Creative Staff:
Story: Sterling Gates
Art: Bengal
What They Say:
Rampage is about to take her revenge on Kara Danvers-but can Supergirl count on her sister to save the day?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Rampage arc comes to a close with this installment and it’s a fairly dense on in its own way. We’ve had some fun with the first issue being all about the fight with Rampage before the second went to some sisterly time as Alex and Kara worked their way through the underground levels to try and find Rampage. The time the two spend together in the show tends to be one of the stronger aspects to it, so it was welcome to see them doing the same here. With Alex swept away at the end last time and Rampage in control of the situation, things just turn from bad to worse for Kara. Especially since this issue is largely about the infodump and all that comes with it.
Kara’s narrative is a good one as she’s stuck in the intertron cage that Caren, aka Rampage, has in their underground lair. This puts her in a really weak position, frustrated and hurt because of the bars and their abilities, and that makes her reflective. The narration is quite good as we get Kara talking about how lucky she was with the Danvers family and how they took her in, but she also talks about how the scary part wasn’t that first night like most think. It was the time after that in trying to figure out how to fit in and move forward with everything ripped away from you. A first night is just that, a night where after horrific events you end up just crashing. Kara’s awakening in a new place, like she does here, is the frightening part. It also reinforces why she’s so protective of her normal life because it is something that she’s built up on her own and made it hers.
The bulk of the issue is about Rampage herself, or Caren as she reveals herself to be in her normal form. She can pass as an average human to be sure and her story is definitely an interesting on that glosses over key things with how her sister murdered their parents to take over the company on their homeworld of Bryn, an event that got them sent to Fort Rozz. She tells a good tale and you can understand why it rings true and connects with Kara considering her own history so there’s some solid sympathy and desire to help her when you get down to it. Caren’s tale works and I like the expansion that we get from it since Fort Rozz housed more than just Kryptonians and this reinforces it, but it’s a major slowdown on the story itself with as much as is covered. We do get the action component when Alex arrives like right out of a Masamune Shirow manga piece, reminding me of Appleseed a lot, and saves the day along with Kara. It does surprisingly work in a way that feels like it’s right out of the show.
In Summary:
The Adventures of Supergirl is fitting in smoothly as a guilty pleasure of sorts because it’s able to work off of a lot of what’s established in the show without having to do a ton of heavy lifting. We know the Fort Rozz side and this gives us a bit of a look at it before it went to hell. I like Caren and Moyer’s story even if it has a few obvious plot holes to it and that it’s so info heavy. But once again, Bengal is able to just drive it home in an engaging way with some great visuals and layouts that has such a dynamic design to it that the book just feels full of energy. This is a great little bi-weekly diversion of fun and lightness in the right tone of the show, something that could be difficult to capture well. I’m curious to see where the rest of the run will go and am definitely on board for the right.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: February 22nd, 2016
MSRP: $0.99