We’re still doing this? We’re still doing this!
Supergirl #1 (“Misadventures in Midvale, Part 1”) by Sophie Campbell, Tamra Bonvillain, and Becca Carey. $3.99, 20 pgs.
Is this the WOKEST COMIC IN HISTORY?!?!?!? It features two trans women on writing and art (Carey is not trans), and I’m wondering if that’s the first time in DC or Marvel history that two trans women are working on a comic together. Of course, I don’t know how many trans people are working in comics, but the two most high profile ones – I would assume – are Campbell and Bonvillain, and now they’ve teamed up! I like both creators, of course, and have for years – I have never met Bonvillain, but I met Campbell years ago at San Diego, before her transition, and she was really nice, and Kelly Thompson absolutely loves her, so how could I not be a fan? It’s very cool that DC is employing her these days, because she knows how to make a comic!
Campbell starts excellently, with a panel featuring a sentient shark standing on two legs wearing a gown that looks like an octopus. This is, of course, PRINCESS SHARK (part of King Shark’s dynasty, I suppose), and this is her first appearance, so you better run out and get this issue!!!! She doesn’t pose much of a threat to Supergirl (which sucks; PRINCESS SHARK is indomitable!), but it’s a fun way to start the issue. Kara zips off to Kandor for a few pages, where she has some disagreements with the ruling Science Council about a werewolf that she has helped in the past and perhaps picks up a creepy fan (it’s unclear, but much like television and movies don’t waste film, so if they focus on something, you can guess it’s important, so too do artists not waste page space, and Campbell chooses a panel that implies something is important about the fan), then she gets a phone call from her parents in Midvale (she’s living in Metropolis now) about how they’re renovating their old house and it would be groovy if Kara would visit. “A few weeks later,” Kara shows up there, befuddled by the billboard advertising Midvale as the home of a zaftig, short-haired Supergirl (which she doesn’t seem to notice) and the boxes outside her home full of her Supergirl stuff, which her parents seem to be getting rid of. An old friend of hers chats with her for a moment (and calls her Linda Danvers, which is important later), but when she saves that friend from being run over by a car (after a super-speedy change into costume), that’s when it all goes to hell. Nobody recognizes her as Supergirl, claiming she’s an imposter, and then another Supergirl shows up (with a superpowered rabbit rather than superpowered dog or cat as a pet, which is, honestly, totes adorbs), and she does some weird stuff to Kara (come on, people, nothing icky, just … not punchy, which makes Kara suspicious) before moving on. Unfortunately, Kara’s day can still get worse, as she knocks on her parents’ door and finds out … they don’t know who she is. And their daughter, Linda Danvers, looks suspiciously like the Supergirl who just thwarted Kara. OH NOES!!!!!
I know that’s just a plot summary, but it’s not like it’s the most shocking plot in the world – once Kara gets to Midvale and sees that there’s a different Supergirl, it’s pretty easy to see what’s going to happen in the rest of the issue. Plot isn’t everything, of course (which is why I don’t mind spoilers all that much; if the success of your story depends solely on a big twist at the end, it’s not a very good story), and Campbell does a really nice job with a set-up issue. We get a short little event to show us how awesome Supergirl is (but, let’s be honest, just makes us want to see more of PRINCESS SHARK), we get a side trip to Kandor that feels much more important than it appears and shows us how Kara stands up for what she believes in and is also trying to figure out who she actually is in life, and then we get a nice mystery in Midvale that ties into the idea of Kara trying to figure out who she is, as the ending is making her doubt her own identity!!!! Plots like this are nothing new, of course, but they can be very interesting, especially as Campbell is writing Kara as a somewhat conflicted young woman. Now, does this version of Supergirl jive with the established character? I have no clue, and while I totally get it if it doesn’t and people don’t like that, for me, it doesn’t matter all that much. I’ve written before that I think all corporate-owned characters should have a “bible” so that a writer doesn’t write them so far away from their base personality, but it’s not a deal-breaker for me, and I’m not sure if, despite her longevity, Kara has ever been so monumental a character that she has an established baseline for her personality. I just don’t know. Campbell, however, seems to know quite a bit about the character, so I’m willing to trust her, plus, you know, I think she’s a pretty good writer, so I’m willing to trust her there, as well.
Meanwhile, of course, Campbell’s art is terrific. I mean, she could have stopped after Panel One and the drawing of PRINCESS SHARK and this would have been awesome, but we still get 20 more pages! She does a really nice job with the little things, which is usually the mark of a good artist. Streaky looking mischievous on page 3 is excellent, Supergirl’s Kandorian fan looking sort of creepy but perhaps not really on page 6 is very cool (it’s nice and ambiguous, and Campbell nails it), Clarissa’s facial expressions on pages 12 and 13 as she speaks to Kara are great, the casual cruelty on “Supergirl’s” face when she messed with Kara on page 17 is very well done, as is Campbell’s subtle change to Kara’s costume, and “Linda’s” outfit on page 20 is, frankly, fierce as hell. Campbell has been an excellent artist for years, and it’s nice that she’s working on bigger books so that everyone can see it. Bonvillain, meanwhile, keeps things nice and bright, which works well both for the tone of the book early and to clash a bit against the strangeness of the issue late. She doesn’t do anything too spectacular, but the coloring fits the art nicely.
Overall, this is a good, solid superhero comic. I don’t know if it’s an ongoing or a mini-series (publishers seem annoyingly coy about that these days), but if it’s an ongoing, I hope Campbell is committed to it for a good haul, because that would be neat. Are you ready to go ALL IN with Supergirl, co-starring PRINCESS SHARK? Only you can say!!!!
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ ☆ ☆
One totally Airwolf panel:
(No caption because … we’re back getting error messages when we try to upload images. It was fine yesterday, so we’ll see if this is just a glitch, but it’s still ominous! I chose this one because I just like the cattiness from Clarissa.)
I still have no idea when DC will stop this initiative, so this might be the last one, or it might continue for a while. I will not make a statement one way or another. Have a nice day, everyone!
