Literary & Artistic Credits
Writer: Sterling Gates
Penciller: Matt Camp & Marco Rudy
Colorist: Blond with Brad Anderson
Letterer: Swands
Cover Art: Amy Reeder, Richard Friend & Guy Major
Editor: Matt Idelson
My Awe-Inspiring Opinion
Let’s take a boat to Bermuda…Let’s take a plane to St. Paul…Let’s take an alien space craft into the 31st century where Supergirl must stop an evil Satan Girl from enslaving the minds of all Earth’s inhabitants and bringing down a dictatorous evil witch. Road trips are always fun.
One thing you can expect from any yearly annual within the DCU is the slight deviation from continuity. This particular installment gives off that very same vibe as Supergirl is seemingly a member of the Legion of Superheroes trying to stop an event which could result in tragedy for the entire city. Little did I know, thanks to the exceptionally SLOW mailing system that is the United States Postal Service, Supergirl took an accidental detour in issue #56 of her own series to the 31st century on her way home from Bizarro World where she meets up with the Legion and decides to stick around for an extended vacation. But will she meet the inevitable death that the 31st Centuries’ Superman museum reveals? (Except for this book’s kind readers.) Will she and Brainiac actually go forward with a relationship that was initiated by that unsuspecting kiss? All this and more on today’s edition of “Supergirl: The Young and the Restless!”
This is what comic book annuals SHOULD be like! Very well designed and planned out to help push the superheroes into a new year of 12 issue mayhem and action. Annuals typically have this “discarded” aura about them; never truly being vital to the overall scheme and plan of a Superheroes life and choices. Gates uses this opportunity to help give the Supergirl title a new focus and direction that’s full of mystery and pleasant ambiguity. As disappointing as it was to not see exactly how Supergirl dies, it does keep my interest glowing for what might happen in the future (er…I mean the past..er, I mean….Darn you paradox of time!) and how Brainiac decides to save Supergirl from her terrible fate.
Speaking of which, what is it about Brainiac that Supergirl found so attractive? I understand that she was able to connect with the green asshole in a way she never could with anyone else before, but he’s still a pompous jerkwad whose attention to people’s feelings is almost as dull and numb as Sheldon’s from “Big Bang Theory.” I certainly hope this is a mere fling that Supergirl will overcome, for this rates as good of a match with me as was the marriage of the Green Arrow and Black Canary. (Yes I realize I’m just jealous that I didn’t get the bird, but there’s still Wonder Woman or Power Girl!)
Many low points occur as well. It may have been humorous to think up, but having a holographic Jimmy Olsen brigade come in to save the day really didn’t sit well with me. But this doesn’t detract from the pure maturity and grown attitude that Supergirl maintains within the future. She is a leader and good friend to the entire Legion. But I wasn’t quite sure why Supergirl and Brainiac 5 had this shocking attraction to each other, much less why Supergirl was able to tap into the thoughts of the long lost cousin of Superman’s evil foe.
Was it absolutely necessary to change artists when Matt Camp was doing a phenomenal job? I understand the need to give an artist a break, but with Marco Rudy’s below average and less than appealing visual additions, I wonder if DC made a poor choice of substitution and if they realize that. Oh well, I enjoyed Camp’s fantastic art and will rate HIM accordingly even if Rudy will bring down the rating I WOULD have given Camp. (FYI, it would have been a 10!)
My Majestically Climactic Conclusion
There’s a whole lot more to come and I couldn’t be more excited about it! DC, almost a year ago hinted at the fact that this team-up between the last daughter of Krypton and the future’s finest superhero team and did not disappoint with the end result. We all known Supergirl isn’t going to die right? So the question is, how will this “death” be changed and how will it effect Supergirl?
Rating: 8 out of 10
Writing: 8
Art: 7
Themes: 9
Posts
Traditionally Brainy represents a culture she's long since lost. She's the daughter of scientists, she has an inquiring and creative mind and finds a similiarity in B5. She's not his equal but he always seems to respect her thinking and inventions much like he does Rond Vidar, Lyle Norg and Saturn Girl.
ReplyDeleteIn this version she seems to be falling way before she meets him here. When they last met she says the brooding act is pretty cute. She sees the man he becomes and when she holds him in this issue she says he'll grow out of his shyness. Because she sees that potential she sees Brainy better than anyone else in his timeline.
I wonder why he loves her. Its not instant as it was on Earth One, he seems indifferent to her until they are forced together. However, from the sequence with Saturn Girl it seems she knows things we don't. They are not acting what they are feeling and she's psychic. She knows what they think of each other so she plants a psychic link that activates when Kara brushes her lips against his skin. You can't lie to Saturn Girl and when they kiss, she has that smile that says she saw it coming.