Review: Supergirl Vol. 6- Crucible

Quick Summary

Pros: There are a few bright spots within the book’s larger story arc.

Cons: The majority of this book’s stories are lackluster. The transitions between stories are not handled well and damage the reading experience. Supergirl ends up being written poorly. 

Overall: This is one of the worst Supergirl volumes from this era and is a disappointing way to end this series. This volume collects stories that range from uninteresting and uninspired to genuinely flawed. It also concludes the series in a way that feels detrimental to Supergirl and feels contrary to the progress made in past volumes. Most Supergirl fans may want to avoid this one.

Story

Supergirl Vol. 5: Red Daughter of Krypton (Review) was one of the best Supergirl volumes since the New 52 era began. It made some positive moves for Supergirl as a character and had plenty of fun while doing so. By the end of the volume, it seemed like the series was on the right track and that the next volume would be even better.

Unfortunately, this was not the case. Supergirl Vol. 6: Crucible, by Tony Bedard, Kate Perkins, and Mike Johnson, ends up being one of the worst volumes in this series. The stories here are all lackluster at their best and really only have a few bright spots. These stories are further undercut by the poor progression between them, which effectively ignores the progress made in the previous volume and even feels choppy within this volume. Plus, Supergirl ends up being written as a naïve child ready to jump into situations without thinking, which feels contrary to the development made over this entire series. In the end, this is not a good comic and might be something most Supergirl fans want to stay away from.

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A little under half of Crucible is comprised of individual stories that have little relation to one another. The volume opens with Supergirl attempting to stop a disaster while participating in a romance that is so cheesy it ends up feeling ridiculous. Then, it moves on to a team-up with Red Hood that has a few fun moments but offers almost nothing else. Finally, the volume closes with a Futures End tie-in that ends just as the father-daughter relationship between Cyborg-Superman and Supergirl starts to get interesting. In general, these individual chapters fail to really provide anything significant.

The rest of the volume focuses on the titular “Crucible” story arc, told over five chapters. This arc has some seriously interesting points, particularly the existence of an intergalactic school dedicated to teaching metahumans. It also offers readers the chance to see Kara in an atypical environment, one where she is effectively a student but is participating in “classes” far beyond human comprehension.

However, the arc also has some serious flaws that prevent it from being anything more than lackluster. The pacing goes by far too quickly and has Supergirl discover a school, become acclimated to its differences, discover it is evil, dismantle the evil, and help rebuild it under new leadership in a single story arc. It feels like if someone tried to condense the entirety of the Harry Potter series into a bite-sized read. In addition, the majority of the new characters in the arc are never developed enough to be truly interesting and even Superboy, an older character, is underutilized to the point where he feels completely unnecessary.

While the generally poor quality of the storytelling prevents each of Crucible‘s stories from standing out in a positive way, the transitions between the stories make each of them even worse. The volume opens by quickly moving past Kara’s time as a Red Lantern and the commitment she made at the end of that story arc. Instead, she suddenly and inexplicably works in a coffee shop, despite the fact that most stories up to this point have emphasized the fact that she knows little about Earth’s society. More transition problems crop up as the “Crucible” arc starts and Kara’s mission is further diverted as she is thrown into what feels like the middle of someone else’s story. The way this book progresses does little for fans of this series or for newcomers.

Crucible is also a poor presentation of Supergirl as a character. First off, the volume has her jump headfirst into a romance, displaying absolutely none of the caution one would expect her to display after the tragedy of her last romance. Then, in the final chapter, the main crisis is solved because of the existence of another romance. It feels like DC doesn’t think that Supergirl can stand on her own without a relationship and prefers a terribly-written romance to no romance at all. In addition, her immediate trust in Crucible and abandonment of Earth make her seem more flighty and naïve than she did before, undoing the development done in past volumes.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The quality of the artwork in Crucible isn’t great but fairs a little better than the quality of the story. The first few chapters are the collection’s visual low point. The first generally looks strange and has a few places where character depictions vary wildly from page to page, with Supergirl’s hair being a key offender. The second looks better but has a few uninteresting layouts that impact the flow of the story on a few pages.

Luckily, things start to get better as Emanuela Lupacchino takes over on pencils and Ray McCarthy takes over on inks. These artists work on the volume’s main story arc, a cosmic tale that is filled with some cool-looking aliens and equally cool alien technology. These chapters are bold and dramatic in a way that emphasizes the action seen in the story. Though the visuals in this main story arc are not enough to turn this book into a visual delight, they are enough to prevent it from becoming a complete visual disappointment.

Continuity

Supergirl Vol. 6: Crucible continues the story from Supergirl Vol. 5: Red Daughter of Krypton (Review).

This Supergirl series ends with this volume. The storyline teased at this collection’s conclusion is continued in Action Comics #51, part of the Superman: Final Days of Superman (Review) (Reading Order) event. Supergirl’s adventures also continue in the Rebirth era Supergirl series, starting with Supergirl Vol. 1: Reign of the Cyborg Supermen.

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• Supergirl #34 is a tie-in to the Superman: Doomed (Review) event. See our “Superman: Doomed Reading Order” for more information about where the story in this issue continues.
• Starfire (Reading Order) and Superman stopped “alien gunrunners” back in Superman #29, collected in Superman Vol. 5: Under Fire (Review). 
• Red Hood (Reading Order) and Supergirl previously worked together in Batman/Superman Annual #1, collected in Batman/Superman Vol. 2: Game Over (Review).
• Red Hood’s increased strength is due to substances he started taking in Red Hood and the Outlaws #35-36, collected in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 7: Last Call (Review). 
• The war between the Green Lantern Corps and the New Gods is mentioned. This war plays out across the Green Lantern/New Gods: Godhead (Review) (Reading Order) event.
• The final chapter in this volume is a tie-in to the Futures End (Review) (Reading Order) event.