Showing posts with label supergirl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label supergirl. Show all posts

Friday, October 21, 2011

Signal Watch Reads: Supergirl #2 (New 52)

Supergirl #2
Reunion
written by - Michael Green & Mike Johnson
pencilier - Mahmud Asrar
inker - Dan Green
colorist - Dave McCaig
letterer - John J. Hill
cover - Asrar & McCaig
editor - Wil Moss
group editor - Matt Idleson


Oh. So. This is what we're going to do. Again.

I haven't reviewed either Superboy #2 or Justice League #2 yet, but I shall, because I KNOW you've been waiting, but as the New 52 rolls out, you can't simply read this single issue in a vacuum without noting how other comics are handling their relaunches.

Last issue, Supergirl landed on Earth, stepped out of a shell, and began fighting guys in robot suits involved in the absolute most hilarious/ worst-case scenario for protocol for an agency meeting an alien entity I'd ever seen.  In this issue, all we get is Superman getting beat up by a girl half his size for absolutely no reason other than that comics still believe that when two people meet who don't know one another, the correct answer is to throw a punch even as one person is trying to calmly talk to the other.

We already did this.  Just about 7 years ago, we did more or less exactly this same thing.  100,000 readers watched the Supergirl title implode and collapse in on itself with bratty, hysterical Kara Zor-El slugging everything she didn't understand, like a hillbilly on meth.

We're two issues in, and there's no hint of a story, conflict, who Kara is, etc... and I suspect we won't see any of that for a while.  There are so, so many things for her to misunderstand and punch.

I can't believe that, given the opportunity to relaunch Supergirl (again) after the last volume floundered, the answer has been to repeat almost exactly the same mistakes that were made on the first go-round.  Its just 20 pages, 15 of which feature Superman getting slapped around and our protagonist (who apparently knows exactly how to throw a super-punch) behaving not like a scared teen-ager, but like a poorly written imbecile.  Its just embarrassing.

Honestly, this is an absolutely terrible comic.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Signal Watch Reads: Supergirl #1 (New 52)

Supergirl #1
Last Daughter of Krypton
writers - Michael Green & Mike Johnson
penciller - Mahmud Asrar
inkers - Dan Green with Asrar
colorist - Dave McCraig
letterer - John J. Hill
cover - Asrar & McCraig
editor - Wil Moss
group editor - Matt Idleson
this review is of the print edition



So.

Firstly, because I see no way to avoid discussing it:  I think the new Supergirl costume is absolutely great, at least from the top of her head to her navel.  And then, somehow, as you head south the rest of the outfit is a bit of a trainwreck.  At least how its being drawn in this comic.

I bring this up because, as a reader, I became utterly distracted by how much I could not not notice how terrible I found Supergirl's new get-up.  Why is she wearing a strange red patch over her, uh, lower abdomen?  I assumed I just wasn't getting how this would work in the preview art, but no...  I don't care what planet she's from - that just seems poorly conceived.  It really looks like some sort of awkward medical device or improvised covering when she had to run out of the house with no pants on.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Signal Watch Reads: Supergirl 67 (final issue of this run!)

Supergirl 67
This is Not my Life: Part 3 of 3
writer - Kelly Sue Deconnick
penciller - Chriscross
inker - Marc Deering
colorist - Blond
letterer - Travis Lanham
cover - RB Silva, Rob Lean, Javier Tartaglia
editors - Wil Moss & Matt Idleson 


I skipped reviewing issue 66 of this run as its a three issue storyline, and there wasn't much new to add for the second part, not until we'd seen the ending of what DeConnick and Co. decided they'd like to do with this story to wrap up this run on Supergirl. I doubt, of course, DeConnick was exactly aware that this was the final story this version of Supergirl would see before next month's reboot, and so its not much of a farewell to Kara Zor-El. Its just another chapter in the life of Superman's cousin, struggling to find her place in the universe.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Signal Watch Reads: Superman 713

Superman 713
Grounded: Part 11
Written by Chris Roberson
Art: pages 1, 4-10: Diogenes Neves @ Oclair Albert
pages 2 & 3: Eddy Barrows & JP Mayer
pages 11-20: Jamal Igle & Jon Sibal
Colorist: Marcello Maiolo
Letterer: John J. Hill
Cover: John Cassaday & David Baron (Jeff Smith, variant)
Editors: Wil Moss & Matt Idleson


Two notes before talk more about this issue: 
(1) This is the issue that follows the kitty/Muslim controversy that got Roberson's issue #712 frozen and replaced with an inventory story from Kurt Busiek's post-Infinite Crisis run on Superman
(2)  This is the penultimate issue of the Roberson run on Superman, and while we've got one more issue, I'm a little bummed that there's only 20 more pages of Roberson's work (for now).

Just as its annoying when networks show episodes of a TV show out of order, we could have been very, very lost with the release of this issue had Roberson not done so much to make each issue episodic.  We may have missed a few story and character beats, but we're not utterly lost as Superman wanders into Oregon.  We've just missed a leg of Superman's walk, and we can only hope that the division running collected editions will see fit to include the missing chapter in the collected run.

Its unfortunate that we have to keep an odd editorial decision in mind in approaching the story, but (as we say almost daily at my office) "it is what it is".  And what it is is a really fun issue, and an appropriate one to lead toward a conclusion of Grounded, but to put a bow on the conclusion of this volume of Superman

Monday, June 27, 2011

So, DC's take on Supergirl with DCNu/ Relaunch/ New 52

The more things change...

Several years ago the Supergirl title launched with sales near 100,000 copies.  It soon plummeted down to a fraction of that number and is now a mid to low-mid tier seller for DC (Supergirl sold about 21,000 copies in May).  No doubt, Supergirl could and should be selling better, but its impossible to know what sales could be on the title as DC has been spinning the Superman titles into editorially mandated storylines since 2007 or so.  It has been nearly impossible to know what the status quo is for Supergirl, her supporting cast, where she lives, etc...

Keep in mind, this is the same Kara Zor-El who attacked Air Force One, supported an Amazonian attack on the US capitol, joined Darkseid briefly, was running around with known super-villain Captain Boomerang, and fleeing about half the scenes she was in weeping and awash in self-pity.  Also: the crystal spikes, the crazy Columbine memories, and a mission to kill Superman from a crazed father...

hey, DC.  Thanks for making me look like I should be on a watchlist every time I bought this @#$%ing comic.

The book was a total disaster for longtime Superman and Supergirl fans, and readers left the title in droves.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Signal Watch Reads: Action Comics 902

Action Comics 902
Written by:  Paul Cornell
Art:  Kenneth Rocafort
Editors:  Wil Moss and Matt Idleson


Saturday, June 18, 2011

Signal Watch Reads: Supergirl 65

Supergirl #65
Written by KELLY SUE DECONNICK
Art by CHRISCROSS and MARC DEERING
Cover by MAHMUD ASRAR & GUY MAJOR
Colors by BLOND
Letters by TRAVIS LANHAM
Wil Moss and Matt Idleson - Editors

As exciting as this image is, nothing like it happens in the actual comic
We're rolling into the final three issues of the current Supergirl series with current continuity and current costume I've never been crazy about (but I like the new one okay).  No matter how good or bad, its obvious this story is filler, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy what the creative team is trying to do.

This is the first issue for writer Kelly Sue DeConnick that I've read, but if you've been kicking around comics, likely you've see the work by ChrisCross elsewhere.  

Friday, June 10, 2011

DCNu Superman titles - Nothing makes me nervous like getting what I want

Two things:

1)  I don't know if DC intended to release the info about the nu-Superman titles today, but it sounds like some folks poked around the DC servers until they found what they believed to be the Superman Family covers.  The images got out, and everybody had posted them by the time I went to bed last night. I saw the images but didn't discuss as it wasn't official yet from DC.
2)  As a look at my coffee table on any given day will attest, I buy all the Superman titles.  That certainly won't change under DC's nu direction.  At least not for the time being.


The announcement was released this afternoon.  A few bits:
1)  Truthfully, I'm disappointed there's neither a Superman Family book nor any hint that Steel is anywhere to be seen.
2)  The descriptions are barely that, and very light on detail.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Signal Watch Reads: Supergirl 64

Supergirl #64
"Good Looking Corpse - Finale"
Writer - James Peaty
Artist - Bernard Chang
Colorist - Blond
Letterer - Travis Lanham
Cover - Mahmud Asrar & Guy Major
Associate Editor - Wil Moss
Editor - Matt Idleson


Supergirl is in a bit of flux until the conclusion of Flashpoint the last week of August. After the pretty-terrific run by Sterling Gates, and only a short run post-New Krytpon, the series was to be handed off to current darling of comics, Nick Spencer. However, after one issue (Supergirl #60), Spencer and DC parted ways and the storyline was handed over to James Peaty, while Bernard Chang stayed on with art chores.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Signal Watch Reads: Supergirl #63

Supergirl #63

Written by JAMES PEATY
Art by BERNARD CHANG
Cover by AMY REEDER & RICHARD FRIEND

 
 I'm reviewing this mostly because I'm trying to build a bit of strategerie around my Super-blogging and less because jumping in and talking about a minor storyline a few issues in is a great idea.  So, bear with me and I'll keep it short.

I have been on extensive record about my dissatisfaction with the early days of the Supergirl series.  Somehow DC had read "being a teenager is hard and emotional" as "we should really make Supergirl an unsympathetic sociopath".  There is likely a place and a time for a story about a young teenaged superhero who matches that description, and I might even read it, but I prefer my Kara Zor-El a whole lot sunnier.  So...  if you haven't checked in with Supergirl in a long time, that's more or less what we've got these days.