Supergirl #24 – Review

By: Michael Alan Nelson (writer), Diogenes Neves (pencils), Marc Deering (inks), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Brainiac and the Cyborg Superman have come to I’noxia. Now it will face the wrath of a force unimaginable: an angry Supergirl.

The Review:

Spoiler Warning: It’s going to be very hard to discuss this issue without spoiling the events of Supergirl #23 and Action Comics #23.3: Cyborg Superman. Honestly I’m not going to try. If you’re really concerned about spoilers for those comics, check out their reviews in the archives. You’ll probably like this comic at least as well as you liked them, but don’t say I didn’t warn you if you choose to read on.

The last time we saw Kara Zor-El, two months ago, she was in something of a bad way.  In fact, she had just been murdered; the flesh stripped from her bones and used to reconstitute the Cyborg Superman. A lot of heroes might take that as the universe telling them to take some time off, but from the very first page it’s painfully clear that Supergirl doesn’t care what ‘a lot of heroes’ think.

Michael Alan Nelson caught my attention with his surprisingly honest version of Kara and that’s still very much in play. Nelson’s Supergirl has always been a powerful and intelligent character, even if she tends to prefer one to the other, and he’s taken evident glee in showing how much she can accomplish when she calls upon the full breadth of her talents. Kara’s journey has been one of controlling her anger and tempering her strength with intelligence. This month we’re reminded how powerful that anger can be.