REVIEW: Supergirl #17

Supergirl #17, “Kingdom of Zod Part 5” follows Kara, Ursa, and young Clark to a time shortly before Krypton’s destruction. Meanwhile Steel has hopefully discovered a key to curing the kryptonite plague consuming Earth in the present. Temporal hijinks run rampant this issue with the fate of two worlds hanging in the balance.

The standard cover begins a new 4 part connecting series by Lucas Meyer and Giuliano Peratelli. With the release of this issue, it won’t be too much of a secret that Ursa has been resurrected as she’s front and center fighting Supergirl. Adding to the image is our two Steels coming in as backup. Kara and Ursa definitely come to blows within these pages but not in a way that would be expected.

Mark Spears also continues his themed variants with Ursa having a turn as an imagined trading card. Considering the events of ‘Superman’ #41, there really shouldn’t be much surprise as to why Ursa is getting such attention but it’s still a welcomed sight.

The variant by Joe Quinones is a fun rendition of cousins acting like family. Kara’s forced smile gives an indication of a photo op taking place and she’s making sure young Clark is just as uncomfortable as she. Given the contents of the interiors, it could also be a take on desperately trying to blend in as well, but either way these two posed as they are is delightful.

Karl Kerschl and Rico also have great variants to hunt down.

Bruno Frenda, Joe Quinones, and Luis Guerrero handle the interior art with Quinones pulling both artist and colorist duties. This story’s action focuses more on the stealth tactics Supergirl and Superboy employ in order to disrupt their timelines as little as possible. While the fight scenes may be few, this is still a very dynamic issue full of great visuals of Krypton. We also get more nods to Supergirl’s new suit being more than what it seems as it adapts to their new environment on its own. Overall the look and feel of ‘Supergirl’ #17 still feels in line with the rest of the “Kingdom of Zod” crossover even with its drastically changed settings.

Sophie Campbell remains lettered by Becca Carey for the writing credits. After the shocking events of “Kingdom of Zod” part 4, this issue allows us to catch our breath for a moment. Presented from both Kara and Clark’s points of view, we really don’t get much of Ursa’s overall plan until the very end. This allows us to see the struggle Kara has to not intervene with temporal events paralleled with young Clark’s overwhelmed feelings of learning anything about his origins for the first time. There really is a directional shift of the event at this halfway mark as it appears there may be a bit of a loophole in making Ursa’s actions in the present less permanent. Only time will tell as we cliffhang into part 6 in ‘Action Comics’ #1102.

(7/10) I fear the crossover in Supergirl #17 will too quickly “rectify” the shattered status quo through time travel which disappoints me a bit. It’s pure speculation on my part, but the feeling is persistent mixing anticipation and anxiety for the next installment in not all good ways. Here’s hoping I’m way off base and this issue truly turns out to be a nice aside from the emotional reeling of ‘Superman #41’.