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adamcarrington's review
3.0
Teenage Supergirl wants to be a regular teenager, and fails; wants to be a regular superhero, and fails. Also has a stalker super-boyfriend and paternally-induced mental issues. Funnier and not as melodramatic as I was expecting, and excellent pacing. A sulky teenage superheroine is a great character with which to explore the absurdity of unwanted responsibilities.
dr_matthew_lloyd's review
5.0
Identity, volume 3 of the rebooted Supergirl, is a step up for establishing the character in her own right and in telling a story about a teenaged girl who has lost her home, her family, and her purpose while finding herself stranded on a distant planet where everyone has already formed their own oppinion of her and what she should be. It's far from perfect - the five-star rating should not be taken as an indication that the quality of this book stands up next to [b:V for Vendetta|5805|V for Vendetta|Alan Moore|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1343668985s/5805.jpg|392838] or any of the other books to which I've given five-star reviews, but as part of the on-going DC storyline, as a superhero comic in one of the two major universes, it stands above virtually everything else that I have read.
The volume begins as a series of one-off stories establishing that Kara is trying to find her place in the world: she tries a secret identity and learns how terrible being a teenaged human is; she tries to become a party girl; she tries to join a team. She then finds herself in a doing-good double act/abuse relationship with Power Boy, whom she has to dispose of, leading into the final arc asking "what's going on in Kara's head?" She keeps a broad distance from the other superheros who littered her previous storylines, although her friendship with Cassie Sandsmark (Wonder Girl) seems to be ongoing. The relationship with Boomer, which retains its elements of creepiness, becomes less so as it becomes clear that Kara is completely in control, and that she is trying to deal with issues without really caring if she hurts other people. One has the sense that while she remains one hero in a world with many, this is Kara's story and no-one elses.
A key theme is responsibility. Kara is lectured by a number of other heroes about how those with powers are responsible for those without, and as she wears an "S" she has to keep up the standards of wearing that "S". No-one seems to consider how different things are for Kara, who has had this responsibility thrust upon her by the destruction of her planet and decades of do-gooding that Kal-El has been up to in her absence. "Rock On!", the second volume, is somewhat reminiscent of the relationship Buffy had with subsequent vampire slayer Kendra: the latter insisting that it was necessary to devote oneself to duty as long as the world was in danger (which it always is); the former representing more the idea that it's much easier to protect the world if you actually give a damn about it through living in it.
There are still problems: I don't really agree with the ending,that the main purpose of Kara's journey should have been to reconcile her with Kal-El so that Supergirl and Superman can fight together now. Similarly, much of what is being defined appears to be how Kara is Supergirl but that she gets to decide what being "Supergirl" means, rather than Kara is Kara and she gets to decide whether she even wants to be Supergirl. But this is the problem of being part of a series: Kara's story has not been written as the development of a young woman into being a superhero over time, but as the reintroduction of Supergirl, whom she must therefore become. It's a teleological way of storytelling, but if one compares this to the nods and winks of Smallville (a series roughly contemporary with Kara's re-introduction to the DCU) and even what the trailers for Gotham promise, it feels like a much more satisfying way of telling this story.
As far as the art is concerned, Ian Churchill continues to give his women (and Power Boy) the same faces, but Ale Garza, who does much of the art for the last four parts of the story, presents Kara in a more cartoonish, but ultimately more age-appropriate way - there is a wonderful look of delight on the face of young Kara on page 5 of "The Truth", which sticks in the mind particularly. I'm not a fan of the curvey, pouty Kara of Joe Benitez, who lasts one part ("Fish out of Water"); Amanda Connor, who pencilled the fisrt Power Girl strip in [b:Supergirl, Vol. 2: Candor|830962|Supergirl, Vol. 2 Candor|Joe Kelly|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347699867s/830962.jpg|816619] too, gives Kara some wonderfully expressive faces as her night out is ruined by an underground lizard monster, but I'm not certain that I'd want to read an entire series drawn in her style. The colouring is probably where this volume gains most of its visual power over the preceeding Supergirl volumes: Rod Reis brings a vividness to a story previously quite plain and flat.
Overall, Identity tells a good story reasonably well, with generally good art and excellent colouring. It probably needs the background of the previous Supergirl volumes and her re-introduction in Superman/Batman, but it stands fairly well on its own as one of the best in-universe superhero stories I have read.
The volume begins as a series of one-off stories establishing that Kara is trying to find her place in the world: she tries a secret identity and learns how terrible being a teenaged human is; she tries to become a party girl; she tries to join a team. She then finds herself in a doing-good double act/abuse relationship with Power Boy, whom she has to dispose of, leading into the final arc asking "what's going on in Kara's head?" She keeps a broad distance from the other superheros who littered her previous storylines, although her friendship with Cassie Sandsmark (Wonder Girl) seems to be ongoing. The relationship with Boomer, which retains its elements of creepiness, becomes less so as it becomes clear that Kara is completely in control, and that she is trying to deal with issues without really caring if she hurts other people. One has the sense that while she remains one hero in a world with many, this is Kara's story and no-one elses.
A key theme is responsibility. Kara is lectured by a number of other heroes about how those with powers are responsible for those without, and as she wears an "S" she has to keep up the standards of wearing that "S". No-one seems to consider how different things are for Kara, who has had this responsibility thrust upon her by the destruction of her planet and decades of do-gooding that Kal-El has been up to in her absence. "Rock On!", the second volume, is somewhat reminiscent of the relationship Buffy had with subsequent vampire slayer Kendra: the latter insisting that it was necessary to devote oneself to duty as long as the world was in danger (which it always is); the former representing more the idea that it's much easier to protect the world if you actually give a damn about it through living in it.
There are still problems: I don't really agree with the ending,
As far as the art is concerned, Ian Churchill continues to give his women (and Power Boy) the same faces, but Ale Garza, who does much of the art for the last four parts of the story, presents Kara in a more cartoonish, but ultimately more age-appropriate way - there is a wonderful look of delight on the face of young Kara on page 5 of "The Truth", which sticks in the mind particularly. I'm not a fan of the curvey, pouty Kara of Joe Benitez, who lasts one part ("Fish out of Water"); Amanda Connor, who pencilled the fisrt Power Girl strip in [b:Supergirl, Vol. 2: Candor|830962|Supergirl, Vol. 2 Candor|Joe Kelly|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347699867s/830962.jpg|816619] too, gives Kara some wonderfully expressive faces as her night out is ruined by an underground lizard monster, but I'm not certain that I'd want to read an entire series drawn in her style. The colouring is probably where this volume gains most of its visual power over the preceeding Supergirl volumes: Rod Reis brings a vividness to a story previously quite plain and flat.
Overall, Identity tells a good story reasonably well, with generally good art and excellent colouring. It probably needs the background of the previous Supergirl volumes and her re-introduction in Superman/Batman, but it stands fairly well on its own as one of the best in-universe superhero stories I have read.
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