Review: Supergirl: Curse of the Ancients

Supergirl: Curse of the Ancients by Jo Whittemore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Holy Roman Empire, Batman!

(#SorryNotSorry, that one begged to happen.)

Reading the follow-up to Age of Atlantis comes at a strange time for me as a Supergirl fan - or, more accurately, ex-fan, since I've quit watching the show now. It was a long time coming, given how Season 3 was just such a garbage mess of nonsensical doom and gloom and throwing away some of the best characters and pandering to virulent Mon-El haters in particular. Even knowing Jeff Schechter, that old Stitchers top dog, is coming into the picture next year can't convince me to continue. Like a lot of my friends, especially in the Karamel fandom, the show's pretty much ended with Season 2 for me.

But here, just like in Age of Atlantis, we get a strong resurgence of the Season 2 Peak Supergirl vibe. And just like in the first book of this trilogy, Whittemore again gives us superior depictions of the characters, far better than the writers of the actual show were able to give us. Maybe I was a little put off by the inclusion of a few of my least favorite characters, though. Like Lyra, whose relationship with Winn, I still remember for all the wrong reasons. Or especially Lena Luthor - the effects of the titular Curse of the Ancients on Lena were so humorous that frankly I think they'd be beyond Katie McGrath's ability to portray, because she's just so stoic on the show that it consistently crosses the line into wooden.

That said, though, Whittemore makes a lot of my faves pop off the page like they really did step out of an unused Season 2 script. Mon's more of a goofball - he's still not as mature as we know he can become. J'onn and Alex are terrific leaders, as expected. James, he's really coming into his own as Guardian. Winn is made of a million references a minute, just the way I like him. And Kara? She's hit hard with some self-doubt, but that's what her friends are for, to give her the properly timed pep talks she needs. She even gets one from Iris West, of all people, in a surprise cameo that runs parallel to the events of The Flash: Johnny Quick. And while I immediately cringed at seeing Iris because I'm so used to rolling my eyes at the chemistry-free corniness of WestAllen, I quickly overrode that reaction because it's only Iris in this scene, and she's nothing if not motivationally gifted.

Best of all, the very storyline feels like it would've made a wonderful alternative to the Mxyzptlk episode. Not only because of the reality warping, not only because of the bizarre sense of humor (even getting into literal Roman toilet humor at times too), but especially because of a certain scene involving a theater. All that's missing is the Holy Couch, but that's to be expected since this book's geared for kids.

So far there's not much word on the third and final volume of this trilogy. No title, no storyline, nada. But it'll come soon, I hope. And I also especially hope Whittemore doesn't emulate Season 3 too much. Or at all, even. We could do without traumatizing the kiddies with a post-Mon, post-Winn, and absolutely post-canon story.

View all my reviews