Alura Dearest... The Adventures of Supergirl 5 Review

Facet sends Kara to her mother Alura for answers. The mystery of why Supergirl and her associates have been targeted by Rampage, Vril Dox and Psi. Kara and Alex head back to DEO headquarters to interrogate the AI version of Alura. What challenges credibility is that Supergirl - along with Superman - would arrive on Earth with some sort of accompanying program from their parents. It's a convenient trope. A little too convenient. The Superman Family seems overwhelmingly burdened by the past.

Another troubling aspect is Alura's ethics and morality. It's one thing to face a generation gap, and another thing to see a parent as basically evil, unethical and immoral. Kara comes to a point where she questions Alura's sense of right and wrong.

The first half of the issue "Who is Facet?" features art by cover artist Cat Stagg and comes close to the look of the live action series. "Pieces" with art by Emma Vieceli retreats back to the standard comic book style.

Vril manages to commandeer DEO headquarters! Rampage is free and on the loose! The cliffhanger finds Facet at Eliza Danvers' front door!

Sterling Gates' story leans on a couple of troubling tropes. Yes, it's true that the past stays with us. It's never really gone. It catches up to us, haunts us and sometimes traumatizes us. Too often that's somewhat overwhelming. Your mileage may vary on that.

DC seems to be leaning more into digital first, splitting an issue in half for online chapters. It's particularly noticeable here, as the art is so different from one chapter to the next.

The Adventures of Supergirl 5 earns two stars.

The Super-Genius from Space!

 

In March 2026, Action Comics 242, from July 1958 was re-released as a facsimile reprint. It featured the debut of Brainiac and the Bottle City of Kandor. Maybe in advance of the 2027 Superman sequel, "Man of Tomorrow" featuring Brainiac as the main adversary.

The story is very succinct and to the point. Clark and Lois are covering a story as passengers on a fantastic new rocket! When confronted by Brainiac's ship, Clark suits up as an astronaut and escapes back to Earth to protect his secret identity! So Silver Age! Brainiac quickly captures Earth's major cities, including Metropolis, intending to repopulate his home planet. This was before Brainiac was reimagined as Kryptonian, and developed as the planet's version of Google, created by Jor-El. Superman feigns defeat to sneak back and subvert Brainiac. That's when he discovers Kandor and an old college classmate of his father's! using his super-wits, The Man of Steel outsmarts his adversary, actually catching him napping! It's an interesting out, leaving room for an opening for Brainiac to return for another face-off. Short and sweet, the story doesn't waste any details, moving deftly and smoothly. The pacing is a bit brisk, but it works. Obviously.

But wait, there's more!

Tommy Tomorrow, Space Traffic Cop of the future isa fun, wacky, sci-fi story. A Boring weekend of traffic control in space in the future!

Then there's Congo Bill, before he was Congorilla. Confronted by an alien octopod from Venus! The alien forcefully enlists Bill and Janu into assisting in his plan of world conquest! It takes some ingenuity to discover how to overcome the alien menace, yet Bill does. With the alien's dying breath, it reveals that there are FIVE MORE similar aliens somewhere on Earth working out their own plan! Nana-nana-boo-boo to you Bill!

Zoinks!

Definitely a Classic!

This facsimile issue of Action Comics earns four stars!