Ten scenes of special note from Supergirl Vol. 1: Misadventures in Midvale

The recently released Supergirl Vol. 1: Misadventures in Midvale collects the first six issues of writer/artist Sophie Campbell and colorist Tamra Bonvillain's new Supergirl ongoing series, which is an excellent comics book (I reviewed it at length in this column). 

It's quite good, and if you have any interest at all in superhero comics, regardless of your experience with the character or publisher or the genre, I would recommend checking it out (Mild spoilers to follow, so if you do plan on reading it, maybe do so before you read the rest of this post). 

In this collection, Supergirl Kara Zor-El visits her one-time hometown of Midvale, only to discover a mystery: There's already a Supergirl there, and there's also a Linda Danvers living with her adopted parents. It turns out Lesla-Lar, a super-smart Kandorian with some issues, has escaped the bottle city and set up shop impersonating our hero. 

With help from a new old friend and some super-pets, Kara defeats Lelsa...and then adopts her, taking her under her wing and teaching her to use her yellow sun-granted superpowers for good. In short order, Kara and company meet new versions of old Supergirl comics villains Decay and Nightflame and add a new young woman to their growing girl gang.

Here are the ten scenes that I thought most interesting or intriguing for one reason or another...

1.) What, exactly, is Princess Shark's plan...? In the very first panel of the book, Campbell introduces a new character, Princess Shark. Her name suggests that she may be related to, or at least inspired by, old Superboy villain King Shark (And she is not to be confused with Nidhi Chanani's Shark Princess, the apparent whale shark protagonist of a series of early reader graphic novels).  

As you can see above, letterer Becca Carey gives Princess Shark a bigger, bolder, slightly scratchier font to suggest a deeper, scarier voice than that of other characters, and she rants "Metropolis will soon become Sharkopolis! It is inevitable!" 

Supergirl appears to defeat the menace between panels. "Nah...Princess Shark, you just need to cool off a bit, okay?" she says, before dumping the villain into the sea and flying away as the shark-woman raises a fist and shouts "Curse you, SUPERGIRL!"

I was curious about her plans, exactly, beyond that of turning Metropolis into Sharkopolis. I mean, in that first panel, the street behind her is full of sharks of various species and sizes laying around and more seem to be falling out of the sky, as if there was a very particular type of strange fall, with Princess Shark at its center.

Later in the series, in issue #5, the one devoted to two short stories starring the Super Pets, Princess Shark returns, this time in Midvale, wearing a different costume which I like a bit more than the one above (and drawn by guest-artist Paulina Ganucheau). On that second instance, her aim is to get revenge on Supergirl, and she comes accompanied by a huge flying shark wearing a bandana. Krypto and new super-rabbit Kandy manage to drive her away with their eyebeams.

2.) An unforeseen effect of yellow sun radiation. When Kandorian scientist Lesla-Lar uses her technology to teleport herself (and her pet rabbit Kandy) to Midvale, she is struck by the rays of Earth's yellow sun, and she is imbued with the same array of super-powers that all Kryptonians get from such exposure (Likewise, Kandy immediately starts flying). 

It's been a while since I've seen a new Kryptonian exposed to the yellow sun for the very first time, but here there seems to be a physical component to the change, with the previously slim Lesla-Lar suddenly developing pronounced bicep muscles....and, quite unusually, gaining curves, with her bust increasing by whole cup sizes and her hips and thighs expanding into generous curves, making her suddenly...Pneumatic? Zaftig? Rubenesuqe? Dare I, a middle-aged man, say "thicc"...?

Seeing what her new curves have done to her outfit, Lesla declares herself beautiful, "even more beautiful than Supergirl." 

I don't know. I thought Lesla was beautiful before the sun gave her curves too, but then, I do like girls with glasses...

3.) Does Lesla-Lar summon Titano from a Poke Ball...? Okay, so I've never actually watched any Pokemon comics or read and Pokemon manga, as the franchise didn't make it to the U.S. until I after I had aged out of the intended demographic (And it's always seemed more kid-focused than all-ages to me). So, I don't know exactly how these things work, but it was my understanding that Ash or Mindy or whoever would throw a Poke Ball*, and that from out of it would emerge whichever particular monster they needed at that particular time, right?

That's exactly what happens here.

I would ask how exactly Lesla-Lar had acquired Titano the super-ape in the first place, and this might have even have been something that would have bugged a younger, less-experienced teenage Caleb, but, having looked into what passes for Titano "continuity" in the past, I know that, post-Crisis at least, there isn't really any throughline to Titano appearances. He generally just shows up, sometimes only in cameos, whenever a generic menace is needed to occupy Superman briefly. I am guessing whenever an artist feels likes drawing a giant ape is the main determinant in whether or not Titano appears in a particular Superman comic. 

After Supergirl defeats the super-ape by blindfolding him with her cape and then spinning him so fast that she screws him into the ground, Titano is next seen tiny sized, in a little terrarium in Lena Luthor's lab. He will appear off and on in the following issues, renamed "Tinytano" and becoming a member of the Super Pets, even getting outfitted with his own cape (Purple, like that usually worn by Kandy, rather than red, like those of Krypto and Streaky).

4.) This is what Campbell's Lena Luthor looks like. As I mentioned the other day in my review of the trade paperback, I don't recall seeing Lena Luthor (Lex's daughter, not his sister) since she was a little kid, circa "Our Worlds At War" or so, nor do I recall her having any association with Supergirl, and thus I imagine her presence in the book as a friend and ally to the title character was inspired by her role on the TV show (I know "Supercorp" was a popular-ish ship pairing the show's version of Supergirl and Lena Luthor). 

I thought I might have detected a touch of such of potential romantic tension in an exchange or three here, but that could totally be my reading something into it. (As for Supergirl's orientation, the only character she seems attracted to in these issues—and by "attracted to" I mean a red heart appears in a thought cloud above her head when she looks at them—appears to be male; more on him in a bit).

Anyway, I like the design. The Brainiac sigil on her forehead, which goes unremarked upon herein, seems to indicate that her association with the character is still canon, and I like how Campbell gives her various "bad girl" signifiers, like dyed hair, a partially shaved head, black clothes and kick-ass boots, even though, so far at least, she seems to be on the side of the angels.

5.) I love the look on Krypto's face when he goes bad. After Titano the super-ape fails to stop Supergirl, Lesla-Lar's next attempt to defeat Supergirl is to blast her with a "cerebral alignment transmogrifier" powered by black kryptonite, which she says will cause Supergirl to become "not only chaotic and antisocial but moronically stupid as well."

As you can see, this also transforms Supergirl into Satan Girl, with a new costume and white-on-black dialogue balloons to go with her new, temporary identity (And if you find yourself thinking, "Wait, that's not how I remember black kryptonite working before," well, keep in mind that Supergirl wasn't exposed directly to black k, but hit with a weapon powered by it).

Krypto is also caught in the blast, and while he doesn't get a new name—Krypto the Satanic-dog, maybe?—he does get a new costume, and appears to also be suddenly chaotic, antisocial and moronically stupid. I mean, you can see it in his expression in the panel above, right?

That's how good an artist Campbell is! Just the look on a dog's face reveals that he's been changed into an evil, stupid version of himself!

During Satan Girl's brief, four-page rampage, Krypto joins her in causing mischief, stealing the pants from a citizen in one panel, and lifting his leg to melt the hood of a truck with his super-pee in another.

6.) Supergirl gets a magical girl transformation sequence. During her first encounter with the imposter Supergirl Lesla-Lar, Kara's costume is exposed to some kind of chemical creation that changes her red and yellow S-shield to a purple and green P-shield (apparently for "Phonygirl", which is what the people of Midvale refer to her as, thinking Lesla-Lar is the genuine Supergirl).

Later, she changes into her "Daring New Adventures" costume, the one with the blouse and little red shorts, while Lena tries to "fix" the damage that Lesla did to her current costume. And then, after she changes into Satan Girl and then back into herself, her Daring New costume is all torn up.

That's when Lena flips an S-shield at Supergirl's chest ("SWIP"), and it attaches itself to her, emanating her costume like so many ribbons, and giving Supergirl her very own transformation sequence!

In the next issue, #4, Supergirl will pull the S-shield from, um, somewhere and apply it to her chest herself, allowing her to instantly suit up for action. 

7.) This is what the girls wear to the goth club. At the end of the first story arc, which fills the first three issues of the series, one-time Supergirl impersonator Lesla-Lar has been remanded into Supergirl's custody. She is apparently living with Lena and Kara in Lena's secret lair on the outskirts of town and learning how to be a superhero under Supergirl's tutelage. She's got a new purple and yellow costume, and is going by the name "Luminary."

To celebrate her first day on the job, Lena suggests they all go to The Masquerade, Midvale's goth club, which has apparently been around since the aughts. We get a few panels of Lena helping with make-up before the reveal of what they're wearing (above). 

I suppose there must be a goth clothing shop in Midvale too, because it sure doesn't look like Lena and Lesla are the same size and can share dresses, does it...?

8.) Another L.L. Once inside, readers are introduced to a new character, Luna Lustrum. That's her on the far right of the top panel and speaking in the center of the second panel. As you can see, Campbell has given her a quite striking design, with big eyes, a sloping forehead, a rather unique downward sloping nose and curly hair. (Is it just me, or does her design suggest comics artist Jill Thompson at all...?)

I absolutely love the character's look. If she were a real person, I would totally have a crush on her. Heck, even though she's not a real person, I still kinda sorta have a crush on her. 

She doesn't reveal her name until the end of the fourth issue, at which point Lena says, "Another L-name? I guess that makes you part of the gang." 

Luna reappears in the sixth issue dressed as a witch—it's set during Halloween—and her hair is quite different in that issue than it is here, but I'm pretty sure she's wearing a wig as part of the costume.

Luna seems to have some degree of psychic powers, which come in handy in issue #6, and would seem to make her somewhat valuable to Supergirl's growing crime-fighting team. 

9.) Is this Supergirl's type...? As soon as the girls enter the club, Lesla notices a guy with his hands on Luna getting pretty pushy. When Lena grabs his wrist—"She told you to leave her alone and you did not!" she says, angrily—Supergirl attempts to step in, but is distracted.

"Who..." she says in one panel, and then a turn of the page reveals the above image, as Supergirl finishes her thought, "...is that?" I cut it off in my scan here, but just to the right of that panel of Supergirl in profile is a little thought cloud containing a single red, heart. It's the first of two times she will look at this dude and think simply "♡".

Now, I haven't read many Supergirl-centric stories over the years, and those I have read usually involved the post-Crisis "Matrix" version of the character, so I have no idea what this Supergirl's type is, but I was kinda surprised that it might be this guy. I mean, it's not like there are many—any?—guys with that particular look in the DCU as far as I've seen up until this point. 

He definitely has a nice body though, and lovely long hair. As for the rest of his look? I don't know. I do love that Campbell drew black sparkles emanating from him though. 

Supergirl/Lena shippers might take some heart in Supergirl's apparent attraction to this guy, though. His hair looks an awful lot like Lena's, but longer, doesn't it...?

Kara does go to up to talk to him, introducing herself, but their meeting is interrupted by the pushy guy who was trying to get Luna to have a drink with him transforming into Decay, an old Supergirl villain who you can see Campbell's redesign of on the cover of issue #4.  

I assume we'll see this goth hunk guy again...perhaps wearing a shirt in his next appearance. 

10.) Wait, when did Krypto get shot with arrows, and who is the monster who did this to him?! And I mean the monster who wrote a story in which Krypto is shot with arrows and is bleeding profusely from the wounds, not whatever villain might have done it in-story.

So, in issue #6, Supergirl deals with a new version of another old villain, Nightflame. Campbell splits drawing duties with artist Rosi Kampe here, with Campbell drawing the scenes set in the "real world" of Midvale, while Kampe draws the scenes set inside Supergirl's own mind. (The above page, where Supergirl starts to turn the tables on her foe, is Campbell's though.)

That is the domain of Nightflame, who attacks Supergirl by subjecting her to her own memories of various trials and traumas she has been through. I only recognized a couple of them—dying during Crisis On Infinite Earths, for example, or wearing tight slacks and a shawl connected to a bra for a top on Apokolips for another—and a lot I couldn't even guess at**. Like the image in the third tier down of the page above, in which we see Supergirl curled up next to a bloody Krypto.

While it's not necessary to "get" all these references while reading the issue—the point is simply that Supergirl is being forced to confront her own bad memories—I was curious about what this one referred to. And curious enough that I couldn't wait until I could find time to write this post and have one of you guys reply.

So, I asked Bluesky and was told that the image referred to the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow miniseries written by Tom King and drawn by the great Bilquis Evely, which is apparently the inspiration for the not-very-good-looking upcoming live action Supergirl film (I watched the trailer, and it looked a bit like a Guardians of the Galaxy film, only without the Guardians in it...? The sole point of interest I saw was that it featured a live-action Lobo, which I am at least curious about, if not necessarily interested in). 

Soooo the writer who killed off Alfred Pennyworth also grievously injured Krypto the super-dog...? I mean, I guess that tracks...

It also makes me even less interested in the upcoming movie, though, which sure seemed to tease that Krypto was in serious danger...



*Not for the first time, I found myself wishing there existed some kind of geek media style guide for comics blogging when it came time to use the word "Poke Ball". I mean, is it a proper noun, and thus needs capitalized? Is it one word or two? Do both words get capitalized? Should it have that little accent mark over the e that I don't know how to make? I spent a surprising amount of time researching this online, as well as consulting two co-workers—one who grew up watching the cartoon, another whose son went through a Pokemon phase—and even consulted a guidebook from the children's department in my library. They had it as two words, both capitalized, and with the accent over the "e" but, like I said, I don't know how to make that. 

**The review at Collected Editions runs them all down though, if you're curious.