Supergirl…the Infected! In protecting Superman, Supergirl becomes infected by a virus created by the Batman Who Laughs, turning her into the twisted Dark Multiverse version of herself. Batman and Superman enlist the help of Wonder Woman to bring Kara back peacefully, but is it too late to save her? And if Supergirl is able to return to her old self, can she hope to redeem herself after putting Smallville in danger?
CollectsSupergirl #34-42, Supergirl Annual #2, and a story from Superman: Leviathan Rising Special #1.
DC's events really damage this last volume. You need to read Event Leviathan before this. Then an issue or two in you also need to have read Batman/Superman Volume 1: Who are the Secret Six? as Supergirl's circumstances change drastically in that book. You will be very lost without reading it first. (DC is doing its best to force you to read all their titles.) The rest of this is just Supergirl limping along until DC mercifully kills the title. I like Jody Houser and I by no means blame her for the garbage hand she was dealt coming on the book just as it ends.
BTW, the last 2 issues were previously unpublished physically. DC cancelled them due to the pandemic.
I don't always think events ruin comics but...this goddamn villain of the year shit RUINED Supergirl.
After two fun, exciting, solid volumes we get a messy as fuck conclusion. Right away you can tell Marc wanted to finish his supergirl run but the stupid infection of her came in. He wrote it best he could, and the build up to it was pretty interesting, but then she became this gothic/emo/scene hipster wannabe supergirl that was just intolerable. Then poor Jody Houser, who's a great writer, played it safe and did a two part story at the end to put this poor supergirl to rest. She never had a chance since rebirth began but least Marc set up some fun ideas.
Supergirl returns to Earth after successfully defeating The Circle, only to find Leviathan, the Batman Who Laughs, and even her own psyche out to get her!
The Leviathan arc that opens this book feels far separate to the rest of it, unfortunately, as Marc Andreyko bids adieu to the series. There are some good little ties back to the early days of the series (we've come a long way since the Orlando run), but the book sets up a lot of plot points that just do not have time to get resolved.
Jody Houser takes over for the rest of the series, after a brief annual by Robert Venditti which serves as a prelude to the Year Of The Villain arc of the book. Supergirl, corrupted by the Batman Who Laughs, fights herself, Wonder Woman, and everyone in between as she struggles against the infection. There's a lot of real estate here to delve into Supergirl's state of mind, but aside from a few struggles with hallucinations of The Batman Who Laughs and a particularly heartbreaking interaction with Krypto, it's not as deep as it could have been. Houser seems to be playing it safe, and the final few issues of the book suffer from this as well - it's almost as if Houser knew the book was ending, so she didn't want to start anything major, and it kneecaps the story potential.
On art, Eduardo Pansica gets the Leviathan arc, while Rachael Stott handles the remaining issues in the book. Pansica is easily the strongest of the two - Stott has some odd relationships with anatomy (her Krypto has broken legs pretty much every time he's on panel), and while it's serviceable, there's always something a little off about it.
Supergirl limps her way to the finish line as a drastic change in story direction that seems reluctant to commit to anything hobbles any chance of the final arcs of the book leaving any lasting impact.
It's a dirty rotten shame how Supergirl, once again, gets the short end of the stick as her book is completely taken over by events going on in the rest of the DC Universe, and she and her book series are just along for the ride.
A good book, but it feels like this book was between two story arcs, and for me, neither was really resolved.
The first part is after Supergirl has returned back to Earth after months. Her family has been ripped apart. Can she find the villain or villains behind it. Also, she might not like the answers she gets. Next, Supergirl is recruited to help Batman and Superman deal with the Batman Who Laughs' infected. What is the infection, and how does Kara deal with it?
I wanted to hive this book 3.5 stars because I felt a bit unsatisfied by the "resolution" of the story arcs. However, what was in this book I did enjoy so it fid deserve a round up. I will have to look up the main DC events of both story arcs as well as see what happened next with Supergirl.
Synopsis: Kara arrives back on earth to find that the DEO and other agencies have been attacked by Leviathan and Eliza is believed to be dead. Kara reunites with Jeremiah and the two are attacked by Leviathan, who tries to recruit Kara to the cause. Eliza is relieved to be with Leviathan and Kara leaves when she hears the alarm in the Fortress of Solitude going off. We get what happened in Batman/Superman Vol. 1 where Kara gets infected by the Batman Who Laughs joker toxin.
From there, Kara actually tries to continue being a hero, though she isn't nice and goes about it in harsh ways. Bruce and Clark think that it's possible that it's affecting her differently since it was meant for Clark. The two send Wonder Woman in to, I don't know, beat some sense into Supergirl? Kara and Diana have a long ass fight scene where this army lady with Kryptonite weapons named Commander Bane tries to capture (kill?) Kara. Kara eventually flies to the sun, hoping it will heal her of the infection. It doesn't.
I'm assuming this is where Dark Nights: Death Metal would take place because Kara is no longer infected in the next issue. The last two issues revolve around the army lady from before. Her and Kara have a fight and army lady sees Kara is actually a good guy and leaves. Kara concludes that she didn't come to earth to be human, but she is choosing to stay.
Review: What a stinker for Supergirl to go out on. I'm beginning to wonder if anyone at DC Comics could give two shits about her because there is no effort put into these issues at all. The writing is bleh, the art is bleh and the story is who-could-care. The Leviathan thing never comes back around or is mentioned so I'm wondering if it gets addressed in Event Leviathan. I'm so confused as to how Dark Night: Death Metal lines up with Leviathan.
Anyway, there's a whole issue in Kara's head where we are back on Krypton and it's all bullshit. I can't stand "they're stuck in their own head" storylines. It felt like it was wasteful. Then there's that fight scene with Wonder Woman that goes on for three issues, I swear. It's not an engaging battle either, just them prattling off at each other about who Kara really is. Boring.
The last two issues were extra disappointing. It seemed like they tried to do something by having Kara have these hallucinations of most of the villains that have shown up since rebirth, but it falls flat and uninspired. This was the last volume until it comes back to inevitability in the future and I think they could have tried a little harder. Kara deserves better.
It's good she has Krypto, I guess.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Ridiculously disjointed. Dreadful dialogue. Boring fights. Frankly, this was completely woeful.
If you haven’t read Event Leviathan, the first couple of issues will make no sense. If you haven’t read Batman/Superman: Who are the Secret Six? then the next few issues won’t make sense either. And if you want the storyline of Kara turning into some weird reject from the Insane Clown Posse to resolve, then be set for disappointment, as you turn the page and she’s just … over it for some reason. Because, like the other storylines wedged into this volume, the main action is happening elsewhere.
A dreadful end to a dreadful run. Woe be to the artists whose work was often good, to have to draw for some of the dodgiest work I’ve read in years. And I’m not referring to Venditti and Houser here—I’m referring to Marc Andreyko, who apparently has never heard a human being speak before, and is doing the work of an early prototype AI farting out its best facsimile of a conversation based on data inputs from reality TV, the drunken ramblings of illiterate sailors, and weird serials from the ‘50s.
This was a lot better than I expected. I pushed reading this for months because "crossoverd, ugh" but what Jody Houser does is pretty ok. I would even say that is the only readable thing coming out of The Infected.
Is it good that a great series has to end like this because of an event? No. But nonetheless it keeps the spirit of the whole series, even with a writer change. It continues to give some unique perspective to the character related to her trauma about being a grown up when Krypton exploded so it's a different character to the other Super people. I applaud Houser for trying for making it work 👏
The two stars are probably generous. Supergirl Rebirth was honestly all over the place, but this volume felt specifically not great. The stupid infection storyline with the Batman Who Laughs took over Kara's book and gave her a boring Hot Topic makeover and then instead of a fun storyline of "evil" Supergirl, she mostly spends her time fighting Wonder Woman? Ok. The Leviathan storyline is brought up, there's drama with the Danvers, and then it's dropped like a hot potato, never to be mentioned again. What is this, the television show? (This almost exact same thing happened on the CW Supergirl show to the point that it's kind of funny that another Leviathan storyline is left dangling.)
The last two issues try to stitch some semblance of sense onto the entire run, and honestly kudos for that, but it's an almost impossible task given the wild shifts and dropped storylines throughout the run of Rebirth.
Honestly disappointing as I love the character of Supergirl and she deserved better than this run and the way it went out, being completely overtaken with a boring comics-wide event. (Disclaimer: I generally hate events and this was not an exception.)
Also, it is WILD that DC has completely rearranged Supergirl Rebirth in their collected editions so that there's actually a volume 4 after this, even though in release order this was the end of the run. Feels like a tactic admission from DC that Rebirth wasn't all that satisfying in the correct order, but I'm not sure how reordering things is respectful to any of the readers or creative teams working on this book over the years.
Hopefully, the recently announced new Supergirl book has more consistent plotting and characterization. Supergirl is such a great character and really deserves to have an ongoing title.
When Kara returns from her adventure in space (see previous Volume) she comes back during both the "Leviathan" and "Year of the Villain" storylines. First, she tries to find her adoptive parents only to find her mom dead and her dad re-initiated as a spy and fighting against Leviathan. Responding to an alarm at the Fortress of Solitude, she tackles Brainiac-1 who is collecting info. But only when she gets involved in a fight where the Trinity are fighting the infected heroes now working for The Batman Who Laughs, does this story really head for where it spends the majority of the Volume. Kara, stopping a infected Batarang from hitting Superman, instead becomes infected herself and is subject to the whims of BWL... but not quite. Whether it is her Kryptonian nature, or that she is actively fighting back at all times, BWL's Dark Multiverse "poison" never fully effects Supergirl. The rest of the Volume deals with her trying to be a hero, but handling it too aggressively and with a ultra-powered spoiled brat attitude. Only against Wonder Woman does she almost see the light. (Kara's redemption from the infection is resolved in the main crossover title. Can Supergirl really still be a hero? or is she too far gone from her tragic events being infected?
Jody Houser had a good run on this short, 3 Volume run of Supergirl. Hope she gets a title or something very important to do again soon. Recommend.
Tieing in directly with a big event book is not a fair way to have a title go out.
Stemming from the Year of the Villain event, and more specifically, the Infected subplot, Supergirl is now infected by the Batman who laughs to become a evil version of herself. She struggles with the infection, succumbing to it and even getting worse at times when she is attacked by the US government using kryptonian weapons (that they acquired from Lex Luthor's arsenal). Wonder Woman is brought in to help her, and they eventually do get rid of her infection. This leads to the final two issues that were kind of a wrap up for the series, but really was kind of a phoned in storyline that didn't feel like a finale.
I feel bad for Jody Houser and art team as they were obviously under editorial mandate to tie in heavily with Year of the Villain. It seriously derailed the series, making it all about this infection. Which was ok, and Houser did the best she could with it, but to cancel the series as it was happening was not a great way for a series to end. I would have liked to see where Houser's story was going without the crowbaring of the infection storyline.
I would say if you are a diehard Kara fan, keep in mind that this is a tie in for the big event and read it with a grain of salt.
Read in single issues: Supergirl 34-36, and since the trade mentioned those issues and “more”, I assumed it was Supergirl Annual 2 and Superman/Batman 5. Anyway. The story was horrible. I couldn’t care less about Leviathan or the Batman Who Laugh’s infection, and certainly the part Supergirl is playing here is basically irrelevant. I think the book’s plot line derailed when it joined these DC events. Leviathan looks like a never ending story and it generates so little interest in spite of covering so much of the focus. And don’t get me started on the Batman Who Laugh’s villain infection... This Metal thing is spreading through the entire line and it looks badly planned, without a real way to follow, just issues scattered all over the place without a cohesive storyline. I miss when events were easier to follow. I just hope both these events are over soon.
This one is...all over the place. This one goes very hurriedly into some dark stuff happening in Supergirl's world to her being infected by the Batman Who Laughs and going on a bit of a edgy rampage in stories like, "I'm the Bad Guy."
It's really not fun reading and it's a hot mess with most of it "character insights" coming off as a bit weak and nonsensical. Given that they had their choice of who would become "infected," it seems that someone didn't really have a plan of what was going to happen with Kara in this book.
The reason it's not 1-star is because of Krypto. He's seriously given some good characterization. It's all very subtle, but we manage to get his reaction and involvement to Kara's change in a way that's believable for a dog and actually made me care about what was going on. It's a shame that such great characterization for Krypto would be in such an otherwise dreadful book. It shouldn't happen to a dog.
Finally, another Supergirl story arc that lives up to my expectations. In this collection, Kara Zor-El comes off as a rounded character with emotions to feel and personal demons to fight, instead of the flat teenager bumbling her way through the universe.
Through the actions and events of the story, we are asked the question: If a person's intentions are good, does that justify using questionable means?
Because of crossovers with other comics and the nature of trade paperbacks, some questions are never fully answered. I would have the check out other books to learn the full story. That's not uncommon in the comic book world, and that has always been frustrating to me. But the core story of this collection makes it worth the read, if you can overlook that.
Well that was as chaotic as I kind of expected, not having really followed the Metal storyline nor volumes 1 or 2 of this Supergirl run. Picked it up on a whim as I was curious what a Jokerized Supergirl would be like. Erm, it was interesting I suppose, in how Kara tried to "save" everyone, but it all was too rushed. Poor Krypto's drawing style was not flattering, either.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This was basically just fallout from the Infected storyline. It felt like Supergirl wasn’t really even in it, rather just the villainous version of her. This was a terrible ending to a pretty bad run. I’d recommend New 52 Supergirl instead.
I liked this one better than Andreyko's work, but it was still an ignominious end to an uneven Supergirl series that didn't rise to reach the potential Steve Orlando laid out in the early Rebirth era.
Yikes. Hope you read Event Leviathan! And hope you read Batman/Superman vol. 1! And hope you like when decisions are made without making any sense! And hope you enjoy no consistency!
Eh. Good artwork, a fast read but I was never crazy about the Batman Who Laughs and was t here either. I enjoyed the most seeing Kara’s flashback of Krypton.
Esse encadernado da Supergirl tem um gosto daqueles "almanacões de férias" que a gente lia, bem... na férias... Contudo, eu não tenho férias e esse "almanacão" não é divertido, só tem um monte de páginas. Também pudera, as histórias da Supegirl ficaram prensadas entre dois megaeventos da DC Comics: Evento Leviatã e Ano dos Vilões, fazendo com que a garota de aço tivesse como coadjuvantes Superman, Batman, Mulher-Maravilha, tudo para fazer o título vender mais. Mas não adiantou, foi cancelado. Esse "almanacão", então, acaba não agradando nem os que pegarem o encadernado por acaso por causa da série de televisão e nem os que são, de alguma forma, fãs de longa data de Kara Zor-El.
34-35, Event Leviathan, ☆☆☆☆ 36, Who’s Laughing Now, ☆☆☆ Annual 2, The Best Day of Her Life, ☆☆ 37-40, I’m the Bad Guy, ☆☆☆ 41-42, Where Do We Go?, ☆☆☆☆