A Casual Nightmare: The Exclusive Preview of “Supergirl #10”

I’m struck by how each time I read this preview I catch myself wanting to turn the final page. Well not really turn the page, this preview is digital rather than physical. And yet, despite knowing that this is the final page, I always find myself wanting more. Co-authors Michael Green and Mike Johnson have found such deep and compelling art in a moment we can all recognize.

It’s a casual nightmare, the usual kind. A nightmare about the deepest kind of fear we experience–a nightmare where we relive the everyday. “Rescuer” opens back on Krypton, where Supergirl Kara Zor-El is reliving her memory he true Kryptonian romance–a trip to the gene-scanner. The strictures of Kryptonian society and custom are woven so tightly that even the traditional role of “matchmaker” has become scientifically encoded to become “gene-scanner”.

But deep in the heart of this lies a kernel that we can all understand. It’s a portrait of a Kryptonian Tiger Mom, and her daughter who is on the cusp of something. Something new, something bold. But of course, something Kryptonian society isn’t ready to yet allow for.

I shudder as I look down the years. What might have Kara become if she’d remained on Krypton? Or if Krypton itself had remained, unassailed, hegemonic? Easily her dreams would have died. Easily she would have become the Kryptonian equivalent of “The Woman in the Wall”, immortalized in that Beautiful South track of the same name.

In a beautiful, captivating moment, Michael and Mike remind us all, that the true horror isn’t Supergirl suddenly waking up on an alien world. But the horror of maybe needing to have led an ordinary life, one where the superhero inside of her would never have woken.

Please enjoy your preview of Supergirl #10