COMIC: Top of the Stack - Supergirl #8 (Review)

Writer: Michael Green & Mike Johnson
Artist: George Perez
Cover: George Perez

Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $2.99

This was a week where it was going to take an outstanding issue to make it to the top of my reading stack, and when I read SUPERGIRL #8, there was the right mix of adventure, action and relationships to win me over in the end.

From the creative writing team of Michael Green & Mike Johnson since the starts of the New 52 relaunch, SUPERGIRL has become a book about discovery and adventure as much as action with Kara adjusting to her new home. And I have been enjoying the ride immensely which is not that much of a surprise considering Green and Johnson also wrote some of my favorite issues of SUPERMAN/BATMAN.

For this issue Kara is surrounded by the military and seems destined for another misunderstanding when a silver-haired (and tongued) girl gets involved and tries to help Supergirl out. We meet Siobhan Smythe, a girl from Dublin with a remarkable skill for languages, and the two strike up a friendship as she helps Kara hide in plain sight. Of course, there is more to her story and the rug gets pulled out from under the two by the end of the issue through the aid of fatherly intervention.

In a nice surprise, legend George Perez was the guest penciller this issue and the art was solid. The girls looked just like that and when the other shoe drops at Siobhan's gig the art suitably picks up on the creepy factor. The spectrum of emotions are really covered between Kara's angry red eyes to the looks of terror on their faces near the end of the issue.

One of the best things to come from the New 52 is that all of these Superman Family books exist in the same time but they all feel differently and there is no real feeling of reading the same story even when the characters might cross paths. I have always tried to read SUPERGIRL but I definitely cannot remember a time I was enjoying the character more.

I really hope that when this current story with Siobhan finishes that this is not the last we see of the two together. Even if it was only one issue, I enjoyed the friendship that was being built there, and it definitely felt different from any other Super relationship I have yet to read. This was definitely an issue you can pick up without having read the ones before so please give it a try if you have not yet.

Look to buy the SUPERGIRL #8 digital comic on Comixology for $1.99

COMIC: Top of the Stack - Star Trek #6 (Review)

Writer: Mike Johnson
Artist: Joe Corroney
Cover: Tim Bradstreet

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Price: $3.99

Something I love about the comic book industry is the wide variety of topics and genres that you are almost guaranteed to find a title about. One section like that would be the books made from licensed properties. There is just something so exciting about being able to continue on with the characters you have come to love outside of their normal type of medium.

A bunch of times my top of the stack pick has ended up being based off a licensed property, so many companies are doing it: Dark Horse has Star Wars, BOOM! Studios was once the home to many Disney/Pixar books, and DC has the recently announced SMALLVILLE SEASON 11.

But if there is one company that is almost synonymous with the licensed property comic book, it is IDW Publishing that comes to mind. I always find myself dabbling with the titles there to see what hooks me and for awhile I read ANGEL while it was there and lately I have been checking out the GI:JOE and COBRA books. Yet while those properties are sizable, it was a book with a much more vocal/beloved fan base around it that had me wanting more.

Of course, I am talking about this week's STAR TREK #6, a comic book based off the recent J.J. Abrams reboot movie that helped revitalize the Trek universe for modern day science fiction audiences. Featuring the same characters from the film, this book continues their journey that only started there.

Tasked with writing the series is Mike Johnson, who has been part of a fantastic DC writing team for awhile with SUPERMAN/BATMAN and the new DC 52 relaunched SUPERGIRL title but is also no stranger to this new era of the Star Trek universe having contributed to the prequel comics that came out before the film and the movie adaptation comic as well that came out for IDW.

On the art is Joe Corroney, a veteran of IDW having worked on TRUE BLOOD, DOCTOR WHO and other STAR TREK universe titles. Here he accurately captures the look of the characters modeled after the actors that portrayed them, while also getting to be creative and design looks as well like in this issue with the adult version of Jim Kirk's brother, George. One of the things I am becoming more cognizant of with art is the portrayal of clothing on the characters and it thrills me to no end that the uniforms look authentic with folds and wrinkles as they hang on the body like it would be in real life.

This issue continues on with the previous issue's revelation that George Kirk was on this planet with a colony besieged by these alien life-force that resemble jelly fish that latch on to heads and take control. Behind the planet plot, you find all the threads developed in the movie still being fed upon, Jim's family issues, Spock's relationship with Uhura and Spock dealing with his grief.

If you enjoyed the movie than you should have no problem eating up the Trek goodness in this title. The quality of the creative team is very evident in the pages and until the next movie comes out - which sounds like awhile - this is more than an equal replacement for your STAR TREK needs.

Look to buy the STAR TREK #6 digital comic on Comixology for $1.99