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Mild Mannered Reviews - Supergirl Comics

Supergirl #46

Supergirl #46

Scheduled to arrive in stores: October 21, 2009

Cover date: December 2009

"The Hunt for Reactron" - Conclusion

Writer: Sterling Gates and Greg Rucka
Penciller: Jamal Igle with Eduardo Pansica
Inker: Jon Sibal with Julio Ferreira

Reviewed by: Jeffrey Bridges

Click to enlarge


Reactron is choking Kara as Chris realizes red sunlight somehow doesn't affect his tactile telekinesis. Chris and Thara break out and rescue Kara, but fail to stop Reactron. All three Kryptonians charge him.

On the streets of Metropolis, Lois and Lana are trying to get around the police. Lana has another nosebleed and Lois notices, and Lana says she's fine. She tells Lois to go on without her because if she's not there when the kids stop Reactron, the story won't get told.

Supergirl &. Co. fight Reactron as Lois watches, and they're losing. Badly. He threatens Lois, who gets a hit in on him. Thara turns into "the real Flamebird" and flies off with Reactron. She pulls the gold kryptonite out of his chest and disintegrates it, and he explains everything that happened and how it was all General Lane's fault, as Kara, Lois and Chris look on.

Flamebird is going to kill him, but Kara stops her and says she wants justice, not vengeance. Chris then kisses Flamebird, which turns her back into Thara.

Kara then apologizes to Thara for not believing that Flamebird and Nightwing and Rao were real, and says if Flamebird is real then so is Rao and that means Zor-El is in "a better place". Thara then says she has to tell Kara something about Lana. Lana walks in to a distraught looking Kara. Lana asks if everything's okay, and Kara says it is, though the look on her face is one of mistrust or suspicion).

Thara leaves and Kara says she has to go to New Krypton (to deliver Reactron), but will return to talk to Lana about what she's been hiding from Kara.

3Story - 3: I honestly don't know how long it's been, but I feel like this story has been going on FOREVER. Kara, Reactron, Superwoman, Thara, etc etc etc it just feels like it's been unending. So for what was supposed to be something of a climax, I feel pretty let down.

The action wasn't very inspiring or exciting, the fight just kind of petered out and... if Thara could turn into Flamebird and destroy kryptonite, why didn't she do that a whole lot earlier? I don't know, it just felt very anticlimactic for something that's been going on for SO long.

And the worst part is, finally on the last page and I'm seeing resolution with Thara and I'm thinking we're going to move on... and the promo says to come back next issue for the final fate of Reactron. Really? More? When does it end?

As an aside, how is it that the only real hit on Reactron comes from Lois... who hits him in the head? Where he wears a HELMET. I am all for Lois kicking ass, but when three Kryptonians can't seem to get a solid hit in on a villain and then Lois hits him in his (armored) head and he reacts to it as if it did... anything... that's kind of odd.

It's not been a bad story (though I never truly got wrapped up in it, I've been ambivalent about it the entire time), but as I said... it's just gone on. So. Long. I just want it to be over. I want to be on to something else. I want some stories about KARA. I want some depth to her character and some development for her, and I still feel like we're not getting that. I still feel like I have no idea who she is as a person, and how many times can I keep saying that?

Also, and this is just a personal nitpick of mine, but "oh snap"? Really? What is this, 2001? Do people really still say that?

Maybe I'm just out of touch with all the crazy kids these days. Maybe using colloquialisms that were popular most of a decade ago is hip.

"Hip"? Really? Do people still say that? What kind of review is this?

You kids get off my lawn!

4Art - 4: I've got nothing to complain about here. Not the best I've ever seen, but very good and enjoyable.

3Cover Art - 3: Decent enough, though not terribly exciting as I'm kind of incredibly tired of the never-ending Reactron. Also, why couldn't Kara be the one still standing? She fared just as poorly (or well, depending on how you look at it) in the fight, but Chris gets to be the only one still standing on the cover? Eh.

Mild Mannered Reviews

2009

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

January 2009

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