Writer and artist Sophie Campbell took things next level in Supergirl #11, when Kara Zor-El finally decided to investigate the strange crisis happening inside the Bottle City of Kandor. Not only did Campbell raise the stakes even higher from previous arcs by introducing Black Flame as a dangerous villain, but issue #11 even ended on a deadly cliffhanger for a powerless Girl of Steel. Supergirl #12 picks up where that cliffhanger left off with a shocking reveal: Supergirl has been converted into a cyborg!
Despite this surprising turn of events, Campbell isn’t aiming for shock value by presenting Kara as her own version of Cyborg Superman. Instead, she’s making a point about the Science Council’s lack of ethics and especially their lack of empathy. This is brilliantly spotlighted in two different ways throughout Supergirl #12 – first, by making this a point of conflict between Kara and the Science Council, and second, by making this the driving force behind Black Flame’s rebellion.
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How Kara reacts to her cyberconversion in Supergirl #12 is one area where Campbell does her best character work. Not only does she showcase Kara’s unwavering commitment to justice, but it does well to show how much of Kara’s moral compass has been shaped by her life on Earth. As one of the Kryptonian survivors who is old enough to remember her homeworld and its distinct culture, Kara could have easily failed to see the problem with the Science Council replacing some of her organic body parts with bionic technology. From their point of view, they took emergency action to save her life, which bypassed the need for consent.
The dialogue between Kara and the Science Council does much of the heavy lifting to show how the Kandorian scientists’ grey morality conflicts with Kara’s hard stance against deception and unethical behavior. What really stands out about this exchange is that Kara isn’t presented as having a black-and-white view of the problem at hand, but instead sees the complexity of it in a way that the Science Council does not. This easily spotlights the Science Council’s inability to consider other options and how their dogmatic commitment to science gives them severe tunnel vision when developing viable solutions for ending crises.
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To that end, Campbell excels at writing Kara getting to the root of the problem (the Science Council deceiving its youthful population about an undesirable mutation) and the avalanche of problems that spawned, leading to Black Flame’s violent rebellion. The other thing that works well in terms of execution is that Campbell doesn’t present the Science Council as cookie-cutter villains. Instead, they are presented as well-meaning Kandorian scientists who only want to preserve life as they know it. The problem is they have a profound lack of self-awareness when it comes to developing solutions that don’t worsen a situation.
Nothing spotlights the latter problem better than Kim-Da’s cloning project of Hel-Oz (aka David, aka Boy Thunder), the sidekick Superman temporarily took in in Mark Waid’s and Dan Mora’s World’s Finest run. Although the original Hel-Oz eventually became the Kingdom Come Universe’s Magog, Kim-Da still preserved his DNA from his World’s Finest days. What’s really alarming about this development is not Kim-Da’s decision to clone Hel-Oz without his consent, but the fact that he doesn’t see a problem with stealing DNA from unsuspecting victims in order to weaponize it in the Science Council’s favor.
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This is where Campbell really amps up the drama between Kara and the Science Council. It creates organic tension for Kara, as she must decide between protecting the Kandorian scientists from Black Flame’s murderous agenda and not validating their equally murderous plan to stop her. Campbell only further raises the stakes once Black Flame enters the picture. Kara doesn’t want to see her killed, but her attempt to neutralize the conflict only leads to her own horrific discovery: the Science Council also weaponized Kara’s own body against Black Flame, which is excellent buildup.
The other way that Campbell really amps up the drama leading to Supergirl #12’s cliffhanger is her artwork, coupled with Tamra Bonvillain’s bright warm colors. In contrast with the calmer, pastel-colored story arcs from earlier in the run, Campbell and Bonvillain lay out each panel and character action with chaotic energy. This helps convey a sense of danger and captures the extreme emotions of each character. Although the Science Council characters are presented as cold and unmoved by Kara’s passionate concerns, Lesla-Lar’s parents are at least shown harboring some regret. Likewise, Black Flame is presented as justifiably angry, but also immature in the way she channel’s that anger.
On the whole, Sophie Campbell’s Supergirl run continues to exceed expectations. Every issue successfully builds on the ones that came before, leading to a well-thought-out narrative. It’s an absolute joy to see Kara evolve in ways that call back to her classic history, but challenges her in exciting new ways that allow her to stand out as a hero outside of the Super Family. Whilst most of her supporting cast doesn’t appear in issue #2 outside of Lena Luthor due to strained relationships, this still works as setup for Kara to repair those relationships in the future.
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