Comic Review: Supergirl: Being Super (DC Comics)

DC’s Supergirl: Being Super is a good intro into Supergirl’s world. But be aware that this collection of 4 single issues proceeds at a less-than-light-speed pace.

On the good side, author Mariko Tamaki is no newcomer to writing; she’s a New York Times Bestseller, and also author of the Harley Quinn Breaking Glass Graphic Novel. And artist Joelle Jones, (working with Sandu Florea) really nails the look. Supergirl, her gal pals, her earthly foster mom and dad, the school, the track and field, all wonderfully illustrated. Emotions, gestures, package labels, clouds, you name it: 100%. Nailed, I tell you! And the dialogue is ‘teen’. The gross-out conversations, the awkwardness of the emotionality, the angst being magnified beyond, literally anything, and so on. It’s a solid assembly, topped off with high notes of colour from Jeremy Lawson, who leans heavily on golds and blues, complementing the timeless palette of past and present.

If I was to quibble, and hey, it’s my job to do that, I guess, I found the captions hard to read. White text on a blue gradient is not easy. Those captions need to be contrasty, easy to catch. And the story, well, as well-formed as it is, takes too long to launch. The intro is useful to orient the first time reader, identify the characters, and demonstrate the interaction among them. You know, the pecking order, the peccadillos, and perhaps more. But in Supergirl: Being Super, things get really Super-cooking by, well, page 135, when the plot suddenly twists into a sinister shape. THEN this book rocks kicks butt, fires all guns into space. It takes shape, takes command, takes the stage, and delivers. Too bad the first half of the book is such a gradual meander because the payoff if you can wait it out, wait for it, is awesome.

DC, SuperGirl: Being Super (collected trade), $16.99 for 208 pages of content. Teen