The opening splash page bares everything Gates wants to tackle with his take on the strip. The newspaper headline screams “WHY THE WORLD DOESN’T NEED SUPERGIRL.” And it’s written by Cat Grant, a longtime Superman character who’s going to take prominence in the series – at least for a while.
Cat Grant doesn’t like Supergirl, and she’s going out of her way to discredit the young heroine in The Daily Planet. Personally, I think this is going to shape up as a battle of epic proportions (especially after the note Supergirl leaves Cat on her desk later in the issue), and I’m looking forward to it.
Cat’s conversation with Lois and Clark quickly brings readers up to date with other points Gates plans on addressing in his take on the series. Supergirl is not infallible. She makes mistakes. In an earlier issue, she promises to save a young cancer victim (not from his disease, but from a villain – though the family thinks she means from the disease) and can’t. There’s going to be fallout from that.
Then Gates shifts into high gear with action against the Silver Banshee and things get even worse. The battle ends up trashing the Metropolis Monarchs baseball field and ticks off the fans. Instead of getting accolades for risking her life, Supergirl gets a drink thrown into her face.
Then she discovers that story that Cat Grant has released into the world.
I felt the pain that Supergirl going through. For any teen, male or female, harsh words hurt. But for a girl who’s trying to step out into the public and be someone (a singer, a cheerleader, an actress), any kind of negativity totally undermines confidence and trust in the world. Gates shows this in Supergirl’s behavior and discussion with Superman.
But this is where Jamal Igle’s art really shines as well. Jamal’s renderings of the characters are dead-on, and his action sequences truly rock, but he really delivers the subtlety of emotions that thread through Supergirl and shake her to her core. The pages and breakdowns are a dream. Inker Keith Champagne and colorist Nei Ruffino make Jamal’s art pop with a vibrancy that draws the eye back again and again.
The mistake Supergirl makes when thinking about Superman’s advice to her is endearing. As a father, I’ve seen my teenage kids take my advice wrong, interpret it in ways I didn’t mean, and I sometimes wasn’t quick enough or alert enough to catch that mistake. Superman told her she had the ability to disguise herself, to become someone else and dodge the bullet on Cat Grant’s smear campaign. He meant it in the kindest way, wanting to shield her, but his idea clearly goes against the grain of Supergirl’s view of herself. She likes being who she is, and she’s not going to give that up without a fight.
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
Thanks Mel for the interesting outline of Supergirl and how it ties in with social developments.