Supergirl #38 // Review
Kara is afflicted with a sinister infection that has twisted her motivations into something dark and ominous. She wants to help the world by infecting others. She needs to be stopped, and Batman knows just who can stop her in Supergirl #38. Writer Jody Houser brings Kara into contact with a legend in an issue drawn by Rachael Stott and Inaki Miranda. While the overall plot of the issue feels like little more than an echo of things which have been explored countless times before, Houser and company find something appealing in another hero-vs-hero story.
Krypto, the super dog, tracks Kara to Smallville. She’s working on a little something that will help humanity to defend itself. It’s a noble intention that involves everyone becoming infected by the same darkness which infects her. Batman and Superman are dealing with a million other things that have gone wrong in the wake of The Batman Who Laughs. There’s little question that she’s going to make an appearance to the citizens of the small town. Panic could set-in. Rather than head out to try to handle the threat on their own, they’re going to need someone who can keep people calm while defusing the threat of a rogue hero. They’re going to send-in Wonder Woman.
Houser allows the lead-in to the Wonder Woman crossover to play out slowly. Krypto’s slow, lonely trip to track down Kara at the beginning of the issue takes up nearly as much space as the combat with Wonder Woman that concludes it. The space in the middle deals with Kara’s twisted logic for wanting to do what she’s doing. The drama may not feel terribly sophisticated, but it IS a well-articulated iteration of the old premise. The hero oversteps her bounds, trying to keep people safe, and it’s up to another hero altogether to save the people from her. It’s not terribly original, but it IS well-paced and entertainingly methodical.
Rachael Stott handles the bulk of the action in the issue. There’s painstaking attention to detail in Stott’s work that doesn’t clutter up the action with too much activity. The personality of Krypto comes across with sympathetic strength. Sadly, Stott isn’t able to do all that much with Kara. She DOES look suitably evil, but the sophisticated expression of the twisted heroism behind her intentions doesn’t come across at all. Wonder Woman looks suitably beautiful in her attempt at reaching Kara through empathy. Miranda is there with a couple of pages towards the end of it all when that empathy fails, and physical aggression kicks-in. The kinetic anger accompanying that action is capably handled by Miranda’s heavier ink work.
Houser manages a solid chapter in the life of Kara. It’s not terribly novel or interesting stuff, but it IS fun to see Wonder Woman confront a rogue hero infected with evil. From dialogue to action to execution, there’s little in this issue that would have felt out of place 10 or 20 years ago. It may not feel very new, but that doesn’t keep it from being fun.
