Supergirl, Vol. 1: The Girl of Steel

Supergirl (2005) (New Editions)

by Jeph Loeb, Amanda Conner (Artist), Jimmy Palmiotti (Artist)

This now-classic run by Jeph Loeb features the first chapter of Kara Zor-El's triumphant return! When Superman's Kryptonian parents rocketed their infant son to Earth, his aunt and uncle did the same with their young daughter, Kara Zor-El. The two cousins were meant to arrive on Earth together, but instead Kara arrived just a few months ago, after spending decades in space in suspended animation. Now taking the name Supergirl, Kara possesses strength and speed that rivals (or even surpasses) her cousin Superman's. As she searches for her role in this new world, she'll cross paths (and trades blows) with the JSA, the Teen Titans and the Outsiders. But while she's facing off against other heroes, Superman's nemesis Lex Luthor has uncovered a truth that could change the Girl of Steel forever! SUPERGIRL VOL. 1: THE GIRL OF STEEL features creators Jeph Loeb, Joe Kelly, Ian Churchill and more. Collects SUPERGIRL #0-10, #12

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Superman, Comic Book, Fiction

277 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Joseph "Jeph" Loeb III is an Emmy and WGA nominated American film and television writer, producer and award-winning comic book writer. Loeb was a Co-Executive Producer on the NBC hit show Heroes, and formerly a producer/writer on the TV series Smallville and Lost.

A four-time Eisner Award winner and five-time Wizard Fan Awards winner (see below), Loeb's comic book career includes work on many major characters, including Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Hulk, Captain America, Cable, Iron Man, Daredevil, Supergirl, the Avengers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, much of which he has produced in collaboration with artist Tim Sale, who provides the comic art seen on Heroes.

Reviews

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was bouncing back and forth on if I liked this or didn't understand what the fuck is happening. Luckily it ended on a good note.

So Supergirl starts off with her being alive again. If you didn't know she died awhile back. Then a copy/alien/robot type version took her place for awhile. It wasn't the Kara we knew but a whole new character who took the mantle. Now that she's back she's kind of in a mood of "leave me the fuck alone" and "let me find my own damn place in this world" type situation. So that's the first arc, which also includes two different supergirls and a little bit of powergirl. Then 2nd arc is a tie-in to a cross event with a evil superman. Then the last two issues are Supergirl trying to figure herself out and also try school out since she's supposed to be a 16 year old girl.

Good: The art is good at times, some great fighting moments, and also the coloring is top notch. I also liked this Supergirl as she was a little unhinged but still doing the right thing even if she felt she didn't have to. The issue with her in school was also filled with lolz.

Bad: The art, while good, is super "sexy" from that style. Supergirl is skinnier than I think possible, a lot of almost ass shots, and such are filled in this book. Also the cross over tie in, while only 3 issues, nearly made me hate this book. It was really luck that the rest of the volume was far better than those 3 awful, convoluted, and confusing crossover issues.

Overall this was pretty enjoyable if take away those 3 awful issues. because of them I can't give it any higher than a 3 but still worth checking out if you enjoy Supergirl as a character.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was such a weird volume, like I love the first half, confused with the second half and I hate the last 2 issues its so weird. Also kinda inappropriate if you read it today and in this age, like wow so many problematic things and characterizations but yeah the crossover in the middle was so confusing and I feel like if you don't have context for the event and don't read the event in that order, you will be confused.. so yeah keep that in mind. The collection should have been better and actually included all those crossover bits.

But the starting story was great, picking up from the 2nd volume of Batman/Superman by Loeb with her origin and she is trying to find her place in the world and a lot of team ups and cameos and I like that and her fighting almost every hero be it power girl or superboy and then reconciling with them and then the big thing with the outsiders trying to keep her contained and her breaking out, and we see LEX LUTHOR is after her for reasons and we do get the pay-off to Lex from that if you readit along with this so thats cool, and then evil doppleganger of her showing up, JLA vs this version, Kara coming back and reconciling with herself and well we get a good moment with the trinity and her realizing that she has to find herself.

Then the confusing bit start with the crossover and then a dystopian world with some woman called eve maybe mind controlling Superman, and her teaming up with Karen and well other stuff and secret identities and the resolution was weird and no resolution here since those issues are not included here and yeah its a mixed bag.

Then she tries school and that had a lot of potential with Kara facing bullies and manipulation and that also goes nowhere and she competes with a knock off of Terra and that story was just weird, and the art was horrendous there and she is room-mates with Roy and it was weird.. their convo felt so.. not genuine and yeah it really makes you think about the volume overall in not a good light.

So yeah, maybe skip this volume or just read the first 5 issues which are somewhat good.

[Molly™☺ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite possibly the worst interpretation of Supergirl from the annoying characterisation and the inappropriate design for someone that's in this very book called 15-16 years old, it's incredibly hard to root for a protagonist that does nothing but grind your gears. Barely salvageable through the last few shorts, this is a massive miss and a horrible entry point for anyone who is even remotely interested in starting out with Supergirl comics.

[Abbey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. Everything about this collection and run is just a great big NO. This is a complete master class of how NOT to write or draw teenage female heroes.

The first few issues in this collection were okay, but ultimately made little sense. Basically all the heroes beat up on Supergirl for no reason whatsoever, and when the supposed reason came to light, it just didn't make sense to me. But okay. The following issues were confusing to someone who had only heard of the Infinite Crisis storyline in passing. I had no idea what was happening and basically didn't care about the storyline whatsoever. The final run of issues were mysoginistic garbage where the writer tried to enter the mind of a lost and confused teenage girl and found themselves way far outside their depth.

The art was relatively okay, except for almost every depiction of the titular hero being overly sexualized. But Batman and Superman looked great for the first issues!

Do yourself a favor and pick up literally any other Supergirl collection. I'm sure it has to better than this.

[Anna Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compared to the New 52 bullshit, this is a lot more coherent. I also liked Kara a lot more as a character. But this is more like a 3.5 for me, because it suffers from Crossover-itis! Also, Kara's so thin it borders on deathly ill. WTF DC?!!

[marcii☆ thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't believe this book used to be my childhood. This is some man's idea of a wet dream fantasy to see how many naked girls he could put in this comic. The story has no depth and they think just filling it with angst is going to make me like it. The characters were washed down and just there for sexual appeal and supergirl herself is so out of character. The iconic scenes were just painted over with so much filler about her being angsty and "not like the other girls", so obvious a man wrote this. The characters didn't have to mention how skimpy she was the whole time. Not to mention the INCEST. I really dislike this comic run of her.

[Miri Gifford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredibly confusing. The story is so disjointed I kept thinking this must be an anthology of unrelated issues, but it definitely is a collection of ten consecutive issues plus issue twelve (where is eleven?). I had no idea what was going on half the time and I also lost my eyeballs inside my skull over the apparently inflatable breasts of Supergirl and Power Girl. Good GRIEF. Somehow I still enjoyed it and I want to read more Supergirl, but I really hope it's not all this utterly incomprehensible.

[Derek Miron · Rating 2 out of 5]

It starts off with contrived conflict that makes the Superman family of characters behave as unlikeable jerks to one another, and throughout features unsettling hyper-sexualization of the 15-16 year old titular character.

A poor showing for her.

[emily ☆ · Rating 2 out of 5]

the beginning was good and the ending just ruined it for me like how u gonna drop a time continuum plot line into the story like that and just expect me to understand what's going on TF?? I got a headache

[Sophie C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this!! Need to read more Supergirl now

[Elinor · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5
Le début était sympa, mais la deuxième partie très très peu compréhensible... un peu dommage quand même ! (surtout qu'on me l'a vendu comme un bon point d'entrée pour le personnage... euh... la première partie oui, mais la deuxième ??) Je ne sais pas si je lirai le deuxième volume du coup, à voir si les issues rassemblées sont ce coup-ci compréhensibles sans suivre d'autres séries de la même époque.

[jaya]

everyone involved in the creation of this supergirl run will soon pay for their crimes. please no one ever let them write or draw a teenage girl AGAIN

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Supergirl Vol. 1: The Girl of Steel

When Jor-El sent his infant son to Earth, Zor-El sent his teenage daughter to be his guardian. However, her ship was diverted and she spent decades in suspended animation, arriving on Earth decades after her cousin. Trying to find her way on a new world, Kara tries to fit in with the Titans and the Outsiders and even goes so far as to go undercover in a high school.

An interesting relaunch of the 'Supergirl' title, moving away from the Matrix and back to her Kryptonian roots. The artwork is fun and detailed and the plotlines serve as a great reintroduction to a wonderful character.

[Branwen Sedai *of the Brown Ajah* · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Supergirl, but was not a huge fan of the New52 version of the character, so I wanted to go back an read some earlier work which featured her. I love this edition! A lot of comics try and overdo the innocence and naivety of Supergirl, which can get very tiresome. And while this comic does show her emotional side, it does so while giving her complex emotions and feelings that you can relate to, rather than rolling your eyes the whole time. Plus she's a badass, and not afraid of letting people know it, which made me really happy as well. :)

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half of the trade was decent. The writing somewhat better and more coherent than The New 52 Supergirl. The art is fairly good as well. However, this trade seems to suffer from crossover problems - where in the middle of the trade you cannot track what is going on since the story is not all there with missing issues.

[Jenny Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this Supergirl a bit more. The art is kinda all over the place, and of course lots of fan service, but the story is pretty good, except for a few volumes that kinda jump around with no explanation (crossovers or events, I'm sure) but overall, an interesting take on Kara.

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 2 out of 5]

The artwork and stories were good, but the comics themselves were too sultry, and there was an excess of profanity. Discerning superhero fans should stick with Supergirl's network television show.

[Viola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this got weird.

The first arc follows up the Batman/Superman Supergirl story when our title heroine resurfaced. With no memories and naked (yes). Which gets me right to the biggest issue in this book, not just in this first part: the depiction of women through the art. Supergirl is a teenager, it's stated more than once that she's sixteen. Yet, she is very sexualized, wears a costume leaving most of her skin bare, and she's drawn in many exploitative poses.

She's also extremely skinny, often in a way that defies how human (or Kryptonian) bodies work. There's nothing wrong with being thin but this is too much. She's drawn as visibly younger than the adults and the fact that she sexualized at the same time is disturbing and extremely inappropriate.

Other female characters don't fare much better either. Starfire is in her well, trashfire "costume" there's a lot of objectification with basically all female characters.
It's a shame because the art is actually nice, especially the colors and the inking.

Story-wise, things are better. It's nice to see Kara interact with so many other heroes (and some villains) but it does make the story very busy. I didn't like how she was in conflict with everyone, getting into fights and so many were antagonistic to her for no good reason. There's an explanation later but it's serviceable at best. Her meeting Power Girl was interesting I wish there was more of that.

Another questionable thing is the first issue refusing to give her narration in her own book, instead it's Batman and Superman who get to narrate. While observing her, despite her explicit wishes. To the writers credit this is shown in a bad light, Supergirl figures it out and calls them on it. Still their behaviour toward her is patronising. Particularly Superman's, Batman keeping tabs on other heroes is in character, especially someone just as or even more powerful than Superman.

Kara's personality was mostly fine, she's capable, a good fighter and despite her lack of experience and memories isn't easily tricked. There's a little much of adults trying to portray a teeange voice without success. Her instant crush on Nightwing was cringy to read.

Once the final conflict is resolved, it seems she found her place among the heroes and she's ready for new adventures.

This is where the problems start. The next storyline is one year into the future, in some kind of post apocalyptic world. No context is given so I don't know exactly what storyline this is, probably some crossover. Would it hurt to explain? Honestly I skimmed most of this, so idk if it was good. Seemed very convoluted.

Then there's a little dealing with the aftermath and then Supergirl is at a bar, acting like an adult while it's stated yet again she's sixteen. She's also in high school but hates it and she'd rather hang out with the 20 year old dude she met at the bar. How appropriate, nothing creepy to see here. There's also some unoriginal high school drama and bullying, ending with Kara revealing she's Supergirl and bailing on high school. The last issue is Jimmy Palmiotti/Justin Gras story with Amanda Conner's art. There's definitely way less sexualization and she's drawn like there's enough space in her body for organs. She also gets to meet Terra, who is a character I always like to see.

Take away the sexualization of a teenage hero, you get an entertaining Supergirl run with some crossover related problems. The thing is though, it's very much there. Not just in the art but she keeps saying she's only sixteen biologically but her mind is older or what. I think this is just the writers trying to get away with making an underage character sexy. It doesn't work and makes things even worse. It would've cost zero $ to make her an adult, or even better, not portraying her in a sexual manner. The costume is also questionable. Supergirl herself considers changing it at times, so maybe it was an editorial decision the creative team couldn't alter. Or they're again just trying to avoid criticism because if the hero herself thinks it's too revealing but decides she's okay with it then it's above reproach. If she was an adult then fine, but there's no get put of jail free card for sexualizing teenagers.

[Sarah]

Ok so.


What the ****????


I accidentally deleted my notes on this so. Rip

It started promising and the art was good but soon it was not making any sense at all

Such random things happened out of nowhere

And even before things got REALLY weird it was like. Can you really not let this poor girl live in peace for 3 seconds?? Just let her talk to her cousin for 3 seconds without sending like 8 people to beat her up

There was one panel with Batman and his cape was so huge and ridiculous but also I loved it

There was an odd amount of kissing in this book. And by that I mean 3 times Kara was kissed by or kissed and adult. Wtf

I liked the long sleeves of her uniform but that skirt was insanely short. SHE IS A MINOR

Things abruptly changed to storylines that made no sense with no context. Just the weirdest junk imaginable that made literally no sense that was drastically different from what came before and after. I was so confused and lost

The high school storyline what was that that was random

There were WAY too many butts and boobs in this book. Especially given the main character is like 15
Lex Luther even made a comment about how her boobs were small wtf?

The way females were posed in order to have their butts in view like. Contortionist almost, for the booty. Even teen girls. It made me feel dirty, reading this.
Especially aggravating given that, other than that, the art was pretty good! Comic books so often have God-awful art and I was thrilled that it looked nice for a change. Only to be let down but how inappropriate and disrespectfully females were often drawn.

Starfire’s costume was egregious. I understand that she’s often been drawn in that, it wasn’t made up just for this, but honestly it’s just disrespectful. Why are you dressing my girl in naught but strings and ribbons

I really like Supergirl. Why can I not find a comic where she’s 1) wearing something appropriate 2) not just figuring stuff out for the first time 3) not fighting everyone and causing problems and getting in trouble
4) oh and not kissing multiple people ?? it’s so weird calm down guys
How hard is it to find a story where Supergirl is dressed normally and isn’t a noob and is just superhero’ing
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow was like that and it was really good but . it wasn’t from her POV and it wasn’t on earth at all and she was depowered for most of it and it was a unique situation


What the heck was this thing!!! This sucked!!! AUGH!!!!!

[Clay Bartel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went about this all wrong, but maybe it doesn't matter, I definitely loved this book.

This is only my 3rd Supergirl book ever, but I've read piles of DC books, including Power Girl's series by Amanda Connor.

I actually read Supergirl Vol 2 of this series first, found myself confused but totally intrigued and while I'd bought Vol 2 used at a local book store, Vol 1 The Girl of Steel I bought new on Amazon.

The only other SG book I've read was Being Super, but this was directed at a young adult audience and didn't appeal to me.

So not only did I read Vol 2 before Vol 1, turns out this version of Supergirl is actually introduced in Batman Superman Vol 2 Supergirl... so yah now I need to collect that story.

I enjoyed Vol 2 despite the confusion. Vol 1 comes with some confusion as well cause we pick up right where Batman Superman Vol 2 Supergirl ends off. Also a very obvious tie in with Geoffs Teen Titans series. Which I have read.

Also a story of Kandor but is spelt Candor. Some strange multiverse or dimensional story.

Vol 1 and 2 both deal with SG identity crisis and both volumes feature Power Girl a bit.

These books focus on SG's dark side, she's been programmed to kill-- well I won't say who, but I feel this would have been way cooler to read, had I read it

Batman Superman Vol 2 Supergirl
Supergirl Vol 1 Girl of Steel
Supergirl Vol 2 Breaking the Chains

Opposed to me reading in reverse.

There are a few more Volumes of Supergirl to collect in this series and I've heard it only gets better as you go.

Lastly Iove the art in these books! While the artists changed and a few issues aren't my style over all these books look incredible and Supergirl is drawn amazingly!

Also I thought I'd address the fact many reviews commented that the story was confusing or convoluted... while I do agree I think the stories do come to satisfactory conclusions and the mystery of what is happening is part of the fun of these books!

[Batgirl_ALT_21 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. Not particularly good or bad but more of a tribute to the early/mid 2000s. I like the idea that Kara is still trying to find herself but the way she goes about that discovery process is questionable at best 🤨😒. She wants to prove herself but she doesn't know how and she refuses to find a suitable mentor even though her cousin Superman & Wonder Woman have made it clear that they are there to support her. The whole '1/2 evil & 1/2 good thing' was a trip and the story arc only gets more muddled from there. Again it isn't particularly bad just different and lacking direction.

There were quite a few rather inappropriate scenes and questionable motives at best for a young supposed 15/16 yr old girl to be in that I found to be revolting towards women (particularly minor teenage girls 😡). The whole age thing is messy at best because Kara acts more like a 24-26-year-old than a Teenager. The 'suspended animation' is weird and makes no sense in relationship to Kara's condition/understanding of the world around her on Earth/past life on Krypton. Here's hoping vol 2 improves 🤞🙄.

[Ross Cudmore · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to enjoy this collection more than I did. But unfortunately some of the writing/art sexualises Supergirl in an uncomfortable way that hasn't aged well.

The first story arc starts pretty strong. Kara is new to this world and we see her interact with a number of other characters from the JSA, Teen Titans, and the Outsiders.

The next story arc seems to have been part of a crossover set in Kandor. It was difficult to understand what was going on, or why I should care.

The final story arc sees Kara trying to fit into human society even going to High School, only to end up at the butt-end of some "Mean Girls" behaviour. I liked the prospect of this storyline but it was wrapped up as soon as it began. The next few issues see Kara partying and ignoring superheroics.

Overall I enjoyed the characterisation of Kara as someone trying to find her way in a new world, but the plot bounced around too much to really develop any of the storylines.

[Nate Deprey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Saying this is a Jeph Loeb book is a little misleading. The first six issues in this collection are by Loeb and are easily the best in the collection but are still not anywhere near Loeb at the peak of his powers. Cycling from the JSA to the Titans to the Outsiders to the Justice League is a nice buildup for a series just getting off its feet and there is a playfulness I enjoyed but never loved in the early issues. Immediately after the Loeb's run ends Greg Rucka takes Supergirl and the reader on a ill advised, confusing and unpleasant trip to Kandor that the collection never recovers from even after Rucka, who I normally like, gives way to Joe Kelly and eventually Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti.

[Clara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm very conflicted with how to rate this issue, I think it'd be more of a 2,5 star for me. I really liked the first part (Power) but I didn't understand the Kandor storyline, it was very confusing. As far as I'm concerned if you never read a Supergirl comic, don't start here ! New 52 is a better entry point to the world of Supergirl. I will keep on reading Supergirl (2005-2011) but I hope the story gets more coherent later on.
As for the art, I'd say the faces and background are good but thanks Rao people learnt how to draw girls since then because it's a disaster, women do not look like that ! I've also been known among friends and family to complain a lot about Kara's suit in New 52 but I'm starting to think this one is even worse…

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hoo, boy. I really liked the first arc! Reading Superman/Batman Vol 2 beforehand was a good choice because it gave good context. The only thing I didn't like about the first arc is the women's costumes. They're all stupidly revealing, and the art/story put them in gross poses and situations or just draw them nearly naked. It's frustrating to me as a female comic reader, especially because Supergirl's only 16!

Then the Kandor arc was weird because I had no idea where it came from. Collected volumes are great, but they're so bad at giving context for what was going on in the larger DC universe at the time.

Then stuff just got weird and confusing and silly. I'll obviously keep reading, but we'll see how Volume 2 goes.

[Hawke Embers · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some good stories in here but sadly this book suffers from major cross over problems that makes the overall package a little confusing...... Despite that, the enjoyable elements presented here are really enjoyable.

Both the beginning and the end of this book are both quite fun and an interesting take on Supergirl, while Ian Churchill's art is amazing and a real pleasure to see. Highlights have to go to the appearance of Evil/Dark Supergirl in Power 4-5 and the Secrete Identities story-line.
The only negative would have to be the 3 part Candor storyline in the middle of the book..... That was just strange and was missing a loooot of context, completely passable.

[Norman Styers · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like superhero stories, but this has got to be the sort of thing that keeps some people contemptuous of them. The first part carts Supergirl around to various good-guy groups for cliched fights nobody wants over nothing in particular. Then it goes downhill from there into pure confusion. Storytellers are told to "show, not tell," and maybe if I had analyzed the artwork at length I could have figured out what was going on, but then again maybe not, and nothing persuaded me that it would have been worth the effort. The character deserves better material.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Supergirl from the Superman/Batman run by Jeph Loeb is back in her own book and its fun but confusing at times. As with most DC books, there is almost always something going on in other books that readers aren't privy to. That's what the back half felt like here. Kara is willful teenager and it comes off as cliched at times though. I would have liked to see more interactions with her and Conner. Ian Churchill's art is really nice but he struggles with human proportions. Overall, a decent read weighed down at the end.

[Colin Post · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, angsty take on Supergirl, with some fantastic art by Churchill and Rapmund. I was definitely put off by the very 90s/00s representations of women characters - Kara’s top could not be tighter nor miniskirt smaller. Kind of gross, but of the time, I suppose. The story itself is a bit all over the place, but there’s a running theme of Kara trying to discover her place in a world that she arrived late to.

[Kent Archie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like this very much. I feel like an old an to say this, but I thought her costume in this was inappropriate and probably uncomfortable.
There are some questionable interactions between adults and the 16 year old Supergirl.
In spite of this being a collection of the first bunch of issues of this version, a bunch of important stuff has happened in other comics.