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 - Supergirl #56 (Review)

Written by Sterling Gates
Art by Jamal Igle & Jon Sibal
Cover by Amy Reeder & Richard Friend

Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $2.99

This was one of those rare weeks where several titles stood out and wowed me when I read them, making it hard to choose one over them all. So it was even a surprise to me when I decided that Supergirl #56 was my favorite issue this week, considering how uneven I have felt about the title and all of the Superman Family books these days.

The creative team of writer Sterling Gates and artist Jamal Igle have been on the title for nearly two years now and are just starting to give the book an identity now that the Superman events are over. Gates is a relatively new writer on the comic book scene and I worried that some of my dissatisfaction with the title was due to the writer and not just the New Krypton events but this story arc is starting to soothe my fears about Gates' shaping of Supergirl.

I will be honest when I heard that Bizarro Supergirl was making her debut I was preparing for another story consisting of Supergirl's reputation getting dragged through the mud with the help of Cat Grant's biased reporting and Supergirl making mistakes and being 'sorry' about what she has done. Thankfully after the story zigged that way it then zagged away with this issue. Seeing Kara's concern for Bizarro Supergirl and wanting to do the right thing and return her to Bizarro World to make up for her mistakes during New Krypton and the familial bonding she sees between the Bizarros and the parallel she makes to herself and Superman was wonderful to read.

I have been critical of Jamal Igle's art on Supergirl in the past but that was before I had the chance to see his art elsewhere. It was then that I realized that it was not his pencils that I did not like but a combination of the inking and coloring of the Supergirl book. This issue did not have any of the problems I usually have with the art and instead it contributed to the fun feel of the story, something I hope continues in the title.

And of course I could not forget to mention the lovely cover by Amy Reeder. I have been a fan of her art since I first saw it in the pages of Madame Xanadu and with that title coming to an end I am happy to see her get work within the main DC Universe books. Her style is perfect for Supergirl and I know she will be doing work on the upcoming Batwoman series but I also hope she gets a chance to fill-in for Igle every now and then on the interiors of Supergirl.

Hopefully this issue is an example of things to come with Supergirl now that the World of Krypton mess that had plagued the Superman books for the last two years is firmly in the rear view mirror. The humor and fun in this issue reminded me slightly of reading the Powergirl book during Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray's run.

Check out Geek Plate's Tumblr for today's Supergirl themed picspam.

WEB: This Week's Top Tumblr Posts (7/15-7/18)

A short week since the blog opened on Thursday, but there was still plenty of time to get some good response from some of the Tumblr picspams on our geekplate account. Here are links to the most popular for the week of 7/15/10-7/18/10:

--Reblog - A page from JLA featuring Red Arrow, Lian Harper and Hawkgirl
--Supergirl art modeled after Laura Vandervoort
--Laura Vandervoort in her October 2007 Stuff Magazine photo shoot
--Reblog - Supergirl art
--Supergirl #50 cover by Michael Turner
--Reblog - Ryan Reynolds & Blake Lively in Green Lantern

Check out Geek Plate's Tumblr for today's picspam on the Sunday Scans-only theme.

TV: Supergirl Returns to Smallville for S10 (News)

EW's Michael Ausiello announced earlier this week that Laura Vandervoort would return to the role of Kara for an episode in Smallville's upcoming tenth and final season.


I wish it was for a several episode arc at least, but as a big Kara fan from S7 I'll take what I can get and with Laura's role on ABC's V I'm sure her time is not as free as it once was. With the news last month that John Schneider would also be returning in season 10, this marks the second Smallville alum scheduled to return and hopefully there will be others that follow and help buffer the reduced presence Allison Mack will have in the final season.

The 10th season of Smallville premieres September 24, 2010 on the CW at 8PM.

Check out Geek Plate's Tumblr for today's picspam on the Supergirl theme.