Supergirl #30 // Review
Vengeance is never pleasant. There’s always an empty sense of accomplishment that echoes into a greater dissatisfaction. Kara Zor-El wrestles with the nature of revenge in the 30th issue of Supergirl. Writer Marc Andreyko wraps-up Supergirl’s galaxy-spanning quest in an issue drawn by Kevin Maguire with inker Sean Parsons & Christopher Sotomayor. What felt like a rush to conclude the saga in the previous issue ends in a very kinetic. An all-action chapter with a bit of drama thrown-in to engage the reader on a deeper emotional level.
Kara has just found out that newfound friend Z’ndr’s mother was responsible for the destruction of her home planet. He’d been following her around...occasionally aiding her. She thought that she could trust him. She’s understandably upset. Naturally, she’s going to take her aggressions out on the woman responsible for the death of Krypton. Her anger explodes in a fit of rage fueled by the sinister semi-sentient ax of Rogol Zaar. She might be in over her head in more than one way as she struggles against the woman responsible for genocide AND her own need for revenge.
This issue ends in an upcoming crossover with Superman. So maybe there were editorial pressures to rush this storyline to its conclusion. Regardless of whether or not Andreyko was directly responsible for rushing to reach the end of Supergirl’s current spacefaring saga, this issue certainly seems to be framed as a solidly satisfying end to her quest. 18 pages of combat action are punctuated in various places with little bits of drama. The whole thing wraps up with a launch into a crossover on the other side of the universe, so things aren’t going to get any easier for Kara any time soon. The lurching nature of Andreyko’s Supergirl narrative manages to pause for the first 18 pages of the issue, though. There’s a very strong sense of action from one page to the next in one of the better issues of the series in recent months.
A fair amount of the issue’s success can be placed squarely on the shoulders of artist Kevin Maguire. The clear, kinetic energy of the action slices across the page as Kara attacks a crystalline being of great power. The explosive anger of a hero out for revenge feels almost overwhelmingly aggressive in places. Maguire and inker Sean Parsons do a good job of keeping the passion in Supergirl’s face interesting even if all she’s doing is grimacing through much of the issue. Maguire shows a subtlety of emotion in close-ups that are contrasted against sweepingly dramatic moments of action so ridiculously gigantic that Supergirl is seen as a tiny speck against the immensity of her actions.
Andreyko finally delivers an end to the multi-part story that has a perfect sense of drama, action, and pacing. The only thing that keeps it from being nearly as good as it SHOULD have been is the fact that Andreyko seems to have been rushed to get to this point in the story. There was real potential in a quest like this rolling through a couple of years. As it is, the resolution here feels rather abrupt when taken in the context of a story which really SHOULD have been longer.
