SUPERGIRL: WOMAN OF TOMORROW Review

Kara Zor-El has seen some epic adventures over the years, but she now finds her life without meaning or purpose. Here she is, a young woman who saw her planet destroyed and was sent to Earth to protect a baby cousin who ended up not needing her. What was it all for? Wherever she goes, people only see her through the lens of Superman’s fame. Just when Supergirl thinks she’s had enough, everything changes. An alien girl seeks her out for a vicious mission. Her world has been destroyed, and the bad guys responsible are still out there. She wants revenge, and if Supergirl doesn’t help her, she’ll do it herself, whatever the cost. Now a Kryptonian, a dog, and an angry, heartbroken child head out into space on a journey that will shake them to their very core.

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Supergirl Cover

SUPERGIRL: WOMAN OF TOMORROW

By Tom King and Bilquis Evely 

  • Collects Issues #1 – 8 
  • Publisher : DC 
  • Release : 7/26/2022
  • Softcover : 224 pages
  • Dimensions : 6.6″ x 10.1″
  • Reading Age : 13+ years
  • MSRP : $19.99
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"Soon to be a adapted into a major motion picture"

"One of my favorite comic book series from last year was Tom King's run on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and so we're going to turn that into a big science fiction Epic film."
James Gunn
Filmmaker

With the announcement by James Gunn on 2/1/2022, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow almost immediately sold out from most booksellers. The series started in June 2021 and wrapped up in Feb 2022. I picked up the #1 when it first came out and then waited a year for the trade to come out in July 2022. The series actually concluded with mixed acclaim. It only showed up on a couple “Best of” lists in 2021 or 2022. Likewise, the series was overlooked by most award bodies. The series garnered respectable reviews with the fans including a 4.7 on Amazon, 4.39 on Goodreads, and 7.8 on Comic Book Round Up. 

I believe the year 2021 suffered somewhat from “King fatigue”. He had just recently come off stellar years winning “Best Writer” in 2018 and 2019. Since that time he has become somewhat of a controversial figure with fans. He had multiple projects in 2021 including his Batman/Catwoman series, Rorschach, Strange Adventures, and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed some of his recent DC “Black Label” imprint projects like Mister Miracle, Strange Adventures, and Human Target.  DC’s “Black Label” imprint is used for projects generally outside continuity and for adult readers. I was surprised to discover that Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow was not a “Black Label” imprint, and therefor, should be in mainstream continuity. 

My marching orders [from the editorial team] were simply, “make Supergirl bad ass.”
Tom King
Tom King
Writer

In Tom King’s substack, Everlasting Productions, he explained that DC editors Jamie Rich and Brittany Holzherr worked on the project and gave him the marching orders, “make Supergirl bad ass.” King actually pitched a story based around the 1968 classic western novel about vengeance/justice, True Grit by Charles Portis (adapted to the screen in 1969 with John Wayne and again in 2010 by the Cohen Brothers with Jeff Bridges). King’s original pitch was to pair Supergirl with Lobo  (DC’s interstellar mercenary/bounty hunter), however, almost immediately it became clear that the story only worked with Supergirl as the capable and hardened mentor.

"Using her pain to teach someone new how to deal with their own pain—that was a better story than anything I’d get out of Lobo."
Tom King
Tom King
Writer

The story is told through the narration of Ruthye, a young teenage girl trying to avenge her father’s murder. She secures Supergirl’s help and they travel through many worlds witnessing death in destruction in pursuit of the murderer. Ruthye’s dialogue is meant to be heavy, eloquent, and a bit loquacious throughout the series. I plugged the dialogue from the climactic scene in issue #8 into a readability consensus calculator and confirmed the text was 12th grade+ in its complexity. 

“Worlds will live and worlds will die and evil will carve its name into the innocent and good people will do good acts and suffer all the same. And everywhere girls will be born with their eyes open to the hate ahead of them, and they will wonder if their voice will be heard above the screams. And in that moment of doubt they will learn, as I have learned, of the Legend of Supergirl, who lost everything and kept on walking. Then they will settle themselves, content in their power, knowing someone out there has survived the storm. That tomorrow, when malice will make its attempt and help is begged from the heavens, there is a woman waiting.” – Ruthyie (Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow)     

"Supergirl has incredible depth that in some ways Superman just doesn't have."
Tom King
Tom King
Writer

Our Take: Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow adds to the wealth of quality projects put out by Tom King that are worthy of a prominent place on your ever-limited shelf space. This story is an instant classic that helps Supergirl step out from the shadow of her famous cousin to reveal the depth and complexity of a truly ‘bad ass’ character capable of epitomizing truth, justice, and a better tomorrow. 9/10

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