I’m going to be 100% honest. I don’t care about Supergirl. I never have. Superman alone is hard for me to get into, and Kara Zor-El is even more so. Now I did read her Future State titles, however. As it turns out they were amongst the best of the Future State stories and one of my favorites. They took a bit of a chance with both the art and the tale, but it paid off. I enjoyed them immensely. For that reason alone I picked up Supergirl – Woman of Tomorrow 1. I wanted to see if it played into the Future State story as tightly as the Gotham titles did.

Then you have the other factor I didn’t realize until I reached the title page. Jerry McGuire may have had you at hello, but you had me at Tom King! The minute I saw this was a Tom King project, my interest doubled. King wrote some of the best stories for the Batman titles and is currently in the middle of an epic Batman/Catwoman 12-part series. The minute I saw his name I knew this would be worth the read and issue 1 does not disappoint!

No Supergirl Here

First off do not look for Supergirl here. Is Kara in it? Yes. Does she wear the suit like her cousin? Yes. But that’s as close as you get in this first issue. This issue follows a young girl named Ruthye Marye Knoll and a very drunk off her ass Kara. Oh! and let’s not forget Krypto! I am not sure when Kara and Krypto became companions, but given the story in Future State, it’s not surprising he shows up here.

Ruthye narrates this story as if she were sitting in front of you. Both the language she uses in the narration and in speech has a weird feel to it. It feels like a very formal cross between old English and Mr. Data’s formal, no contraction style format. Her story boils down to a basic revenge story. Many years ago someone named Krem slaughtered her father. After doing so, Krem left the sword, a very elegant one, stuck in her father’s body. Ruthye adopts the sword as a symbol of her revenge. Now she just needs someone who can wield it to defeat Krem. She leaves her six brothers and begins her quest, oddly with her mother’s blessings.

She offers the sword to a barbarian as payment when the task is completed, but the barbarian simply takes the sword and slaps Ruthye to the ground. He begins to walk out the door until a drunken hand grips his arm and stops him in his tracks. What he sees as a simple drunken blonde, turns out to be none other than Kara Zor-El, celebrating her 21st birthday.

Woman of Tomorrow 1 – Supergirl Runs Away

Now those of you who know anything about Kryptonian physiology should recognize one clue right off the bat. As I stated several times, Kara is not just buzzed but drunk off her ass. Kryptonians cannot get drunk under a yellow sun, so that should tell you this planet does not have a yellow sun, which means Kara lacks any type of power. Despite being powerless, this does not stop Kara from kicking the brainless oafs ass into the ground. She even bleeds when she grabs his sword at one point. The barbarian proves to be no problem….her blood alcohol content becomes another matter. The alcohol knocks her out.

She wakes up in the care of Ruthye. Ruthye sees hope if Kara will be her champion, but Kara wants nothing to do with anything….save the vomit bucket. The scene with Kara and Ruthye comes across rather cute. Kara keeps cussing, but since Ruthye does not understand the word, she asks if that’s the name of Kara’s husband. When Ruthye asks Kara to be her champion, Kara looks deep into Ruthye’s eyes….and throws up again. Ruthye’s response? I can wait. Moving forward these two look like they could have a fun dynamic. Kara then packs Krypto and her gear and rows off into the horizon. Except Ruthye knows what she found and swims after her. Her dialogue over the scene as she swims stresses how difficult the swim actually is and does a nice job adding some body to these panels.

When Kara refuses Ruthye once more, Ruthye explodes in pain for all she has lost. The monologue over these scenes talk about how Ruthye knew so little of Kara’s story. The artists do a great job of showing the pain seeping into Kara. She just wanted to get away and get drunk, not sucked into some child’s revenge plot. Kara begins to waiver as an arrow strikes her in the chest. Without her powers, it sinks home.

Woman of Tomorrow 1 – Speak of the Devil

Who should be at the other end of the bow? None other than Krem himself with the previously embarrassed barbarian at his heels. At this point the story goes John Wick meets Fellowship of the Ring. Krypto charges as any good dog would do, but he too lacks powers. One arrow to his chest and he goes down. WTF! You don’t kill Krypto!! Despite multiple arrows spouting from her chest, Kara charges and beats the crap out of the barbarian and causes poor Krem to flee for the hills. Well, it would have been the hills had Kara’s space ship not been sitting there primed for launch. The ship launches into space, taking Ruthye’s vengeance with it and leaving Kara and Krypto in pools of blood on the ground.

What a way to leave an issue! I knew King would deliver, but I never expected this. I am glad I checked this issue out. Once again Supergirl surprises me with its quality. This is such a unique story and with King behind the story I have no idea where it will go. Future State suggests everyone, even Krypto, will survive this story, but the dark feeling of Ruthye’s narrative at the beginning also suggests this will not be some fluff story. I expect great things in the issues ahead.

What did you guys think of Supergirl – Woman of Tomorrow 1? Is this a story you will jump on board for? Head over to DC Fanatics on Facebook and let us know what you thought of this new story arc.