Customer Reviews

Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade

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"Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures In The 8th Grade"
Written by Landry Q. Walker
Illustrated by Eric Jones
(DC Comics, 2009)
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Wow, what a great comic for anyone (like me) searching for an intelligent, relatively nonviolent superhero comic with a positive female role model as the protagonist. Although this book is pitched at a slightly older age group ('tweens and teens) than my grade-school daughter, she absolutely *loves* this book. It's a funny, fast-paced, stylishly illustrated lampoon of the Superman/Supergirl mythos, starring a young extra-dimensional heroine (Kara) who gets marooned on Earth and has to learn how to "fit in" until her cousin Superman can figure out how to get her back home. Instead of a busty, anorexic bimbette (standard-issue superhero chick) this Supergirl is a gangly, socially challenged, self-conscious middle-schooler, a perfect stand-in for just about any young reader who's struggling with the social scene at school.

This series (sadly, canceled) sits alongside a small number of titles that are ideal for younger readers who are new to comicbooks -- "Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane," "The Legion Of Superheros In The 31st Century," "Sentinel," "Franklin Richards Lab Rat," and a handful of others. These are all great books, and we desperately need good titles for new readers (especially for young girls) that aren't as gory, graphic, or as fetishistic as most mainstream comics have become. But why oh why do they all get canceled? Because the world sucks. Regardless, a few great books do come through, and this is definitely one of them. Trust me: snap it up while it's still in print.

(By the way, writer Landry Walker has moved on to script Boom! Comics' "Incredibles" series (also pretty good) and has become one of the writers that I definitely have my eye on. Note to comics industry: I want more good stuff that my daughter can safely read.) (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain children's book reviews)

as a professor of literacy who specializes in teaching young adult graphic novels, i cannot recommend this ya graphic novel enough!!! it is creative in its scope and respectful in its allegiance to superman mythology. along with all that, its SUPER funny!!! young adults are going to love this one!!!

Kara Zor-El, Superman's cousin from an alternate dimension, randomly gets stuck on Earth, Clark pops some glasses on her and sends her to school (his answer to everything) and cue middle school adventures. The comic is obviously aimed at girls just young enough that middle school adventures sounds awesome - that is, kids who are too young to have to endure the hell that is middle school.

More cartoony and humor-oriented than the average comic aimed at young girls, the book is blessedly free of age-inappropriate sexualization, a long-running problem for Supergirl. (Even her horse wants her.) She's very firmly thirteen or fourteen and not in that played-by-a-twentysomething-I'm-looking-at-you-Tom-Welling way.

And speaking of Smallville, Kara Zor-El gets her very own Luthor to have a cute-but-twisted friendship with in Cosmic Adventures. Lena Luthor, I mean Thorul, (but really Luthor) is Lex's little sister, and she's the nicest sort of mad scientist. When Lena zaps superpoweredmean girl Belinda Zee with a quack-like-a-duck ray out of pity for Kara, they're immediately fast friends. She's funny, brilliant and ragingly loyal. The fact that Lena is slightly paranoid, prone to fits of inappropriate mad science, and has a raging hate-on for superheroes due to her family history is not enough to deter Kara from hanging out with her. Be honest, it wouldn't stop you either.

Refreshingly, the wacky adventures of Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade do not appear to come from the Big Book of Girl School Story Cliches. There's no "Oh the school dance, what shall I do?" Instead, they're a fun blend of 'the average thirteen year old's most pressing concerns (not looking like an idiot in class, the strange politics that are tempermental teenage friendships) with issues more specific to an undercover superpowered alien from an advanced planet (worrying about the computers rising up and rebelling get you laughed out of class, mad scientists tend to be drama queens, pets getting superpowers are a pain in the backside) into actually good stories.

Good stuff for the 8-12 year old in your life or you in that 8-12 year old mood. Aimed at girls, but unless a boy is totally allergic to anything starring girls, suitable for boys too - it couldn't be less Barbie if it tried.