Supergirl #3 // Review
Kara is quite resilient. She’s calm in the face of a serious mystery. Even her parents don’t seem to recognize her and everyone thinks that she’s...just a really nice impostor. So at least they think she’s nice....even if they think that she’s trying to be someone she’s not--herself. She’s got a long way to go before she can figure out how to handle things in Supergirl #3. Writer/artist Sophie Campbell wraps-up the initial story arc of a whole new Supergirl series with an offbeat superhero action story that still firmly finds the heart of the deep emotional heart genre.
Kara is concerned about the wellbeing of her parents. They still don’t recognize her and the girl who has taken her place is still acting as their daughter in her place. It’s a mystery to try to figure out what’s going on, but thankfully she’s got the aid of the one other person in Midvale who she can totally confide in. The good news: that friend happens to be kind of a super genius who really actually WANTS to help her out. Now...if only she can still manage to make friends with her enemy without getting blasted by a rate of black kryptonite everything just might turn out okay...
Campbell has orchestrated a remarkably good plot structure for the third issue of the series that manages to focus on the inner emotional psyches of three different central characters. There are nuanced fluctuations that occur for Kara, her friend and her rival that all feel strikingly vivid throughout the entirety of the issue. On a more detailed level, the inner emotions of each of the three central characters come across with tender nuance in a way that doesn’t feel at all forced. It’s sharp stuff throughout. Even when Kara inevitably DOES get hit with the black kryptonite, her dialogue and actions reveal a deeper sweetness about Kara that’s still remarkably articulate.
There’s a staggeringly clever emotionality about Campbell’s artwork that finds a way to be staggeringly cute while still expressing a remarkably wide range of moods and emotions. Of particular note here are some of the animals in the issue. There’s a strangely deep moment between Lena Luthor and Streaky the Cat that is kind of a major turning point for both characters. Schultz manages to make Streaky look stern and incredulous without anthropomorphizing him too much. And a more or less anatomically correct cartoony image of a bunny never looked more sinister than Campbell’s rendering of the villain’s sidekick Kandy. Add to this the strikingly complex beauty of Kara herself and the whole thing just feels deeply appealing in the visual.
Campbell has an impressive sense of balance throughout the issue. Each scene fits the perfect space on the page with just enough time for each of the three main characters to really show a sense of growth over the course of a single issue. Campbell closes-out one of the more satisfying three-issue openings in recent memory.
