SUPERGIRL #17

Bloodletting

July 2007

Written by Joe Kelly

Pencils by Alé Garza

Inks by Marlo Alquiza and Andy Lanning

Cover by Alé Garza

Synopsis

Supergirl has been gone a month and in that time the world has become overrun by Phantoms that have escaped from the Phantom Zone.  The free the world, Supergirl must kill Kal-el (aka Superman).  Kara desperately tries to find Kal-el, but is haunted by visions of her past, during her time spent on Earth.  She heads to Gotham, but finds Batman has locked himself away.  A possessed Robin attacks Supergirl, but she strikes him with the crystals imbedded within her and he reverts to normal.  Robin then helps her to find Superman, who is in Metropolis wearing armor to protect himself from the phantoms.  Kara tells Kal-el the entire story and why she must kill him.  Superman tells her she needs to kill him.  Kara wants to find another way.  Someone agrees that would be great, if Kara were the real Supergirl.  The person speaking is revealed to be another Supergirl! 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This issue managed to pull me out of the narrative and make me scratch my head.  It is a singular problem with comic books when a writer decides to create a world-wide epidemic (such as a red sun and phantom possessions) that somehow only seems to affect the title we are reading.  I actually was a little excited at the end of the last issue because it looked as if the problem with the phantom zone might dovetail into the “Last Son” storyline in Action Comics (in which the criminals of the phantom zone break out and populate Earth).  Yeah, yeah, I know that storyline is delayed beyond reason, but still....  Instead, we get this storyline, which confuses me because we are getting different storylines in two different books dealing with the same problem in the same, shared universe. 

One other thing bugged me:  Superman was willing to die.  Well, not that he willing to sacrifice himself, I can see him doing that as a noble, heroic sacrifice.  What bothered me was that he did so quickly, without searching for other options.  He would search for answers, find another way and only when all avenues are exhausted, then he would lay down his life. 

About the only thing that really intrigued me with this issue was the way Kelly managed to bring back some of the elements from previous issues and tie it altogether.  It was a nice touch to see Sarah, although I have to wonder about coincidence that got Sarah to wherever Kara is or Kara just happened back on Earth at the exact spot where Sarah was standing.

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