Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Supergirl: Being Super #1: A Review

By Zak Edwards
January 3, 2017 - 19:44

Whenever I talk with people about CBS/The CW’s Supergirl show, I inevitably end up at a point in the conversation like this:

Them: It’s not really great.
Me: Totally, but it isn’t for us. The wooden writing, the repetitive plot point, all of it. It isn’t great for you, maybe, but that doesn't really matter.

And it’s true. Most of the people that talk about Supergirl are full-grown adults feeling pseudo-nostalgic with a show that’s designed to tell young girls that they can be anything, from the President of the United States to a badass cop to the head of a multinational media organization. It doesn’t exist to reaffirm adults, it exists to encourage the next generation. So while we may roll our eyes at Winn and Jimmy Olsen’s doting, we have to remember that the writer’s room isn’t writing to us, and that this is an extremely good thing.

But, of course, there is the end point that kids don’t have money, their parents do, so the show needs to broaden its appeal, however slightly, to rope in more people. For comics lovers, this process has gone from a service to a business model. For the longest time, Supergirl existed to appeal to the stereotypical (and shrinking) demographic of the dude comic book reader who, well, looks a lot like me. But the show did change that approach and, now, we have another worthy addition to the Supergirl franchise, even if it isn’t technically canon. Kara is finally coming into her own, which makes Supergirl: Being Super debut a little frustrating and a lot exciting at the same time.

The new approach straddles the line of familiar and new. Kara Danvers is no longer a Kryptonian who knows her background, she’s instead a farm girl with no memory before she crash-landed on Earth. That was a few years ago. Now, she’s a pretty stereotypical high school student with a couple of best friends, a general teenage angst, and a zit that manages to contain her body weight in gooey puss. That being said, the “child from the stars saved by well-meaning Middle American farmers” is extremely familiar. At times, it plays out like a gender-swapped story of Superman rather than a new Supergirl approach.

The special double-sized issue takes its time and could easily be accused of not picking up the pace. By the end, the real differences between the Superman origin story and this story lie in the new characters and aesthetics. The exploding zit functions as much of a climax of the story as the mysterious earthquake at the end. Otherwise, much of the issue is people sitting around and talking. Writer Mariko Tamaki, perhaps most famous for her beautiful graphic novel Skim, is building a world of conversations and, for the most part, it works very well. It doesn’t read like a superhero comic, and that can jar readers, myself included.

But, just like a bunch of other Supergirl shows, comics, toys and other pieces of media, this book isn’t for me, a late millennial. It’s for girls and kids who are still dealing with the many insecurities of adolescence that now extends easily into our mid-twenties (on a good day). And in that, the story not only succeeds, it sings.

Kara’s best friends, an unashamed lesbian and an athlete with a severe hatred of cheeseburgers, feel like real teens, a mixture of teenage cruelty and genuine love. The emotional beats, as a result, can land or not depending on the situation, but it feels intentional. Rather than trying to hit the broad and melodramatic emotions of The CW show, this feels more intimate, more immediate, and more like three people who pretty much spend every moment they can together.

Plus, the issue has this amazing panel, which pretty much sums up our new Kara:



tl; dr Review: Supergirl: Being Super #1 is a confident if uneven debut, one that straddles the too familiar with a genuine core cast. I would encourage everyone to check it out and, perhaps, understand that some comics don’t have to target you specifically to be brilliant.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12