Supergirl #1

Title: Supergirl
Issue: 1
Date: November 2011
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Michael Green, Mike Johnson
Penciler: Mahmud Asrar
Inker: Dan Green, Mahmud Asrar
Colorist: Dave McCaig
Letterer: John J. Hill
Editor: Will Moss
Cover: Mahmud Asrar, Dave McCaig

An unusual meteor shower hits the Earth and the US military goes on alert. The object that is being tracked ends up in Siberia and apparently the US has signed a "visitor protocols" treaty with Russia. Basically this allows American redshirts to land in Russia and get beaten up by whatever alien threat has arrived.

In this case, the alien is Supergirl. She's dazed and confused and she doesn't speak the language. And guys in powered armor start shooting things at her almost immediately. Good thing for her that she's got all those handy superpowers. So she fights off the soldiers-in-mechs and...

And the issue ends, pretty much. There's one additional plot development on the last page, but otherwise it's just Supergirl looking a bit shaky with the new powers and not understanding any dialogue not in Kryptonian while she trounces a bunch of Tony Stark wannabees.

And to make matters worse, Kara doesn't come off as a teenager. I'd been under the impression that this was to be a major goal here. Make her a realistic teenager personality-wise. Instead, she's very introverted and reflective, and she's really only displaying confusion and annoyance. Not much of an emotional range at this point.

A few of the other "New 52" books (See my reviews of Green Arrow, Batgirl, or Men of War) have managed to annoy me. This one just left me bored.

Rating: 5/10

Action Comics #894

Title: Action Comics
Issue: #894
Date: December 2010
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Paul Cornell, Nick Spencer
Art: Pete Woods, RB Silva, Dym
Colorist: Dave McCaig, Brad Anderson
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Editor: Wil Moss, Matt Idelson

Yup, that's Death on the cover, straight out of the pages of Neil Gaiman's Sandman. And she's here to have a little conversation with Lex Luthor. Lex: "And I suppose you're claiming to be Death. You don't even look like him." Death: "Are you looking for the scythe? Or the skis?" Ha! First of all, kudos to Pete Woods who does a gorgeous rendition of Gaiman's classic character. Luthor, as might be expected, tries everything he can think of to get out of the plight he's in, right down to playing for sympathy. Death, as might be expected, greets all of this with mild amusement and a touch of curiosity. Paul Cornell does the best he can in a story where he's basically handcuffed. He can't actually kill Luthor, he can't really have Luthor defeat Death like she's some rival super-villain, and he can't even really answer even the most obvious of questions because DC comics isn't in the business of giving definitive answers about the existence of God, the nature of the universe, and what happens to souls (if there even are such things) after death (or, in this case, after Death). Along the way we do get Lex admitting that he's an atheist, which makes reasonable sense. He's forced to admit that Death is what she is, but he's not ready to acknowledge any supreme being (aside from himself, of course). While the plot doesn't really go anywhere, the dialogue is quite good throughout, and it's refreshing to see these familiar characters having a chance to talk philosophy for a bit. The discussion of what Luthor would want in an afterlife was quite interesting.

Backup story has Jimmy Olsen playing escort to a group of aliens who are scouting Metropolis for a location to hold a massive party. Why come to Earth to party? Well, as it turns out, oxygen gets this species drunk. Jimmy really should have taken the keys to the spaceship from the cute alien girl before she started driving. Some aspects of the story are a bit over-the-top. It would have worked just fine without it turning into a planet-threatening (but still played for laughs) scenario. But that being said, it was pretty funny, and I enjoyed this depiction of "Superman's Pal". Nice mix of hip, nerdy, cocky, and clever. Good silly fun to balance out all the deep philosophy in the main story.

Rating: 7.5/10