Review: Supergirl #28

Supergirl #28 came out this week and was another chapter in this space-faring adventure Kara is on to investigate Rogol Zaar. As this bold, new direction has moved along slowly, I have been less and less forgiving of it. This is something of a nasty story. And while occasionally we see Supergirl say something that sounds like the Supergirl I want to read, the actions and plots surrounding those lines make them feel more like lip service.

Writer Marc Andreyko writes a great, gritty, Omega Men story. I might like reading this if it were a Starfire story. Or a Darkstars story. Or an Adam Strange story. But so much of this feels like yet another 'extreme' look at Supergirl. Add to that a few cringe worthy moments for a book about a young woman hero and you get something that just doesn't feel right.

The art is by Eddie Pansica and I really like it for the story it is telling. It is a very muddy, brutal story and Pansica brings that feel of chaos and violence. This is the most ragged and beaten I have seen Supergirl in a while. Put him on an Adam Strange book and I'll be there.

These prefaces to my reviews are becoming almost cookie cutter, other than a slow descent into further dissatisfaction. I hope this arc ends soon and we head back to Earth.

On to the book.

Last issue, Harry Hokum released a swarm of barely alive, mutations of Supergirl with the intent on storming the Omega Men's 'secret base'. These are monstrosities. Some look like zombies. Others look barely humanoid. But each seems equipped with some portion of Supergirl's power set.

I suppose it is an interesting line when Supergirl says she is fighting herself. While literally true here, it resonates to her still learning. She sometimes is her own worst enemy, jumping into things when she shouldn't, not listening when she should.

I don't mind Supergirl being on the hero's journey. That's what I love about her. I don't mind her making mistakes and learning from them. That's what I love about her. But the core of her personality has to be sound.

And there is some sort of cosmic resonance happening given I just recently reviewed 1994's Supergirl #3 where she fought misshapen clones of herself.

Kara seemed to figure out last issue that Zaar's axe somehow feeds off of and feeds into her rage. While it is powerful, it is dangerous as well. Still, when fighting an army of quasi-Kryptonians, desperate times call for desperate measures.

I don't know that I want Supergirl reaching for the axe to be her opening move. Certainly, knowing this rage factor, she could have waited longer for things to be actually desperate before reaching for it. Small complaint, I know.

More importantly, this is a big revelation and probably explains why Zaar was able to hold off both Supergirl and Superman back at the beginning of the Bendis era. Maybe the angrier he gets, the more axe powers him? Is people wielding the axe sort of like the Hulk? And will she be able to share that information with Superman at some point.

I talked about how Andreyko has Supergirl say the right things at time.

Here we see the carved up Supergirl make a plea to her evil clones. There is always hope. She can help them. Classic Supergirl lines.

But these things seem more like automatons than true beings. Brainwashed into only thinking of killing, they ignore her inspired speech.

If there is going to be a throwdown, Kara needs to be at full power. The easiest source of solar energy is Ryand'r. So she asks him for a boost the fastest way he can give it.

So he leans in and kisses her. Sure enough, her tank is full.

But ...

In this day and age, when we are talking about consent and personal space and #metoo, this seems like a bad moment. I know later in the issue, Ryand'r says outright that he isn't creepy and that the kiss was indeed the fastest way to deliver the energy. But creepy guys always make excuses. And this is book about a young woman. Maybe we shouldn't have this here. Or maybe she should call him out on it later.

Or maybe, even in the heat of battle, he could say 'the fastest mode is a kiss, is that okay?' I mean, if I can buy an army of evil clones, I'll also buy 5 seconds of dialogue in battle.

I kind of cringed.

Super-charged, she delivers a super-clap hoping to knock all the clones down with concussive force.

But it does more than that, accelerating the decay of their unstable forms, killing all the clones. Yep, all the clones are in the range of her one clap. And I guess I have to roll with that. (See why I could suspend disbelief for Ryand'r to ask if he could kiss her?)

So, did she just kill a bunch of living things? Did she just hasten an already terminal process? Are these things even alive? Am I thinking about this too much?

After all this talk about hope and not killing, didn't she just kill these things?

Realizing Hokum is behind this, Supergirl charges his ship which is in orbit.

Remember, she is fully charged by Ryand'r. She has just talked about how she realizes Zaar's axe is a cursed weapon.

But she still decides to use it to carve her way into Hokum's ship, depressurizing it and causing a rapid drop in atmosphere. 

Of course, now she says the line that she is no killer and seals the breach. But doesn't this seem a little like saying a line that belies her actions. Check out that first panel. People are clinging on for dear life. She could have easily been a killer if someone was near the hole she just cleaved in the hull with the evil axe.

It is hard for me to reconcile the words and the deeds. It sounds like Supergirl. But she doesn't exactly act like her. Why use the axe at all in this situation? She is fully powered.

Then we get a moment straight out of 'Forever Evil'. She grabs Hokum, crushing his wrist. Then he gets teleported away. But her grip is so strong that his hand is ripped from his body, the bloody stump still in her hand.

Nothing says Supergirl like Kara wielding a cursed weapon, hacking her way into a ship nearly killing the crew, and then being involved in a dismemberment.

Yeah ... I am being sarcastic.

In a bit of serendipity ... or plot convenience ... Kara wonders if the ring on Hokum's hand is one of Apsa's crystal data repositories. Good thing she ripped off the left hand and not the right!

One interesting point is that Hokum says the Circle gave him strip-mining rights to the remnant of Krypton for keeping their secrets (including using Zaar). You would think if a shell of the planet, probably all Kryptonite, still existed that villains would have utilized it by now.

Peeking around the corner, Kara sees more cloning tubes filled with a variety of weird creatures.

Irate that her planet's tech was used for such nefarious reasons, she goes full rage mode and demolishes the place.

I suppose that I like the idea of Kryptonian science being corrupted by evil beings is better than Kryptonians being evil themselves. I want Zor-El to be a good guy. I want Jor-El to be a good guy. I want Krypton to be a noble race destroyed by a planetary disaster, and one not self-inflicted.

And I think that of all people, Kara, who lived on Krypton has the right to have this much righteous indignation.

Back in the base, Ryand'r apologizes for his kiss, insisting it was the way to deliver the energy best. She says he has soft lips. I still think this feels wrong. And here he grabs her hands and gives her a solar boost that way.

Z'ndr Kol has been following Kara, hoping to re-engage with her. He hopes to come clean with his being the adopted son of Gandelo, initially sent to spy on Supergirl.

Of course, he runs in just as she is holding hands with Ryand'r. I hope this isn't a love triangle, especially because none of these people have known each other long enough to develop any deep feelings.

As for Hokum, he is teleported to Gandelo who isn't very happy with him. She throws him out into the vacuum of space.

She then calls on the other members of the Circle, Sardath from Rann and a Thanagarian. She warns them that if Supergirl continues her investigation she will uncover all the Circle has done. While Zaar may have acted against the will of the Circle, they aren't exactly clean.

Feeling she has no other choice, Gandelo puts a bounty on Supergirl's head. And the followers of Zaar are also licking their chops to kill her.

So we have a couple of tiny little moments of big story progress. Supergirl probably has another Apsa stone. Hokum was blackmailing the Circle to have the rights to Krypton's husk. And the Circle is aware of Supergirl's mission.

But otherwise, we have a raging Supergirl who says she believes in hope and doesn't kill but seems to have little hope and comes as close to killing as you can.

Eddie Pansica is great on art, bringing an appropriate grime to the battlefield art.

Hopefully this Omega Men side adventure is over and we get back on the true path of this storyline.

Overall grade: C+

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