Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow Paperback – July 26, 2022

I picked this up on the recommendation of a friend. It does not disappoint! The story has elements of True Grit, but, y'know, in space with Super Girl. The story is one of care, devotion, and revenge. It's remarkably insightful into each of those elements and bears rereading.It is also especially worthy of a read or few for Bilquis Evely's art. She is a singular artist, not just in DC, but in comics in general. Her expressions are varied, true, and exquisite. Can you do art deco in space with Super Girl? I wouldnt have thought so, but here it is! The backgrounds and landscapes, often ignored, are all part of the panel by panel art piece.I've heard that this is going to be the source material for a Super Girl movie, and I hope it will be. This is definitely a story for the screen, but I don't think it will be able to do Evely's art quite the justice it would deserve.

Our plot: It's Supergirl's 21st birthday, and she's decided to get drunk to celebrate! But it's really hard to get Kryptonians drunk, so she takes her super-dog Krypto and travels to a far distant planet under a red sun so she can lose most of her powers. And once Kara's gotten there and gotten thoroughly sloshed, she gets roped into helping out a young alien teenager named Ruthye Marye Knoll. Ruthye's father was murdered by a creep called Krem of the Yellow Hills, and she wants revenge more than anything in the galaxy. But a teenaged girl can't kill a killer without help, and she wants the Maid of Might's aid in her quest.Well, that's nice, kid, but Supergirl isn't really for hire, and she doesn't kill. So she's gonna hop into her spaceship and fly back to somewhere with a yellow sun and -- and that's when Krem of the Yellow Hills shows up and shoots Supergirl with a few arrows. Luckily, even mostly unpowered Kryptonians are tough enough to survive arrows -- but Krypto isn't so tough against Krem's poisoned arrows -- and even worse, Krem steals Supergirl's spaceship, too! Well, Kara still isn't willing to kill Krem, but she does need to find out what poison he used so someone can brew up an antidote for Krypto, so she decides to accompany Ruthye to help apprehend the killer.What follows is a lengthy mission across space as Supergirl and Ruthye pursue Krem. That includes traveling coach on a space freighter filled with sometimes hostile aliens. That includes visiting a small town of little blue aliens who like to appear friendly and are very definitely not friendly. That includes learning of the monstrous depravity and cruelty visited upon dozens of innocent worlds by Krem's new allies in Barbond's Brigands. That includes getting stranded on a planet orbiting a deadly green Kryptonite sun. It includes outrunning certain death. It includes battling an alien armada. It includes watching a friend die. It includes making the ultimate decision: life or death.Tom King's comics tend to focus on the dark inner psyches of his characters, usually B-level or lower superheroes, like the Vision, Mister Miracle, and the Omega Men. We get less of that here, partly because angsty Supergirl has been done plenty of times and it's no longer interesting, and partly because Ruthye is actually the lead character of the book. Ruthye narrates the tale, Ruthye is in the story from the beginning to the end, Ruthye is the one who learns and grows as a character.Not that Supergirl is a bit player in the tale. She does a lot to smooth the path they take -- Kryptonian strength, flight, speed, and other powers help a lot, of course. She also has a nose for justice that leads her to work to punish wrongdoers, as well as a compassionate heart that helps her to comfort those who are suffering. She has her moments of darkness, too, particularly when she remembers the slow, painful death of Argo City, the final remnant of Krypton, the few survivors dying of Kryptonite radiation, no matter what is done to help.King also admits that the plot is a loose homage to Charles Portis' Western novel "True Grit," which may give you a hint of some -- but definitely not all -- of the story beats.Bilquis Evely's art is worth admiring, too. It's very much unlike anything we've seen in comics in ages. The art style has its roots in the late 19th century and early 20th, particularly in Art Nouveau, and character design pulls its influences from the past, too. Though Supergirl's costume is the classic and traditional superhero outfit, most of the rest of the characters draw inspiration from the art of Charles Dana Gibson, particularly his glamorous Gibson Girls. That means everyone is beautiful (okay, everyone except the alien monsters), the eyes are riveting, and the hair is flowing and luxurious.That turn-of-the-century design aesthetic dominates the rest of the book, too. Many costumes are ornate and old-fashioned, like they came out of illustrations for an old planetary romance. Some of the spaceships have sails. The alien town of Maypole looks like one of the American small towns in Ray Bradbury stories.Evely's gorgeous artwork probably gets more attention than King's storytelling -- but that's okay, because her art is genuinely amazing, and probably did more to sell the book to many readers than anything else.Should you read it? Heck, yeah, kids, get yourself a copy and get busy reading.

Arrived in good condition but really writing this review to express how great this story is. Fantastic. Deals with death, loss, feeling lost, grief, empowerment, good vs evil, and so much more. Highly recommend for any comic fan. A good standalone story that only requires a general knowledge of the character. Everything else you need to know will be presented to you perfectly.

This story felt like a fitting companion piece to Tom King's other limited series, Superman: Up In the Sky. Like that book, there is an overarching story that takes Supergirl through the cosmos, but each issue is almost like a standalone vignette about a particular challenge and an attribute about Supergirl that helps her overcome that challenge.Pros:1. The art is incredible. I was not familiar with Bilquis Evely, but her art really blew me away. The colorists also did an awesome job of creating these bright otherworldly settings and characters. Honestly, the art alone probably makes this worth checking out.2. One issue in particular that explores the burden and grief Kara bears as a survivor who fully knew the world she lost (as opposed to her cousin, Superman, who was a baby at the time he lost his home planet), was particularly poignant and an interesting way of delving into her psyche.Cons:1. There is a narrative/framing device used throughout, where everything is explained and analyzed by Supergirl's companion who has written a book about their adventures--a girl from an alien world who speaks like a medieval peasant. The girl herself is an interesting character and has a compelling story but OH MAN, the narration can get irritating. This is totally subjective, but I kept finding myself wanting the narration bubbles to be quiet and go away so that more could happen in the "present" of the story. If you even get mildly annoyed by the "voice" of the girl, you will haaaaate it by the end. There's a lot of it.2. With the exception of the story about Kara's grief mentioned above, I felt a lot of the "attributes" of Kara that get explored feel like a....defensive rebuttal. I don't know a better way to put it. It's like, "You thought she was nice and a pushover? Guess what she KICKS ASS." "You think she's a goody two-shoes? She DRINKS." "Think she would never murder a dude? MAYBE SHE WILL, MAYBE SHE WON'T BETTER STICK AROUND AND FIND OUT!"So much is couched in assumed reader expectation, and even within the story, how people in her world conceive of her in contrast to her famous cousin, Superman. And it almost felt kind of insulting, to both Kara and the reader? I don't know how else to describe it. It seemed less like a story about who Kara is as a person (though those moments do shine through), and more about, "nuh-uh, she's not what you think."Overall, I still think this was definitely worth it, especially for the art. But the narration and the defensive framing really made it tough to enjoy the story (for me at least).