Review: Future State Kara Zor-El Superwoman #1

Future State: Kara Zor-El Superwoman #1 came out this week and it took me a while to work out my feelings for this book. I suppose any book that has me thinking about it should be looked at as a win these days. Any book that has me re-read it the very day of purchase also should be looked upon as a success. It takes more and more to really hook me in these days.

In the end, I have conflicted feelings. I want a good Supergirl story. But I also, desperately, don't want a bad Supergirl story. And while this book is definitely not the latter, I am not sure it is the former.

Writer Marguerite Bennett at the very least doesn't make Supergirl angry or evil. This isn't the infected Goth Queen. It isn't even the Nirhodium-addled Kara from the FS Superman of Metropolis book. So hooray for that. And this is a Supergirl that seems to know who she is and what she wants. That gives her some agency. So you might think that I liked this book. And, as I said, at the very least it is far removed from takes on Supergirl we have seen too much of and which I definitely don't like. 

But then you realize that instead of angry angsty Supergirl, we have got sad, isolated Kara instead. This is a Kara that feels rejected or even hated by her family and the people of Earth. She is someone who has flown to a safe haven which hasn't exactly embraced her. She is someone who's emotional compass is a dog. And ultimately, she is someone who falls back into rage as a default. 

And all of that flies in the face of everything Brian Michael Bendis gave us in his books. A Kara respected by Kal and Jon. A smart strategic Kara who was a leader. The President of Earth in the future.

So better than her solo book? Yes. A good Supergirl story? Not quite yet.

The art by Marguerite Sauvage is very good. It fits the tone of this story nicely, an issue mostly of Supergirl talking with a new character. The muted color palette also works very well with the art as we get this almost idyllic feel to this haven. 

On to the book.

We start with Supergirl at Krypto's grave and she talks of the lessons he taught Kara.

Help others. Be kind. No one is born wise.

I'm not sure what to say. These aren't lessons from Zor and Alura. Not lessons from Kal. Not even lessons from the Danvers. 

From Krypto.

We have seen Krypto as savior dog, stopping Kryptonians from killing and turning evil, way too much these days.

But moreover, Sauvage shows that maybe these lessons and Kara isolating on the moon with the displaced isn't her truly finding peace. She seems to be crying at the end. She certainly isn't happy.

But this contemplation is broken by a spaceship crashing on the moon. Lynari Lili'Alo bursts from the ship akin to Kara on Action Comics #252. Given the unclear reason she is there, Kara initially attacks.

Lynari has powers, speed, strength, shape-shifting, and a Rogue-like temporary draining power.. She quickly overpowers Kara leading our hero to pull out a grenade and threaten to kill both of them. That doesn't sound like Supergirl or Superwoman at all.

 But it is soon clear, Lynari is there for sanctuary.

I do like Lynari's design, a sort of elven look. And her shape shifts mostly appear to be sort of Chinese dragon like.

This begins a friendship between the two. We get some back story as we get a montage of the friends cooking, gardening, and exercising.

We get some needed backstory of Lynari. She gets her powers by the Starfall Jewel, some giant diamond in her body which, if removed, will kill her.

But you also get by her stammering through details of her history that maybe everything isn't on the up and up. Her family gets mentioned. Maybe she didn't get this appropriately? Maybe people will come to reclaim it? 

The answer is yes. We learn later that Lynari's father found this jewel and stuck it in her head and now 'ancestral enemies' are hunting her down. This explains why she came to this haven.

These pages actually show Supergirl smiling (hey ... she has a friend!) and mentoring! I was thinking maybe we'll finally get the Kara that I want!

But then we also see that Kara's backstory here ignores a lot of the Rebirth era book and especially the Bendis run. 

She talks about resenting Clark and Jon for having family.

Again we hear how her life was one of rage and pain.

And frankly, that isn't the Supergirl I want to read.

Once again, Kara begins to tell Lynari about how her life was completely filled with rage. Her 'fight' with Jon on Earth was the last straw. She couldn't live like that anymore.

But she was so filled with anger that she wanted 'revenge' against Jon.

I'll comment more about so much of this at the end. But let's get through this.

But just how much of a paradise is this safe haven.

It doesn't look like these people like having Superwoman around. Lynari thinks they view Kara as a 'super-powered watchdog-mom', not exactly a beloved hero. 

So is she happy here?

Sure there is no rage. But there doesn't seem to be happiness. And what she does here seems more out of duty than passion.

Reminds me of the Robert Frost poem 'Fire and Ice'. Some say the world will end in fire; some say in ice.

I talk about how conflicted I am about this book. 

Here Kara really is a mentor to Lynari. The two begin to construct a dam as a community project. While doing this, Superwoman really pushes Lynari to make decisions about her own life. She shouldn't be thinking about what her family wants or would want. Not what her enemies want. This is Lynari's life and she needs to decide.

Even forgetting the nonsense Future State Jon fight, this is good advice from a Supergirl who has seen things. She didn't need to do what Zor-El wanted. She struggled sometimes with the DEO. She probably wanted to just be in school and hang with her friends at times. She probably felt the weight of the S-Shield and what it stood for. But somehow, she found her own way.

Kara being a role model for young heroes makes great sense.

The emoji things are a little twee ... but that's okay. It hits home the age and maturity of Lynari.

But then we get this page. The people of the safe haven actually look annoyed that our heroes built this dam to help them.  Or at least bored.

We again here how, according to Kara, she was rejected by her blood family and hated by the people of Earth. I'll say again ... this should never be the backstory for Supergirl. This never works for Supergirl. This simply isn't Supergirl.

But even Lynari knows that Superwoman running to this domed city is isolating her and probably compounding her sadness.

Are we really at a place where the default emotions for Supergirl are rage and sadness??

Nice page here especially how the coloring adds to the mood.

As expected, the ancestral enemies arrive on the moon and attack Lynari.

This triggers Supergirl. We see her memories.

She remembers dislike and distrust, fighting Jon,  thinking she was twice as good as her cousins but treated second best, wondering why everyone hated her ... 

And unleashes all her pent in rage.

Her key memories are painful ones. That is sad. And her response is fury. That is infuriating.

So overall, even though this seems like a less angsty Kara, we have simply switched from hate to ennui, from anger to sadness. She has just put up walls, acting but interacting. And it just seems to reinforce all the wrong points.

It doesn't help that we know so little about this haven. Who is there? How are they there? Did Kara found this? Why don't they like her? Why does she stay?

Let's put this another way. If this mini-series had Kara as a beloved hero, defending this haven, and happy, you could still have her mentoring Lynari. You could still have her discuss the low parts of her life and how she got through. You can still have this message.

But instead, again, DC makes her sad and angry. Not happy and optimistic.

So we're close to a good Supergirl story, certainly far closer that the last issues of her own title. But we are still building off of a history that just needs to be cast off. And if this is how Bennett views Kara, I don't think I want her writing any new version of a Supergirl book.

Overall grade: C