Tag Archives: Jamal Igle

Gates really humanizes Cat Grant here (I didn’t know she had a dead son, for example) and it comes a little late. If he’d done it earlier, she wouldn’t have seemed so shrill. Besides that delay in characterizing, it’s a good issue.

Igle does a great job with Supergirl, as usual, but something about his approach is a little different. This issue is the first in forever not to be laden with New Krypton scenery or props; it gives Igle a chance just to do the superhero stuff and he does it really well.

Gates’s pacing is a little off too, I suppose. He’s going for dramatic emphasis more than content.

Oh, now I remember how this issue ends… with Lois going to visit her psychopathic sister. It’s undoubtedly a setup for something, but it takes the issue away from Supergirl and Cat.

Regardless, it’s a good little Christmas issue.

CREDITS

Day of the Dollmaker, Part One: Toying With Emotions; writer, Sterling Gates; penciller, Jamal Igle; inker, Jon Sibal; colorist, Blond; letterer, Travis Lanham; editors, Wil Moss and Matt Idelson; publisher, DC Comics.

It’s amazing how much I enjoy Supergirl even though the issues read so fast. Gates never leaves the Bizzaro planet this issue either, so there’s no subplot development.

It does open a little weak, with Supergirl telling the unconscious Bizarro-Girl helping her will be a cathartic experience (not in those exact words, but close enough). Gates doesn’t know how to do subtle self-reflection. It’s not a superhero comic standard for a reason—there just isn’t room for it.

But once Supergirl and Bizzaro-Girl land, the issue just gets excellent. There’s space bugs, the DC version of Galactus (oh, wait, didn’t he have bugs in Ultimate Nightmare?) and Bizarro. Gates takes the reader on an abbreviated tour of the planet and its population, which is just a lot of fun (even though some of them don’t make it). It’s strangely good-natured.

And Igle’s art is rather excellent.

CREDITS

Mad World; writer, Sterling Gates; penciller, Jamal Igle; inker, Jon Sibal; colorist, Blond; letterer, Travis Lanham; editors, Wil Moss and Matt Idelson; publisher, DC Comics.

Besides one glaring problem (implying there’s a supernatural pedophile out there posing as a Metropolis cop and kidnapping kids), this issue of Supergirl is a great read. It’s a fast read too—really fast, but it all works.

Well, wait… more Cat Grant lameness as she discovers Supergirl and Lana’s relationship/ DC’s unable to produce good new villains.

The issue opens with Jimmy Olsen discovering Bizarro-Girl in a good sequence (so good Gates should do an Olsen series of some kind) then finds Kara (or Linda) moping while Metropolis gets destroyed. Lana has to call her up to motivate her and the scene works well enough. Gates is able to pull it off because the reader wants to see Supergirl in action, not moping. So he gets some slack.

Then there’s a strange one page panel where she pauses to enjoy flying before saving the city.

But, otherwise, great.

CREDITS

Looking Glass; writer, Sterling Gates; penciller, Jamal Igle; inker, Jon Sibal; colorist, Jamie Grant; letterer, Jared K. Fletcher; editors, Wil Moss and Matt Idelson; publisher, DC Comics.

It’s an issue of Supergirl without a bunch of crossover stuff? I mean, there’s still some crossover stuff (and apparently they’re keeping Lucy Lane alive because Superwoman’s just a great villain… eye-roll) but it’s mostly just Lana and Kara talking. Wait, Linda. She wants to be Linda Lang now.

I had to go read up on Wikipedia how the “New Krypton” thing finished up. It’s surprising, with such an iconic cover, the series is totally unconcerned with picking up new readers.

There’s some good stuff between Linda and Lana, but Gates can’t keep it up when he’s got Linda refusing to help people as Supergirl. It’s just too contrived, too forced.

As for his small Metropolis (Dr. Light is testing Superwoman, then goes and discovers the mystery villain), it doesn’t work either. Gates brings charm to Supergirl, but he doesn’t bring charm to the DC Universe as a whole.

CREDITS

Fallout; writer, Sterling Gates; penciller, Jamal Igle; inker, Jon Sibal; colorist, Nei Ruffino; letterer, Jared K. Fletcher; editors, Wil Moss and Matt Idelson; publisher, DC Comics.

I really don’t like Sibal’s inks on Igle. He’s way too reductive. It’s almost like he’s trying to make it look like Ian Churchill or something.

This issue is part of a Superman family crossover. It seems like Sam Lane is trying to get a Kryptonian to assassinate the President. So Gates has to compete with the just plan stupidity of the crossover here. I mean, didn’t Marvel do something like this one in the nineties? Or Image? It’s just awful.

But Gates does a decent job with the action, even though he barely has time for anything else. Lois shooting Supergirl the evil eye is about as close as he gets to any subplot here. It just serves to remind the book can be quite good when it’s not slave to the crossover.

And the end, with Supergirl being possessed–is way too subtle. Hopefully it’s a short crossover.

CREDITS

Codename: Patriot, Part Three; writer, Sterling Gates; penciller, Jamal Igle; inker, Jon Sibal; colorist, Nei Ruffino; letterer, Jared K. Fletcher; editors, Wil Moss and Matt Idelson; publisher, DC Comics.

Kryptonian society really isn’t thought out enough. This issue is about Kara going from guild to guild (a guild is basically a career path–I’m assuming it’s all for the greater Kryptonian good, dirty socialists) and seeing what they’re like. Gates frighteningly frames it in a letter to her dead father. Because he’s using it for narration, it sort of cheapens the idea of it as a grieving process. It comes off as an easy way to narrate an issue and to feign emotional connection.

What’s so off about Gates using it is the actual content is good and shows Kara and her mother grieving. It goes far to humanizing the mother, who now gets the excuse of being in the Science Guild to explain why she acts to remote and evil all the time.

It’s decent; the narration device hurts.

Sibal’s inks here take away some of Igle’s enthusiasm.

CREDITS

Guilding Day; writer, Sterling Gates; penciller, Jamal Igle; inker, Jon Sibal; colorist, Pete Pantazis; letterer, Jared K. Fletcher; editors, Wil Moss and Matt Idelson; publisher, DC Comics.

I love how Kara’s got a backpack for traveling between New Krypton and Earth. It’s a fantastic detail.

The issue opens on a low point—the revelation Sam Lane served under Sergeant Rock—but it quickly recovers.

First it’s Kara telling Lois about killing Superwoman. It’s an excellent scene, even if Lois is being a bit of a bitch and not particularly smart. I thought she was an investigative reporter and she can’t figure out her evil dad is back from the dead.

Then here’s some superhero stuff with the bad guy getting out. I guess this Reaction guy is a Supergirl villain, not a Superman villain? Because she needed her own Metallo? It goes on way too long, but Gates makes up for it with a lovely close with Lana and Kara.

Igle’s back and he handles everything quite well. He’s got a great finale sequence at the sun.

CREDITS

Who is Superwoman?, Conclusion: Epilogues & Homecomings; writer, Sterling Gates; penciller, Jamal Igle; inker, Jon Sibal; colorist, Nei Ruffino; letterer, Jared K. Fletcher; editors, Wil Moss and Matt Idelson; publisher, DC Comics.

Okay, I did not expect that reveal for Superwoman’s identity.

Gates does manage to reduce his supporting cast by at least two and maybe three here, so it’ll be interesting to see if he uses that opportunity to finally get Supergirl running on its own.

But what he does with the Superwoman reveal is nice since he’d sort of set it up to be something different the last issue and then this issue, when Supergirl does figure it out, the reader isn’t privy to her thought process. It’s a surprise for everyone (well, at least for me).

He does take the time to do other things, of course. Like Jimmy Olsen flirting with high school girls, which is creepy and makes Cat Grant sympathetic because of her disgust. But the Lana Lang plot development is a little problematic because she’s barely in the series.

It’s well-executed, modern superhero stuff.

CREDITS

Who is Superwoman?, Part Four: Mistakes; writer, Sterling Gates; penciller, Jamal Igle; inker, Jon Sibal; colorist, Nei Ruffino; letterer, Jared K. Fletcher; editors, Wil Moss and Matt Idelson; publisher, DC Comics.