SUPERGIRL #20

No Good Deed...

October 2007

Written by Tony Bedard

Pencils by Renato Guedes

Inks by Jose Wilson Magalhaes

Cover by Renato Guedes

Synopsis

Three hours ago...In an attempt to forge a peace settlement between the Amazons and the United States, Wonder Girl and Supergirl attempted to get the President to agree to a meeting by approaching him on Air Force One.  However, the Amazons attack, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing, with a little help from Supergirl.  The are immediately attacked by Amazon warriors.  Superman helped to protect the president.  Now, Supergirl decides to make up for her mistake by flying to Washington DC.  In the midst of battle, an arrow dipped in Kryptonite pierces her side and she falls to the ground.  Someone helps her by removing the arrow, but then he wants to know what happened to Air Force One.  His wife was on board.  Before Supergirl can explain, a giant cyclops comes tearing through the streets.  She fights him, but is having trouble with the magic.  The husband then helps her, returning the magic arrow he had taken from her.  He had thought to use it one her, but decides against.  With the magic arrow, Supergirl takes out the Cyclops eye, giving her the advantage to defeat the brute.  Afterwards, Supergirl tells the husband she was just trying to help with Air Force One. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

In terms of previous Supergirl issues, this was a giant and complete step forward.  The portrayal of Kara in this issue was fantastic.  This was not a teenager moping around being hard on herself and being nasty to others.  Yes, she made a mistake, but in this case she admitted her mistake and then tried her best to make up for by helping others.  I like this characterization:  a young person trying to find her way in the world, making mistakes, but learning from them.  And, yeah, fighting a giant Cyclops in the midst of all this.  This is easily a step in the right direction for the character; let’s just hope it stays that way for awhile. 

The other good development with this issue is the art of Renato Guedes.  While I like what he has done and it is some good stuff, the real draw (har, har) is that he presents Supergirl more like a real teenager, with a body that does not resemble a model with fake breasts. She looks real and I think that really helps to further define her as a real-life teenager rather than the oversexualized object she had become since this book launched. 

I am mixed about the Amazons Attack tie-in that makes up the core plot.  As someone who reads that mini-series, I liked the way it flowed and Kara’s mistake in working with Hippolyta to talk to the President works well as the set-up for the rest of this issue.  On the other hand, since the first couple of pages are needed for recap for other readers, it takes awhile for this issue to get going.  And it’ll read strangely when this gets collected into a trade paperback. 

Interesting to note that Teen Titans issue #49 gets a footnote for the one panel on page 4, but the previous three pages, which happens in Amazons Attack, issue #4, gets no mention.  Is there any reason for this is or just sloppy editorial decisions? 

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