Supergirl 2 review

Last month’s issue of Supergirl started this series off on a fairly dramatic note. It mostly focused on Kara trying to get used to a high school life, doing very well on a scientific knowledge standpoint, but struggling to use Earth technology. It also delved a lot into how much she misses Krypton, and despite her Earthly foster parents’ attempts to learn her native tongue, it just doesn’t feel right to her.

Supergirl 2, written by Steve Orlando, takes a bit of a step back from that to give us the first major confrontation between Supergirl and Cyborg Superman in DC Rebirth. It becomes a bit of a one-sided fight since Cyborg Superman merely uses a drone, but it’s a fun fight nonetheless. What makes this fight dramatically interesting is that Cyborg Superman is her father. Considering that was revealed a couple years ago and in the previous issue, that’s not a spoiler. The rest of this comic is split between expanding on a couple sub-plots and Cyborg Superman contacting Supergirl again, teasing what’ll happen in the next issue. From a story standpoint there aren’t any major surprises, but there’s a great balance between drama and fun, with a bit of a creepy cliffhanger.

Brian Ching’s art is good. It’s a simple look with a slight cartoon feel, which works perfectly for this comic’s mood. Facial expressions are very well handled, balanced between subtle changes in Supergirl’s eyebrows to more obvious looks of anger or curiosity. There are a couple scenes with a wide variety of people in the backgrounds, each with different skin colours, outfits and hair styles. Backgrounds are often well-detailed too, whether it’s a jail hall complete with several floors of cells along each side of the wall, with smaller panels showing a variety of prisoners looking on, or Kara’s room filled with books partially organized throughout the room and sticky notes on her computer monitor. Mike Atiyeh’s colouring is bright, vibrant and appealing, with good use of shading on Cyborg Superman’s metal body.

Supergirl’s Rebirth series started off well, and it seems to be improving from there. Although there isn’t as much of the drama with Kara struggling with Earth life in this issue, that background only makes this comic’s later events all the more relevant. There’s a lot to like about this comic for Supergirl fans, making this an easy recommendation. It’s also worth checking out for Superman fans who are curious about Clark’s kryptonian cousin.

8/10