Review: Supergirl: Being Super

Supergirl: Being Super by Mariko Tamaki
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

4.5 Stars

I've always been more of a Marvel kind of girl but the recent resurgence of Wonder Woman and Supergirl have piqued my interest enough to make me select this origin story which comprises the first four comics in the 2016-2017 series reboot.

The first thing I have to say about this Supergirl run is how much I love Joëlle Jones's illustrations. They are terrific and give us characters with diversity, including diverse body types, facial expressions that convey emotion, and clear body (non-verbal) language. The color work is also great. Honestly, I can think of dozens of comics I wish she had drawn.

Mariko Tamaki has managed to capture the teenage angst and uncertainty of Kara's life in a way that brings this origin story to life. She captures the relationship between Kara and her adoptive parents well. She gives enough of a backstory for her arrival to earth to help make sense of how it is that Kara's powers have been kept under wraps and at what cost this has come to her parents. Her friendships with Jen and Dolly feel real, as does her mourning the loss of a friend when her strength is being mysteriously drained. Kara's motivations to balance her Kryptonian origins and her human family and friends flow naturally from the story as developed by Tamaki. My only reservation about the storyline is the unidimensionality of the villain Tan-On. While we get something of his origins, his hateful and violent nature in the timeframe of the story seems too flat.

I'm looking forward to more installments in this series and definitely hope that Tamaki and Jones remain on board for future volumes. They've done a super job with the first four installments. ;)


I received a Digital Review Copy from DC Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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