Supergirl #16 Review

Criss-Cross Applesauce

Written by: Steve Orlando and Jody Houser
Art by: Robson Rocha, Daniel Henriques, Michael Atiyeh and Steve Wands
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: December 13, 2017

I liked Supergirl last issue and I will give Jody Houser a lot of credit.  The issue was a bit more grounded and the dialogue was damn good.  So, I was happy to see the Orlando/Houser combo again this issue and couldn't wait to see if things got even better.  So, did they?  Let's find out...


The issue opens with the Sharon Vance ( the Strange Visitor) telling everyone that can hear her that she is mad as hell at Supergirl and is not going to take it anymore.  One person that can hear her is Kara and while I can see whey she is still mad at the D.E.O., she lays it on pretty heavy here when Eliza tells her some of the agents aren't such bad guys and gals.

Sharon gets attacked by Insight, but after she dispatches the bad guy with a Supergirl connection, Kara herself shows up to hit her like Dick Butkus.  While Supergirl reminds Sharon that she died saving people and Superman, it's not that that she is mad about.  She wanted to stay dead...and for a moment, it looked like Supergirl granted her that wish.

That's when the DEO comes in and grabs Sharon in a vacuum gun thingee and we see why Eliza set up the whole "good people at the DEO bit".  It doesn't quite work out (yet?), but Insight helps her escape anyway, but the big takeaway was that Sharon seemed to be under someone else's influence.

We continue with Kara and the Danvers eating and discussing what Kara can do going forward, but we remain at the same stalemate as before.  Kara wants to keep fighting evil as Supergirl and when we head to The Blade, we see that evil is Mr. Bones...surprise!  Yea, nobody should be surprised by that.

We are then introduced to Mr. Bones' next weapon against Supergirl and after a brief origin story and a Jack Kirby character name drop, we drop in on Kara, Ben and Belinda arguing on whether the DEO and Catco should be so anti Supergirl. 

After some gym class Jai Alai (yep, gym cass Jai Alai), Kara gets pulled aside by the DEO agent (who knows her parents, should know her and will most definitely be the "good agent"), but gets out of the jam in a very forced way.  The issue ends with the new bag gal yelling like Sharon did earlier and Supergirl playing right into the trap.

This was an okay issue of Supergirl, but because the two bad guys are pretty much set up to be the same bait, the issue ends up being redundant.  I liked Robson Rocha's art as usual, but this setup issue didn't have me excited going forward.

Bits and Pieces:

This issue of Supergirl is mostly setup we've seen already and villains that are too alike.  I liked the art, but the progress made with last issue comes to a screeching halt and I can only hope it picks up again next month.

5.5/10