While settling into the new Fortress of Solidarity, Supergirl has been exposed to gold Kryptonite by the villain Reactron. On seeing just how many super ‘sisters’ Kara has, Reactron makes a speedy exit, promising he’ll be back for the former Girl of Steel.
Later, Lena Luthor and Superman promise to find a way to restore Kara’s powers.
Not everyone gets the memo.
Matrix wants to be Supergirl, Nightflame wants to be Supergirl and a fight breaks out. The member of Kara’s company who stops the tussle is something of a surprise.
Thundergirl – the sonic-powered clone from Kandor, showing that perhaps she has the stuff to fill in for Kara. Instead of seeing her lack of powers as the end of her world, the one, true Supergirl eyes an opportunity.
And before long, Kara has joined her pal Luna at Stanhope College.
Matrix is joining Kara, rooming with her and Luna – now the psychic heroine Phantasmagoria – and someone none of them know, the mysteriously named Wanda Seven.
I love her already! Heck, if we’re going to have three crimefighters sharing a room you have to have a regular person in there for secret identity shenanigans.
Three? Yep, Supergirl is serious about doing good without her powers, we see her oddly tatty new look at the end of the issue.
Speaking of new looks, how about that hair? I like the short cut, I wonder if she’ll keep it when the Kryptonian powers return.
Given Luna has taken the mysterious psychic pal role occupied by Wanda Five in the Seventies Supergirl series, right down to her look, a Wanda Seven is not someone I expected. Actually, I expected Nasty, Lex’s Bronze Age niece, who stalked Linda Lee Danvers in order to prove she was Supergirl.
She’ll show up, it’s just a matter of time!
It’s interesting that Kara wants to keep her Super-side secret, I thought she’d decided to open up to every one she meets…
So now she wants to be a social worker. Or at least, this week she thinks she wants to be a social worker – as much as I love Kara, she’s never shown any staying power when it comes to a career path; she’d be better off taking jobs in hospitality or shops, that way she gets the wage and the socialising without having to do yet more degrees.
Superman’s cameo is short but very sweet, the way he values Kara for herself is so different from the paternalistic way he treated Silver Age Supergirl.
I still don’t get Nightflame’s deal. If she’s part of Kara’s subconscious, how is she manifesting in the real world? With her, at best, spiky personality, what does Kara think she can contribute to Super Force? The terrible dream she has about her here really should give her a heads up.
And so far as getting Lesla-Lar out of the bottle city of Kandor to help find a gold K cure for Kara goes, it’s a no from me, she’s proven a nightmare since the day Supergirl met her.
Thundergirl as temporary Supergirl isn’t something I saw coming, but there’s a scene here in which she’s actually finding some joy for the first time in her existence. Choosing the neophyte heroine rather than Matrix, who’s filled the role previously, is a surprise, but no doubt Matrix will get something to do.
Why do so many of Kara’s friends want to be Supergirl anyway? They have the skills to make a go of superheroing as themselves, are they really all so lacking in confidence?
Really, I’d be happy to have this storyline concentrate on the Stanhope students and leave Lena, Princess Shark, Thundergirl, Nightflame, Wombat and, especially, Lesla off panel as they try to find a way to restore Kara’s gifts. Kara, Mae and Luna can handle Reactron when he shows up, as he undoubtedly will.
Or even better, minimise the roles of Mae and Luna, and let Kara step forward and beat Reactron without her powers. This is Kara’s series and she should shine more often. She has the temporary new look (weirdly similar to a very well-known DC heroine), let’s see her put it to good use.
One of the consistent things about this series is how adaptable Kara is to changing circumstance – she gets knocked down, but she gets up again. She encourages her friends to be the best they can be, here giving Thundergirl the advice she needs to truly fly.
As ever, writer Sophie Campbell gives us an engaging script while artist Sophie Campbell serves up 20 pages of gorgeous storytelling. There seems to no limit to how many new looks she can come up with, here it’s not just Kara who has a new outfit, Thundergirl and Mae step out with new looks too. And no one does a melee like Campbell, it’s fun watching where everyone is in individual panels.
Speaking of people and positions, though, Phantasmagoria seems to have absented herself from the Fortress between issues; having been there when Reactron attacked in Supergirl #18, Super-Luna is nowhere to be seen in the first half of the story. Or am I missing something?
Colourist Tamra Bonvillain has fun throughout, while letterer Becca Carey aces her special assignment of getting across how just how much competing chat there is during the ‘I’m Supergirl’ row.
And then we have the cover by Campbell, an attractive composition previewing some of this issue’s moments.
In this week’s Welcome to Metropolis page, Campbell says she’ll be around ‘until DC gets sick of me’. On this form, it should be quite a while.
