DCU Comic Book Reviews

SUPERGIRL #42

Who Is Superwoman? Conclusion: Epilogues and Homecomings

August 2009

Written by Sterling Gates

Pencils by Jamal Igle

Inks by Jon Sibal

Cover by Joshua Middleton

Synopsis

General Sam Lane mourns the death of his daughter Lucy (aka Superwoman) at the hands of Supergirl.  He vows that he will do far worse than kill Supergirl for what she has done.  At the apartment of Lois Lane, Supergirl explains what happened to Lucy.  When Kara removed Lucy’s costume, it killed Lois’ sister.  Lois doesn’t quite believe Kara; she wants more proof.  She then asks Kara to leave her apartment, but no before leaving Lois with a piece of Lucy’s costume.  Elsewhere, Reactron is being transported to prison when Codename Assassin rescues him.  Meanwhile, Lois visits Lucy at her home, but Lucy is not home.  Meanwhile, Kara decides to return to New Krypton, although she vows to return.  Just as she leaves, Lana receives a phone call from her doctor at the hospital.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was a good issue, accomplishing two goals with the plot while at the same time reaching a good point with the character of Supergirl.  First, we get the cooling off period after a BIG storyline as the characters deal with the death of Superwoman.  Second, Gates plants the seeds for future stories.  Actually, both of these are tied together.  The Lanes, Sam and Lois, deal with grief in their own ways (Sam the stoic soldier who knows the mission must go one and Lois the investigative reporter refusing to believe anything until she proves it to herself), but the manner in which they deal with it (revenge and questions), opens up a ton of possible future stories, with Supergirl caught in the middle.  Despite the way Gates is able to set up what may be coming next, this issue still feels like the end of the story, mostly due to the final pages.  I like Supergirl’s narration as she vows to not get caught up in her other’s schemes and how she vows to do right by both of the world’s that she will now call home.  It is a nice ending that caps her indecision about going to New Krypton at the beginning of the story. 

The scene with Lois and Kara was both good and bad.  I liked the fact that Lois refused to believe that Lucy might be Superwoman.  I mean, why would anyone think their sister was dressing up as  costumed hero, but was working for the “enemy.”  I think I would be skeptical, too.  And given Lois’ background as an investigative reporter, it makes sense she would want to check it out on her own.  However, Lois also has no reason to distrust Kara and, given whom she married, has no reason to think Supergirl would lie to her.  So I am not quite sure why Lois felt the need to kick Kara out of her apartment.  It didn’t feel right to me.  You could argue that Lois didn’t want to look at the person who killed her sister, but I didn’t get the sense that that was it. It felt more like Lois blamed Kara and didn’t want to be around her for fear she might get ideas of revenge. 

Where was Guardian (or even Mon-el) when Reactron was being transported?  To really seal the feeling that the Superman books (and the DC universe) are connected and events are happening at the same time, it would be nice if Robinson were to mention the Reactron escape in Superman.  It wouldn’t have to be much, maybe a “dressing down” of the officer in charge for letting it happen.  After all, Guardian is the leader of the Science Police, so he should be ultimately responsible for his troops. 

Why is Lana dressed as Geisha?

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