as he deals with his situation.

We end pretty much back where we started, with the Batman brawling with more surgically altered minions and the promise of more "shocking" medical horrors to come.

I'll be shocked if I end up reading much more of this title the way things are going.

Rating; 4/10