Supergirl: Candor

Supergirl (2005) (Old Editions) #2

by Joe Kelly, Greg Rucka, Ian Churchill (Illustrator)

Superman's long lost cousin continues trying to discover her place in the DC Universe, but when her amazing adventures find her trapped in the Kryptonian city of Kandor, she must take on a new heroic identity. Original.

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

171 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Reviews

[Paul Riches · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was the last great pre-TheNew52 Superman storyline. It was supposed to entertain and enlighten and energize the Superman books for years to come. It was one of the most massive, interconnected tales of Kal-El ever told.

And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

And I think I was one of the few who did.

And that is a complete shame.

Superman New Krypton is a storyline that takes place over almost two years worth of Superman, Action Comics, Supergirl, Superboy, World of New Krypton, Adventure Comics and various one shots and mini-series. One of the slight modifications after Infinite Crisis to the mythos was opening the floodgates to plenty of other Kryptonians being alive and well, and this concept became a tidal wave when Superman faced off against Brainiac for the “first” time and freed the kidnapped bottled city of Kandor.

In all classic and neo-modern versions of this tale, these fellow Kryptonians become jolly good friends of Superman and benevolent helpers to him. Those stores would always bore me to tears. Even when they enlarged and got their own planet, I couldn’t have cared less.

This time, this contemporary version, they range from arrogant to somewhat ungrateful to outright hostile to all sorts inbetween. It is made abundantly clear that one of the points of New Krypton is that a great part of makes Superman “Super” is the parentage of Ma and the now late Pa Kent. Early on the now powered up Kandorians relish “their” new planet, and view the current inhabitants, namely us humans, as like pets. The part with the whale illustrates this dichotomy so precisely, it is downright prescient of what future troubles are brewing.

Tensions immediately escalate when Lois’s presumed dead father, General Lane, enacts Project 7734, with the goal of fulfilling his genocidal hatred of all things Superman. Plots within plots within plots, each met with large body counts, becomes the constant theme here. Anyone and anything that gets in the way of eliminating these filthy aliens must be abolished. The massacres the Kandorians have to endure, and their counter measures to ensure their safety, cause global tensions and bring about a huge cadre of superheroes to sort the situation out.

At this point the preamble is done, the Kandorians see the welcome mat yanked away, which makes them launch their city off into space, create a crystalline planet for themselves, and take up orbit on the far side of the sun. Goodbye you crazy humans!

At this point, Kal is still trying to fix all the myriad problems that have come about here, and so with a heavy heart he talks to wife Lois and mother Martha and goes off to outer space and New Krypton.

The stage is set and the players are now in place.

Kal-El is now world building, society changing and evil plot solving in the World of New Krypton comic by James Robinson, Greg Rucka and Pete Woods. Guest stars like Green Lantern, Adam Strange and Jemm pop up here because of the new galactic power this planet represents. We also see the creators reinvent Krypton by incorporating as many different previous versions as possible, and somehow keeping internal logic. Kal learning about how things work here does not make him a happy Superman, and brings out the social revolutionary in him.

Meanwhile, back in Metropolis, new protectors have emerged in the Superman comic, by James Robinson and Renato Geudes. Through a series of flukes, Mon-El has been plucked from the Phantom Zone and managed to be cured, while another clone of the golden age hero The Guardian has come to town. These two bring truth and justice and subplots galore here every month.

But what of all the subterfuge between the two planets? Action Comics by Greg Rucka and various artists plays with this concept by showcasing the hunt for Kryptonian infiltrators by Nightwing and Flamebird. This crime fighting duo, and potential couple, are also Kryptonians and fighting against the evil General Zod’s plans for Earth.

The tale of someone genuinely torn between the two worlds is in the Supergirl comic, by Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle. Whether she is on New Krypton endlessly arguing with her mother – and leader of Kandor, or learning about humanity while living with Lana Lang back on Earth, Supergirl is constantly challenged. She is also subjected to relentless yellow journalism by Daily Planet gossip hound Cat Grant, trying on the secret identity of Linda Lang, and recovering from Kryptonite poisoning, which by the way, is a brilliant pot device to fix the many many problems plaguing the character over the years. Supergirl 43 is the absolute best of this series, featuring her birthday and choosing a guild.

Joining in on the fun is Adventure Comics, by Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul. Starting with Superboy slowly becoming a part of everything, the series than evolves into telling the tale of how the time travelling Legion of Super Heroes are involved with this crisis.

Along the way with this sweeping storyline, we get some one shots giving us the journey of Jimmy Olsen as he investigates General Lane, and another one shot at a critical junction of everything. A personal favourite is the World’s Finest miniseries, by Sterling Gates and various artists, which has several very important plot developments. But the real reason this is a classic part of New Krypton is that these four issues have a literal whackload of Superman and Batman supporting characters teaming up, arguing, bantering, and just giving us readers a grand old adventure. Come on, Guardian and Robin Damian taking on Mr Freeze and the Parasite, what more can you ask for?

The only downside to this undertaking is the midway point. You can tell the gears behind the scenes were being shifted slightly, with some ideas, like Mon-El’s powers or what to do with Guardian’s “kid”, becoming increasing sidelined. By the time of the epic ending with The Last Stand of New Krypton comic, you can feel the lethargy kicking in. This is not to say the conclusion, which reaches its final crescendo with the War Of The Supermen mini-series, was not good and gripping and emotional, but it is obvious the fatigue from creating all those stories had taken it’s toll.

Afterall, besides everything I have mentioned, New Krypton also stars Lois Lane on a quest for the truth about her father, Perry White trying to guide her, Lex Luther being the master manipulator, Atlas being a brute, Steel helping out in Metropolis, the Creature Commandos making a comeback, Reactron being a ruthless murderer, Doomsday terrorizing everyone, Captain Atom playing a role, Daxam history getting re-explained, Codename: Assassin getting a dust-off, Silver Banshee giving a shout out, Insect Queen crawling about, Rao gaining new followers, and a partridge in a pear tree. With all this, and so much more, is it any wonder that everyone involved probably needed a nice long vacation when it was all said and done?

One issue that was present from the start, as related in interviews by writer Greg Rucka, is that New Krypton was very much behind schedule right from inception. Playing catch-up was always a present concern for all creators, who all want to do their best, but are facing a super deadline looming before them.

Because of this rushed nature of the series, and despite the promotional push from DC Comics, fans seemed slightly jaded before New Krypton even began. I myself got every issue, but only read them all last month. Because of this malaise, I firmly believe sales of the entire storyline were far below expectations, which is most likely why virtually all aspects of it were promptly ignored as soon as it ended. And this failure was also the most probable reason why the major surgery was committed on Superman’s history with The New 52 Relaunch. Think about it, this massive sweeping tale of epic proportions with far reaching ramifications vanishes from continuity a year later? Such a shame.

Everyone has a favourite Superman. Mine is the From Crisis To Crisis era. This storyline, with a nip and tuck and a bit of mental rewiring, can still fit somewhat gently into that beloved version of the Man of Steel. Yes, some leaps are harder to take than others, and I am looking at you Lucy Lane, but so many of the basic concepts are still present and accounted for.

So many thoughts and ideas are expressed here. The Clark Kent of Ma and Pa Kent faces off against the Kal-El of Krypton, nature versus nurture on a planetary scale. Earth and New Krypton on a collision course caused by madmen, people who know nothing of what Superman stands for. All this encompassing something like 150 comics in total.

A Super tale for a Superman.

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really a fan of where the book series went with this one.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incredibly disjointed, this tale weaves in and out of Infinite Crisis, before jumping into some weird storyline on Candor with Power Girl before jettisoning that for a disjointed tale that hops through time for reasons unexplained. Lame.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was very, very, very confusing. The stories jumped all over the place with no rhyme or reason. It was disjointed and strange.

About a third of the way through, we're in the middle of the aftermath to Infinite Crisis, but there's no coherent story to follow. Why should I care about this story? I know part of the issue with Infinite Crisis is that everything is fractured, including people's minds, but there has to be a way to indicate that without making it so confusing for the reader.

Also, I don't know how this can be a "Supergirl" comic when a large portion of it is about Power Girl, Superman, Batman, and Huntress, with very little Supergirl at all.

[Simeon Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm often loath to read books from this era of DC because for the most part, I find it to be poorly written, overly horny and desperate feeling. Yes, there are still some all time classics from this time, but this book is not one of them and to be fair, I knew that going in as I've already read most of it. The reasons I subjected myself to it again and am writing this now are just that I didn't own this specific trade, I collect Supergirl, it was in the two for five dollar used trades room at my local comic shop on free comic book day this year, my OCD dictates that if I buy a new book I must read it before I am allowed to shelf it and if I have to suffer like that then the world needs to at least hear about it. So why isn't this book so great? Well, it basically has all the flaws I mentioned were prevalent in DC at this time, the main arc the book collects feels really forced, has almost no explanation going in or out, it's pacing is both erratic and way too fast and the whole thing largely comes off as an excuse to put buxom blonde women in scenarios where they can be drawn in an extremely sexualized way. And as someone who is actually pretty into buxom blonde women and even specifically had a crush on Supergirl that he played up for comedy on YouTube for a while I have to say, this shit is really gross feeling to read. In the span of four issues we see Kara and Power Girl wearing 90s looking power armor that's meant to conceal their identities but also accentuates all of their curves, shirtless from every angle that doesn't show nipple while getting a back tatto, wearing a tight shirt and leather pants in the rain, in an open shower with anime style steam censorship of anything that could get the book rated higher then teen, making out with an evil alternate version of Superman while draping herself over him and having her ass creased and being tortured with the 90s style power armor ripped off just enough to expose both thigh and cleavage! And that's without even getting into the actual content of that story, which as part of DC's One Year Later initiative sees Kara and Karen trapped in the second version of Kandor trying to overthrow a religious dictatorship run by Ultraman WHICH THIS TRADE NEVER STOPS TO EXPLAIN TO YOU, it just says the next few issues are part of One Year Later and then drops you in with no foot notes or even context clue dialogue, just a vague hope you have a friend near to explain things because this was in 2006 when Google was still a few years away from being a household name and Wikipedia was just that thing you can't use as a source in your homework. And on top of that, Kara spends a lot of the arc just being a bitch to Karen and everyone else in the story, even saying to her during the aforementioned shower scene, that she has her own goals, will be using as much force as she sees fit and if Karen tries to stop her, she will kill her. I'm sorry, isn't this in the post crisis era where everyone pushed so hard to bring Supergirl back with the reasoning that she added a bit of light hatred fun and girlish whimsy to the DCU? Then what the fuck is this?! Because I haven't even talked about the final issue collected in this trade, which not only see Kara continue to be drawn in an uncomfortably sexy manner but also has her on a date with Captain Boomerang, who's typically depicted as being 30s-40s and, though his birth date has never been given in the pre new 52 timeline and the only official one I could find from the DCEU (September 12, 1985) which would still put him at 21 at the time of the book's publication and in the issue they explicitly say that Kara is 16, but that doesn't matter because she's mentally older to some degree because she spent so much time semi conscious in her put before arriving on earth before going on to make an actual reference to Jailbait because apparently in 2006 Joe Kelly, Ian Churchill, Norm Rapmund, Rod Reis, Richard Starkings and everyone else working at Warner Bros. at the time was just him with having the 1000 year old loli trope from anime in one of their comics that depicts a teenage girl and is least partially marketed to children. Let me be clear, I haven't read this stuff in a while and I don't remember being very bothered by it any of the times I read it before, but I personally think that just means I ether wasn't paying enough attention and I've grown as a person, because even though other books have annoyed me as much when they came out, this is both the worst Supergirl book I've read to date and one of the worst comics I've read to date. An absolute piece of filth that I am a little embarrassed to own and DC should be embarrassed to have published.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not like this. A strange detour narratively that didn't really pay off. More weird sexualization (and alternate universe incest?!) with Supergirl. The mid-2000s were not kind at all to this character in her main run. Bad, bad, bad.

The nugget of the idea that she doesn't have a true place in the world in a similar but uniquely different way than Power Girl is good, but my God the execution is just horrible. At least her stint in the Legion of Super-Heroes from this same era is better.

[Shawn Ingle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I should have read Infinite Crisis before reading this because it made less and less sense the further into I got. If not, then this is a total mess. Either way, definitely nowhere near as good as the preceding volume. With the change in creative team on this title, the writing went from more character drive to plot driven.

[Raj Aich · Rating 3 out of 5]

So so story but wonderful art! Seemed disconnected as the story is happening in multiple parallel comics. I have always liked Power Girl as compared to Supergirl. Need to have more of her solo series.

[Paxton Holley · Rating 2 out of 5]

After loving the first volume, I found the story in this one a little confusing.

[persephone (hades’ version) ³³ ᵈᵘ ᵈᵘ ᵈᵘ · Rating 4 out of 5]

i always liked the idea of her getting a tattoo. idk why.

[Öykü · Rating 2 out of 5]

what

[Matthew Lloyd · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was part of a mini-re-read of my Supergirl comics when I happened to be at home where they were.

I understand that the re-introduction of Supergirl to the DCU was part of the build up to the coming crises (Infinite and Final). But having just begun a new series, it seems very strange to have the second trade paperback volume of that series be a jumble of different stories from different sequences - several incomplete - which happen to relate to Kara Zor-El and Karen Starr. It's fair to say that, in re-introducing Kara, there were questions of identity surrounding Karen, never fully elaborated in the Supergirl comics I've read. And it's true that the two of them needed to team up for a while to sort out their differences (or exacerbate them, whatever). But this collection doesn't really seem to explore either of them as fully-functioning characters for at least the first half.

Superman looms large over precedings, again. He's teaching Kara to be Supergirl, which means he hasn't had time for poor old Power Girl. Then, when Kara decides to join Donna Troy in battling evil in space or something, she feels she needs to ask his permission. Finally, when Kara and Karen find themselves in the bottle city of Kandor, the obsession with Superman which has been forced upon Kara by everyone else in the universe finds its expression in fighting and ultimately agreeing to marry Ultraman disguised as him.

The first problem is that the quality of writing is just quite poor in some of the earlier segments. Perhaps the most abonimable, vomit-inducing example comes in the Superman segment, when Kara says: "You and I share a gift half the human race will never know ... Life. We can actually make it. I might be only sixteen , but that much I understand." One might be able to read this, in her next statments, as simply an amateurish way of reaching out to another woman whom she happens to be fighting which naturally fails, because it's bollocks. But it's far easier to read it as a hack male writer, unable to fully comprehend that women are fully rounded human being too, trying to essentialise their existence to the fact that some of them choose to shoot out babies. Besides the rather pathetic storylines on show, it's the inability to characterise Kara beyond WOMAN (or rather, [super]GIRL) that's most offensive about this volume.

And then... Karen wakes up in Kandor, with Kara.

We're given no explanation about how they got there, and don't really need one - it's the aftermath of the crisis! My main problem was lacking context for Argo City and the histories of Nightwing and Flamebird, but largely it functions: opressed bottle city; ruler masquerading as Kal-El from Krypton; aliens and violence and resistance. It works pretty well, completely without context. More importantly, it further develops Kara's confusion, absent in the pre-Kandor sections of the collection, about why she was sent after her cousin and what she should be doing. It complicates their relationship as well as Kara's relationship with Karen, setting up the subsequent development of her character. The final part, when a depressed Kara is sharing her woes with Boomer, is perhaps the best one. It begins to develop relationships between Kara and characters who aren't Superman, the most interesting being Cassie Sandsmark AKA Wonder Girl, giving Kara something almost resembling the female friendship network which was part of what made Buffy the Vampire Slayer great. It might not quite get there, but it's a start.

There are troubles throughout: a lot of female flesh is on display in the art, despite the fact (as we are repeatedly told) Kara is only sixteen (although I guess seventeen "One Year Later", despite the fact that no-one seems to notice that) and thus "not legal". The male power fantasy body of Ultraman, on display in a couple of instances, does not serve to balance this out. I mind less about the bare midriff in the last part, "Big Girl Small World", as this is presented as clothing Kara has chosen to wear - rather than the costume Superman provided for her. While I like the relationship between Boomer and Kara, especially as it develops in the next volume, some of the things he says just don't fit into a comic which you'd think would at least try to appeal to girls.

The final word is that Candor, essentially, is rubbish saved only by its final parts. Where Kara Zor-El's story goes next, however, is much better.

[Victor Orozco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting stories intersecting with some really, REALLY weird ones.

Supergirl teams up with the Justice Society and begins having some trouble with Power Girl for some unknown reason. Perhaps it’s a slight hint that its a problem with interactions with beings of alternate dimensions. The whole two objects cannot occupy the same place in space like in Timecop.

It eventually turns into two odd, alternate worlds stories that is too weird in many ways to recall. Why did DC really bother making this angle for Supergirl comic. They don’t belong at all with this collection.

But I do love how they very end deals with the events of One Year Later. Supergirl grieving in her own way for her clone cousin Superboy. I'm really liking her friendship with Captain Boomerang II.


Odd storylines here. But the art looks fine. B-

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is disjointed to the maximum. A few single issue stories are from other series, and it has a three part "Candor" story that simply makes no sense.

Kara is getting a tattoo, and then Power Girl is some sort of masked vigilante and Superman rules with an iron fist.

A few twists later and the story simply fizzles out and doesn't even bother to explain anything.

After her introduction in Superman/Batman, this collection sucks.

[Tori · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just a bunch of stories featuring Supergirl and/or Powergirl that were seemingly put together at random and had no real connection or flow to them. Very disjointed, confusing and ultimately, disappointing.

And really, can someone explain to me what the deal is with Powergirl's breasts? Do they somehow influence her powers? Is that way they are ridiculously huge and always on display?

[Tyler · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a pretty disjointed and erratic story. It starts out with an interesting retrospective for Power Girl and then just blows up like nobody's business. It just didn't work for me.
There are some interesting parts, and the art was fantastic in some places; however, that didn't save it for me.

[Ned Leffingwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art was nice and I liked the stories in the first half of the book. The second half was confusing. It is as if there is a whole bunch of back story that I am missing, or the writer just left a bunch of stuff out. I came away feeling like I only read half of the story.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this second volume is a complete mess due to much flailing around with the character amidst the Infinite Crisis event. Various books are excerpted,band the "Candor" story comes out of nowhere in the main title...and goes nowhere, too. The increasing chaos left my head spinning.

[Warren]

Infinite Crisis and
One Year Later

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not so much a full storyline as bits and pieces here and there. Good read.

[Lynda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as the first one.

[Althea · Rating 2 out of 5]

A sloppy incoherent mess. The parts i could follow did not make like the protagonist. Supergirl came off a whiny, self obsessed brat who destroys everything around her.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 1 out of 5]

A collection of Supergirl stories tying in to the Infinite Crisis big event. Unfortunately there's no connecting thread and the time-warping nature of IC makes this an incomprehensible mess.

[Jesse A · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this book was extremely disjointed and confusing. It started picking up in the middle but ended confusing and disjointed again.

[Koen · Rating 2 out of 5]

pfff, didn't really like all these stories as much as I would have thought...
forgetting about this quick and moving over to the next step!

[Alejandro Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

She dies

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this..but, i didn't understand who in the name of god did we even got there? was that really Kal? a copy? uhg just confusing.

[elisabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

This entire book was a mess and I was not a fan.