REVIEW: Supergirl #9
Supergirl #9, “Resolutions”, makes an unexpected shift in story direction as Kara reevaluates her decisions over the past few months. Taking place around New Year’s celebrations seems fitting for such reflection, but Kara’s conclusion feels a bit jarring considering everything she’s recently been through.
The standard cover is by Sophie Campbell. Flying towards us, the Maiden of Might is larger than life as she fills the canvas. It may be a simple cover, but it’s pretty elegant in its execution.
Chrissie Zullo-Uminga’s variant is an adorable rendition of Kara, Krypto, and Streaky. The cutesy nature makes their art very appealing and reminds us comics are meant to be fun and enjoyed for various reasons.
The Punk Rock variant is by Marguerite Sauvage. This is a really fun cover showing what Kara might look like as a member of a punk band. Wearing stereotypical spikes and leather, it’s hard not to imagine other members of her band, which for me includes Lobo as her drummer.
This months variants are all stellar and feature works by Joe Quinones, Lucas Meyer, and Fanyang on the Sweater Weather variant.
Joe Quinones takes the reigns on interior art for ‘Supergirl #9’. Quinones adapts his style to match the visual tone the series has had thus far and it’s simply great work. There’s more hijinks than action sequences this issue, but the pacing of the art keeps things interesting and entertaining. In fact, there’s an entire sequence where only the art is telling the story and the emotional weight of those panels are palpable. One things for sure, the art for this series has been consistently good and this issue is no exception.
Sophie Campbell, lettered by Becca Carey, has Kara and her new friends ring in the new year with some fairly devastating consequences. In an attempt to allow her Kryptonian friends the enjoyment of a New Year’s party like everyone else, Lena creates a concoction that simulates drunkenness. However, she fails to inform either Kara or Lesla and things quickly get out of hand. Kara’s reaction to these events feels a little harsh considering the overall message of friendship this series has had, but bigger (or rather, smaller) problems arise as Lesla begins to shrink back down to her Kandorian size. Having to act quickly to save her life, Kara unceremoniously returns Lesla to the bottled city without any real resolution between them. Obviously Lesla feels hurt and betrayed and may end up susceptible to some questionable influences taking shape within Kandor.
(7/10) I initially had a more negative reaction to Supergirl #9 as it really felt disjointed from where the series had seemed to be headed. However, I’ve decided to hold out hope that we’re just seeing a possibly awkward segue into the next arc. It is New Year’s Resolution time after all, and change isn’t always pretty.
