The deepest fears come alive!
Creative Staff:
Story: Sterling Gates
Art: Emanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy
Colors: Hi-Fi
What They Say:
After seeing Vril Dox locked up for his crimes against Winn, Kara thinks life in the DEO will get back to normal. Until the zombies attack.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Supergirl in TV form has had some good episodes lately and we’re getting to the end of that run, which makes the comic book that complements it even more entertaining in a way because it’s a way of keeping it all going. Sterling Gates has certainly connected to this iteration of the character well enough as we’ve seen in past installments and there’s just a sense of fun about his scripts that works, unburdened from heavy continuity and requirements of a connected universe. This installment brings on Emanuela Lupacchino and Ray McCarthy as the artists and they do some great work. Having really loved Lupacchino’s artwork elsewhere in the DC universe lately, I can easily say that I’d love to see her tackle this in a full-time mode.
This installment keeps things going on the Vril Dox storyline as the main piece finished up in the second part the last time around. This issue is a little more complicated but easy in a way as it’s all about the dream. We obviously don’t know it at first as it’s played clean in having Kara trying to interrogate Vril with bad memories of Silence of the Lambs in her head. I almost thought Gates might clue us into the restroom needs of the prisoners in these cells as well, but alas, that’s not yet to be explained. With Kara thinking Vril is super contained in this cell he proves otherwise as he works the whole villain brought into the lair angle, turning everything against her. Whether it’s real or not remains to be scene, especially considering some of the demonic aspects that Vril takes on at one point, but it looks like it’s pretty true to reality and sets up what comes next.
What does come next are a series of dream sequences that it naturally takes Kara a bit to figure out what’s going on. This isn’t a bad thing because I actually like these kinds of sequences – we had the Black Mercy one in the TV show itself – because it opens up to some creative fun. More so in the comics without the constraints of a TV budget. So seeing Kara accosted by zombie forms of those at the DEO after discovering it and everyone inside it died in an explosion to giving us some time with her before Krypton exploded with her parents, it’s all used to show more sides of Kara and her fears. In a weird way, my favorite part was really just her hanging around in her apartment and getting a look at the details and the “at home” aspect of the character. The same can be said for the TV show so I’m not surprised.
In Summary:
Sterling Gates puts together a solid enough story here to carry it through and I definitely enjoyed it. But what really made me love it was Emanuela Lupacchino’s artwork. Combined with the solid inks from McCarthy and a fantastic round of color work from Hi-Fi that just takes it all to another level, the book simply looks gorgeous through and through. I’ve liked what we’ve seen before to be sure with the previous artists, but Lupacchino brings a little something different with her details, the layouts, and just the feminine touch that raises it to another level. Great stuff all around.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: April 4tht, 2016
MSRP: $0.99
