Preparation for what’s to come.
Creative Staff:
Story: Tom Taylor
Art: Mike S. Miller
Colors: J. Nanjan
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
Jump back in time to see the early life of Kara Zor-el and the destruction of Krypton. Sent to Earth to be her infant cousin Kal-el’s protector, an accident delays her by decades. She’s met upon her eventual arrive by a most unexpected benefactor and learns a very different version of the story of Superman’s regime.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having been a comic book fan since the early 1980’s with DC Comics, let’s just say that I’m familiar with many Supergirl origin stories. The character has been reworked many times over the years and we’ve seen both live-action film and the current TV series bring their own approach to it. With the Injustice 2 series ramping things up as a prequel to the new game, Tom Taylor is taking his stab at getting her into place for things after past events and while there’s a nod toward the end as to what her cousin has gone through and become, the bulk of the issue focuses on her distant past. Mike S. Miller has been a regular on the Injustice books for a long time in the rotation so it was great to see him back on this, providing his style to the page with lots of action.
While we know where things are in the present, the origin story is one that goes back initially to a ten year old or so Kara as she’s learning to fly the beasts that are part of growing up. It’s a fun piece as it plays out because you get her nervousness with it all and the excitement of actually achieving it and getting to fly. Granted, she doesn’t handle landings well, hence a broken arm, but it’s all part of the growing up experience. What provides some nice balance and exploration to it is seeing how her father Zor-el and her uncle Jor-el go on about their own childhood with how that situation played out for Zor-el. It reminds us of the familiar aspects of siblings no matter the world they come from and it really humanizes both quickly with their personalities in regards to each other. Jor-el is often presented as a very staid type so this very at ease side of him was great to see.
The other half of the book focuses on the end of Krypton, a familiar story to be sure, as we get Brainiac working through to the core and the chaos on the surface as the Kryptonians fight against him. This is again a slightly different interpretation of Jor-el that we get, not made into an action hero or anything, but with some real emotion, especially at Zor-el’s death and what he has to reveal to Alura while trying to save both his son and his niece. That, of course, has its own problems along the way, but Mike Miller delivers some great looking pages here as the familiar explosion gets underway, we get the creativity of Brainiac’s types out there, and the accident that changes Kara’s course and alters the family dynamic forevermore from what it could have been. And those alternate stories are some of the more interesting ones out there.
In Summary:
The Origin of Supergirl special is a familiar piece that works to provide easy access to readers unfamiliar with it, or those just coming in for more material from the game itself. It may be familiar for long time comic book fans but there are always new readers in the mix and ways to tweak an origin story. Tom Taylor handles it all well here with a mostly by the numbers piece that’s elevated by Mike S. Miller’s artwork, especially with the Brainiac elements, which are also made even more disturbing looking thanks to Nanjan’s continuously excellent color work. It’s a solid book that may not be a necessity for regular comic readers but it was a welcome diversion.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: May 30th, 2017
MSRP: $0.99
