Mild Mannered Reviews – Supergirl #42

Supergirl #42 [Final Issue – Digital Only]

Scheduled to arrive in stores: July 1, 2020
Cover date: August 2020

“Where Do We Go?” – Finale

Writer: Jody Houser
Artist: Rachael Stott
Cover: Carmine Di Giadomenico & Ivan Plascencia
Variant Cover: Derrick Chew

Supergirl rescues Krypto from General Banes as the storm rages around them, but as it turns out Kara isn’t fully cured of her disease and begins seeing visions of villains from her past. Fighting them off she realizes the Kryptonite from the General’s suit is affecting her and Krypto and this time Wonder Woman isn’t around to help her.

Kara begs Krypto to flee before he is hurt but he decides to stand by her to the end. Director Bones, Rogol Zaar, Zor-El (Cyborg), Starshame and even her infected self take turns to attack Supergirl.

When Banes challenges Kara to be the evil alien she thinks Supergirl really is, Kara proves her wrong by heading directly into Smallville’s eye of the storm. Banes is stunned to see Kara rescue survivors trapped in buildings. As the storm fades, the military arrives and under Banes’ supervision request Kara agrees to being taken into custody for her behavior while infected.

The survivors are stunned that Supergirl faces arrest and form a protest to protect her. Using the crowd as a distraction Kara and Krypto make the decision to leave planet earth.

The End… for now.

Story – 3: A lot of questions raised, a bit of a sad, damp squib of a farewell.

Kara’s visions come back in force but is it mental instability or the disease? The guest appearances at least embrace her Rebirth to the present storylines with some nice cameos but they ultimately are for no reason and don’t lead to character growth. General Banes seems to have the same mindset General Lane did way back during the New Krypton storylines from a decade ago but again she appeared out of nowhere with no foreshadowing and as Kara’s ‘ultimate villain’, the one who finally ends her career, it’s just a bit dull.

Kara Danvers is largely ignored. Her school friend realizing Kara is alive, unresolved. Her mother’s murder, unresolved. Her fathers investigation into Leviathan, unresolved. Her deal with Clark, unresolved. There wasn’t a hint of those stories even referenced. This isn’t to say the book didn’t have a lot of heart. The scene with Krypto swearing to stand by her is incredibly touching. I wish the issue had built more upon that because it was the strongest part of the whole book.

Then that final scene… The military distrust her, the JLA distrust her (as she is possibly still infected.) The one shining beacon of hope is that the people of earth finally accept her as a hero. Of course, instead of embracing that, Kara decides to leave the earth with Krypto… WHY?

The issue was still a good read, I just felt like the Banes arc was meant to play out for four or five issues to give this issue the gravitas it deserved and that for whatever reason it was forced to speed up and end as fast as possible. The unresolved plots seemed to indicate that Houser had much more planned, so it is bittersweet that the book has now ended.

Art – 3: The art is much improved over last issue. Apart from a pretty weak rendition of Rogol Zaar. Stott does a fine job of adding some depth to the story. The inking could have been heavier and some of the scenes a little more detailed but you can see there was definitely an improvement in the layouts.

Cover Art – 4: I like the cover, it is loosely themed around the final scenes of the issue and is quite a stunning visual. As a final cover it’s great to see Supergirl being super.

Variant Cover Art – 5: This cover is fantastic. The variants on Supergirl have been some of the best I’ve ever seen – on ANY run. Really sad that this is the end. I just hope it’s not forever and that Derrick Chew comes back when Kara does!