Supergirl’s “Hero of Kandor” storyline has been Sophie Campbell’s wildest arc yet. After a major falling out with Lesla-Lar and Lena Luthor during a botched New Year’s Eve party in Supergirl #9, Kara Zor-El didn’t exactly have her best friends alongside her to face the deadly rebellion of Black Flame. She also didn’t have the support of her cousin, Superman, as backup due to his disappearance in DC K.O.
These unfortunate circumstances forced Kara to face the dangerous threat of Black Flame alone, especially after Lesla (reluctantly) betrayed her inside the Bottle City of Kandor. This led to her conversion into a cyborg by the Kandorian Science Council, much to Kara’s dismay. Supergirl #14 continues to build on these threads with a glorious reunion between Kara, Lesla, and Lena and especially a triumphant rematch with Black Flame.
Like the previous issues, Campbell thrives at delivering the story with a strong emotional hook. She primarily achieves this by focusing on the internal conflicts of each of the characters rather than the external one involving Black Flame. For Kara, this sees her reevaluate her relationships with Lena and Lesla after a string of betrayals and decide for herself if she still values their friendship. Campbell’s strong script does a lot to show Kara’s own heroic values and how they differ from those of Superman.
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Whereas Superman is inclined (by default) to forgive all who wrong him, Kara isn’t exactly prone to doing the same. After all, she still lives with the trauma of losing Krypton, Argo City and being “abandoned” by her cousin in an orphanage when she first arrived on Earth. Campbell’s strong script also shows how much Kara has grown from those earlier days and how these experiences have shaped her into the hero she is in the present. This, namely, comes through in the scenes depicting Kara and Lesla in the ruins of Argo City that were salvaged by Kandor.
The other major strength of Supergirl #14 is how Campbell builds the redemption arcs for Lesla and Lena. Both have been wanting to take ownership of their mistakes and repair their relationships with Kara, resulting in powerful character moments for both throughout the issue. One of those powerful moments is both women using their genius-level intelligence and advanced technology to heal Kara’s body and free her of cybernetics, complete with a small nod to Matrix Supergirl from the 1990s.
The most significant moment, however, is Lesla choosing to stand up to the villainous Black Flame, which effectively shows how much she’s learned from Supergirl since her debut issues. This moment feels earned due to the way Campbell has depicted Lesla’s emotional journey throughout her run and how her vulnerabilities were easily exploited by her more narcissistic cousin. Lesla reclaiming her power also feels earned due to the way Black Flame makes her entrance in this issue and how she hasn’t changed at all.
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Black Flame is still misdirecting her anger at the wrong people (Lesla and Kara) whilst failing to take ownership of her own violent actions. This subsequently makes Kara’s rematch with her feel satisfying as well – not just because she’s able to fight Black Flame on equal footing again but also because she calls her out on this specific problem. It is also during this rematch where Campbell’s artwork and Tamra Bonvillain’s colors tend to shine the most.
Whilst Campbell and Bonvillain still deliver on depicting strong emotional beats throughout the issue (especially in the pages where Kara reconnects with Lesla and Lena), they exceed expectations in the pages where Kara fights Black Flame. Campbell once again excels at capturing Kara’s rightful anger through effective use of body language and facial expression. She especially captures her angry fervor with dynamic action sequences and panel layouts that guide the eye throughout the fight. Bonvillain’s use of bright warm colors also helps capture the angry mood of this action sequence that also makes it feel triumphant for both Kara and Lesla.
All in all, “Hero of Kandor” is proving to be Campbell’s best arc yet in a series that was already strong to start with. Likewise, her artwork coupled with Bonvillain’s colors continues to make each page pop with memorable action sequences and strong emotional beats. The only minor issue in this storyline is that despite being part of the “Reign of the Superboys” initiative, Conner Kent isn’t really used all that much here. But considering that “Hero of Kandor” isn’t his story, this isn’t a huge setback. More than anything, the story still works without the mandatory inclusion of a Superboy as part of a larger DC initiative.
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