Review: The Fastest Women Alive

Every so often, a complete surprise is dropped into your lap. Blog friend Mart Gray tweeted me that I should head to https://www.comixology.com/  because there would be a Supergirl surprise waiting for me.

And there was.

Supergirl and Jessie Quick team up in the Snickers free comic The Fastest Women Alive. The story is a nice little tale by writer Stuart Moore and artist Paco Diaz that not only promotes Snickers (they really satisfy you) but also includes nice character moments between Kara and Jessie, and even homages DC history nicely.

As a fan of Jessie Quick, someone missing since Rebirth ... as a fan of these two being teammates in James Robinson's run on Justice League of America ... I was thrilled.

And the art is nicely rendered. I think the two main characters look great!

On to this free comic ... seriously go download it!

The set-up is similar, two super-heroes, one a super one a speedster, are going to race for charity. We have seen Superman and the Flash do this a bunch of times. So having it be Supergirl and Jessie Quick is a very nice change to this similar story.

Now I want to shove this into continuity. But these two have apparently never met before. And that is clearly Supergirl's current costume. But maybe this is them just meeting before joining the Justice League. And maybe this was Kara's running outfit back then. At least that's my head canon.

And this definitely is a similar set-up. It is a race around the world. Supergirl can't fly. And there are check points along the way.

I love that Kara isn't too thrilled about not being able to fly. And she seems to be taking this a little bit seriously. Supergirl says that she is new to the planet so maybe she is still feeling everything out.

Superman and Flash are in the stands watching this proudly. I know that Jessie is part of the Flash Family, but I wonder if people reading this as a newbie even know who she is. And no mantra?? No 3X2(9YZ)4A ??


At least we get the classic 'there off' panels!

And as per usual with these stories, we see the two racers neck and neck, running around the world and talking. We see them pause in Ethiopia to help a village dig a well. We see them running on the Great Wall of China. We see Supergirl super-swimming across the ocean.

I thought it was nice that despite the race they still stop to help people.

Supergirl is thrilled that she is able to see so much of the world on this race since, as said before, she is new to Earth and doesn't know a lot about it.

In particular, she talks about how fragile everything seems to be. Something she worries about. (Of course, this Kara should have done a lot of growing up without powers on Krypton.)

 Heading back into the stadium to finish the race, the two see that the Parasite is there, draining Superman and the Flash having already drained the crowd.

Supergirl and Jessie are young heroes. They know they need to help. I love how Kara says they simply have to try their best. Nice!!!

The characterization, for new heroes and a very new Earth-bound Kara, seems right.

 In the stadium, the heroes run into an unaffected human. It turns out he ate a Snickers and regained his strength. I don't know if we should be promoting candy as a healthy way to recharge. But this is an ad. And in moderation it could be used as a pick-me-up.

It also gives Kara and Jessie a solution. At super-speed, they hand out Snickers to the crowd.

And then, showing that maybe Earth people aren't really fragile, the re-energized crowd decides to swarm and give the Parasite and old school beatdown.

I don't know if this would be an effective way to defeat him but somehow it works. 

With the villain captured, nothing left but for Supergirl and Jessie to sprint to the finish line.

And this image, with the cheering sides, is completely from DC Iconography, an homage to Superman #199 and the Limited Collector's Edition C-48.

This made me very very happy! And it is free!

There is even a nice little determined 'back cover' featuring Supergirl.

Look, it is a Snickers commercial. I get it.

But having Supergirl and Jessie Quick be the stars? That is special!