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After discovering the mysterious girl who claims to Kara Zor-El, a survivor of the long dead planet Krypton and Kal-El’s biological cousin, Superman and Batman must decide how to handle this situation. Kara tries to adapt as best she can to a life on Earth while still trying to remember the missing pieces of her past. Meanwhile, there are others who are also interested in this strange visitor from another planet…

Plot Summary:
We open up to Superman and Batman examining Kara’s ship in the Fortress of Solitude, and arguing over the translation of a message on it. We hear each hero’s respective thoughts, showing their different impressions of this girl. While Superman is understandably excited about the possibility of a Kryptonian survivor (and a member of his family, at that!), Batman is suspicious of the whole situation. Batman brings up the interesting possibility of Kara’s ship (embedded in the asteroid) bringing the large Kryptonite asteroid to Earth—specifically to Kal-El, thus proving Luthor right. While investigating Kara’s ship, Superman turns something on, feeling the craft with sunlight similar to that of a yellow star (thus explaining how Kara’s powers developed so fast). Again, Batman shows his lack of trust in this girl by saying, “How…convenient.”

As Superman and Batman continue to debate the issue, Kara suddenly rips open a steel door, apparently being chased by something. Kara is dressed in clothes that an “average” teenage girl would wear, bought by Lois, of course. We are told that Kara has learned English (and several additional languages) in less than a month. Following Kara is Krypto, not very trusting of an unfamiliar face in his master’s Fortress. Superman reprimands Krypto, and Batman sends Kara away. Batman comments on Krypto being suspicious of Kara, like he is, which results in Superman responding, “The dog hates everyone.”

Kara walks back to her quarters, dejected by the fact that her past is being disputed when even she isn’t sure of exactly what happened. On her way, we see Kara past through the Weapons Museum and the Intergalactic Zoo. Kara hears Batman’s heartbeat and tells him she knows he’s following her. Kara explains to Batman that she’ll never know what it is like to be her, and Batman responds, “Then try and explain it to me.” The two enter the Hall of Krypton and talk. Kara gazes on at a hologram of Jor-El and Lara, Superman’s biological parents, holding up a globe of the planet Krypton, and thinks back on losing her parents right in front of her eyes. Batman, a good judge of when individuals are lying, can’t decide whether Kara is telling the truth or has been trained by someone who knows his past. Kara knows that the holograms are of her aunt and uncle, and seeing this chamber stirs some of her memories.

Kara re-tells the story of how she came to this planet (the first time for the readers). Her father was a scientist on Krypton named Zor-El, brother of Jor-El. When Jor-El told the council of Krypton’s fate, no one believed him—except his brother. Zor-El built a ship for Kara, one that was locked on to Kal-El’s smaller ship. Unfortunately, Kara’s ship never left the planet under its own power. The ship was trapped within a chunk of rock, while Kara was kept alive in a state of suspended animation. The navigational system in this ship still worked, however, and slowly carried the asteroid across space and to the Earth. Although Kara remembers the name of her father, her mother’s name is still unknown to her. Superman breaks up the confrontation and says that Kara is “ready,” something that Batman disagrees with. Kara is in the dark on this as well.

We come to Apokolips, where Granny Goodness is in the process of testing a potential new member to the Furies—a female warrior named “Precious.” It is all for nothing, though, as the Furies make short work of Precious, quickly killing her. Darkseid expresses his disappointment with Granny and orders her to bring the girl who fell to Earth to him.

In Metropolis, Clark Kent and Kara walk the streets after going shopping (with Bruce following them). Kara makes the mistake of calling her cousin “Kal” while he’s in his Clark Kent guise, a mistake which Clark warns her must not happen again. Kara questions her cousin about Earth’s customs, prompting Clark to tell her that adapting to ANY new culture is different (and he should know, having traveled both this world and others as well). Kara is most perplexed by why her cousin pretends to be a normal human, to which Clark responds that people with abilities like his sometimes have “secret identities.” Kara is surprised that no one recognizes her cousin just because of a pair of glasses, causing Clark to become maybe a little self-conscious.

Kara and Clark soon come to a statue of Superman in the park, allowing Kara to see just how those on Earth view her cousin. Kara exclaims that they see him as bigger than life, as a champion. Furthermore, she adds that the glasses work because no one would look for him dressed as them. Clark reminds Kara that there isn’t any “them,” only us. The conversation is broken when both Clark and Bruce detect another presence in the area. A beam of light attacks Clark, while a very familiar lasso ropes Kara’s leg, and she’s pulled out of the sky. Clark quickly changes to Superman and flies after his cousin, but is once again stopped by the beam of light. Superman is confronted by a group of women (the same women, in actuality) and utters the name, “Harbinger.”

Meanwhile, Batman deflects an arrow shot by an archer with a well-placed batarang and also destroys her bow with it. Many of Harbinger’s selves envelop Superman, telling him that Kara must be protected at all costs. Superman will have none of it, though, and he sends the Harbingers away by spinning and creating a strong gust of air. Batman encounters the archer who shot at him, the Amazon known as Artemis, and engages her in hand-to-hand combat. Artemis manages to get the upper hand and almost stabs Batman, if not for a well-placed dart shot into her neck by the Dark Knight.

Kara is pulled closer to the owner of the golden lasso, and she tries to fights back with heat vision, easily deflected by bracelets worn by her pursuer. Superman and Batman re-join together and come face to face with Kara’s pursuer—Wonder Woman!

As Wonder Woman holds Kara in front of her, she tells the World’s Finest Team that the girl is coming with her.

Review:
This is the second issue of “The Supergirl From Krypton” arc and already we have Kara being associated with not just Superman, but also Batman and Wonder Woman. Kara Zor-El’s post-Crisis debut has become much more of an event than her pre-Crisis counterpart’s, which is a great change. Kara Zor-El/Supergirl shouldn’t just be a member of the Superman Family; she’s a character that fans have always loved, which made her death during the Crisis so much more tragic. Since the character’s death and her “deletion” from history (something I personally didn’t care for—the deletion, not the death). But it’s often been said that you don’t know what you have until you’ve lost it, something that’s certainly true for comic book characters. In a way, Kara’s death really made us able to realize just how much she meant to all of us. Let’s just hope that no one takes her for granted again.

This story is big on several levels. The first, of course, is Kara Zor-El existing at all. One of DC’s rules regarding Superman ever since the MOS mini-series was that Kal-El is the ONLY survivor of Krypton. This was done to make Superman much more special and not have Kryptonians showing up everywhere. While I can see and respect the reasoning behind that, I don’t feel it was all that needed. The only thing that was needed was a little restraint by the writers. The second big thing in this issue (and this entire series) is the fleshing out of Superman’s revamped history (due to “Birthright”). Loeb and Turner give us very detailed holograms of Jor-El and Lara, and certainly don’t portray Kara as one of the Kryptonians that Byrne designed. Instead of being repelled by Earth, this Kryptonian girl is almost enamored with it (and she has no problem showing a little skin). Despite coming from a civilization thousands of years beyond Earth’s in terms of technology and thought, Kara does not look down on humans; nor does she consider them to be inferior to her.

Batman’s was portrayed rather well in this story, but I almost get the feeling that he WANTS Kara to be a fake. Why exactly would he want this? Well, we all know how paranoid Batman is, especially towards those with abilities far beyond those of regular men. Just imagine how he feels around a young girl whose power already surpasses even the strongest Earth heroes. There’s also another dimension to this, I feel. Batman has always called Superman “a farm boy” in a somewhat condescending manner. It could be possible that he does this to make Superman look at himself as more human than alien, fearing what an alien (even an altruistic one) with powers as great as Superman’s could do to the planet. Kara will undoubtedly bring Kal/Clark closer to his Kryptonian roots, thus fueling Batman’s fears.

This story gives us our first glimpses into Kara Zor-El’s past, but leaves out some of the answers intentionally, so that the reader will continue to follow the arc. We are not shown much of Krypton and we only see the silhouettes of Kara’s parents. I thought that Kara’s interaction with everyone (Superman, Batman, Krypto, ect) and her dialogue was great. Kara moves freely between outsider and fully assimilated, but I don’t chalk that up to an inconsistency. Keep in mind that Kara comes from a planet that is a virtual utopia; living on Earth to her would be similar to one of us living in the past. Kara is certainly lonely and misses her home, but at the same time she’s glad that she came to a planet like Earth, and she’s also glad that she’s with family.

I am a little surprised that Kara has not yet met the Kents (to our knowledge), though. Why have a girl as young and vibrant as Kara holed up in the somewhat antiseptic Fortress when she could be in the open air, on a farm, with people who are very tolerant about aliens. The quarantine makes sense, but I really would’ve liked to see Kara interact with Kal’s adopted family. That’s only a small complaint, and in the long run it doesn’t really matter.

Overall:
Story: 9/10 – The story hooks you in with this issue and leaves you wanting more. Things can only go up from here.
Art: 8/10 – Michael Turner is truly a great artist, even if his women are sometimes a little thin.
Cover: 10/10 – An awesome visual that captures the emotions of these characters perfectly.