You need to go buy Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures

(Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade # 6. Isn't that just about the coolest cover you've ever seen? Answer = yes!)

This is not so much a review but an endorsement and long overdue thank you to Landry Walker and Eric Jones. Regular readers of Addicted to Distraction will recall my ongoing quest to find Supergirl comics that I could buy for my daughter. Well, the quest has prevailed and not only does my daughter have all six issues of the Supergirl mini-series but she has autographs from writer Landry Walker and artist Eric Jones. Mr. Walker saw the details of our quest here on teh intronets and made sure we got the comics we needed. See, teh intronets are not 100% evil after all. So a big round of applause for Mr. Walker and Mr. Jones for making my seven-year-old's jaw drop and for making me the coolest daddy that lives in my house.

Now, just a little about the comics themselves. After prying them out of my daughter's hands, I got to read them and they are great. By far the best comics I've read from a mainstream publisher this year I would say they are right up there with All-Star Superman as the best Superman family related comics I've read in years and years. They are right up there with the stories in the Showcase Superman book. If I were to sit down and think about everything I want in a Supergirl book it would look a lot like this comic.

Each issue is it's own self-contained 8th grade adventure but the six issue story as a whole is genius. At first, I was a bit critical of Supergirl's character design. I thought she looked a bit too scruffy and boyish but when I read the comics I get it. She's not supposed to be the prettiest girl in school. She's supposed the be the clueless alien girl who has no idea how to fit in. So, in the context of the story, Jones' Supergirl is perfect. (He also draws a sweet Superman.)

Walker's storytelling is really tight. Each story has a lot of elements working on multiple levels. He is covering a lot of ground at a breakneck pace. There is a good supporting cast in the book and they are well established by the end of the 2nd issue. There are some narrative short cuts and a lot of funny yet challenging interludes and time jumps that I worried might throw a young reader off but my daughter seemed to get all of them and laugh at all the right spots. She liked them so much that she stayed up reading them in bed with a flashlight the way comics are supposed to be read.

So, if you love comics and especially if you love fun wacky Super-comics then you need to track these suckers down. Hopefully DC will have the sense to collect it. If so I think it will make a perfect holiday and/or birthday purchase for any comics fan ages seven to seventy. (And if DC has any sense at all they will make this an ongoing series.)

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith