Supergirl: Beyond Good and Evil [Paperback]

There's some nice artwork in this series, and we get to explore Superman's mentor/parental role with Supergirl more. Through the course of this book we see Kara really grow to understand how much Kalel cares for her, and wants her to succeed, and that he's being a "jerk" for her own good. There's also lots of good action with spaceships and high powered bad-guys, and some ominous foreshadowings with an assassin from 400 years in the future trying to kill Supergirl. A good read!

I have been a fan of a new Supergirl since she was brought back in Superman/Batman: Supergirl. I was a fan of the first few stories and loved the Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes stuff but now this just has me annoyed. They already flushed out a good back-story for the new girl of steel with her daddy issues from Krypton, as it turns out her daddy hatted superman's daddy. Then in this volume they already do away with all that and create a new back-story that just totally undoes stuff that is only a few years old and even manages to make her less interesting in the process. Yeah I know with Infinite Crisis back-stories changed for a number of characters but this Supergirl was only a few years old and already had a strong back-story so why mess with that? Anyway the art is interesting and one of those styles that I like so the art is the main reason I gave this a four out of five. There are some interesting moral dilemmas Supergirl has to deal with like saving a young boy at the cost of the future. So it was not a total loss. Rock on!

In the early 2000s DC brought back Supergirl. Once again she was Superman's cousin from Krypton with all his familiar powers. But after bringing her back they didn't know what to do with her. After several years of retcons and counter-retcons, exiling her to the future and making her evil DC seems to have gotten back on track.

In this book we start with Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes in the 31st century looking back in time on Superman's career. It's a fun story but one that won't make much sense where she is or what's going on unless you're up your Legion lore. With the next story she's back in the 21st century and the Legion is never referred to again. Supergirl then goes into space and confronts her memories of the destruction of Krypton, it's a good character story. Finally in a standard superhero fight Supergirl saves a boy and promises he won't die. The twist is he has terminal cancer so Supergirl promises to save him by curing cancer. A time traveler then shows up to warn her. But that's where the book ends, we'll have to pick up the next volume to see what happens.

The art, mostly by Drew Johnson, is clear and bright, some of the best looking art this book has had. The fill in art by Rick Leonardi is a bit heavy and rough but not bad.

The problem is the same problem Supergirl has had since she returned - direction. This book has good ideas but it bounces from one to the other without resolving them or going anywhere. The first story with the Legion gives a good view of Supergirl's relationship with her cousin, but it just ends and never fits in with the rest of the book. The story where she sees the destruction of Krypton offers a possible insight to her personality, but just jumps into the next story with no resolution. The cancer story might be the most interesting but continues into the next volume. Kelly Puckett's stories are well-written and show promise but the book needs more direction and follow through to really come together.