Supergirl: Being Super

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Kara Danvers isn’t any different than any other teenager in her hometown. Problems with school. Problems with boys. Problems with friends. But while growing pains shake up Kara’s world, a series of earth-shaking events hits her hometown, leaving her with with the choice of blending in with the crowd or being different. Being an outcast. Being super. This reimagining of Supergirl will appeal to fans of all ages and readers new and old, as the Girl of Steel flies face-first into the struggles that every teenager faces. Collects SUPERGIRL: BEING SUPER #1-4.

Let me just start by admitting that I am an unabashed fanboy when it comes to Mariko Tamaki‘s writing! She hooked me with the magnificent Skim years ago and her work has just gotten better and better.

Supergirl: Being Super is the first superhero work of hers that I have read and once again she does not disappoint (not that I had any doubts). Tamaki takes the standard origin tropes (baby, sent to earth from a dying planet etc.) and makes them sing. This is not a superhero story, rather it is the story of a young woman growing up in a small rural town in America, attending high school, eating dinner with family, hanging out with her best friends and coming to terms with who she is and her place in the world.

Stories involving superpowers usually present their protagonists as remote, godlike beings, or flawed almost monstrous characters that readers can thrill to but often not identify with. It is the sheer humanity of the characters that lifts this story above other, similar tales; their doubts, fears and the love they have for one another brings them to life and makes them more relatable to the reader.

The story is wonderfully complemented by the illustrations by Joëlle Jones, a brilliant artist whose style fits the story perfectly!

Highly recommended for comic readers of all ages!

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