Supergirl blasts her way through a civil war in the Vega System with the aid of the Omega Men, a huge Rob Liefeldy-looking gun and her demon axe from hell in the next chapter of her deep space adventures written by Marc Andreyko with art by Eduardo Pansica that is inked by Julio Ferreira. Color comes to the page courtesy of FCO Plascencia. The issue falters a bit in and amidst all of the action in spite of a few really dramatic moments of aggression and motivation.

Supergirl has escaped imprisonment at the hands of a vicious dictator. She’s only got so much solar power stored-up and she’s running low. Kara needs to make use of what she can...which just happens to include a one-handed blaster that’s bigger than her head. It’s a mess when things turn tragic, anger spills out of Supergirl, summoning the axe of Rogol Zaar to fly into her hand and seek vengeance. Meanwhile, a certain galactic drifter is looking after a wounded Krypto when he’s accosted by...his mother...

Andreyko’s wit saves a story that might have otherwise turned into a dull slugfest/shootout in the Vega System. Some of Supergirl’s defiant badass-itude comes across a bit too exaggerated, but it feels right at home in the explosive tension of the issue. Supergirl is going through one hell of a lot in this issue. Though she’s staring-down galactic monsters in the heat of combat, Andreyko centers her biggest victory over her own aggression. Keeping the heart of the drama outside of the physical conflict allows the violence to actually mean something, which is clever scripting.

Aided by Ferreira’s deft inking, Pansica’s pencils deliver a lot of detail into each panel. There’s an immersive world being brought to life on the page, but it lacks the sense of explosive movement needed for an issue with so much action. Even the biggest moments of action feel relatively flat. This does, however, serve to focus the action on the dramatic impact of what’s going on...favoring it over the explosiveness of the action itself. It may not feel breathtaking, but it serves the central drama of the story quite well. Plasencia’s color is given isolated moments of beauty and dram all is own. A wounded Krypto is mottled white with countless flecks of red blood on the first page. Superpowered or not, a wounded dog is a wounded dog and Plasencia’s color delivers the full reality of that in an opening page which sets the tone for the rest of the issue. Things shift dramatically from moment to moment. Space casually looks amazing from around the edges of the next page. It’s quite a set of visuals for an issue that falters a bit in delivery of the action.

Everything else aside, Andreyko advances Supergirl in a really engaging coming-of-age story here. She has gone into deep space in order to get answers and maybe a little bit of revenge, but after the events of this issue she’s seen the anger within her and backed away from it. Given the right finesse, Andreyko’s treatment of Supergirl’s character development could turn into something interesting by the time she eventually returns to earth.

Grade: B+