Superman/Batman #19 - The New Adventures of Supergirl, the Girl of Steel

Here is a comic, well, a trade paperback that I purchased back in the day, purely for the Harley Quinn cameo. This is what people like me had to do back in the day just to catch a glimpse of my domino-ed sweetheart. Sigh. This morning I rolled out of my Harley Quinn themed bed sheets while wearing my Harley Quinn pyjamas and underpants, took a dump on my red and blue toilet paper, ate my Harley-O's while reading the newspaper about Maggot Robbie's flat butt doing something inane and pointless (like her tiny tits HA).

Then I put my hair up in alternately coloured pigtails and checked my emails, which was full of comic and collectables stores asking me to buy more Harley Quinn statues so they don't starve this month. Afterwards, I tried to go shopping but there were too many ironic tweenagers wearing Suicide Squad gear for me to get past the pop culture stores and their Harley Quinn themed face punches.

Yep, it's definitely a different time today alright.
And now that I've finished ranting like an old fogey, I'm going to go sit out on my porch and yell at people to cut their damn hair.

Oh, you're still here. Well fine, you damn dirty hippie, let's get this show on the road.

One thing - I did not mind this book at all. It was actually pretty interesting, funny, had some genuine threats and it was a good opener to a new Supergirl. There was a few blah moments like the angsty teenage girl stuff and the evil twin cliche.. but I didn't hate on that. Supergirl felt like a real person and that sort of characterisation sells the book for me.

What I didn't like... was the art. It's actually visually great but MY GOSH the elongated torso on Supergirl.. the endless abdominal 'V', her terrifyingly tapered feet... that kind of ruined the book for me. That and every other issue in the trade involved some dramatic punch that somehow looked great but ruined the dramatic punch thing because it was usually an entire splash page and you knew to expect it. Also the artist loves capes. They make them look great but sometimes I feel like I'm looking at cape-porn

That sounded weird. But if you've read the book, you'll know what I mean.




Basically the book opens on Clark and Bruce discussing and/or thinking about Kara. Clark is trying to give her space but is failing in a "nice guy" creepy-way. Bruce meanwhile is impressed and notices how much improvement Supergirl is showing, and he believes that she may even surpass the Big S himself.

Fresh out of an incident orchestrated by Calculator (he's used really well in this series too) and a certain bald megalomaniac. Supergirl senses someone watching her and takes off - eluding Superman and ending up doing the flying alien's equivalent of angrily stomping into the Batcave.

I love this spit take. 

Also this Watchtower understanding. 

Batman looks awesome (even if he has those very muscular calves that then taper down to a very skinny ankle/lower shin, he has a sweet Bat-throne.) and Supergirl gets the drop on him. Batman's all like 'whoa, how'd you get in here dude?' and while Supergirl swiftly answers that it's the same entrance superman uses, the cynical comic reader in me can't help but wonder why Batman bothers to ask this when there are actually quite a few people who can get into the Batcave. It's not exactly the rich guy's fortress of solitude anymore, especially when he keeps letting people in because he's got a Bat-Boner.

Supergirl decides to patrol Gotham City for the rest of the evening.. which is either a really weird thing to do if you don't like Batman spying on you or a big middle finger to the Bat-Dude himself.
She meets classic Batgirl who is in the middle of a quote unquote... something something.

Anyway, this locale change leads us into the next cameo.. Harley and Ivy!

Who are robbing a bank and brainwashing the guards. While apparently Supergirl and Batgirl already broke into the vault and were waiting there for them? NOW who's committing crimes?

See? Cape porn. Does that thing come with it's own hangar or what??

Harley and Ivy's cameo is over in less than five pages but the characterisation is ace. Harley looks fantastic and Ivy...

Well... she looks like classic Poison Ivy which is fine but my gosh is that an unfortunate plant based wedgie.

You're gonna need a enema of chamomile lotion!

Oh, and she can teleport apparently without being heard or seen by Supergirl.

But eh, forget about Ivy, how about this awesome scene from Harley???

As well as the cool factor that one can only derive from hitting an alien with a mallet... it effortlessly ties in Harley's strength, her attitude and comments after her strike hits the mark and just awesome visual humour. That's a ridiculously huge mallet! How did she even get that through the doors?!

Of course, her winning streak can't last and Supergirl basically melts Harley's Humungo Hammer. While taunting Supergirl is definitely a Harley thing to do, I both understand Supergirl's "Shut. Up." comment and hate it for it's Valley Girl stereotype quality.

Guards just wandering off there... don't worry about the crime scene I'm sure it's fine..

Turns out this was also an elaborate set up! Duhn duhn duuuuuhhhhhhnnnnn!

Quite right, monkey. 

Yeah, testing out Supergirl's abilities.. although if she's pretty much Superman in a skirt, I'm not sure why there's a huge mystery about what she can do. That's kind of like assuming any of the Batgirls/Batwomen or female Robins can't throw Batarangs. THAT'S KIND OF THE WHOLE THING ABOUT BEING A BAT-PERSON. Well, that and being either sassy or angsty. But I digress. 

Anyway, true Ivy's lipstick smooch did nothing but Ivy's admitted before that when the plot calls for it, her lovin' won't affect females. Now, this reveal is a nice scene - horrifying, awesome and slightly realistic looking. You can tell because none of the Gotham cars are stopping. 

Clayface actually looks great and I love the contrast between hero/villain, bright/dark, small/large and of course, inside/outside. The casual reader may wonder how in the hell Kara walks around with a cape almost twice her body length. Sure, she can fly but still. 

We get to thinking that she's been beaten by a minor Batman villain but then she table flips the situation (or floor flips, as the case may be) revealing that Wonder Woman trained her and school smarted her too. Although, she does almost out Oracle's identity because what average villain knows that what happened to civilian Barbara Gordon was the cessation of Classic Batgirl?

Anyway she pretty much wipes the floor of Clayface who regrets those last few taunts for sure. Calculator raises bail for Harley and Ivy.. which is a cool behind the scenes look at things but makes you wonder if the meta-human supervillains Superman was talking about can even GET bail anymore.



Clark and Kara have a nice moment before Clark ruins it for her. Lex Luther and his Infinity Gauntlet  I mean, Kryptonite anti-love glove make an appearance.

What? Two almost identical items of hand fashion appear in opposing comic universes?

Both wielded by strong jawed, evil bald dudes?


You'd almost think there was a sinister rivalry and copyright dance going on, wouldn't you??

The Short End of the Jester Schtick

All in all a pretty decent comic. Despite all the flaws I nit-picked out, it's a nice read and even though it's basically a tie in comic to the Batman/Superman comic with a crap ton of Gotham, Metropolis and Justice League cameos, it doesn't read like a quick cash in story, it does feel like it's genuinely part of the plot.

As short as it was, Harley and Ivy's cameo didn't feel forced or stupid either. They interacted well and talked like themselves. Sometimes you don't get that with cameos.

Wotta Comedian!

Clark: (thoughts) Kara. My cousin. Supergirl. She's been living on Paradise Island. 
Bruce: (thoughts) Diana called last week to say that he was hovering again. 

Batman: That's...odd. 
Superman: You're being cryptic, 'B'. That doesn't sit well with the reporter in me. 

Batgirl: I heard they had a new 'Maid of Might.'
Supergirl: Um... they're not going to call me that, are they?
Batgirl: Not if you don't let them. 

Harley Quinn: Holy back door, Ivy.