By Jonathan Edwards
As a reviewer, it's always interesting to reach the end of a series that you've been covering from the beginning. It doesn't matter how long or short the run was. There's just something kind of surreal about looking back and knowing that you were successful in committing to be there for every single issue. It's even crazier when the book sucked, and you had to muscle your way through and to the end. In this case, Supergirl: Being Super doesn't suck. It had a slow start, but it never sucked. And, this fourth and final installment serves as a fairly successful conclusion, wrapping up plot threads both in ways I did and way I didn't expect.
Let me get something out of the way real quick. Yes, Tan-On's whole "humans are evil" shtick does end up feeling a bit cliché, and so does Kara's "new beginnings" narration at the end. Do either of them break the book? No. The former was made fairly evident by the end of the previous issue, and it's not like he's trying to really hide it or anything. Plus, it does ultimately feel appropriate for the backstory he gives here. Do I still wonder why he didn't do something a bit more definitive when it came to the "lesson" he tries to teach Kara? Yes. But then again, one could argue that he was more trying to prevent her from acting than doing anything outright himself. As for Kara's ending narration, I mean, it is a coming-of-age and origin story for her. Saying "it's not the end but the beginning" sure as hell doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it is also pretty much the whole point of this story.
Speaking of the ending, what happens on the last page of this book is literally the exact thing I was hoping would happen. I couldn't tell you when during this series that I started thinking this was how it should end, but no joke, at least twice while reading, I thought "no, keep going!" and it was solely because that moment hadn't happened yet. The best part is that I still didn't realize that it was actually going to happen until pretty much right before it did.
The art remains pretty good for this one. Although I do have to say, a good chunk of the midair and flying poses don't quite get the job done. At least for me. It's something that did happen a bit in the previous issues, where the perspective is just far enough off in some panels that it doesn't quite look like the character is actually flying. It's never been all that egregious in the past, but we end up being exposed to more of it here thanks to the extended fight scenes.
At the end of the day, Supergirl: Being Super has enough slice of life charm, as well as thoughtful maturity in its handling of more serious subject matters, to be a pretty good read. Does it do as much for Supergirl as something like Superman: Birthright did for Superman? Not quite. But to be fair, that latter series was three times longer than this one. If you've been reading along, I hope you enjoy this ending at least as much as I did. And if you haven't gotten the chance to check this book out yet, I'd recommend giving the whole thing a shot when it comes to trade.
Score: 4/5
Supergirl: Being Super #4
Writer: Mariko Tamaki
Artist: Joëlle Jones
Colorist: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Letterer: Saida Temofonte
Publisher: DC Comics