Supergirl: Universe End

by Mariko Tamaki, Skylar Patridge (Illustrator)

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Comic Book, Superheroes, Fantasy

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 23, 2025

About the author

Mariko Tamaki is a Toronto writer, playwright, activist and performer. She works and performs with fat activists Pretty Porky and Pissed Off and the theatre troupe TOA, whose recent play, A vs. B, was staged at the 2004 Rhubarb Festival at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Her well-received novel, Cover Me (McGilligan Books) was followed by a short fiction collection, True Lies: The Book of Bad Advice (Women's Press). Mariko's third book, FAKE ID, is due out in spring 2005.

Mariko Tamaki has performed her work across Canada and through the States, recently appearing at the Calgary Folkfest 2004, Vancouver Writer's Festival 2003, Spatial III, and the Perpetual Motion/Girls Bite Back Tour, which circled though Ottawa, Montreal, Brooklyn and Chicago. She has appeared widely on radio and television including First Person Singular on CBC radio and Imprint on TVO. Mariko Tamaki is currently attending York University working a master's degree in women's studies.

[MacMIllan Books]

Reviews

[hater ★ · Rating 4 out of 5]

in my DC era :)

[Ams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t think I’ll ever find a comic about Kara that doesn’t make me cry

[Hannah Effinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

woman of tomorrow is better but jesus let the girl have a break

[Stephen Ede-Borrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who thinks graphic novels/comics are simply bash/crash/zap with little storyline then I would suggest that you read the joyous complexity of Tamaki's work which would do justice to a more traditional novel. As you might gather I REALLY enjoyed this and have no hesitation in recommending to any fan of Supergirl, Superman, or the 'Super Family'.

[Alex A · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reading Tamaki's backup in installments was frustrating - the story is disjointed, borderline nonsensical, and feels faux-intellectual with no real depth (partially due to ~10 pages per chapter).

Apart from the art, there's nothing worthwhile here.

[Tia · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I was too late. To be the one thing I was sent to be. His protector.”

🫩🔫 I want to wrap Kara up in a blanket and coddle her.

[Amna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art is gorgeous. Unfortunately, the story is a bit hard to follow and the pacing is off.

[JD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes Woman of Tomorrow is the goat story, but this right here, ain't far off. its gorgeous, compelling, heartbreaking, and everything I want from a Kara book. The writing is top tier and the art is just amazing. I'd give it 6 stars if I could.

[Suillellus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damn this was quite a bit  better than i expected it to be! This might reveal my biases or something, but when I first flipped through this and saw the kind of simple (no shading) artstyle and how there really wasnt much buzz about it online, I thought it was going to be incredibly mid and bland. But it wasn't incredibly mid or bland!

Granted, the supergirl special at the beginning was okay (nothing special lol),  and it mostly felt as an excuse to fit in as many superfam characters as they could in 20 pages, but it had some soul, and I like Power Girl in it. When the real story began, i actually wasn't confused for once! It had a nice set up and I thought supergirl's characterisation was good. The judge was cool and Im glad there was some cosmic hijinks going on w/ the robot and the aliens. The world destroyer character was intriguing, if not all that original when it was revealed that she and her 'brother' were just typical planet exploders. Still, it was interesting enough, though the ending felt maybe a bit fast, and I dont understand what was going on w/ power girl phasing in and out of supergirl like that.

I actually really ended up enjoying the art in this, despite how 'simple' id thought it was when i first saw it.  Of course it was still nothing like the cover art but it was pretty and expressive and the non human characters looked sick af. I loved the world destroyers' designs straight out of metropolis or something. I didnt like the replacement artist that came in for thqt one issue nearly as much though, and the transition back to the expressive one was a wave of relief. I honestly like this supersuit quite a bit, and it looks like one out of gunn's superman film.

So yeah. Not much more to say about this one. Ill need to find more supergirl reads, but i should really get to finishing rebirth wonder woman first. Ciao, myself.

Also i missed the part where the universe ended

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume collects the Supergirl back-up stories from Action Comics while the big 11 part weekly Phantoms story was running in the main story, as well as the Supergirl Special that preceded it, by the same creative team of Mariko Tamaki and Skylar Patridge.

First off? The art's gorgeous. Patridge is || this close to being Marguerite Sauvage in some panels, it just looks beautiful. There are a lot of splash pages, which are lovely to look at, and the galaxy-scapes are pretty as hell.

The story's...less so. I think it gets a bit muddled as to what the actual moral of the story is meant to be - we start off with Supergirl and Power Girl trying to sort out who they are and what role they play in the Superfamily given that they're so similar, but by the time the story ends, it's all about how two people can actually be the same person? So I'm not really sure what Kara learns by the end of things.

It also cuts weirdly - because each part of the story is 8 or 10 pages, there are some jumps in time, but there are no divides in the way the story's collected, so things just jump between pages with no warning, so it can be a bit jarring to read at times.

Pretty, but a bit murky at the same time?

[Jamie Revell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is really two stories, albeit ones that are thematically linked, and taking place sequentially. The first part is the more interesting, with Kara feeling second-fiddle to Power Girl and unable to shake the feeling that, even with her powers, she's never quite a winner. It's a worthy moment of introspection for a character whose very name implies a sort of second-tier status and who can only bloom when given her own story.

But it's not an idea that can sustain a story for long, so soon we're off to outer space for that solo adventure. Here, she's transporting a convicted prisoner from court to their eventual destination, with hostile aliens barring the way and a (mostly) friendly robot along to lend a hand. It's a reasonable story, putting Supergirl into a science fiction setting again and being able to reduce some of her powers through lack of exposure to the right sunlight. But, while there are some twists about the nature of the prisoner - whose mirrored face at least looks rather cool - there isn't too much to it. And, while it wraps up neatly within itself, it does little to resolve the questions posed in the first part.

[Sammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is THE Supergirl story.

The writing is sharp, the pacing is phenomenal, and the art elevates everything even further. The flow is seamless, never dragging, and never over-explaining. The stakes are high, the mystery is engaging. The world-building, the conflict, and the ending, is executed so beautifully.

At its core, this story is about identity and not living in someone else’s (your) shadow, but confronting your own. It explores what it means to face every version of yourself, and every expectation. The story’s conclusion wraps up with Kara acceptance and ultimately learning to not out race or beat herself.

If you’re looking for a Supergirl story, this deserves just as much hype (if not more) than Woman of Tomorrow. In many ways, this is everything that book was trying to be and more.

[Langston Lardi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly more of a 3.5/5 for me and could have easily been a 4/5 if the book had just a little more time to cook and breathe. But what we do get here is a fun little space adventure that has some really great artwork and a message that while I don’t think fully stuck the landing is still present and overall a fun ride. We follow Kara at a point in he life where she feels as though she has no place and this leads her on a mission across space on a singular mission, to deliver an individual to a specific set of coordinates. Along the way she learns a little about herself and others. Overall a fun but very quick read.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was thrilled to see some Action Comic stories that didn't try to fit the whole Superman family in. And, this looked like it was trying to work in the same milieu as Woman of Tomorrow.

But it's a story that's controlled by its plots and a writer who feels like they're trying way too hard to be clever (or "deep"), to the deficit of character or believable story. The huge pages breeze by in seconds. Yes, the art is nice, but there's almost nothing to support it. Everything else is very forgettable.

[Jacob Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is it as good as Woman of Tomorrow? No, but that’s not really a reasonable bar - WoT is one of the best stories I’ve ever read. What I can say about it is that it recreates and executes on the vibe of WoT very well, creating a comic that is not only quite good, but that I could unreservedly recommend to people based solely on whether or not they liked WoT (which is not true of most Supergirl comics).

Great artwork, great story, excellent vibes, all around.

[Sal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun little read, if a little short.

Didn't realize this only collected stories and not full issues. I tend to read full issues at a time and use them to take breaks. Since this one didn't have that, it was a continuous read with its pros and cons.

I liked getting to explore Supergirl's psyche and the struggles that make her who she is. This story explored aspects of that in a very laser focused story.

Did feel short and like there wasn't much going on, but I enjoyed it.

[Erick · Rating 3 out of 5]

No tengo luz, toca aprovechar.
Amo mucho lo que Krypton representa a Supergirl, tambien es doloroso.
En algun momento lei que Superman es un inmigrante, mientras que Supergirl es una refuigiada, aunque me gustaria entender más a fondo esa comparacion creo que por mi cuenta puedo reforzar algun argumento al respecto, más por el hecho de que Kara no tiene esa conexión con la tierra que Kal si tiene, ella fue testigo del auge y caida de su civilizacion y eso es algo decisivo para el personaje.

[Vibeke Hiatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this more than Woman of Tomorrow. Universe End has more action and less narration. But since I'm not a reader of Action Comics, I was a little confused by the beginning. I always like seeing Supergirl in the starting role and I'm glad this adventure didn't leave me disappointed.

[Elizabeth Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite Quote: “Without the static of the thoughts and fears of others. I am only memories. Memories of life. And memories of… the end of life. They play on a loop… a möbius strip of so much noise and then… silence.”

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feels like a shorter and worse version of Woman of Tomorrow but with focus placed on her feelings towards Power Girl and her own perceived inadequacies. Not groundbreaking but pretty good and a quick read

[Erik J · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really really really like this! A really awesome mix of superheroes and science fiction. I enjoyed seeing Kara in this narrative and hope we get the chance to see other characters get a moment similar to this type of storytelling.

Overall - 5/5

[Kamiab Ghorbanpour · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting premise, but sadly the compliments end there.

[liana · Rating 4 out of 5]

love the art style and supergirl talking about krypton

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sharp art and even sharper dialogue. Tamaki writes so well that it even translates to superhero comics.

[e · Rating 5 out of 5]

'but i see you. inside of you.. is a little girl'
holy shit.

[Will Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe these are the back stories of Action Comics and I like Supergirl!

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun and poignant little adventure. I really enjoy Tamaki's take on the character. Loved the suit, too!

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love you Kara Zor-El <3

[sam banach · Rating 3 out of 5]

happy supergirl week