Review: Adventures of Superman #440

It is hard to believe that Sophie Campbell has somehow brought the concept of a Matrix Supergirl back into the mainstream continuity. One thing that I have loved about Campbell's run has been her respect and honoring of the Supergirl mythos. Matrix was Supergirl for almost a decade. I liked the Matrix Supergirl and the arc and growth she had. So I am thrilled to see what Campbell is going to do with her.

It's also hard to believe that it has been 7 years since I did a run on this site called 'Matrix Monday', a side project where I reviewed the history of the Matrix Supergirl. Kara Zor-El was gone from the DCU and in the post-Crisis Superman universe, just about three later, a new 'Supergirl' arrived. 

I recently realized I missed a couple of those early appearances when Supergirl had just been discovered in the Antarctica ice, didn't know who she was, and was trying to figure out her mission on this Earth. This was a true mystery! Who was this person? John Byrne and the super-creators were slowly leaking out information, one subplot page at a time.  It started in Superman #16. Here in Adventures of Superman #440 some very interesting clues are revealed.

We are also only about 18 months into the John Byrne reboot when Byrne was still rebuilding and modernizing so much of the Superman mythos. After spending some of those early issues doing reboot or homage issues, we were now into more original takes. In this issue, we get a very interesting early moment between Batman and Superman. This was still a sort of new relationship in this post-Crisis world.

I plan to do cover the Adventures of Superman lead-in pages, filling in the beginning of the Matrix story, before the Supergirl Saga.. I won't be covering this entire issue just some key moments. We'll see how the rest of the issues play out.

Jerry Ordway is on art and these issues remind me why he is called Extraordinary. Everything shines here. I also like this cover, drawn by Dave Gibbons with Ordway on inks! Superman smiling when shrugging off lightning is always a great image. We have seen it a million times.

Going all the way back to the first 'It tickles' cover from Superman #33. Amazing!

On to Adventures #440!

All we saw before this issue was a person who looked like Supergirl buried deep in Antarctica ice. Byrne says he based these characters on the crew at an Antarctica base in John Carpenter's The Thing. Digging her out of the ice even echoes that movie. Who was she?

Fans had been told the classic Supergirl, Kara Zor-El, was dead. Characters didn't remember her. The timeline forgot her. Fans were told she wasn't coming back. So this was a true mystery. I wondered if she would be our Kryptonian cousin returned. Maybe DC recognized the mistake she made?

Already though there are hints she isn't Kara.

She is perfectly human.

She has some sort of field effect which is giving off heat, thawing her. 

Those aren't Kryptonian traits.

And how did she get buried under hundreds of years of ice?

The plot thickened for sure!

But wait ... there's more!

Very early in the post-Crisis, Lex Luthor got hold of a scrapbook from Smallville filled with newspaper clippings about miraculous events that happened there ... all before Superman revealed himself. Superman got hold of it and had no idea about who made it and why. It concerned him about what it all meant. So he gave it to the World's Greatest Detective.

Batman can tell a lot about this book except who it belongs to.

However one thing he learned from it is Superman is Clark Kent.

WHOA!

I like the whole scene. Batman is shocked Superman has been able to keep his secret identity hidden without a mask. Of course, who would think Superman would have another identity. 

Superman ain't happy. 

Remember, these aren't the World's Finest chums from the Silver Age. Their meeting in Byrne's Man of Steel was pretty tense.

Turnabout is fair play.

Superman calls Batman 'Mr. Wayne'. 

Hey, what's good for the goose! 

These two don't seem friendly. That almost felt like Superman saying 'don't do anything with that information or I will return the pain'!

In these heady days of the immediate post-Crisis, there was just an energy to things. This felt fresh.

Going back to Smallville, Superman learns the scrapbook belong to Ma!

As a proud mama, she wanted to chronicle her boy's career.

But wait, there's even more!

What a cliffhanger!

Wonder Woman was still very new to the DCU, having appeared at the end of Legends. There was some superficial attraction between Diana and Superman that we saw in both their titles leading up to Action Comics #600 where they both realize it just isn't going to work. Great work by Ordway here.

Still, you are here for the Supergirl content. Back in the day this mystery was unfolding. We know a little more now. She's human. She has a force effect. Interesting ...

Overall grade: A