Supergirl: Being Super

Supergirl: Being Super collects the first four issues of the rebooted series. I came to it with a bit of apprehension because of the comic book tradition of illustrating women’s bodies in needlessly sexualized and exploitative ways. In other words, comic books have a tradition of being made for…not me. And the cover of Being Super didn’t encourage me—Kara Danvers, aka Supergirl, is shown soaring upward looking every inch the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, short-short-and-tank-top-wearing high school girl of classic male fantasy. And that is indeed how she’s shown throughout, so the series so far hasn’t strayed far from the male gaze here. The story follows the established story outline of Kara crashing to Earth from Krypton and being raised by a reclusive Midwestern couple. But it brings in new friends and other mysterious morally-ambiguous frenemies. And the fourth issue concludes with what will surely be a tantalizing cliffhanger. In all, Supergirl herself is a rounded enough character, but the side-characters—frenemy excluded—are preeeetty thin. Supergirl suffers a few relatable high school problems—well, actually just one. She gets a pimple. That about covers the high-school/teenager component. The rest relies pretty much on her being Kryptonian and coming to terms with her calm Midwestern life being turned on its head. The story was interesting enough that I’ll be keen to read the coming issues, but I wasn’t wildly impressed.