The Batmom

CBV Reads Supergirl #2

COVERGIRL: YES! I nailed it! Supergirl WAS raising her fist to pop Superman! As Supergirl follows through with her right hook, the Man of Steel and his Chin of Cleft are upside down and reeling.

INSIDE STORY: Exposition City plus a whole lot of (too much of) Superman and Supergirl fighting. Rather, Supergirl trying to smash Superman and Superman trying to talk between smashings.

But first, a flashback: Three days before Supergirl #1 begins, Supergirl is babysitting her tiny cousin Kal-El.

Wait just a honkin’ minute, you SuperFans declare. Kal-El is Superman! And we just saw Superman on the cover getting his clocked cleaned!

Yes indeed, the universe is undertaking some fancy temporal footwork.

Also Supergirl is wearing skin-tight formal wear to babysit, which doesn’t ring true. Anyone who has ever babysat knows you wear stretchy clothes so you can eat all your employers’ snack food.

So the Man of Steel and the Girl of, presumably, Steel fight a lot and talk a lot.

They sound like this: KRAKK. BOOM. WHOOOOOSH. And my favorite, SHKOOOOOOM. Which I’m going to say next time I trip in public.

We learn this: Supergirl is Kara Zor-El from Argo City on Krypton. Superman, aka Kal-El, is her cousin, though she doesn’t believe it in part because he’s the wrong age, and in part because his speech sounds like Ye Olde Krypton. Actually, Superman tells Supergirl, all of Krypton is now Ye Olde Krypton, because Krypton is gone.

Interspersed with Supergirl and Superman fighting and nearly flattening an Asian village are scenes of the metal guys from issue #1, who are really just regular guys wearing metal guy costumes. They reveal that Supergirl, while of interest, is not the primary target of their mission. We are led to believe, by story’s end, that the primary target is a red crystal, which I take to be red kryptonite though I’m wrong a lot.

RAMBLE: I got not much at all. I was slightly bored but still interested. I’d like a little less smacking around and a little more story next time, please.

WHO THE HELL ARE THESE PEOPLE?

Supergirl/Kara Zor-El: Recently arrived to earth from her home planet, Krypton. Older cousin of Superman.

Superman: Superman

Metal Guys: Mysterious soldiers who seek a red crystal and, secondarily, Supergirl.

CBV Reads Supergirl #1

 

COVERGIRL: Despite the asteroids shuttling down around her, hinting at an otherworldly provenance, Covergirl Supergirl screams “I AM AMERICAN,” just like Superman before her. Except she’s not screaming, she’s just floating with an ambiguous expression on her face. Kind of removed, as if the asteroids can’t compete with “Groovy Kind of Love” streaming through her earbuds.

Also she’s wearing cool red boots, hip AND foot-friendly. Like they might even be made by Clark’s in one of their attempts to get sexy.

 

 

 

 

INSIDE STORY: SG crashes into earth, she doesn’t know where she is, she spends many panels disoriented and confused while clunky metal guys, presumably American, surround and try to trap her, and then at the very end Superman shows up.

RAMBLE: Superman’s well-known mythology gets play here, offering Supergirl readers an immediate draw and sense of familiarity, even if they’ve never encountered her before. Bits of Supergirl’s own mythology crop up here and there throughout the book: She was a student of some sort, she admires her dad, she bickers with her mom, she’s not on Krypton anymore and she hasn’t a clue as to why. She’s a teeny bopper.

Compared to Batwoman’s 17-thread narrative and Batgirl’s constant quippy inner monologuing, Supergirl the book feels relatively spacious. Actions feel stretched out in comparison to the bat-books, and Supergirl’s character reads more simply. Having said that, she's currently my least favorite of the three.

Interestingly (perhaps annoyingly depending on how things progress) Superman is portrayed as a hero arrived to save SG. He stands at the top of the book’s last panel, the sun’s rays surrounding him, while Supergirl stands way down at the bottom. However, she holds her visible hand in a raised fist, so maybe she’s about to sock it to him.

I’m not in love, but I’m on board.

CBV Reads Batgirl #5

(For character guide, see bottom of post.)

COVERGIRL: As she did on the cover of Batgirl #2, Batgirl looks cowed. Her pose bespeaks fear, but again like cover #2, her face also signals doggedness. This pose – persistent and afraid – reflects Batgirl’s and Barbara Gordon’s psychological position.

She’s regained the use of her legs and her place in the superhero universe, but she’s rusty. Her eyes and her crouching stance signal her knowledge of her own weaknesses, but her straight-on stare and upheld head signal determination.

That clenched fist, which must belong to perpetrator of her bloody nose, looks equally determined.

INSIDE STORY: Wow, I must have taken my last post to heart, because I never noticed the words on the cover: Introducing Gretel, She’s Sickly Sweet and Sadistic! Obviously, the fist belongs to Gretel.

Gretel sits at the heart of a bevy of strange things going down in Gotham: A crimelord kills his beloved sons, muttering the numbers 338. Bruce Wayne’s chauffeur turns on him, also crying out 338. Finally, Bruce Wayne turns on Batgirl while she’s trying to protect him. As he raises a tire iron to strike her, he cries out, “338!”

 338 is the number of an historic, decrepit building Bruce Wayne is tearing down in the name of urban renewal. It’s also become a rallying cry for a crew of disparate folks – the crimelords, the chauffeur, Bruce Wayne — that have been changed, by some unknown force, into violent robots fighting towards an as-yet-mysterious purpose.

Gretel appears every time the 338-ers wreak havoc. Though she stands back, never dirtying her hands or snow-white catsuit, she’s very obviously controlling this motley army. To what end remains to be discovered; presumably something to do with Wayne’s urban renewal project.

Also, right after the crimelord blasts his sons into oblivion, Gretel experience an odd moment of … ecstasy? Euphoria? Batgirl is befuddled, as are we the readers.

Also, Barbara Gordon’s mother announces she’s back in town for a while, sending Barbara into a stress-induced carb-frenzy (muffins!).

RAMBLE: Gretel-in-form-fitting-white, with hair colored in various electric hues, presents a sharp contrast to Batgirl’s last nemesis, the cape-clad Mirror, though it's unclear what form her villainy takes, or where her motivations lie. Jury's out pending further knowledge.

The most gripping thing about this issue is the solidifying of Barbara’s voice: She’s clever, self-deprecating, and self-aware; the kind of girl who’d make a great friend. She’d never make you feel inferior, and she’d write great status updates:

“Some people do yoga when they’re stressed. I eat muffins.”

WHO THE HELL ARE THESE PEOPLE?

Barbara Gordon: Batgirl.

Batgirl: Former Batman trainee, along with Robin (now Nightwing). Shot by the Joker and left paralyzed. Regained use of legs after radical neural surgery. Now struggling to return to her former powerful self. Self-deprecating, clever.

Commissioner Gordon: Babs’ dad, Gotham PD commish.

Alysia: BG’s roommate.

Gretel: New baddie. She keeps her hands and white catsuit pristine but seems to control those around her, who perform bad deeds while chanting 338.

Batman: Batman.

Bruce Wayne: Batman’s wealthy alter-ego.

Mama Gordon: A recent returnee to Barbara’s life, to Barbara’s discomfort.