Supergirl #4 review

Lesla-Lar, the Supergirl fan who tried to steal Supergirl’s life, is back home in Kandor, facing a court… presided over by her parents, which seems a bit of a conflict of interest. By her side is Kara, also accused of bad behaviour.

Supergirl has another suggestion – she believes Lesla has the makings of a hero, but her drive and energy need direction, and she’s willing to give it. Mom and Dad Lar – sorry, the Magistrates – agree immediately, apparently happy just to see the back of their complicated kid. 

Kara’s pal Lena Luthor agrees to provide bed and board while Lesla trains as a hero. Of course, she’ll need a hero name for when she dons her new costume.

Later, Lena persuades Kara and Lesla to join her at a local Goth club, as the former needs a break and the latter should get to know a little about life for ordinary folk outside the Bottle City.

There, Lesla continues trying to help people, jumping in when a guy tries to force himself on a pink-haired patron of The Masquerade. Kara sees she’s needed but is momentarily distracted.

The pushy guy, Howard Pendergast, heads for the bar to drown his sorrows, but drunkenly confronts Lesla and one thing leads to another.

I’ll leave the hows and whys for you to find out for yourself, because you really should buy Supergirl #4. It’s another well-plotted look at the new life Supergirl is building for herself in Midvale. I wasn’t expecting Lesla-Lar, villain of the first three issues, to be made a permanent resident – well, that’s the plan, unless series writer Sophie Campbell is planning to make this a team book, which seems unlikely given the affection she clearly has for Kara. I hope we’ll see more of Linda out of the Super-Duds, and a fair bit of her relationship with Earth parents the Danvers.

Meanwhile, Kara’s willingness to sponsor Lesla is heartwarming – I mean, with such unloving parents it’s a wonder she’s not entirely awful. As the responsibility she’s taken on dawns, Kara realises why Superman was occasionally stern with her, and she channels that vibe when Lesla tries to take on too much.

The young woman being harassed, the curly-haired kid in the stripy shirt, is one Luna Lustrum. Longtime readers who pay attention to previews were expecting her to be the obscure Seventies supporting character Wanda Five, a mysterious psychic (aren’t they all?). On Bluesky, though, Campell says: ‘She at one point was an old character but changed for various behind-the-scenes reasons into a new character.’ There you go… when you see ‘Luna’, think ‘Wanda’.

In terms of returning old characters, or rather, new versions, we have Decay from the Daring New Adventures of Supergirl series, with a new interest in things gothy, a new origin and a new, more attractive colour scheme. I’d be very pleased to see him back for a rematch with Supergirl soon. Here, we again see that Supergirl’s first reaction in the face of an attack is to try to calm things down.

Did that pretty boy Goth give you the shivers? If so, it’s because you remember one of the worst Supergirl villains of the New 52, H’el. Let’s hope I’m wrong and that it’s someone far nicer, Mike Merrick, say!

Now, I may be making a bit of a leap, but there’s another debuting character this month.

Surely this is a nod to one of the most famous Supergirl covers of the Bronze Age?

The art by Campbell and colour artist Tara Bonvillain is better every time out – we’re getting characters with different body types and faces, along with believable emotions aplenty. The duel with Decay is well done, and I love Luminary’s costume, especially the colour scheme, which reminds me of Super-Lana back in the Sixties. Kara, Lena and Lesla in goth mode are quite something, but Kara doesn’t look entirely comfortable…hopefully the girls can take turns deciding the themes of their nights on the town, we know the Maid of Steel likes a macaroni cheese sarnie.

I’ve already mentioned how much I like the current colour scheme for the new Decay, and Lesla’s costume, and Bonvillain keeps up the excellent work throughout the issue, with the likes of the club lighting. Letterer Dave Sharp’s fine contributions include a fun drunk typeface for Pendergast.

I like Campbell’s cover a lot, with its inset panels showing us there’s more to this issue than pure action. It captures the energetic spirit of another excellent issue of the new Supergirl.