Supergirl is set to make an appearance in her first solo film in 42 years. Her new film will be based on Tom King’s graphic novel Woman of Tomorrow, so now is a good time to check it out.
On a planet with a red sun, a teenage girl, Ruthye Marye Kroll, wants revenge against the man who murdered her father, Krem of the Yellow Hills. When seeking a bounty hunter, Ruthye crosses paths with Supergirl, who arrived on the planet to celebrate her 21st birthday. When Krem of the Yellow Hills steals Supergirl’s spaceship, Supergirl and Ruthye go on a long hunt for the criminal who commits atrocities across the galaxy.
On a surface level, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow can be seen as an entertaining space opera, and it fulfils that task. Supergirl and Ruthye hop from planet to planet, meet various aliens, fight dinosaur-like creatures, and battle space pirates. The setup was like a Western, particularly True Grit, where a young girl hires a bounty hunter and travels to a dangerous land so they can get revenge.
True Grit was a great story to lift ideas from, and it worked in a space setting. Supergirl and Ruthye saw many unique worlds, some similar to Earth, others more extraordinary. The pair developed a sisterly relationship, and they both set out to protect each other.
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow was a dark story. Krem was a sadistic monster of a man. He teamed up with the Barbond’s Brigands and got to commit horrific acts across the galaxy. The Brigands committed atrocities for intimidation and profit; Krem did it for fun. Supergirl and Ruthye kept seeing the horrific aftermath of the crimes. One planet allowed genocide to be committed against its ‘underclass’ so the more powerful race could survive. One of my favourite moments in the graphic novel was showing Supergirl’s shellshocked expression after she viewed footage of the Brigands committing their crimes. This moment effectively said everything with one image.
Supergirl’s backstory was also dark and tragic. Her home city was the only one to survive Krypton’s destruction, but it ended up suffering a worse fate. Everyone ended up being afflicted with radiation poisoning, and Kara Zor-El saw everyone she ever knew die a slow and agonising death. Kara’s father did try to find a way to save Argo City, which needed every able man, woman, and child put to labour, including Kara. It was a powerful image to see a teenage Kara hammer a pole into concrete in a radiation-filled air. Sadly, all of this was to no avail.
Despite all this darkness in this quest and Supergirl’s tragic backstory, her compassion remained. She wasn’t just fighting bad guys; she used her powers to help victims of the massacres. One of my favourite scenes in the graphic novel was when Supergirl was feeding a victim of massacres. Supergirl offered a small act of kindness to someone who suffered life-changing injuries. It’s an act I like to see superheroes perform, showing that no action is too small.
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow was an excellent graphic novel that re-contextualised a classic story template and explored Supergirl’s character and heroism.
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