In this review of Supergirl: Survive #3, a Lantern ring-powered Kara returns to the former site of Krypton in the home of creating a new home for her and Kal.
Supergirl: Survive #3
Writers: Ethan S. Parker & Griffin Sheridan
Art and Main Cover: Rod Reis
Variant Covers: Taurin Clarke, Stephen Byrne
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: August 5, 2026
Supergirl: Survive #3 opens by jumping back in time and filling in some of the gaps; namely, why, having originally been rescued by the Lantern Corps, were Kara and Kal alone and able to be kidnapped by the Lobo Gang.
The guardians ordered the two surviving Kryptonians brought to Oa, on an indirect route avoiding any systems with yellow suns. However, the guardians are incredibly vague about how and why this will be a dangerous mission, leading the lanterns to be anxious, not knowing what precautions they may need to take or whether the threat will come from Kara and Kal. Kara decides to leave before they can make up their minds, stealing an escape pod and trying to make her way to Earth with Kal on her own. This is what led to the kidnapping, the death of the Blue Lantern, Bro’Dee, and Kara’s possession of the blue power ring.
A full year after Krypton’s destruction, Kara and Kal are discovered by the fifth-dimensional being, Ms. Mxyzptlk, living on a projected recreation of Krypton and moving slowly through space, hoping to make it to Earth under their own power.
While I thought the pacing of the first issue was perfect, and the second issue wasn’t bad, this third issue drags a bit. It rushes through explaining the missing bits of the timeline and spends an over-extended period with Mxyzptlk poking holes in Kara’s projection of Kandor. I don’t mind nonlinear narratives, but introducing Bro’Dee and hearing her conversation about how Blue Lanterns are powered by hope and the ring reacts to Kara, is much less impactful that it would have been had we seen and heard it before Bro’Dee had died and the ring passed to Kara.
That being said, Issue 1’s strong messages about the fallacy of staying neutral, of being apart from the bad things happening in the world around you, are brought back in full force by Ms. Mxyzptlk. She points out that Kara’s hopes for finding refuge on Earth are a delusion if Kara believes that the conflicts that boiled over and ultimately destroyed Krypton don’t exist in some form on Earth, or on every planet. That Kara, having experienced and survived a society that destroyed itself, could do a lot of good helping those in danger of going the same way.
What I was not fond of was Mxyzptlk’s god-like powers being used to snap away the power ring like it had never existed. It’s understandable the Kara the Blue Lantern and Kara as Supergirl are two interesting but decidedly different storylines, but to start down one path and abruptly say “nevermind” with no apparent consequences seems cheap. I am willing to be proven wrong, since Kara and Kal’s journey is not over. But I am dubious at this point.
Final Thoughts
Halfway through the series and I’m not sure what to expect next; will Kara end up fighting the Lantern Corps? Will we ever get to Earth? I’m sticking around to find out but I’m no longer feeling as confident in the people in the driver’s seat.
