Review: Supergirl #55

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Supergirl #55 was a super fun time! Silver Age zaniness, lessons learned from a twisted version of Supergirl, movement on the Cat Grant front, X-ray vision used as intended, impulse issues, character growth (recognizing aspects of Dr. Light’s character that may not be so savory/starting to see beyond the monster in BizarroGirl), and a parting shot of Supergirl commandeering a spaceship to travel to Bizarro World.

MORE SPACE HERO SUPERGIRL PLEASE.

Cover

Dear Amy Reeder: please stay on this book forever. Love, Me. Love the fractured glass reflecting Supergirl’s inner state as she faces her rage and anguish made physical in the form of her Bizarro doppleganger.

Story

I love that Bizarro World has made it back from the Silver Age. There’s many things I hate about the reintroduction of the Silver Age into modern continuity (Superman being Superboy on the top of the list, and all the aftereffects of that) but I can’t love the poor, mixed up bizarros on their twisted cube-shaped world.

Loved Bizarro Lois berating him for running away like a coward: “That am more like Clark Kent! You don’t want to be like Clark Kent, right Bizarro?”. Smashing the crystal controls to prevent him from abandoning them is very like what Lois would do :) Am intrigued by the mention of the ominous “godship” heading their way.

Of course Bizzaro Supes bound and gagged his cousin to keep her from telling anyone they were escaping. *dies*

I hope there’s more to the BizarroShip being identical to Kara’s escape pod. It’s too perfect and aesthetically wrong for Bizarro to have created: did he have help? Second, it appears to be lined with red Kryptonite crystals. Hm. I wonder how that will affect Supergirl when she reaches Bizarro World. (Wikipedia only notes that Bizarro Red Kryptonite affects humans the same way red kryptonite affects Kryptonians.)

While BizarroGirl wasn’t laugh-out-loud funny like Linda’s Bizarro (whom I can reread endlessly), this Bizarro was still kind of sweet in her frolic through the daisies and her insistence that Kara is acting like her friend.

The full page spread of Kara’s frozen face reflecting the nightmarish BizarroGirl was one of the most stunning pages of art I’ve seen in a while.

On the other hand, I have wonder yet again what’s wrong with the oversaturation of orange throughout the book. The skin tones are awful.

Kara seeing parallels between Dr. Light’s hardline view of rogue superbeings and her mother’s treatment of Reactron: oh yes. Light’s desire to imprison and “study” a “dangerous extraterrestrial” hits home pretty hard when it’s your own doppleganger. Who should she trust?

Now I want a series featuring a teen girl superhero space adventurin’ through the galaxy ray-gun style!

Bonus: Supergirl #55 landed on Newsarama Best Shots for the month!