Sophie Campbell has been taking Kara Zor-El on a holiday tour the past couple of issues, resulting in both low-key misadventures and real attempts at having a normal civilian life alongside her friends. Campbell and artist Joe Quiñonez tackle Valentine’s Day in Supergirl #10 with a bit of both. The grounded side of Kara’s life sees her go on a date with the “hot tattooed guy” (name still pending), while her friends always manage to draw out Midvale’s need for the Girl of Steel.
The Valentine’s Day issue continues to build on the story threads of Supergirl #9, which saw Kara and friends attend a New Year’s Eve party that ended in complete disaster. Lena Luthor is still answering for her decision to give pink Kryptonite to Lesla-Lar in order to experience drunkenness. Supergirl #10 also continues to explore how that particular incident broke Kara’s trust and how she’s struggling to forgive Lena for it, given what was compromised in the process: Kara’s need for more human relationships.
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What’s fascinating about Supergirl #10 is how much of the conflict centers on Lena wanting to repair her relationship with Kara and doing whatever she can to try to appeal to her good side. From getting Kara a mac-and-cheese burger from a local fast food joint to building her a suit that allows her to resist all manner of Kryptonite, Campbell and Quiñonez do a lot of heavy lifting to humanize Lena and present her as emotionally complex.
Part of Lena understands the futility of pushing Kara to forgive her and needing to respect her need for space. At the same time, her guilt over her careless behavior in Supergirl #9 is gnawing at her like an aggressive itch in desperate need of a scratch. Another thing that helps give the story in Supergirl #10 emotional weight is Luna functioning as Lena’s emotional support. With Lesla back in Kandor and Kara still feeling cross about the botched New Year’s Eve party, Lena has literally no one else left to turn to. This gives Luna the most important role in the story, especially for when they confront Kara during her date.
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The rest of Supergirl #10 focuses on Lena and Luna helping Kara contain another Kryptonian entity known as Nela-Nar, who happened to be residing inside the earring of Kara’s date – which was also made of pink Kryptonite. It’s clever how Campbell and Quiñonez manage to revisit the pink Kryptonite concept in a wholly new way, especially given its importance to Lena’s own character arc.
It took pink Kryptonite to hurt Lena’s relationship with Kara in the previous issue, so it makes sense to have her deal with it again, this time as a way of remedying their relationship. But this doesn’t automatically end with Kara forgiving Lena, effectively spotlighting the complexity of Kara’s feelings. Part of her does want to forgive Lena for her recklessness, but she also can’t ignore how hurt she genuinely feels over her betrayal.
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Kara admitting to struggling to trust Lena after the New Year’s Eve incident drives home that point in a highly effective way that feels organic to how Campbell has been developing the character since Supergirl #1. It also succeeds at keeping the Girl of Steel grounded, even when she’s dealing with Silver Age concepts like pink Kryptonite and outlandish problems in Midvale like Nela-Nar. Campbell also doesn’t neglect Kara’s issue with Lesla-Lar, who is teased in this issue to have returned to her villainous ways after Black Flame entered the scene in the finale of issue #9.
Though Supergirl #10 is largely a strong issue, there is one element that doesn’t quite work, and that’s the subplot involving Kara’s mysterious tattoo guy. But this is largely due to Campbell dragging out the mystery of who he is and missing a major opportunity to reveal his identity. While it’s likely Campbell has a bigger story planned for him in a later issue, at the same time the teases are getting a bit frustrating since they aren’t offering any new clues as to his identity.
At best, the only major clue Campbell drops in issue #10 is that he recognizes Linda Danvers and Supergirl from the Midvale orphanage. There’s also the fact that he wears an earring made of pink Kryptonite, inducing Kara’s feelings of love for him. This seems to at least hint that he might be Andrew Jones/Andrea Martinez, better known as Comet and the Angel of Love. Beyond that, however, fans will just have to wait and find out who he is. But these are the only major clues to go on.
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