James gets caught in Kara’s web again!
Creative Staff:
Story: Sterling Gates
Art: Pop Mhan
Colors: John Rauch
What They Say:
Winn Schott’s battle against the alien hacker known as Vril Dox has taken a dangerous turn. Supergirl isn’t the kind of help he needs on this case, but where will he find an ally?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Adventures of Supergirl has certainly hit some fun moments in its first few issues as Sterling Gates has captured the tone of the show well. With a couple of different artists so far, Pop Mhan stepping in for this installment, the book may not have a “pure” consistent look but it’s managed to maintain the tone well. Mhan brings the energy of Kara to the forefront here in a way that the others have as well, all of which is working to capture what the TV show itself does. The combination works well once again, especially as Mhan brings out some very fun layouts and a good sense of action with them and camera placement to put us right into it all.
This chapter brings us to a close for the two-part adventure involving Vril Dox. In a way, it feels like it’s pretty well aligned to the TV show itself in the way it works through its problems and the quick pacing of it all, keeping it exciting and fun – if you don’t look at the details too closely. With Winn now branded as most-wanted for what happened in Virginia, he’s gone to a fell hacker-type named Rabiah that he hopes can help him and Kara out with their Dox problem. As it turns out, Dox has had quite the reputation the last few years so she’s fairly interested in participating in this – and ensuring that Winn realizes she wants nothing to do with him in general beyond this moment. While I get why Winn might try to score a date, it’s totally the wrong time and place to do so. Rabiah’’s not given a ton of depth but she plays well against Winn and Kara and provides the intel they need with some style and flair.
Not surprising is that the resolution works about as expected. When you bring the mind vs physical kind of situation into play it almost invariably comes down to some fighting. Superman does get some solid intellectual challenges over the years that he has to figure out through his mind, but Supergirl isn’t at that point yet so it turns into a decent little smash and pummel sequence, though one tied to the potential that Dox may still go after her in the future since he may still know a lot. There’s not exactly a pat and simple ending here as we get something that’s more open-ended, and it works well, but the actual resolution feels like that quick TV kind of resolution we get. Again, not a denigration because it’s essentially working the TV style and doing what it can in just a few pages, but it lacks real impact for the moment.
In Summary:
Since the first storyline was three installments I figured we’d get more of the same here so this one just felt a little rushed by wrapping it up in two. I like the expansion on Winn’s life with some of what he’s been involved in over the years and I loved the off the cuff turtle reference from Kara in regards to James, a delightful little nod for the fans. With “classic” Vril Dox being a favorite of mine, this incarnation certainly isn’t bad but it’s not something that’s going to excite me terribly, particularly considering the sad state of anything “Legion” related in the DCU at this point in time. Sterling captures the feel of the series well once again and Mhan’s artwork is spot on with some great spreads and layouts that made it fun to just look over for the artwork alone.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 21st, 2016
MSRP: $0.99
