Comic Book Review: Supergirl #47

Written by Sterling Gates

Art by Matt Camp

Cover by Joshua Middleton

Plot

Supergirl has brought Reactron to New Krypton to be held accountable for his murderous ways.  Now the question is, what is a suitable punishment?  As the citizens of New Krypton want justice for the family members who have been murdered by Reactron’s hands, Alura must decide to do what’s right and seek legal punishment, or to take her revenge on Reactron for murdering her husband.

My Thoughts

The food I eat the least at family and holiday dinners is the corn.  I don’t know why but I just don’t like it.  So when I read the first couple of pages in this book and saw how “corny” it was, I rolled my eyes and thought to myself “are you serious?”  But as I progressed in this issue, I became a little less hesitant and more engaged in the story.

Alura, who takes over as the main character for this issue of Supergirl, is haunted by the absence of her husband, which is driving her to seek justice against Reactron.  She’s very stern and cold-hearted as the trial commences; you get a sense that Alura, while doing all she can to see that Reactron is getting a fair trial, truly wants her husbands murderer to suffer and is hesitant to entertain any arguments that would contradict Reactron’s guilt.  This is portrayed in her reaction towards counselor Dyn-Xe’s rebuttal. 

Alura is portraying the greatest emotional conflict that humans must endure, the decision of choosing what is right or allowing your hatred to dictate you actions.  Alura seems to be having the most difficult time dealing with her husband’s murder.  But there is one flashback, which, for a moment at least, leads me to assume that I understand why she refuses to allow Reactron to be put to death.  With her husband’s ability to never seek out vengeance, Alura was acting out of respect to her husband’s moral code of conduct.  But then, as we learn on the last page, this is clearly not the case.  But it does show why Alura was at a constant struggle with herself during this issue, she felt awful because she knew her husband would not approve with what she was about to do.

Matt Camp brings a clear-cut way of visually defining Alura’s emotions in this story.  Alura’s flashbacks are very brightly painted portraying a sense of happiness in Alura’s past; the reason why she loved Zor-El.  But when we cut to the present, Alura’s stature became dark and cold, like all the life had been sucked out of her, as if she had not even an ounce of happiness left in her.  Along with the clean lines and intricate details of each character’s face, Camp truly does create superb art in comic books.

Overall

Stellar issue.  I would say one of November’s top five comics.

8 out of 10 stars

Next Issue Coming December 16, 2009

Uh-oh! The Silver Banshee is back in Metropolis! This time she's after an artifact that could finally break her family's eternal curse. When Inspector Mike Henderson gets involved, Supergirl is pulled into the conflict! Meanwhile, Lana Lang's mysterious condition takes a turn for the worse. Will the Girl of Steel be able to save her only two human friends? Join fan-favorite writer Sterling Gates and guest artist Matt Camp (SUPERMAN: SECRET FILES 2009, Zero Killer) to find out!