Candor, part I
Supergirl #6
One Year Later
Cover Date: April 2006
Released: 3rd May 2006
- Writers: Greg Rucka
- Pencilers: Ed Benes
- Inker: Norm Rapmund
- Colourists: Rod Reis
- Letterer: Comicraft
- Editors: Jeanine Schaefer / Eddie Berganza
When Power Girl and Supergirl meet in general you have two results, they either bicker and fight (sometime literally) or are general chill around each other. In general I’m a fan of the later, and we’ll get to that soon enough, but here we’ll get something of a synthesis of the two.
We start by Kara, Supergirl in this case, showing how much of a bad girl she is by getting a bad ass tattoo. She’s so bad ass she seems to be cosplaying as Black Widow in the city, even down to Natasha cool little belt! We quickly learn that she’s currently in Kandor II, a sort of alien ghetto where apparently a Kal-el is ruling. We know most of this as Kara is travelling back through the rougher alien section of this bottled city!
She is saved by the arrival of Nightwing, no not that one this is the Kryptonian hero (that in some version inspired the name for Dick). Kara is more than capable to handling thing starting a fight with the aliens, despite Nightwing trying to deescalate. When Miss Anger Issue decides to use her heat vision our mysterious Nightwing block it with her body, burning what seems to be a boob window, because subtly is for the weak!
Karen, Power Girl if you couldn’t guess, talks Kara down in what passes for there secret headquarters, in that mentor auntie role I’ve been saying she’d been for quite some time now! She mentions that Kara has been loosing her temper more recently, something that been rumbling through the last few issues, and that as they’re in Kandor they have more limited powers and need to rations things. Finally we learn that they’re here to try and find a way for Kara to return to Argo City, though PeeGee seems to be more interested in helping people, though you wonder why they’ve not had this conversation in the month they’ve been in they city! Also PeeGee keeps calling Kara honey, which I just find adorable for some reason.
Sometime later a bunch of alien prisoners is being lectured on screen by Kal-el, before probably more physical punishment, when Nightwing and Flamebird, another Kryptonian hero and obviously Supergirl. The fight a series of black clothed guards, all wearing the symbol of the house of El. During the battle Kara get her costume/armour (though it seems to be terrible armour) revealing her tattoo. After the two flee, with the freed aliens, this fact is reported to our before seen Kal-el, this time in the flesh, before he disintegrates the guard for his failure, because how otherwise we wouldn’t know he’s a bad guy!
Yeah I know evil Supermen by now is an overdone trope, I’m sure it was getting pretty thing back then, but I think he works here as he’s kept to the background until more or the less the last page. And personally I’m here for the Supergirl / PeeGee interactions, which are a good sight better than the last time they interacted. Whilst I’m not a fan of bad girl Supergirl, I’m always going to be here for mentor PeeGee and more or less there actually being friendly to each other, which it seems is much rarer that you’d think!
I know about this storyline, but haven’t read it yet. I need to put it on my list.