Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes TPB

Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes TPB
Strange Visitor from another planet
Mark Waid-Barry Kitson

Well after reading issue 23 of this series, I knew I had to catch up and fortunately this trade came out only a few weeks back. So really, you read this book, pick up the last two issues of the monthly and you're good to go.

Before reading the book I sauntered over to the Legion messageboard on DC, to see if others were sharing my love of all things Supergirl. And I was shocked to see she was one of the most reviled aspects of the book, second only to Mark Waid himself. I thought "this can't be!".

Well after reading this collection I can understand the beef. But having read issue 23 first, I got to see where Waid was going ahead of time, and was able to see it was worth it.

Honestly after having read the trade, I would recommend just skipping right ahead to issue 22or 23. Supergirl basically just shows up, flies around, doesn't really give much in the way of characterization, and generally upsets what looked to be an interesting balance for the book.

However I think all of the Supergirl haters on Legion will come back around to her side. As annoying as she may have been for what amounts to about 6 months on this book, what they are doing to her in issue 23 is pretty heartless, and I think something good will come of it.

Running down the strengths of this book on it's own, this is pretty much a rebuilding issue after some great catastrophic battle and the death of several members, so reading this on it's own, you'll probably just want to read the book right in front of it.

The Legion is populated with pretty interesting, if somewhat hard to distinguish heroes. The cast is huge. But on the whole considering the size of the cast, Waid does a good job of creating distinct characters. The characters are all pretty sarcastic, and the book is on the whole pretty funny in a team hero dynamic sort of way.

I'm definitely interested in following the Legion even after Supergirl leaves. But I do hope she has finally found a home, as she has pretty much been kicked out of every single team she's encountered. Which is kind of sad. I do hope we see more of her wit down the line, because she can actually be very clever and cutting in her comments.

Hopefully DC decides to make her a main facet of their universe down the line.