DCU Comic Book Reviews

SUPERGIRL #45

Secret Identities

November 2009

Written by Sterling Gates

Pencils by Jamal Igle

Inks by Jon Sibal

Cover by Joshua Middleton

Synopsis

[continued from Action Comics #881] In Paris, Squad K has Supergirl, Nightwing, and Flamebird surrounded.  The action is caught on live television.  On the “Edge of Reason”, Cat Grant continues her attack on Supergirl, claiming she is a threat to everyone on the planet.  Watching, Lois Lane is not happy.  Meanwhile, Supergirl, Nightwing, and Flamebird are able to escape.   Squad K is able to follow when they are told to stand down.  In Metropolis, Lois confronts Cat about her slanderous remarks and how wrong she is.  Cat shrugs it off as jealousy.  At the Hammersmith Tower, Lana Lang has another nosebleed.  Just then she hears a noise.  It is Supergirl, along with Nightwing, and Flamebird.  Later, Lana and Chris decide to find Lois and enlist her help to clear their names.  Elsewhere, General Lane orders Reactron to work with Squad K to find and kill the Kryptonians.  [continued in Action Comics #882] 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was a good second part of this storyline.  This issue doesn’t really advance the plot, except for the end when Lane sets Reactron on the loose, but it does help to define the characters and how they fit into the overall story.  I actually like the fact that the story has slowed down enough to give us some nice characterization, especially the way the relationship between Thara and Kara continues to deteriorate.  I think it helps that the story appears twice a month (in this title and Action Comics) and co-written by the two regular writers.  It gives them a chance to let the story breathe a little and explore the characters that they know so well.  And so far it shows with a very good story.  Let’s see if they can keep this up. 

At some point Gates (and to some degree Rucka) need to reconcile the two different Lois’ that have appeared in this book.  Only just a few issues ago, Lois was unforgiving when it came to Supergirl, unwilling to back down from her assertion that Supergirl killed her sister.  Yet, here, we see Lois going to bat for Supergirl, willing to defend her.  Now, the two positions are not necessarily contradictory.  I can see how Lois would change her mind about Kara.  The problem is that we haven’t seen that conversion.  All we have seen is the change in her behavior, not the reason for her change in behavior.  There needs to be a reason, whether it is simply time to reflect and realize her emotions were getting the better of her, or some tangible evidence, or whatever it might be.  There needs to e something there.  Until then, it comes across as sloppy writing. 

Someone else brought this up, but it is a valid point.  When Lane and Mirabai had the Kryptonian 3 captured in the plot to kill Mon-el, why did he let them go (assuming my memory is faulty because I don’t think they escaped; if I’m wrong, let me know)?  Anyway, the only person Lane can blame for the “loose end” is Lane since he was the one that let them slip through his hands.  Or Lane let them go in order to set up Reactron, killing him to keep him from talking while at the same time setting up the Kryptonian 3 as the killers.  Or hoping Reactron is captured and then when he is taken to New Krypton, going to the world leaders as proof they need to go to war.  Or am I overthinking this plot point?

On page 12, why does it give the location of the discussion between Lois and Cat as the “Daily Star”?  I thought it was the “Daily Planet”?  Isn’t the “Daily Star” the name of the newspaper on Earth-2?

The person Lois pushes out of the way to get to Cat looks a lot like Jamal Igle, the artist for Supergirl.  Did he drawn himself in the book?  If so, very nicely done. 

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