Some thoughts about Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #1

No matter the world, people always need Supergirl's help.

Ruthy Marye Knoll is looking for Krem to avenge the death of her father and in her path she will find someone who will help her do so but not without difficulties.

Tom King, Tom King, Tom King, what do I expect from you?

Right from the beginning, King's work has been extremely hit and miss for me (and after Heroes in Crisis, for everyone else too) so you never know what to really expect from him. For example, I'm currently enjoying his Strange Adventures book but I lost interest in his Rorschach title due that it emphasizes cryptic writing to try to make the plot and mystery more interesting than they actually are (and mystery stories is not something King is really good at, see again Heroes in Crisis).

That doesn't mean that I don't anticipate King's works though because if there's something I can say about his titles is that they never left me indifferent, there's always something to either really like or really hate in them.

What do I think about Supergirl then? Well, it's a mix of both.

First of, the true protagonist of the story is not really Kara Zor-El but the recently introduced Ruthy Marye Knoll who is hunting her father's murderer and this is where the typical issues with King's writing become apparent right away due that you will immediately notice a lot of "Tell, don't show". The narration can be sometimes asphyxiating with several boxes explaining about what happens and what's going to happen over the course of the plot, in King's favor though (and at different from someone like James Tynion IV), the narration at least can be interesting to read at times instead of being simply redundant.

The plot progresses at an acceptable pace let's say, hampered a bit with the already mentioned issues but not to the point of being a slog and we're quickly introduced to Supergirl who is interestingly and funnily portrayed as a drunk now that she turned 21 and reminds me a bit of Bean from Disenchantment. This might be the typical out of character behavior that you can expect from King sometimes but Kara is such a blank slate that this is acceptable for me (Mind you, I could see someone like Power Girl more suited for this portrayal).

There's also a feminist vibe going on where the sexist men get quickly punished by strong women which is appropriate considering who the characters are and is not as in your face to get annoying.

The dynamic between the two protagonists gets quickly entertaining and is easily one of the major factors that makes this tale engaging so far for me but the dialogue, as usual for King, can be a bit tricky. For example, there's a line that describes Kara's ship by making a reference to Comet the Superhorse (who doesn't appear here because Superhorses are silly I guess) but doesn't quite work and gets really silly when Kara puts a bigger emphasis on it.

Bilquis Evely was also one of the biggest reasons about why I was anticipating this but, unlike with King, I completely love her work since the first time I saw it from the Sugar & Spike story she handled along with Keith Giffen. Her characters are extremely beautiful and expressive and manages to tell the story in a way that really elevates the script she works on with a lot of detail.

So, mixed bag? I don't know, I think I liked it more than I didn't so that's a win I guess. Looking forward to the next one.