Recently an LCS not too far from me was having a half off everything sale. Naturally, I partook.

And I have to go back for a few more, come to think of it…

As I was browsing the Superman collected editions- always the first place I go in any comic store- I picked up a copy of a solid miniseries that I read some years back but had forgotten.

Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom was released during a time where the Superman books were compelling reading every month, with Geoff Johns writing Action and Kurt Busiek on Superman. The mini was written by the tag team of Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, whose work I had loved on Hawkman a few years before, with art by veteran Phil Noto. It is a great comic and one of my favorite Supergirl stories I’ve read.

It also came along at the perfect time, as it washed out the bad taste of the recent Supergirl trailer.

I picked it up and reread it the day I brought it home, and found myself enjoying it again, but this time I thought I’d ask myself what it is I enjoyed about it, and what it is about Supergirl, specifically.

I think what’s great about Supergirl (regardless of which version you’re reading) that’s different from other derivative characters is, while she’s fun in her own right, she also brings a different emotional resonance to Superman’s world. We get to see Superman interacting with someone else in a unique way like with no other character.

As Jeph Loeb demonstrated nicely in his “Supergirl” arc on Superman/Batman, Kara is a connection to Superman’s family and heritage, which is a nice way of sharing the burden of being the survivor of an enormous disaster (there’s also often a link to the Kents in various versions of Kara, which is cool as well).

Superman also gets to show his love and concern for someone who is not his spouse, coworker or civilian, something that’s nice to see, and it’s always cool to see two Kryptonians teaming up in huge DC events as well. Supergirl really brings out a side of the Man of Steel, and awesome action, that I enjoy reading very much.

For me, Kara herself is at her best when she’s spunky and positive, albeit real. She has real emotions and even more of a weight of surviving Krypton’s destruction, in that she was a young girl when she escaped, and not a baby. Still, the tragedy does not define her, but allows her to be grateful for her cousin and for her new home on planet Earth. The mix of those two aspects are what make her interesting.

While Supergirl has been a hard character for some writers to nail down at times (where have I heard that before..?) Palmiotti and Gray do a good job in Maelstrom. The story takes place shortly after Kara has adjusted to arriving on Earth, as she and Kal-El take some time off on a planet where they have no superpowers. Simultaneously, there is a new Female Fury on Apokalips who wants to be picked as Darkseid’s bride by killing Superman, the thorn in her master’s side.

The dialogue between the supers is a lot of fun, if whiny at times, and the villain is a really good addition to the DCU. Her motivation is one I hadn’t thought of for a character, but makes sense since we know that Darkseid has sired children. Palmiotti and Gray seem to attempt a sort of juxtaposition between Supergirl and Maelstrom, which could have been explored a bit more. The art by Noto doesn’t blow your mind but it does the job for the story.

I wish the “Supergirl brand” was more along the lines of this story and others of its time. I get trying to distinguish Supergirl from her cousin, but the angry, drunk, emo Supergirl doesn’t do it for me.

If she wears the ‘S,’ then it should mean something. If you want to do an alternate take, a self-discovery story or maybe a multiverse thing, have the character wear something else.

Every character that does so in Superman’s world- Steel, the various Superboys, even Lois nowadays, has a subtle but inspiring nobility about them. It is something that is part and parcel with the character and his world. Is it too late for someone to please tell James Gunn?

Okay, I’ll stop, sorry.

If you’re interested in checking out Maelstrom, it is an overlooked, fun read from a great era for Superman and DC. If you’re interested in picking up a book about who Supergirl really is in the comics, you could do a lot worse than this.