Supergirl Best Of 2019: Top Ten Comic Moments

I have now been doing these 'Best of Supergirl' end of year lists for 11 years now and some years are definitely better than others. But I have never felt that a year encapsulates the difficulty DC seems to have with Supergirl better in that time span than this year does.

2019 wasn't a great year for Supergirl. In her own title, she leaves Earth on a wild goose chase, embracing an rage-inducing axe and coming within a whisker of killing people all while wallowing in anger and sadness. She subsequently succumbs to an evil virus becoming a Goth Supergirl embracing anarchy and anger, DC doubling down on the 'Mistress of the Axe' plotline. Since I started this blog alone we have seen the 'dark, angsty, angry, very sad Kara' trope several times. It never seems to work. Like ... NEVER.

And yet, 2019 was also a very good year for Supergirl. She sheds the dark, angsty, angry persona (again) and embraces Earth as home (again). She clearly is a valued and loved member of the Super-family and her relationship with her cousin Kal hasn't seemed this strong in a long time, maybe since Gates/Igle. And she had a number of one-shots and specials that built up her character arc and history in a powerful way.

Still, as I put together this list, some of the moments seemed to be repeats from prior years.

Enough talk, on to the top ten Supergirl comic moments of 2019!

Supergirl Best Of 2019: Comic Honorable Mentions

Happy New Year's Eve and welcome to part 2 of my annual Supergirl review. Yesterday I looked at all the non-comic events with Supergirl in 2019. Today I turn my eye towards comics. I'll take a look at comics in general and showcase some Honorable Mentions for the best Supergirl comic moments of 2019. Tomorrow I'll announce my top ten Supergirl moments for the year.

As always, settle in. These end of year posts tend to be long! I have 12 months to cover!

 First off, from a blog point of view, there were two secondary threads which were highlighted this last year on the site.

First off, I ran through the early history of the second incarnation of the Supergirl character in a segment I called Matrix Monday.

I'll say that it was pretty fun to look back at the growth of that Supergirl character over time, from her initial concept to her time as a Luthor lover to ultimately embracing her role as hero. I hope folks like that run.

Less Supergirl-centric but just as fun for me was my coverage of Event Leviathan and my various Leviathan Theories. Turns out I was wrong this time. But breaking down the comic for a variety of clues both overt and subtle was really fun for me and kind of re-energized me.

In fact I was so enmeshed that writer Brian Michael Bendis caught notice. And now I will be an agent of Leviathan in this February's Leviathan Dawn special. So look out for my comic debut!

But enough about the blog! Onto the Honorable Mentions for the best Supergirl Comic moments of 2019.

Review: Batwoman/Supergirl 100 Page Giant - 'Exit Interview'

The Batwoman Supergirl World's Finest 100-Page Giant came out this week and was something of a delight for me. I'll be reviewing the new Supergirl material here at the site including the team-up story tomorrow. But I think this book is a winner overall all and well worth the $4.99 cover price. Heck, the beautiful Joelle Jones cover alone might be worth it.

But the real treat for me was the new Supergirl solo story titled 'Exit Interview' by writer Andrea Shea and artist Mike Norton.

I very much like the early stories in the Supergirl title when Rebirth happened. There was a re-inventing of her character by Steve Orlando to make Kara a hero, a defender of Earth again. The 'Help, Hope, and Compassion for All' mantra was there.

But one thing that I struggled with was how the title tried to be everything we know about the comic Kara as well as throw in some of the things we know about the TV Supergirl. So she was an intern at CatCo and a DEO agent but also a high school student and a new hero. That was a lot.

This story seems to end one of those threads while starting a new one.

And while I don't know much of Shea's works, I think she captures Kara's voice nicely here. There are echoes of Silver Age Supergirl in some of the dialogue but in a good way.

Mike Norton delivers as he usually does. There are great emotional moments here as well as some action shots. All are done solidly, especially the expressive work.

On to this delightful story!

Batwoman/Supergirl World's Finest 100pg Giant Solicit

Back in the December Solicits, DC announced the Batwoman/Supergirl 100pg  Giant. But there wasn't much else there making me wonder what would the content be.

Last week, Bleeding Cool announced the creators and stories in the book. Here is that link:
https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/10/30/dc-comics-contents-batwoman-supergirl-worlds-finest-giant-1/

I can understand DC wanting to maybe cash in a little on the CW Sundays which has Batwoman and Supergirl shows on back to back. They aren't a natural team-up in the comic world. But should be interesting. Heck, the Joelle Jones cover alone probably is worth the price.

So what can we look forward to?

“Sister, Sister,” a 16-page Batwoman and Supergirl team-up story written by Margaret Stohl with art by Laura Braga. When a powerful alien weapon falls into the wrong hands, it will take the combined might of Batwoman and Supergirl to save the city from the Religion of Crime!

I loved Braga's take on the Bombshells book so she seems like a natural for this story. I have never read anything by Stohl so I am looking forward to reading this. And an alien weapon and a city cult? Sound like the perfect mashup.