Written by: Steve Orlando
Art by: Brian Ching & Steve Atiyek
Publisher: DC Comics
When I made the (poor) decision to commit to reading and reviewing as many DC books as I possibly could this week, I expected it to be a slog. This does, of course, come from a semi-informed standpoint. I gave all of these books at least three issues when the Rebirth run first began, and most of them left an awful taste in my mouth.
But now I’m here, one book in, typing up a review, and I’m feeling pretty good. See, Supergirl #6 was a pleasant surprise. I (mostly) enjoyed my time with it, which is nice since I was expecting to want to punt into a canyon.
Of course, it has its faults. The villain, Zor-El, doesn’t shut up, for one. It really does ruin the impact of some of the panels here. You’ll get a moment that should be kind of poignant, and he starts running his mouth about the purity of the Kryptonians or whatever. It sounded kind of interesting, and likely would have been had he used 50% fewer words to get his point across.
Other than that, however, I found this book to be pretty solid. Despite skipping the last two or three issues (I don’t remember if this had a Rebirth one shot) I never felt lost, which may be an odd thing to say, considering that this issue wrapped up the first arc of the series. I never felt like I needed an explanation, and Orlando finds ways to get some of the smaller things across.
The unfortunate bit, however, is that the ending rang a little hollow. It may be more impactful for readers who have been here since issue #1, but based on Zor-El’s portrayal, I find that hard to believe. But hey, maybe this was just an exceptionally weak issue for his characterization.
I did have fun with it though. There was never really much tension, but Orlando seems to have a solid handle on Kara as a character. She’s a little spunky, and I honestly came away wanting to spend more time with her. That’s not a feeling I often have when I put a DC book down.
Art wise, the book is Ok. Brian Ching’s work does the job, even though there a few panels that look unfinished. What really deserves praise in this issue, when it comes to visuals, are the colors, courtesy of Michael Atiyek.
I’m not sure if he actually does watercolors, but Atiyek does evoke that style. It gives the book an aesthetic that sets it apart from other big two work, and that’s a nice change of pace. It’s also the colors that really make these pages pop.
I don’t quite know that I’m entirely sold on Supergirl. Issue #6 definitely had its problems–a weak villain and lack of tension being its bane–but hey, that could just be a consequence of me lacking context. I enjoyed this issue enough that I would like to continue with Supergirl going forward. Who knows, maybe I’ll even pick up the trade.
