Don’t be confused, this isn’t the Batman story Death in the Family, or the Batman story Death of the Family. This is the next (concurrently told) chapter in the New Krypton story. The first thing you notice here is that the main plot actually has little to do with any of the “New Krypton” business. That’s more the backdrop, while the real action is built around Supergirl fighting the Silver Banshee and saving her friend Mike Henderson, and Supergirl fighting the Insect Queen and saving her friend Lana Lang.
The major New Krypton connection has to do with Lucy Lane, who somehow survives dying a few volumes ago and is bizarrely and gruesomely transformed into the very thing her father seems to hate so much. This takes place here but the consequences are left for some future installment. There is also a little tale at the book’s start in which Supergirl secretly saves people from a hostage situation but inadvertently exposes a couple of Kryptonians who are just trying to fit in. It’s interesting, but suffers from just coming way out of order. That’s been an ongoing issue with the arrangements for the trade paperbacks of this massive saga – maybe it couldn’t be avoided, but it makes it a bit challenging to keep the sense of the forward movement of the various plotlines.
Speaking of stories that are out of order, the book ends with a story that is co-written by Helen Slater of all people (the actress who played Supergirl in the critically unacclaimed 1984 film), which is a nice but inconsequential glance at how the Girl of Steel is treated by the media, and still features Kara working in her secret identity at the Daily Planet, even though the previous story had her leaving earth, apparently forever.
Back to the main tale, I have to make this one other comment because it was the most annoying thing. The story of Supergirl fighting a strange creature called the Insect Queen to save the life of Lana Lang ends with an irritating coda where Kara berates Lana for not trusting her with the knowledge of her illness. Fair enough, but she gets so mad at her that she decides she can’t have anything to do with her at all. Umm, maybe a bit of an overreaction? It just makes Kara seem like a brat, especially after she spent the whole battle referencing her close family connection with Lana.
Again, fallible heroes? No problem. But a brat? Off-putting.
Superman: New Krypton Index
Last Son • Brainiac • New Krypton vol. 1 • New Krypton vol. 2 • Mon-El • Supergirl: Who is Superwoman? • Nightwing and Flamebird vol. 1 • New Krypton vol. 3 • Codename: Patriot • Supergirl: Friends and Fugitives • Nightwing and Flamebird vol. 2 • Supergirl: Death and the Family • Mon-El – Man of Valor • New Krypton vol. 4 • Last Stand of New Krypton vol. 1 • Last Stand of New Krypton vol. 2 • War of the Supermen
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