Supergirl Comic Box Commentary: Review: Supergirl Survive #3

Supergirl Survive #3 came out this week and was another interesting chapter in this Elseworlds where Kara Zor-El has survived the nuclear destruction of Krypton and is trying to safely raise her baby cousin Kal-El.

I can’t help but feel that writers Ethan Park and Griffin Sheridan got the idea for this issue from the famous Swamp Thing #55 ‘My Blue Heaven’ issue by Alan Moore and Rick Veitch. In that issue, as in this issue, the hero is lost in space, living on a blue world of their own design, trying to forget their emotional trauma, until someone lifts them out of their fugue. In Swamp Thing, it was a flower John Constantine. In this, it is Ms. Mxyzptlk.

But here, Kara is burying her own issues under the surface in hopes of giving Kal a better life. Mxy shows our hero that it isn’t sustainable. Is Mxyzptlk a good catalyst for the story? Or the right one? We have to get Kara off this planet for her story to continue and there is no way she would leave on her own without a nudge. But this felt a little out of the blue … pun intended.

Still, the story is showing how responsible Kara feels towards her legacy and her charge.

Rod Reis continues to impress me with his art on the book. Here he has to bring a sort of painterly approach to things given the sheer amount of blue in the book. 

On to the book.

Last issue I complained a bit about the nonlinear storytelling, thinking it didn’t add much to the story.

This issue is more linear starting out at the end of the first issue. Kara and Kal have been saved by the Lantern Corps.

Safe on their Lanterns’ ship, the Blue Lantern Bro’Dee tells Kara a couple of things she needs to hear. First, she is filled with hope; he knows because his ring radiates when she is near.

But more than that, she has a huge burden as the heir of Krypton. 

Both are key aspects of the Supergirl character – hopeful and Kryptonian scholar.

What I like is how Reis shows how weary this youthful Kara already is.

The Guardians want the Corps to bring Kara and Kal to Oa. 

They are potentially dangerous. They are a temptation for evil doers to obtain. 

They must avoid yellow suns.

It sounds like they want the kids arrested.

Overhearing this detour/prison sentence on Oa, far away from Earth where they were told to go, Kara takes matters into her own hand, grabbing a gun off the ship crewman, getting into an escape pod, and going on the lam.

In this recap page, we leap over the events of last issue thus putting us in the ‘present’ and moving us forward. Explains how she got the gun from last issue and how she ended up in that train station.

And impressed how long she has been able to stay ahead of everyone. I like how that shows her determination and intelligence.

But who is this narrator semi-breaking the fourth wall

It is Ms. Mxyzptlk. 

And she has found Kara’s blue world.

Using the lantern ring, Kara has basically recreated Krypton – buildings, people walking, schools – all to teach Kal about their culture.

Insane.

This off-brand Mxyzptlk isn’t quite as mischievous as the usual Mxy. But she has 5th dimensional powers. She knows in other universes Kara is known as Supergirl. And she usually isn’t this depressed.

I liked that this Mxy knows of Kara’s other destinies … perhaps this Kara’s destiny. 

But Mxy can see through the illusion of this world.

It is more detailed in some areas than others. It repeats on itself like the Flintstones home when Fred is running. It isn’t real. It is fake peace.

And it requires significant concentration and energy to hold together. Kara isn’t living as much as barely surviving emotionally keeping this lifeless world alive. 

Plus she is slowly moving this world towards Earth. 

But this isn’t a happy Kara. Look at the pain and fatigue on her face. Great work by Reis. 

I don’t know if this sassy Mxy is the right catalyst for this story. Why is she there? Why is she helping Kara discover the hidden problem with this phony world?

But she does.

Kara can’t bury her feelings. She can’t forget them. Or wallpaper them with blue bliss.

Because the pain of all this carnage still resides inside her.

It is interesting to me to see how different creators deal with this aspect of Supergirl’s character. Waid makes her rise above and be a symbol of hope, wanting to spare others. Parker and Sheridan have her bury it to help others. King had her wallow in her pain, crying in a sun. 

But this is part of her character.

All the carnage is an illusion from Mxy to shake Kara from her doldrums, pointing out how this blue world isn’t helping.

Also, Earth is on the same course as Krypton and needs Supergirl. 

That’s pretty cool. A destiny.

So Mxy takes the Blue Lantern ring in exchange for teleporting the coursins to Earth. 

The theme of this book is Supergirl surviving after the destruction of Krypton. This issue leans into her surviving mentally after the trauma. I love that Kara tried to bury to spare Kal the pain. I also like that she finally has to face it herself.

Still trying to figure out if Mxy works for me. But I liked this.

Overall grade: A-