A Superman comic you will love

“Your father was just another man on a farm,” said Krem of the yellow hills.

“And for him, that was enough,” Ruthye replied. “Hell, he said, that was plenty.”

I saw that dialogue coming a mile away and thought I would cringe at it. But in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, that predictable exchange pulled the right emotion out of me. I became interested in this comic after seeing Kara (Supergirl) in the Flash trailer. Everyone called this miniseries the best Supergirl comic ever written.

Since it was just eight issues long, I had no problem giving it a read. And if I’m being honest, it almost lost me at the start. Don’t get me wrong; the concept was intriguing. You had a young girl in Ruthye who lost her father to a killer’s blade.

Ruthye pulled Krem’s sword out of her father’s body and began her quest for vengeance. But at her age, the child was ill- equipped to find Krem, let alone kill him. So, she sought a helper, a warrior she could pay to get justice on her behalf, a detour that brought her to Kara’s doorstep.

People have compared Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow to True Grit from 2010 because the story follows an older, wiser, stronger adult in Supergirl as she journeys across the cosmos, accompanied by a child with revenge on her mind.

The comparisons are understandable. But this comic was initially a chore to read because Ruthye takes center stage. She narrates everything that happens, and for reasons I cannot fathom, Tom King (writer) gave the character an annoyingly long-winded way of talking.

Take this one moment on a train in issue two, where she says, “Sir, I am embarked upon a long and tumultuous journey, the results of which will be the worthy death of an unworthy man,” to a man/alien/creature that keeps falling asleep and leaning against her.

It rubbed me the wrong way and I could not fully immerse myself in the story. However, like most mediums, you eventually adapt to such annoying quirks.

And once that happens, your perception of the story changes. By issue three, my brain had adjusted to Ruthye’s irritating speech pattern. And then issue four came along and won me over completely. I knew I was hooked when Kara and Ruthye found a man digging graves in the ruins of a broken city.

The man was tasked with burying his friends and neighbours, the victims of a massacre, all the while dreading the moment he would inevitably find his daughter’s remains. Kara took pity on him and offered a helping hand. To my surprise, that scene tugged at my heartstrings.

Is Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow the best comic I have ever read? No, but I was thoroughly entertained. And I think, if you give it a chance, you will understand why the miniseries is so popular.

The art is incredible. I never noticed until one particular panel in issue four where Kara flies off into space, and you see her splash into the sun. From that point onward, I could not help but stop every few seconds to stare at the mouth-watering colors.

Some of these panels feel like elaborate paintings. And you can see the emotion of each scene in every brush stroke. Character-wise, Kara has made a fan out of me. She has that combination of mercy, compassion, and indomitable strength that makes Clark/Superman so appealing.

Anyone who thinks Superman comics are boring because the character is too powerful and pure to be interesting should read Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

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