SUPERGIRL #24

Star Child

February 2008

Written by Kelly Puckett

Pencils by Drew Johnson and Lee Ferguson

Inks by Ray Snyder

Cover by Drew Johnson

Synopsis

Previously in Supergirl...Superman sends Kara on a mission and she fails.  Now, she tries again, but continues to have no luck.  Superman then arrives and tells her that he succeeded and the war is over.   He then shows her, with the aid of a wide-spectrum light array, Krypton.  When Kara looks at her former homeworld, she suddenly recalls her past time on the planet, including watching Kal-el as a baby and then her parent’s decision to send her to Earth to watch after him.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Like the last issue, this one was a little weird.  It was good in places (the flashback), but a little strange in other places (the war).  We have Supergirl attempting to make up for her past failure, which I loved, but then we get Superman telling that he did it anyway, which to me kinda defeats the purpose of having her make the repeated attempts.  Why show her attempt it in the first place?  And if he had the answer, why not tell her about it and let her do it?  On top of that, the whole point of the previous issue (finding the ship) is not shown in this issue and, indeed, is mentioned in passing and then completely forgotten and blown off.  I guess I understand that Puckett is not interested in the war, but rather Supergirl’s view of Krypton, but it just seems so odd that way it is introduced and then dismissed.  Part of me still thinks that not everything is what it seems, but I also get the feeling that what we see is what we are getting, no more, no less. 

The flashback scenes of Kara remembering Krypton were nice.  I am not sure how this plays into the previous scenes in this book (or for that matter every other depiction of Kara’s parents, which this issue seems to toss away in favor of a new version), although I suspect all of the stuff about killing Kal-el was just a bad dream.  I can’t recall if that was explicitly stated or just kinda hinted at.  Either way, I liked those scenes and found them heart-warming and endearing, two qualities missing from the book and from the character.  I also like the brief moment of Kara recalling Kal-el’s mother and his reaction when she tells him.  Of course, I have no idea what the ending is supposed to mean with Kara sitting in the tree; maybe we’ll find out next issue. 

The first page with the “Previously, in Supergirl,” tag at the beginning is a little strange.  I think this is the first time I have seen that in a DC book.  I wonder if this is something that will be removed when the trade paperback is released or if it will stay in exactly that way.

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