Secret Origins #1 – Review

By: Greg Pak, Kyle Higgins, and Tony Bedard (writers); Lee Weeks, Doug Mahnke, and Paulo Siqueira (pencils), Sandra Hope, Lee Weeks, Keith Champagne, Christian Alamy, and Hi-Fi (inks), Dave McCaig, John Kalisz, and Hi-Fi (colors)

The Review: When the New 52 launched two and a half years ago two of the biggest complaints I remember hearing were the disinterest in seeing the heroes’ origins replayed once again and the surprise and outrage when the comics did not provide origin stories. People were expecting new The Man of Steel’s and Batman: Year Ones. The fans wanted to see how their icons had changed, what justified this new continuity, while others worried that new readers would struggle without the origin stories.

Well, it certainly took them long enough, but the release of Secret Origins #1 this week finally answers those concerns.

For an impressive $5.00 price tag, readers get three twelve-page stories from the writers currently handling the characters. I’m not sure that such a hefty price will endear this series to new or lapsed comic readers, but I suppose what really matters is how well it justifies that price point.

The first story, quite appropriately, is Superman’s, penned by Action Comics and Batman/Superman scribe Greg Pak. While there isn’t that much changed from the traditional tale of Krypton’s demise, and certainly nothing secret, Pak’s tale sets itself apart through its perspective. Written from the point of view of Superman’s two moms – wouldn’t that have been an interesting twist? – Pak creates a believable, non-sappy story that pins down the essential value of our ‘Man of Tomorrow’ as love.

Given that Pak is handling the part of the story that Clark can’t tell himself, I think it was a very wise choice to focus on Martha Kent and Lara Van-El. Particularly with Man of Steel still fresh in our minds, and the original Superman (1978) before it, it’s not hard to make the argument that Jor-El has often eclipsed his fellow Kryptonians, and occasionally even his son. Likewise, I think that many stories spend a lot of time focused on Jonathan Kent in Clark’s boyhood. By focusing on the women in Clark’s life, Pak presents a new look at this classic tale.

Supergirl #30 – Review

By: Tony Bedard (writer), Emanuela Lupacchino with Yildiray Cinar & Diogenes Neves (pencils), Ray McCarthy & Marc Deering (inks), Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: It’s time to put that anger to good use.

The Review: Tony Bedard continues to propel Supergirl onto the cosmic scene with the second true chapter of “Red Daughter of Krypton”. This issue pits Kara and her Red Lantern comrades against the Diasporans, a particularly awesome looking race of social Darwinists, out to cleanse the universe of weakness.

The Diasporans are not the most original adversaries but they’re a perfect threat for Supergirl. Bedard has previously set Kara up against the last Czarnian and an immigrant girl afraid of her own power, clearly he has a taste for pitting Supergirl against thematic foils and these hellish lizards are par for that course.

The addition of the Red Lanterns places Bedard well within his comfort zone, writing quirky cosmic teams, and it shows. The presence of Skallox and Zilius Zox instantly livens up this issue and allows Bedard’s knack for banter and interplay to come to the fore. Kara is feeling more complete, but she still lags behind the rest of the characters a bit. Her emotions are comparatively simplistic when they’re the center of attention, however there is some good thought behind them and she’s much stronger when engaging with her cohorts.

Supergirl #7 – Review

By: Michael Green & Mike Johnson (writers), Mahmud Asrar (artist), Dave McCaig (colorist)

The Story: Supergirl’s first trip to the Big Apple, and it’s under crisis.  Perfect timing, right?

The Review: Look, I love big, drawn-out action scenes as much as the next guy.  That opening chase sequence in the newest Casino Royale is a sequence of beauty that I still haven’t gotten tired of.  But there’s a big difference between watching and relishing each punch, kick, flip, dash, jump, shot, blast, and explosion in, say, a ten-minute piece of big-screen cinema, and seeing a truncated, stationary version of the same thing across however many pages of comics.

Admittedly, it also makes reviewing a little harder.  I mean, how much can you really say about an issue that’s just one big punchfest, as this one is?  You can comment on the creative uses of superpowers, I suppose.  Supergirl does employ a few neat tricks in her battle against four Worldkillers, like releasing her internal energy through her skin in an outward blast.  That’s another skill set we’ve never seen her cousin employ, so we should see how that evolves later.

Sometimes it’s not just the raw power that makes for entertaining reading, but the special tactics employed on the fly.  When Reign conveniently mentions that “Only a Worldkiller can defeat another Worldkiller,” Supergirl makes the quick, sensible inference from that statement and forces one of them to strike down the other.  More significantly, she does so in rather brutal fashion; had Reign been less concerned for her comrades, one of them would certainly have died from Supergirl’s attack.  This unhesitating use of extreme violence will be something else we can look to cause drama later, especially once Superman gets involved with her life.

Supergirl #6 – Review

By: Michael Green & Mike Johnson (writers), Mahmud Asrar (artist), Dave McCaig (colorist)

The Story: Kara, here’s your first lesson from Earth: you can’t really ever go home again.

The Review: If there’s one thing the new 52 has done for the Superman mythos, it’s been to bring the culture of Krypton front and center and make it an integral part of the Super-family’s lives.  Grant Morrison and Gene Ha gave us a fairly epic glimpse of the lost world back in Action Comics, but much of what we saw had more to do with the technology and aesthetics of Krypton than anything else.  Its culture, society, and values are a little more hidden from us.

Since Kara lived and breathed on the planet firsthand, she can reveal more of these intangible points, though only bits at a time.  This issue touches on the Kryptonian trials which all that race’s youths must pass before graduating.  Interestingly, martial artistry remains part of the trials, though it’s no wonder such an advanced species would dismiss it, much like Kara’s father does.  The scene features a throwaway detail that has more significance than first appears: Kara’s mother insisting on her daughter placing more focus on her physical education.

That detail seems to tie into a later scene, when Kara receives an encouraging vision of her parents as she’s about to hurtle to her death by blue star.  It’s a very cheesy sequence, but you can’t deny its heartfelt sentiment, and there’s that always fun mystery of how much of Kara’s visions is spiritual and how much is psychological.  What’s important, however, is we get to meet her mother for the first time, which seems a tad odd, when you think about it.