SUPERGIRL #51

Last Stand On New Krypton, Part Two:  Leaders

May 2010

Written by Sterling Gates

Pencils by Jamal Igle

Inks by Marc Deering and Jon Sibal

Cover by Joshua Middleton

Synopsis

[continued from Last Stand of New Krypton #1] Brainiac has attacked New Krypton.  Supergirl and Mon-el fight side by side to destroy the Brainiac robots.  Suddenly, Mon-el receives a telepathic communication for Tellus, who tells him that Superman needs help and that the Legion of Super Heroes, along with Superboy, has been arrested by Zod.  Mon-el decides to go after Superman.  Supergirl continues to fight the Brainiac robots.  She notices that the Kryptonians are not working together.  She realizes they need a leader to unite them.  Meanwhile, Alura attacks Superboy, calling him a terrorist.  Supergirl arrives in time to find Superboy about to attack back.  Supergirl punches him.  However, Brainiac robots attack Supergirl and Alura.  Superboy comes to the rescue.  Afterwards, Supergirl convinces Alura to release the Legionnaires from Zod’s custody and to become the leader that Krypton needs.  As Alura goes to confront Zod, Supergirl and the Legionnaires fly off to help Superman.  [to be continued in Superman #698]

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I liked this issue.  It is obviously written with the knowledge that is to be part of the Supergirl title, but it is also written well enough that it fits pretty well into the overall story of the attack.  In a lot of crossovers, stories like this would focus on the titular character, but would often stick out like a sore thumb when considered as part of the overall story.  But Gates doesn’t fall into that trap.  Granted, there was way too much exposition for those few readers who didn’t catch the first part, which put a dent into the readability of the issue.  However, Gates added enough of the story from the previous issue to start this issue off before diverging into different scenes that will lead to other issues, such as Mon-el’s attempt to rescue Superman (presumably in the upcoming issue of Superman).  So you can see somewhat how the overall story is being put together, but there are enough individual moments with just Supergirl that don’t impact or take away from the overall story.  Plus, Gate is able to take those individual moments with Supergirl and tell a story (Krypton needs a leader) amidst the plot and the action.  Overall, it all works, as Gates is able to tell a Supergirl story in the middle of the larger, overall story.  This is good stuff. 

A few things that I liked:  1) Supergirl is smart enough to sense why the Kryptonians are failing (and the fact that is connected to the whole guild problem that has been simmering the World of New Krypton mini is a nice touch); 2) Supergirl is smart enough to know that her mother needs to be the leader; 3) Supergirl and Superboy didn’t really fight each other or come to significant blows.  A lesser writer might’ve built the story around those two fighting, which would’ve been stupid; 4) The situation between Alura, Superboy, and Supergirl was cleared up quickly, rather than needlessly continuing just for the sake of conflict. 

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