Review: Superman/Wonder Woman #10

I have waxed and waned on my enjoyment with the Superman:Doomed storyline.

From a story point of view, the good has included Clark struggling internally with the Doomsday persona crawling around inside him as well as the inspiration of Superman making heroes rally to help by asking 'what would Superman do'. From an art point of view, I have continued to be blown away by the work of Aaron Kuder and Tony Daniel.

The bad has included completely inconsistent characterization of Supergirl, some dangling plot lines which have gone weeks without being addressed (Dr. Xa-Du hasn't been seen in 4 issues), and while not started in this arc, the shabby treatment of Lois Lane.

Unfortunately, Superman/Wonder Woman #10 seems to fall more into the latter than the former. Writer Charles Soule, who has shined in Red Lanterns and She-Hulk, continues to miss on this book with me. Part of that may be that I still don't have a great grasp or understanding of this relationship. It still doesn't seem right to me and the stories of this romance haven't persuaded me otherwise.

And while I like the art of both Paolo Siquiera and Pascal Alixe, I missed Tony Daniel on this book. We have heard that Daniel is moving on to a new Deathstroke book. I will miss him on this book.

Last issue ended with a great cliffhanger, the Cyborg Superman leading Brainiac squidies to Earth. Between the two is Lana and Steel in their spaceship. Meanwhile, Superman gave in to the Doomsday darkness as he battled Halak.

With their ship in danger, with the squidies battering them, Lana calls out to Superman. And luckily, Superdoom hears them and arrives. He saves the ship by ripping apart the Brainiac swarm.

Now this should be a great moment, Superman saving his friends from a cold death in space. But then Steel says that Superdoom may be just what they need, God help them.

I think it is a sad comic world where Superman's friends think they need him to be a monster to stop a threat like Brainiac. They don't trust Superman to succeed as a person? As a hero? As someone with ethics?

Yes, Brainiac and the Cyborg are huge threats. Isn't that what Superman is used to fighting?

For some reason, that one line, Steel glad that Superman is a monster, really did not sit well with me.

Meanwhile, poor poor Lois.

With Metropolis in quarantine, its citizens comatose, she wanders into the town and embraces her Brainiac possession.

Okay, it is a nice near splash page.

But do I really need Lois as a villain. Let alone as a simmering villain for a year?

Will we ever get an explanation why she seems to thrive with this possession while 'The Twenty' all mutated into monsters and died?

Will we ever get an explanation why Parasite drained her memory of Superman's secret identity but not much else?

It leads to a conversation and confrontation with Wonder Woman who apparently promised to watch Metropolis in Superman's place. Diana recognizes Lois and so approaches initially as a friend.

Okay, at the very least, Soule is planting the seeds that Lois is not herself. She may or may not be aware of all the things she is doing. She later says she is like a reporter in her own body, observing what she is doing without actually doing it. I assume that when she eventually gets cured of this affliction that she will conveniently forget everything she's done.

Lois/Brainiac seems pretty immature in talking about relationships, reducing men and women to caricatures. The man makes a mess, the woman cleans up.

Last issue, I had a bit of a complaint in wondering why Steel would bring a civilian like Lana Lang along on a dangerous space mission. At least we get an explanation here. It was Lana who discovered the brain signal from Smallville into space. She has the most expertise in defining the problem right now.

Steel, while keeping his distance from Superman's death field, Steel tells about the threat to Earth. Hearing his home is in danger, Superman flies off before Steel can dissuade him.

Hmmm ... will we ever get an explanation why Smallville was chosen? Does Brainiac know Superman's secret identity? I suppose if Lois/Brainiac knew that at some point, he probable does.

With the niceties over, Lois decides it is time for battle and psionically attacks Wonder Woman by showing her the painful parts of Diana's recent past. Most of these are scenes from the main Wonder Woman book.

Very nice art here worth showcasing.

But then things get a little silly.

Lois uses her powers to somehow resurrect John Corben as Metallo. She creates a body and psionically puts his persona into it. He then attacks Diana.

But the words Lois says here is crazy. She calls John Corben her man? Her soldier boy? She talks about how Brainiac took him from her?

Umm ... I am pretty sure she rebuked him in the past. She wouldn't describe him in such loving terms.

It is, again, some wonky characterization.

If there is a glimmer of Lois, she wouldn't talk about Corben or Superman or relationships this way.
If she is completely possessed by Brainiac, would Brainiac resort to this sort of 'my boyfriend is better than your boyfriend' sort of yapping?

Of course, she is controlled by Brainiac so I suppose all of this can be rationalized away as madness. But it there on the page. And it is disheartening for both characters.

At least we get some progression of the main Doomed storyline. With the Cyborg speeding to Earth we get an important little nugget of information.

The Doomsday Gambit was a engineered by Brainiac and Dr. Xa-Du. So maybe Xa-Du isn't going to help things. Of course, we haven't seen him in several issues so I don't even know where he is.

But it hasn't worked completely well. Superman is still a bit in control and flying to intercept this Brainiac fleet.

I don't know if Brainiac, who wants to collect information and life and store it would think putting out a death-generating monster on a planet he hopes to gather from would be the best idea.

While Diana defeats Lois/Brainiac from creating a device to ramp up the coma-field/Brainiac signal, Lois continues to talk about her love of Corben. Yeesh.

In orbit, Superman meets the Cyborg Superman for the first time.

I like how the Cyborg rightfully says that Superman is more polluted and less worthy of the S-shield than he is.

It is clear, to defeat this threat Superman will have to completely let go and let Doomsday take over.

But is that true? Is that best? If he lets Doomsday take over, won't he be a death-generating uncontrollable monster plodding around Earth? Wouldn't that save Earth only to then have him kill it? Can't he remain partially in control and mobilize the super-human community to help him ... sorta like what we saw way back in Panic in the Sky?

I don't know. The opening chapters of this Superman:Doomed story seemed like it had more potential than this. There is so many plot and character cracks that are making this less enjoyable for me. And the treatment of Lois still irks me.

How many more months do we have of this?

Overall grade: C

Review: Secret Origins #1

I have a love of the DC Universe and have always enjoyed the Secret Origins books when they have been part of the publisher's line. I not only like rereading the origins of my favorite characters ... amazed that creators can add a new wrinkle ... but the ones I don't know very well also. So when DC announced a new Secret Origins, I was very happy. And when Supergirl was announced as part of the first issue, I was thrilled. Sure she isn't on the cover. But she is there. And this issue was very very good.

I will briefly cover the Superman and Robin stories but this review will be mostly about the Supergirl story.

We are at the beginning of Tony Bedard's soft reboot of Supergirl. He has said he wants her to be more heroic, more likable, less angry and isolated. And while we don't see a whole heck of a lot of movement here, we definitely learn a few key things about Kara's past. And those things make her have a better foundation than the 'I don't care' Supergirl that has dominated the early years of this incarnation.

The issue starts with a flashback to Krypton where Supergirl saves the lives of a couple of other young Kryptonians who have violated some camp rules as they prepare for the trials of citizenship.

It is a brief scene but it shows that this Kara cares about people and is already heroic enough to risk herself to defend them. She bashes this wild animal despite knowing her weapon isn't powerful enough to incapacitate it.

She will defend people! She cares ... even if she doesn't know someone.

Interfering actually gets Kara in trouble. She lies to try to defend the mistake the others had wandering off and that is frowned upon. Luckily, Alura is able to give some words of wisdom. Doing the right thing can have unwanted consequences. But honor the house of El by always doing the right thing.

I love that Bedard is going to make Alura a role model and inspiration for Kara. And I like that she says Els always do what is right. That is great. It seems like a nice foundation for a fierceness in the pursuit of justice that the original Supergirl had. But it doesn't have to come with a horrible edge. She can be bright and fierce.

Of course, you might think that Kara might see Kal 'always doing the right thing' and warm up to him.

We get even more Alura information. It turns out she is a 'peace praetor' of Argo City. That is either police officer, judge, or politician. But regardless, she is in a position of power and a defender of the people. It makes her an even better role model for Supergirl.

And now onto a nice little side view of the origin. We see Zor-El in his lab. He definitively says that his World Killer experiments could not unlock any powers in Kryptonians.

There we have it.

Kara is not the first World Killer.

Hurrah! And thank you Mr. Bedard.

Back on Earth, Kara rescues North Korean astronauts who are in a falling satellite. When she brings them to North Korea, the army fires on her.

She doesn't care. Saving the astronauts is the right thing. Superman arrives unfortunately to confront her about the messiness of this save. This was an international incident. Rather than ask him how she could have done better, she gets angry. Shoving a finger in his chest, she says doing the right thing sometimes has consequences. And she will learn her own way.

It is a shame. If a wise Kryptonian like Alura can teach her, why can't Kal. Sure saving the guys was right but maybe he could tell her how to do it with less consequences.

Her being on Earth, in her costume, and willing to save people, seeing that as the right thing, seems to be a step in the right direction. But this felt like she is a .... sigh ... bull-headed loner. She will do what she wants no matter what someone else says. And she will do it her way.

 I hope Bedard can keep moving her towards likable hero and not just a hero.

Still this was a good origin. The Krypton scenes and Alura/Zor-El info add a nice foundation to the character.

The Superman origin is nicely revisited by Greg Pak and artist Lee Weeks. In it we hear voice overs from both Ma Kent and Lara as they talk about how they hope their love will make Kal/Clark become the man they want him to be.

Pak does a good job of weaving in scenes from both his Action run and Morrison's as key points were Clark is shown love and then uses that love to be Superman. Nice stuff.

And the Robin (Dick Grayson) origin is also excellent. Writer Kyle Higgins and artist Doug Mahnke retell the Grayson tragedy at the circus followed by the introduction of Robin. This was my favorite scene. Here Dick sees Robins and decides they will be the basis of his costume. It is a nice reflection of Bruce's own decision to become a bat. But instead of brooding inside when a bat flies in, Dick is outside, in the sun, hearing birds sing. Very nice. (I also liked that his flying Grayson's costume looks similar to his Nightwing one).

Anyways, great issue overall. Kara's transformation looks like a marathon, not a sprint. But still, progress is progress.

Overall grade: B+

Review: Superman/Wonder Woman #7

Superman/Wonder Woman #7 came out last week and acted as a sort of pause between the opening Zod/Faora arc and the upcoming Doomed storyline.

Writer Charles Soule does his best to use this issue to synch up this book with the mainstream DCU, particularly with Wonder Woman. In many ways, some of that contradicts the earlier issues of this book. That has been a problem for me since the inception of the New 52 ... and not just with Diana. The Wonder Woman in her main title is very different from the one in this book which has a different feel than the one we have seen in Justice League. The Superman in the Lobdell books is very different than the one in Greg Pak's Action which is also different from the one in this book. Reconciling all of this is tricky.
While I commend this attempt, it also irritates a bit.

On top of that, this issue slams the door shut on the Zod/Faora story a bit too quickly, a bit too easily.

Lastly, there is no Tony Daniel on art here and Daniel's work has been one of the consistent wins of this book. There is a very good triumverate of artists here - Paolo Siqueira, Eddy Barrows, and Barry Kitson. And the styles seem to meld into each other decently. I have enjoyed these artists on other books in the past, especially Kitson. However, there are some sequences where the art doesn't fully convey the story which made me go back to reread. It definitely re-emphasized just how important Daniel is to my enjoyment of this book.

So we start with a flash forward of a sort. We aren't picking up where last issue ended, our heroes almost killed by a nuclear explosion. Instead we are 'now'.

The question is 'when is now?' Is it pre-Doomed? Or is it post-Doomed?

My guess is that it is post-Doomed given that the London in the background is nearly leveled. Every corner is filled with cracked buildings, rubble in the streets, or construction vehicles.

If it is post-Doomed, then we know the particulars survive. We know London is nearly leveled. And we know that despite the clean-up, that Wonder Woman and Superman are going to take some 'me time'. I guess if a major battle has ended they deserve it. But it feels a little weird to see them happily cavorting while London tries to pull itself together in the background.

It also means, based on the dialogue, that Diana still hasn't said she loves Superman back. If this is post-Doomed that is really crazy. I assume Kal is near-death again at some point.

We cut back in time to the cliffhanger. Wonder Woman seems in better shape than the skeletal Superman. Maybe that invulnerable cape helped.

I will say that this is the first panel that I actually felt like there may be true feelings between these two. I may be wrong but I think that this is the first time she has called him Clark in this book. She has been confused about his need for his Clark persona, maybe even chided him a bit. Calling him that in this intense moment made me think ... for once ... that she actually cares about him.

But the plan works. The Phantom Zone, Zod, Faora ... all gone. But we only hear that in one word bubble. Seems like a let down from the actual build up of that confrontation. And what's to stop Zod from exiting again. The defeat of the villains happens off-screen, technically between issues!  I wanted more closure. But I guess with Doomed teed up, there isn't time.

I talked above about how sometimes the art doesn't necessarily convey what is happening making me have to fill in some info.

First Wonder Woman touches a button in the invisible jet which shoots a beam into the air. The clouds part and the yellow sun comes down onto Superman's hand. But I had to look back at those panels a couple of times to make sure I understood what was happening.

The same thing here. Ghost Soldiers attack Wonder Woman (synching up with a scene discussed in Action Comics #30). I assume that the second panel is Superman blasting them with heat vision (what else could it be). But we see Superman looking absolutely emaciated the panel before this. Could/should he be able to pull this off? Since I have no other explanation I guess the answer is yes. But I had to look at the panels again to make sure I had followed things, even making sure pages weren't stuck together.

And then it seems like Wonder Woman is worse for wear. The two struggle to fly off. But it is Superman that takes Diana to Hessia first, rather than she getting him aid. He looked way worse for wear initially. But by the time they get to London, he is looking plumper and less spectral.

Separately they heal. He goes to the Fortress for a sunbath. She gets some purple ray therapy.

But before parting ways, Clark again tries to drop the L word on Diana. She stops him ... saying she knows it. She doesn't reciprocate. Weird.

Meanwhile, Doomsday bursts from his Urchin-like cocoon and seems different. He seems intelligent, climbing out of the deep sea trench. And I don't know what this black energy/light he is oozing/emanating.

What I do think is crazy is that the Tower, which supposedly released Doomsday, thinks they can simply scoop him up and contain him for their purposes.

Will this be a super-intelligent Doomsday? A thinking Doomsday? Or simply a monster?

I talked about the awkward panel progression in the invisible plane sequence and the heat vision sequence. There was another.

The Tower submarine closes in on Doomsday. Then there is a panel with THOOOM. Then there is splash of the submarine exploding.

Now I can assume that Doomsday leapt out of the shark that had swallowed him, swam to the submarine, and destroyed it. And that would be a fine guess. But I wish I could say I knew that. At first I didn't know what was happening in that second lower panel. Was the sub firing on Doomsday? Or Doomsday heading to the sub? As a reader I don't know in what direction that action is happening.

Again, I have to commend Soule for trying to reconcile the disparate takes on these characters. It is a shame that writers have to deal with such diverse representations of popular characters. You would think the higher-ups at DC would lay out a plan or template for writers to follow.

So while London smolders, Superman and Wonder Woman catch up while sitting on a rooftop. She divulges that she is now the Goddess of War, and she hopes to use that change mankind's views on the topic.

Might be hard for Superman ... at least the Superman I know ... to be comfortable with that.

But this scene at the end of the book, again trying to streamline all the presentations of Diana, made me question if Soule went too far.

Remember, in the Wonder Woman main title, writer Brian Azzarello has shown Diana in street clothes listening to rock music at a club. That Diana hasn't been seen anywhere else ... especially not here. Soule has had Wonder Woman questioning Superman's love of humanity. She has asked him why he has a civilian identity. She has talked to her friends about why he would have a secret identity. She has even tried to talk Superman out of being Clark in this book. It is one of the things that has made me think these two aren't meant for each other.

But then Soule has Diana take Clark to a club to dance. It is a club she is a regular at ... the bouncer knows her name, tells Clark she has never brought a beau with her before. She slinks onto the dance floor, telling Clark how much she loves to dance. And he is happy they have this night.

But .... ummm .... how can someone who for 6 issues has said she doesn't understand civilian time turn around and be a regular at a dance club? A regular! They know her name!

It is this sort of uneven characterization that has plagued the New 52 all along, especially Superman and Wonder Woman. I would have actually liked it more if Soule kept portraying Diana as he saw her. At least this book would be internally consistent.

I have to say, between the easy ending of the Zod arc, the off storytelling, and the schizophrenic Diana, this should be my last issue of this title. But I will stick around through Doomed. If only to see the Tony Daniel's art.

Overall grade: C-

Review: Superman Wonder Woman #4

Superman/Wonder Woman #4 came out last week and as usual, I have some problems with this issue.

It does what it should, moving the two major plotlines in this comic forward. And it does it in an interesting way, splitting the issue into two separate stories with two different artists. In that manner, I think the book works. I was glad to really concentrate on the two plots individually rather than have to transition from one to the other every couple of pages (not that that would be easy as one is Superman in the Arctic and the other is Clark in Metropolis).

But while that format works, there are pieces of these plots that still don't work for me and progression of the plot won't help that. Boiled down to its core, I still don't quite get why these two would be together outside of an immediate physical attraction. Every interaction seems to just hammer home why the don't work together. Writer Charles Soule seems to want to show how different the two are as a source of interesting stories and plot development. But instead, it just makes me think that these two would be happier of they broke up.

The art on the book continues to be excellent. While there are a fair number of 'romance novel' shots of Superman and Diana embracing, Tony Daniel and Paolo Siqueira really shine here. Daniel handles the Superman/Zod portions in the Fortress. Siqueira sparkles on the Cat Grant celebration party in Metropolis.

The book opens with our title characters still reeling a bit that the news of their romance has hit the airwaves.

And then we have this dialogue exchange that once again makes me think that these two just aren't fit for each other.

Diana asks Superman why he continues to be 'Clark'. Why not get rid of that identity and be just Superman and use his powers all the time, something that brings him joy.

Uhh ... Clark IS Clark. Superman is the mask. I can't imagine Diana not understanding that! And I am surprised that Clark doesn't look at her incredulously. How could someone who says they love him ask him that? Plus, isn't she just now enjoying the whole Diana Prince thing, as laid out by Geoff Johns.

But I didn't exactly like Clark's response either. He remains Clark because it is 'hard' and that reminds him of the lives of regular people. But I'd rather him say 'I choose to be Clark because I am Clark.'

The rest of the Tony Daniel portion of the book takes place in the Fortress. I talked last month about how Zod's murderous rampage when he came to Earth went uninvestigated and how I thought that didn't make much sense.

Here, Superman talks to Zod about Doomsday. Zod states that he volunteered to go into the Zone to fight Doomsday eternally. Now, you might think that Superman would actually try to look into the databases in the Fortress to do some research on who Zod is before believing this lie.

Or ... maybe he should ask his cousin who was alive back on Krypton to see if she knows anything about Zod. Remember, she was tormented by him in her youth as seen in the Doomsday book in Villains Month. But having Superman talk to Supergirl seems to be forbidden in the New 52.

But moreover, it just shows badly on Superman. He is too busy smooching Diana to figure out who this Kryptonian is?

Instead Superman is surprised when Zod is very interested in the Phantom Zone projector (as seen in panels above) and states outright that Superman should fear him.

Zod understands the Kryptonian technology better than Kal and is able to use a phrase to open all the cages in the menagerie (including his own) and fly to the projector.

Beautiful art here as the two fight amid the crazy zoo. Daniel really draws a great Superman.

Diana does the voice over here, talking about how they are truly mythological beings which usually means a tragic ending. Then she says that she and Superman will split for some time fighting their personal enemies. I guess that means Superman will face off against the Phantom Zone villains while she will fight more classic enemies from her rogues' gallery.

It turns out that Zod is heading to the projector to free Faora. He asks if Superman wouldn't do the same thing if Diana were on the other side.

I suppose this Zod/Faora relationship could be a nice reflection of the Clark/Diana relationship. Maybe we will compare and contrast these two couples to see the depth of love and loyalty, the problems of a power couple, etc.

So I am willing to give this a bit more time to see how it plays out. Will Zod immediately go 'despot'? (Hard not to when you tell Kal he should be feared.)

And the fact that the projector lens is cracked isn't lost on me. A detail like that has to have a reason for being there. My guess ... the machine breaks at the end of this arc, sealing the Zone off 'forever'.

Nice cliffhanger. The problem is getting to this point required me to swallow some odd characterization.

The second half of the issue takes place in Metropolis at a party that Cat Grant is throwing over the success of ClarkCatropolis now that they broke the Superman/Wonder Woman romance. My guess is it takes place between the apartment discussion between Clark and Diana and his heading to the Fortress.

It is an inclusive look at the response to the relationship as we hear what the party-goers think. And we also get a bigger scope as we get a two page spread of the heroes kissing while surrounding them are people -both known and unknown - responding to the news. I did like the construction of the page with Superman and Diana in bright color surround by the muted green of the 'Matrix', people seeing the news on-line.

And Steve Trevor's is the most cutting. He 'knows' Diana is going to dump Superman.

I will say if there is a Cat Grant comic one day, I want Siqueira to draw it. He seems to have a handle on both her and her mannerisms, whether it is being the center of attention (as here when she is simply eye candy while the conversation happens below) or lounging on the couch as the party wraps up.

Her boyfriend is some dunce. He is working on some sort of Absorbascon like device where all knowledge can be downloaded into someone's mind, a way to give humanity their 'edge' back over super-humans. Sounds like a super-villain waiting to emerge. New Brainwave? Seems odd that this party takes place in Aaron's lab though. One 'rum and coke' spilled onto the control panel and the Absorbascon could be broken.

I do like that Clark states that being 'super' doesn't automatically mean someone wants to rule. My guess is Zod is going to challenge that notion.

And what about the rest of the world.

Well the continuity nut in me is trying to figure out when this story takes place.

Lex is imprisoned and scarred. That means we are pre-Forever Evil.

And Lex isn't happy about this relationship either. I guess if he hates a super-being over him, a super-couple is twice as scary.

Meanwhile, as in last issue, Diana is confused about her relationship and goes to her friend Hessia to talk things out. At least Diana has someone to talk to. In this book she feels alone, concentrating only on her mission. This Diana feels so different from the Azzarello one who is surrounded by her own version of Modern Family.

And you would think if every time she is with Clark she is so confused she needs to talk about her relationship with a friend, she might wonder if this romance will work.

I suppose having two women talking in the comic and talking about a relationship fails some sort of test. At least Soule gives us this moment where Diana inspires some girls who are studying self-defense under Hessia's tutelage.

With the girls out of the dojo, the two Amazons have a workout to relieve some stress, fighting robots. I don't know where this takes place. Is it in Hessia's gym?

Happily, Hessia reminds Diana that there is more to her life than simply this relationship. She isn't defined by Superman. Whew ... thank goodness someone tells Diana that. I don't know if this Wonder Woman reads like the Wonder Woman I know.

And Dian decides that maybe she should ... I don't know ... try to figure out a way to save the Amazons instead of making out all the time. I'm not saying that you can't have a relationship and do all this personal stuff (research Zod, save Amazons). In fact being in a stable relationship should help them with these personal quests. It just seems this book makes the two heroes seem infatuated with each other, interested in only the physical components of a relationship, and ignoring everything else. I guess when smitten that stuff can happen.

Lastly, the big mystery remains. Who sent Cat those pictures?

This is a beautiful book to look at with really fantastic art by Daniel and Siqueira.

But the relationship this book is built on still reads all wrong, like two people who don't understand each other at all, who are on opposite ends of the spectrum on some basic ideology, and who just seem uncomfortable with each other when they aren't embracing.

I do think the Zod/Faora relationship at least allows some sort of foil to be set up, some sort of mirror for the main characters to look at and wonder. In some ways, while malevolent, I bet Zod and Faora have truer feeling for each other.

Overall grade: B (raised a bit by the art)

Sales Review: November 2013

The sales numbers for November are out and up on ICv2 and they are fascinating. One of the things I have noticed over time has been how the market share of the big two has been slowly eroding as independents and other publishers pump out better stories and lure away great creators.

The actual ranking of the November sales are available on ICv2 here: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/27445.html

Supergirl #25 was one of the middle chapters of Krypton Returns, the big super-crossover event and sequel to H'El on Earth.

I talked about the quality of the story during the reviews and to put it succinctly, I wasn't impressed.

And yet ...

Sales went up last month!

The book was up 8% to 25,377. And I can only assume that is due to the crossover and not something else. The only thing noteworthy in the month was the further discussion of her change to a Red Lantern. I don't think people would jump on this early.

I always like to look at another comic's sales.

Jeff Lemire recently announced that Animal Man is being canceled because he had told all the stories he had in him about Buddy and his family.

I was surprised because after slogging through the overly-long Rot storyline, the book was hitting its stride again.

That said, in looking at the sales, the book has dipped below the 20K mark. I thought it was one of the 'surprise books' of the new 52. I haven't been following this book's sales closely. Was this a slow erosion? Or was there a point it dropped off precipitously. I will admit, I almost dropped it during the Rot arc.

Surprisingly Marvel's Captain Marvel is down there too. We know this book is also 'canceled' ... more like on hiatus. It is coming back with writer Kelly Sue DeConnick back on as writer. This is a book with a strong vocal audience who have formed a CarolCorps. Looks like Marvel was listening in assuring it is coming back.

Maybe we need to form a KaraKorps.

Review: Supergirl #25

Supergirl #25 came out this week, the third part in Krypton Returns, moving the story forward to next month's conclusion. And, believe it or not, I thought this was a decent issue!

I have routinely hammered Scott Lobdell and anything H'El related and there are some things about this issue that still feel off. As with many of Lobdell's plots, there are pieces that don't add up, the things he says that as readers we should simply roll with. I am not asking for exhaustive explanations about things. But I want some internal consistency in my stories. I have to make a leap in a story on my own, I want that leap to make sense.

But this issue is a strong issue for Supergirl and I have to applaud the writing crew for that. The super-team writers of Lobdell, Superboy scribe Justin Jordan, and Supergirl writer Michael Alan Nelson are all listed as doing the dialogue over Lobdell's plot. And that might explain why the voices sound true here.

Since Kara is involved in 2 of the 3 Oracle side missions, we see her throughout the book. The interesting thing for me as a reader is contrasting the two Kara's separated by a a couple of years but so different in outlook. The Kara on Krypton seems sweeter and more innocent. And that is contrasted to Supergirl, the Kara that has survived her world's destruction and has struggled with her life on Earth. This Kara is angrier, more apt to pick up a spear, readier to fight.

I suppose my Supergirl lies somewhere in the middle. But this is a solid issue for our title hero. So all I have to do now is roll with the plot lapses and time travel confusion.

The art on the issue is done by Paulo Siqueira who really brings a kinetic beauty to the story and that goes a long way too. He is a cheesecake artist at times but those moments aren't numerous and don't overly distract.

We start with a little rehash of the story. The Oracle continues to float in space, watching the universe unravel, and hoping that the super-family can undo what H'El has done.

Since the Oracle can't talk and seems objective, we get to hear a little bit more of the plot from a newly introduced herald. Unnamed, this herald talks about how luckily the time tsunami hasn't killed anybody yet, chewing through unformed solar systems.

And this Herald lets us know that "someone" will need to make a sacrifice. Of course we know that it's Superboy.

The art is beautiful here. The Herald has a nice design, echoing some of the visual elements of the Oracle. But in the end it is three pages out of 20 on rehash. Beautiful rehash but rehash.

Also, if the Oracle has Heralds like this, why not have sent one to communicate with the Supers the first time they met? Why not have this guy, who looks pretty tough, fight H'El? Can he make people Heralds? If so, why leave Faora limping around alone on the new Krypton? He 'trained' her for months. Maybe a Herald could have talked to the family instead of the Oracle possessing and almost killing Superboy.

 I suppose this is one of those elements I shouldn't think about too much.

Now there are parts of me that still is struggling with the multiple timelines we are dealing with in this story. This part of the story seems to be the easiest. In the distant past, Supergirl is trying to stop the clones from inflicting some wound to Krypton which hastens the cataclysm.

Last issue we saw Kara defeat a bunch of clones. Before she can catch her breath, H'El arrives, wielding a chunk of Kryptonite and threatening to kill his beloved. She also is struggling with her mission which is to aid the destruction of her home.

This isn't the best opening panel for Supergirl, on her knees, in a submissive position, begging H'El that he doesn't need to kill her. But things get better. Still ...

Anyways, my main issue here is that chunk of Kryptonite he is wielding near her face. If you go back to H'El on Earth, Lobdell makes it absolutely clear that Kryptonite is pretty lethal. Kara has limited exposure and is fatally poisoned. Just holding it back then made her turn green and cracked. So shouldn't this chunk be weakening her already?

Luckily this scared Supergirl fades or was simply a ruse. She bashes him in the face and dashes off to arm herself.

Somehow, and this is where we need to take some leaps, Supergirl thinks that beating up 6 clones has accomplished her goal of starting their rebellion. Six clones. I don't know why she would think that. At least she wants to return to the present.

And thankfully, this is the last loving shot of Kara's bottom by Siqueira. I was worried it would be a theme throughout the issue.

Next leap.

We see Superman hanging from a flagpole as he did on the last page of Superman #0. He seems happy to have met his mother even if he knows he has to help bring about Krypton's destruction.

Except .... we ended last issue with him in Jor-El's lab, strapped to a table, and weakened from radiation poisoning. Lara was trying to figure out who he was and how he got into the El house. So how did we get here?

Anyways, for some reason his black Krypton suit changes into the red and blue Earth uniform. It has to mean that the end of this story, his return to Earth, is nearing.

Who is he speaking to here? Any guesses?

Surprisingly, my favorite part of the book is the Superboy/young Kara section. There is a lot happening here which is tight storytelling. Superboy actually sounds like a nice kid here, wondering how this Kara can become the angry, prejudiced Supergirl he knows. And Superboy and Kara note some of the 'Brainiac-based' tech that is in Argo City, Zor-El's attempt to save the place. It is good continuity and brings some elements of things I would want to see if there is a story on Krypton.

But which timeline is this?

Is this the original one? Before H'El has tampered things?

Remember, H'El is sent back in time months before the destruction of Krypton. He befriends Jor-El. He kills Jor-El. He befriend Jor-El again. Until finally a Jor-El is able to save Krypton ... the very impetus for this story! So is H'El on this Krypton right now? Has he gone back in time yet? (This is one week before the destruction so if H'El is helping Jor-El save the world you would think he would be here by now.)

Anyways ... I guess I have to assume that this is the original, unspoiled timeline.

This is confusing ... right?

And then an interesting wrinkle. The Eradicator, now the embodiment of Krypton's entropy, can't be killed by being perforated with shrapnel as Superboy did last issue.

The Eradicator again returns to kill Kara. And Superboy doesn't have many options to defeat such a being and save Supergirl in this time. He resorts to doing 'something stupid' and kicking the Eradicator through Kon's boom tube home, sending the Eradicator to Earth and stranding Superboy on Krypton.

This is the Superboy I want to read. He is a stand up hero, defending Kara, and then being unpredictable for the win. He is likable here! I'll even forgive him for TK'ing a shard of metal into the Eradicator's throat (a killing move). You can't kill entropy.

I wonder why the Eradicator is concentrating so much on killing Kara when we know another child escapes the death of Krypton as well. I guess it is another thing I just have to accept.

Anyways, if Superboy is stranded on Krypton, his boom tube gone, maybe he is doomed to die on Krypton.

And then the really odd part of the story and perhaps the biggest thing I need to just roll with.

After the Eradicator leaves, H'El shows up to kill Kara and Superboy in this timeline as well.

So one week before Krypton's destruction, H'El is fighting Kon.
And hundreds of years before the destruction, H'El is fighting Kara.

That resonance somehow merges the damage done to H'El. So when Kara slashes him with a spear in the distant path, he bleeds in Argo City. This convergence weakens H'El. I know ... another leap.

And then another interesting wrinkle. It turns out that one of the clones Kara defeated was their leader Kon. (Huh, maybe she did suppress the rebellion.) And since she was the victor, the clones now fight for her.

In fact, the entire clone army starts to mobilize to fight. And then Kara picks up a spear and leads them. How ironic, that this group of people who she vilified, who she hates, she now leads!

Overall, I will say, that there are a lot of things I just need to roll with here. The blip in Superman's storyline and the timeline convergence on H'El are the ones that bothered me the most.

But the thing was, overall, this was something of an entertaining issue. We get to see a strong and sort belligerent Supergirl standing up to H'El and fighting for something. We get a likable Superboy doing what's right. And best of all, we get a glimpse into the pre-destruction Kara, a smart young woman who notices the Brainiac tech and wonders how it got there. A grateful Kara who hugs Kon after he saves her from the Eradicator. You know what all that is? Characterization!

I think Siqueira's art shines here because it is both beautiful, but with a layer of grime which works in these battle scenes.

The biggest question now? Can this storyline be wrapped up in a satisfying manner in just 20 pages of Superman to go.

Overall grade: B

I know .... a B!!