Mild Mannered Reviews – DC Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1

Kara Zor-El

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DC Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1 [of 2]

Scheduled to arrive in stores: January 12, 2021
Cover date: March 2021

“Two Graves” – Part 1

Writer: Marguerite Bennett
Penciller: Marguerite Sauvage
Inker: Marguerite Sauvag
Cover: Paulina Ganucheau
Variant Covers: Alex Garner

Reviewed by: Adam Dechanel


“Future State: The triumphant victory of our heroes saves all reality from the brink of destruction and shakes loose the very fabric of space and time. From the ashes of Death Metal rises new life for the infinite multiverse and glimpses into the possible unwritten world of tomorrow.”

Kara Zor-El, now a mature older woman, has set up a colony on the moon. Attempting to live up to the ideals Clark and Jon had attempted to… A utopian colony of peace and love.

Her only companion was Krypto, though he has now passed away. Amid all the flowers and soft lighting, despite many suitors past, Kara lives on the moon alone, that is, until today.

A spaceship breaches the colony shield and crash lands with a precious cargo, much like Kara when she arrived on Earth, greeted by Superman.

Shooting out of the ship is a magical shape shifting girl. A being capable of absorbing and mimicking Kara’s super powers. The girl, Lynari Lili’alo, reveals she has come to the fabled moon colony to seek refuge. Superwoman’s colony is known across the galaxy as a place of peace, far nicer that the Starswamp Asteroid, Lynari called home.

Lynari reveals she is in possession of the Starfall jewel, a gem tied to her life force and that one side of her family wants her and the Starfall jewel. Seeing much of her young self in Lynari, Kara allows the girl to stay and they form a strong bond of friendship.

A strange starship enters the galaxy and scans the moon. They are from Lynari’s asteroid and vow to recapture her and destroy the moon that offered her shelter.

Lynari and Kara begin to slowly fall out over their ideas of birthright and legacy and giving up on living life. The argument leads to the spaceswamp girl soaring away from the colony and directly into the arms of her evil family.

She is doomed unless Kara gives up her utopian life and fights for truth and justice.

To Be Continued…

2Story – 2: Heavy handed, ham fisted and a little too on the nose. It took a long time for the issue to get to the point and when it did it was so poorly done. I understand the parallels with Kara’s life as Supergirl. I also get that she thought she would inherit Superman’s legacy over Jon; but to become a space spinster in a utopian society was just too out of character for me to stomach. The story just doesn’t ring true for me. There is one more issue to go and I hope she throws out the victorian garb and taps into the superhero we know and love.

1Art – 1: I feel bad because the artist isn’t bad, but the obvious attempt to mimic the Netflix show “She-Ra” and the agonizingly dull colour palette make for a book that is bland from start to finish. There is a reason we never really see perfect utopian societies – they are boring! No amount of action could elevate beyond the pastels.

The style of the book is unique, it must be said and distinctly aimed at the female audience. Nothing wrong with targeting a demographic, but it is so far divorced from the Supergirl stories that it is the sequel to.

2Cover Art – 2: Princess Adora or Kara Zor-El? The problem with styling art to be so closely familiar with a TV shows audience is that Kara still looks like a superGIRL not a superWOMAN. Aside from that, the cover is dynamic and looks like an animation cel. The color palette still strongly favors pastels but nowhere near as drab as the interiors.

4Variant Cover Art – 4: A really stunning cover, Kara still looks too young, but I guess we are in the age of instagram and filters so who can tell? The downer I have is that truly ugly costume. I understand they really wanted to push the fact Kara had being an old spinster but it’s just so dull. It really ruins the art for me because it becomes the focal point rather than the artwork itself which as I said is STUNNING.

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Anthony_Mage
Anthony_Mage
January 15, 2021 9:45 am

“Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman” for *this* Supergirl fan has to ask, just what the hell was DC even thinking here?? That was God awful. I should’ve known I wouldn’t like the issue from first seeing the fashion tragedy of a future look Kara as Superwoman wears (that… “Super Suit” needs to be lit on fire and ditched in a bin, ASAP) alone. The random fellow alien girl who appears stuff was ok, but the majority of how this depicted Kara like was totally unacceptable to me. I have low expectations going into #2 now, and I’m hella mad at… Read more »