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Mild Mannered Reviews - Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures

Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade #5

Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade #5

Scheduled to arrive in stores: April 8, 2009

Cover date: June 2009

"Graduation Day" - Part 1

Writer: Landry Q. Walker
Penciller: Eric Jones
Inker: Eric Jones
Cover: Eric Jones

Reviewed by: Adam Dechanel

Click to enlarge



Kara is talking to her mother about the goings on of the past year via her communicator but as usual time gets the better of her and Kara has to race back to Stanhope boarding school.

When she arrives in the dorm a disinterested Lena awaits her but before they can celebrate their last day, Supergirl arrives! No really! A time vortex opens and Supergirl grabs Linda pulling her out the window. Lena has a flash of realization and the memory wipe wears off. Lena remembers everything and immediately contacts her brother Lex Luthor!

Meanwhile Principal Picklemeyer is counseling a forlorn Belinda Zee. Picklemeyer gives Belinda a medal to lift her spirits, a glowing blue medallion with #1 inscribed upon in.

Elsewhere, Supergirl from the future introduces herself as Supragirl and her super powered horse Comet. Supragirl explains that when the asteroid hit it set a chain reaction in motion that led her to train in the 30th Century with the Legion of Superheroes.

As a consequence of the two Supergirls being in the same place the Supergirl from modern time has suddenly had her powers cancel out due to a time paradox. Luckily Supragirl had a flight ring handy so they go to investigate the nearby emergency.

In deep space Streaky realizes the multiverse is at stake. If he doesn't return and intervene everything may be torn apart! While back on Earth Belinda is using her new powers from the medallion to turn all the students into bizarro zombies!

Belinda has her self confidence knocked again when she realizes there is yet another Supergirl and one with a horse to boot! So she whips up a bizarro costume and becomes... Superior girl!

Supragirl is incapacitated by the bizarre students and just as Superior girl is about to kill her rival, Streaky leaps in front of Belinda's warp vision and becomes a saber tooth tiger!

Lena watching from the dorms initiates a plan of her own and activates a mind control device which enslaves the remaining students. Supragirl manages to throw off her opponents in time to see Belinda fleeing with Kara and Streaky giving chase. Supragirl spot that Kara had dropped her communicator and realizes it is somehow significant... leaping onto Comet she gives chase.

Picklemeyer and the faculty begin to laugh and glow with fantastic energy.... Something very wrong is happening.

Supragirl returns the communicator to Kara asking her to destroy it before Belinda can snag it herself. Belinda overhears this and does exactly that with the quasi-metal device.

Lena crashes the party and reveals she is Lena Luthor, and intends to destroy them all! Belinda activates the communicator and is devastated that Alura doesn't recognize her.

Lex Luthor appears and smirks that their 'friend' Lena rescued him and helped capture their cousin Superman in chains of Kryptonite!

Supragirl, immune to kryptonite attempts to free the Man of Steel while Supergirl tries to reach out to Lena's inner goodness.

A weakened Superman asks Supragirl where she got a quasi-metal communicator from and she suspiciously points out he left it for her as a gift...

Clark is just as puzzled and the two are so busy they don't see Lex in his hover ship closing in on them.

Belinda suddenly begins to scream and the communicator electrifies her with incredible energy.

In the faculty room the staff are now fully transformed and are not really human at all... they are Mxy and friends from the Fifth dimension!

Needless to say... To Be Continued!

2Story - 2: Sadly the worst of the series.

Sorry if the review seems all over the place but if that's the case you can guess what the book was like!

Meanwhile, elsewhere were almost on every page.

The constraints of writing for trade are so evident here it's sadly forcing a book with a great natural flow to force itself into a climax. All the slow and fantastically paced storytelling, all the hints, the nods to history, the humor, it's all been crushed into a two part finale. Just like when a TV series is forced into cancellation before it could tie up loose ends. Everything from start to finish seems rushed.

We're supposed to believe 8th grade is over in 6 issues, Lena realized the truth and then had her mind wiped just last issue only for it to be undone in the next... Streaky was introduced, left for deep space and then did a u-turn to return this issue.

All too fast and a bit sloppy. This is NOT Landry Q. Walker's fault but the PTB that forced it into a meagre 6 issues.

A note to the editor. If a book needs you to step in to explain what the heck is going on then something has gone badly wrong.

5Art - 5: The art hasn't suffered compared to the story and it copes very well with the sudden change in pace.

5Cover Art - 5: Belinda Zee gets centre stage and rightly so, she's been very entertaining, and her new guise as Superior Girl deserves the front cover. Nice homage!


Mild Mannered Reviews

2009

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

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