Scans: "Supergirl's Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade" #1

[mithen]

I've always said I like more realistic, detailed art in comics. But lately, I dunno...I'm starting to see the appeal of art that's more "cartoony." I'm sure it can be done badly, but when it's done well there's an energy to it that the more static pin-up art style we see in flagship titles doesn't seem to have.

Case in point: Supergirl's Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade. It's a Johnny DC title, which means marketed to kids. But it snaps along at a good pace and has some real emotion in it--not like the "Super Friends" title, which I love in part because it's so very, campily young, but this is good stuff for any age IMHO.

Plus, this title made me like Kara, which is very cool. And gave her a real secret identity, which I really want her to have more often in the main titles.

The story is that a rocket suddenly interrupts a fight between a power-suited Lex and Superman. It opens to reveal a Kryptonian girl, who is immediately harassed by the media--especially frightening to her because her powers start developing willy-nilly:



Kal rescues her from the media and has a talk with her:



"This request for seasoning is your final display of insolence!" is going to be my motto from now on.  Yes.

Of course, Kara is being a bit disingenuous here, and Kal eventually gets her to confess that her parents weren't being unreasonable, she just got in a snitty mood and decided to run away from home in her father's experimental rocket:



Uh-oh.  Wibble alert.



*wibble*  Although I do like her "I didn't like that."  LOL, poor Kara.

I also like the way they got around the trauma of having her parents be dead.  She's still really alone and lost, but it's a kind of alone and lost a kid could empathize with, not a world-devastating one.

So Kal enrolls Kara in school as Linda Lee, but I'm afraid he fails to give her a crash course in Earth customs and history--although I suppose he couldn't have covered all the random topics an 8th grader would run into:





Augh, poor Kara.  It's like someone's fantasy of how horrible school was condensed into one perfectly awful day.

Then there's gym class, with pretty much the ur-gym teacher.



Awwwww.  I mean, what kid (or adult) wouldn't sympathize?  Dodgeball--no one is invulnerable to dodgeball.

And so Kara limps back to her dorm that evening, sad and alone:





Humiliation and mind control machines?  I thought this was a kids book!  (ba-dum-DUM-ching).

Aw, but seriously, I like this book a lot.  Who couldn't like nerdy Kara trying to get by, and who wouldn't love to get a little note from Superman saying "You are not alone"?  *melts*

Comments

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

More Kryptonians should embellish their reasons for ending up on Earth.

Krypto: I went on the carpet.

Zod: I walked on the grass where there was a "do not walk on grass" sign.

Brainiac: I just got fed up with being used for downloading porn all day. Brain the size of a planet and I have to find all the girl-on-girl action on the Kryptonet. Call that job satisfaction? Because I don't.

[mithen.livejournal.com]

Ursa probably littered. Or jaywalked. Those Kryptonians take their laws really seriously.

Also: alas, poor Brainiac. Does he have a pain in all his diodes along his left side?

(*feels the urge to write Brainiac and Marvin sympathizing*)

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

Does that make the Fortress of Solitude AI into that elevator that was so happy to take people to different floors?

[mithen.livejournal.com]

"You've made a simple Fortress very happy, Kal-El."

(No, no, Fortress/Kal is not acceptable).

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

I've read Fortress/Lois.

[mithen.livejournal.com]

I can totally see that, actually. o_O

[stinglikeabee.livejournal.com]

I <3 this series so much. And I agree with you 100%. Kara is adorable and you can't help but feel for her as she tries to adjust. And the cartoony art makes everything more approachable, without being too silly. It's certainly made me a fan of Supergirl again. How is it that the Johnny DC titles are monopolising all that is fun from the mainstream comics?

I wibbled at the note. It is so sweet, and so Clark :D

[mithen.livejournal.com]

I agree, the kids titles are lots of fun! It's a weird system where they wouldn't exist without the canon to play off of, but they're so fun and accessible...

Kara is being written rather consistently likably lately, which makes me really happy! It's hard to write a character growing up in the shadow of Superman, and both Kara and Kon have suffered at times because of it. It's hard to write "different and kind of rebellious" without sliding into "annoyingly sullen." In some ways it makes me empathize with the decision to take Superman out of canon for a while, to write some of his supporting cast without the shadow of Big Blue always there. But unfortunately I don't think it's that easy to free characters from his influence...

[shardsofblu.livejournal.com]

Eee! I've been meaning to check out this one for a while now, but I never seem to get around to it.

Rocketing herself away in a fit of temper is... interesting to say the least. lol

[mithen.livejournal.com]

I'm really hoping to get to issue 2 soon! I keep piling up comics to read and don't get to them, lol.

Rocketing herself away in a fit of temper is... interesting to say the least. lol

*grin* It's a bit out there, but I like that they found a way to keep her parents alive (I'm confused that in canon, they apparently brought her parents back only to kill her father again and make her mother kinda evil? Wha? Just leave them dead, we don't need extra angst!)

I love that icon! Would it be possible for me to use it, with credit of course? I have a couple of icons of Karen but none of Kara...

[shardsofblu.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was just annoying. >_< Especially considering the fact they killed him off right after Jonathan too. And her mom turning evil just got me rolling my eyes, before this it was Zor-El. Some kind of weird dead/evil parents obsession they got going on there, what's wrong with happy, functional families anyway?

No problem at all, snag away! :D

[htbthomas.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was fun! Thanks for sharing.

[mithen.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the second issue yet, but I'm hoping it keeps the quality of writing and art. It's a really fun read!

[second-batgirl.livejournal.com]

Seriously, I love this series so much. *draws millions of little hearts*

[mithen.livejournal.com]

It's awesome! Fun but with a heart, you know? And seeing Kal keep an eye on Kara, even if I know he can't be interfering often to keep the story going, makes me so happy. :)

[second-batgirl.livejournal.com]

Seriously, the DC kids line is my favorite right now. Tiny Titans and Supergirl and Super friends. *loves*

[snake-easing.livejournal.com]

! That's so much better than I expected it to be. There's plot and everything.

As soon as the kid I babysit gets a little bit older, I'm getting this for her. (She's five right now--I don't think she'd relate to the school drama yet.)

[mithen.livejournal.com]

A real plot! Will wonders never cease? :)

Must get to the second issue...but I think it looks like a great gift to a young girl so far!

[starsandsea.livejournal.com]

Eeee, fun! :)

LOL, I love Kara's wiggly eyebrows! :p

*melts at the ending*

Yay for Johnny DC!

[mithen.livejournal.com]

Aren't her eyebrows awesome? I love them! <3 So expressive...

[schala-kid.livejournal.com]

Yeah this was pretty cute and awesome, wait till you read the second issue with her evill Bizarro brunette and more popular twin called Belinda Zee.

I am loving this title I'll probably buy a suscription for my cousin since Spider-Girl is ending (stupid Marvel) and she won't have anything to read anymore.

[mithen.livejournal.com]

Yeah this was pretty cute and awesome, wait till you read the second issue with her evill Bizarro brunette and more popular twin called Belinda Zee.

OMG, I can hardly wait. I'm laughing and wincing just at the thought of it...