Review: Supergirl Woman Of Tomorrow #6

With the Christmas Holiday looming, I decided to get this review out quickly. So welcome to the review of Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow #6 by writer Tom King, artist Bilquis Evely, and colorist Mateus Lopes. 

To be frank, I have not liked the story in this series. While the art is spectacular, the crass, drunken, utterly despondent Kara is not the sort of Supergirl I want to read. The overly verbose Ruthye has dominated the page and much of the plot making this a 'sort of' Supergirl book. This relentless misery isn't what I traditionally look for in a Supergirl book.

But credit where credit is due. This issue is the best of the series so far. It showcases a strong and resilient Kara who has lived through such trauma it is incredible she is even walking. And yet, here she is. 

That doesn't mean that I don't have some serious issues with it. 

King has clearly read Supergirl back issues. In this issue he brings Comet back. But while the super-horse serves a purpose in the plot, King doesn't give us much to work with here. It feels like prolonged fan service, like him putting flame wings in a prior issue.

Moreover, King has read the Supergirl origin stories in the past. He gives us her origin here. The problem is this is King's version of Kara's origin. King thrives on having his characters have PTSD, having witnessed trauma and having them suffer. For Supergirl, King picks and chooses the worst parts of her history and forces her into the middle of the events. But this is the first time any of this happens the way King says it does. That means he changed her origin to make it more traumatic for no other reason than to amp up the violence and death she has seen. I'll explain more in the issue review itself. But having King reconfigure the origin to serve his purpose of darkening Kara's story seems self-serving. Her origin was traumatic enough. 

As always, I have little bad to say about the work Evely and Lopes bring here. The issue is a cosmic horse race intermixed with flashbacks of the dying Krypton. Evely and Lopes make it all just powerful to witness.

On to the book.

Ruthye again is our narrator. But here, she is retelling Kara's origin. It seems Kara feared she might die when she faced Krem again and felt Ruthye should know the truth.

The two do finally square off, albeit briefly. Krem has another Mordru Globe, the magic device that ever-seeks its target and sends them far away. With the globe unleashed, Kara has no choice but to run.

I have spoken enough about how King makes Kara curse like a sailor. It is ever-present in this issue. I don't mind the occasional curse word for emphasis. But *every* page in the present, nearly every panel she speaks in, she curses. It doesn't make her mature or gritty.

In between scenes of Kara's race, we cut to Argo City. We see how Kara's life went from being a brainy kid in advanced math classes to living in the rubble of the ruined city. 

We see her again unable to sleep peacefully as she remembers it all

We know from last issue that Kara couldn't outrun the Mordru Globe on her own. So this time she calls upon her friend, Comet the Super-Horse.

Okay, for long time Supergirl fans, we know all about the Super-Horse from the Silver Age. But outside of Landry Walker and Eric Jones Cosmic Adventures, we haven't seen Comet in about 50 years.

King gives us no explanation or exposition or introduction to Comet. We just see Kara hop on and tell him to fly. 

Now I have to say I love this moment, a high-riding Kara in what is essentially True Grit in space. I love Comet. But what about the new fans.

Also, remember that Kara started this quest to catch up to Krem to get a sample of his poison to save Krypto. If she had a ultra-fast space-faring horse, why would she ever go on a slow moving ship? Why not, once powered, call on Comet to catch up to Krem sooner. 

But that wouldn't fit the story that King is telling. So instead we get this prolonged cameo.

A quick history lesson. 

In the Silver Age, the events go as follows. Krypton explodes. Argo is blasted away. The ground turns to Kryptonite. Lead shields are placed on the ground. A year later Kara is born. A storm pierces the dome and lead shielding. Kara is rocketed away.

In the Jeph Loeb post-Crisis reintroduction, Kara is 15 and is sent to Earth when Krypton explodes to care for Superman. There is no Argo City until Geoff Johns Brainiac story. Brainiac destroys it. Zor-El and Alura remain alive.

In the New 52, Kara is again around 15 and rocketed to Earth when Krypton explodes. There is an Argo City but it is a tomb orbiting a blue sun. Rebirth basically plays out the same.

So the events we are about to learn in this issue, Tom King is making up his own version.

We start with Kara witnessing death and destruction as Krypton explodes. She sees her neighbors disemboweled and dead babies and people crushed and burned. Being this old when Krypton explodes is only true in the post-2000 DCU.

She then is alive on Argo City when it is blown free but the ground turns to Kryptonite. People begin dying, including her mother Alura. Kara is holding her mother's hand when she dies. Kara on Argo is only true in the 1950's origin.

At the very least, this Alura gives an almost Pa Kent death bed request, telling Kara to be good. 

The ground turns to Kryptonite so Zor-El has the idea to lay down lead shielding. 

Everyone has to pitch in, including Kara. We see her swinging a sledge hammer to pound the lead plates down. Even when some of the adults give in to despair and give up the work, Kara continues on.

This sort of unwillingness to give up is going to be a key part of this origin story and I like it. But I would hope that all that resiliency would make Kara have moved past this grief instead of be consumed by it. Yes, she can remember and feel it. But I would rather her be steadfast instead of crying in a sun, living a life of pain. 

But a reminder, in no version of Supergirl's history from 1959 to now was she present when the lead plates were laid down. So King has her seeing another wave of people die because it suits his story. This is his version of her story, the most depressing it could be.

As in the original origin from Action #252, a meteor shower bursts Argo's dome and destroys the lead shielding. People again begin to die. This is the end of Krypton, finally.

But Zor-El remembers enough of Jor-El's plans to try and make a rocket for Kara to escape in. (Why King has to have Zor call Jor 'frivolous' is beyond me. Just another layer of friction in this story of anguish.)

Much like Alura's 'do good' speech, I very much like that Zor says that as long as Kara is alive there is hope.

At least we are moving away from the Alura who was bitter and angry and a Zor who was brainwashing his daughter, drugging his daughter, or becoming the Cyborg Superman.

You can see that this terrible life that Kara has witnessed has hardened her. She tells Zor-El that she is no longer a little girl.

But I love how Zor-El says she will always be his little girl. As a dad, I understand this sentiment.

Still, can you see how King cherry-picked the most depressing parts of all of Kara's history and just shoved her into them. He has to break his characters down so why not shuffle the Supergirl origin deck to suit his purpose.

Because now, because of King's manipulations, for the first time since 1959, Kara has witnessed an apocalyptic event on Krypton three times. She has buried a chunk of the population three times. She has witnessed death and destruction three times 

I suppose for a man who made Adam Strange a killer, Mister Miracle suicidal, and Wally West a psychopath, this is mild.

I haven't mentioned Evely and Lopes much so far. I apologize. Their work speaks for itself. But I love how the render Comet and the streaking horse race. In particular, I loved this page where Comet goes so fast he breaks through some barrier and lands he and Kara into a ethereal land of black and white. This page with its swirling colors and black inky strands shows that piercing of the veil nicely. 

We don't get any explanation of where this place is or what happens. We are told that wherever this is has rendered the Mordru Globe powerless. A little too easy. But is this place heaven? Is King making a backdoor homage to DCCP #29?

Zor-El puts her in the rocket and reminds her of Alura's dying words to be good.

King reminds us how the weight of Krypton remains on Kara's shoulders every day. 

I don't know what to say anymore. 

I have a vision of Supergirl as someone who has witnessed tragedy (although not this much) and has overcome. A person bright and optimistic and willing to lay it all down to make sure no one else suffers like she has. 

King's is someone who has witnessed more than her share of trauma and seems to be numb, walking through life out of habit not joy. 

That isn't my Supergirl. But maybe my Supergirl no longer exists. Maybe this is the Kara the world wants now.

With the Mordru Globe destroyed, a fully powered Supergirl returns to face the rather ordinary Krem. 

At least here, King gives me maybe a seed of hope. Kara isn't doing what she is doing because she feels obligated to because of her parents' words. She is still looking for a reason. 

I just think, if we are saying that this Kara is 21 that she should have found it by now. I want my heroes to be able to rise above so I can be inspired. Indeed, Supergirl is my favorite character because she has always inspired me. I don't know if I can say that right now. I know I don't want to live her life.

Okay, this was as much a review of past comics as it was this one. I do admire the resilience of this Supergirl, her unwillingness to just give up. I like the way her parents are portrayed. This is Kara's issue not Ruthye's. And I love Comet. And for these reasons, I stand by the earlier statement that this is the best issue of this series so far.

But King changing the origin and the overall funereal tone of the whole thing still remains almost unbearable.

Overall grade: C