Review: Supergirl Vol. 3- Infectious
Quick Summary
Pros: The Year of the Villain tie-in chapters provide an interesting examination of Supergirl as a hero.
Cons: The first storyline is dropped before it actually finishes, leaving a major mystery unresolved. The second storyline doesn’t have much of a resolution either. The final few chapters are pretty mediocre and ultimately unremarkable. The artwork is lackluster.
Overall: This is a volume filled with an unfortunate number of problems. There are unfinished storylines, disappointing conclusions, and chapters are simply forgettable. There are points where the narrative is interesting but these few bright spots don’t make up for the far greater number of challenging spots. In the end, pieces of this volume may be worthwhile for those interested in Supergirl’s ties to the Year of the Villain event but won’t be worthwhile for most others.
Story
Supergirl Vol. 3: Infectious, by Marc Andreyko and Jody Houser, is a volume with plenty of potential but is disastrously undercut by tie-ins to other DC Comics events. The first few chapters start a mystery with vague connections to Event Leviathan, only to completely drop all of this before actually resolving anything. Then, the volume begins an interesting exploration into Supergirl as a hero, through the lens of a Year of the Villain tie-in. However, this also ends too quickly and the volume tapers off with a mediocre final chapter. It seriously feels like there is a decent story in this book but the jarring jumps from storyline to storyline prevent anything from successfully playing out.
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The opening chapters in Infectious start out alright but go downhill very quickly. At first, there are a few interesting plot points involving the mystery behind Leviathan and how this has impacted Supergirl’s adopted parents. Then, all of this is dropped and the mysteries are not resolved at all. It essentially turns what could have been an interesting story into a pointless waste of time.
Luckily, the volume manages to improve as it explores Supergirl’s infection at the hands of the Batman Who Laughs. Here, she is forced to struggle with her own identity as a superhero, her inferiority complexes, and her survivors guilt. This is an examination into Supergirl’s character and one that proves worthwhile.
The biggest downside is that this portion of the narrative doesn’t receive much of a conclusion. We don’t actually get to see Supergirl break free from the infection or overcome her problems in general. Instead, the final two chapters simply serve as a reaffirmation that Supergirl is still a hero. This is an alright conclusion but, ultimately, isn’t something special or something that improves this overall narrative.
(spoilers end here)
Art
The artwork in Infectious ends up being slightly below average when it comes to quality. The volume’s first few chapters, from Eduardo Pansica, are probably its best but still end up just looking alright. They aren’t that impressive but they also don’t look bad. Unfortunately, the quality continues to go down as the collection progresses and the artists change. For the volume’s second half, the characters often look gaunt and their expressions look weird while the action looks a little static. This creates a volume that trends in an unpleasant direction when it comes to the appeal of the artwork.
Continuity
Supergirl Vol. 3: Infectious continues the story from Supergirl Vol. 2: Sins of the Circle (Review).
The Supergirl series ends with this volume and, as of now, does not directly continue in any specific comic.
This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:
- Supergirl #34-35 are tie-ins to the Event Leviathan event.
- Supergirl’s relationship to the Danvers is explained across Supergirl Vol. 1: Reign of the Cyborg Supermen (Review).
- Supergirl #34-40 are tie-ins to the to the Year of the Villain (Review) event.
- Supergirl #36 directly relates to the events of Batman/Superman #4-5, collected in Batman/Superman Vol. 1: Who are the Secret Six? (Review).