Kara Zor-El faces the horror of herself reflected through a warped genetic lens in the latest issue of Supergirl. Writer Marc Andreyko weaves a strangely poetic chapter in the life of the young Kryptonian drawn by Eduardo Pansica with inks by Julio Ferriera. FCO Plascencia and Chris Sotomayor handle the coloring. Action lashes out of the issue with a few moments of serious drama in another space opera issue as Kara continues to search for the origin of her home planet’s destruction. The chapter surfaces triumphantly from more than a few dead moments to render horrors that galvanize the heroine for the dangers that lie ahead.

As the issue opens, Kara faces Harry Hokem’s horrific menagerie of monstrosities that have been haphazardly cloned from her DNA. Thankfully, she doesn’t have to face the horrors alone as she is joined by the Omega Men super team. Their aid levels the playing field for Supergirl, who is reluctant to use her demon ax from hell as it feeds on her anger and amplifies it. Still...it couldn’t hurt to use it just a bit, could it? Is Kara’s outrage at the horrors generated from her DNA genuine, or is some of it a product of the corrupting influence of the alien battle ax?

Andreyko aims the first half of the issue at Supergirl’s battle with her monstrous semi-clones. Some of the dialogue and. Captions feel awkward and unnecessary, but the action itself is given more than enough impact and variety to keep it from feeling like a nebulous 10-11 page slugfest. Of particular note are a few different moments of connection between Supergirl and the Omega Man Ryand’r that cast the brutality of the action in an interesting light. There’s a rather novel showdown between Supergirl and Harry Hokum near issue’s end that lends extra power to an issue so wholly immersed in combat.

Intensely explosive moments punctuate Pansica’s art. Occasionally the level of detail being added to the page collides into itself, taking away some of the energy of the aggression, but Pansica and Ferriera make-up for the busy mess of the detail with some awe-inspiring moments of dramatic action. Though Kara exhibits a range of emotion in this issue, it’s her anger that is the most overwhelming Pansica, and Ferriera brings to the page most impressively. The level of detail rendered in ink doesn’t give Sotomayor a whole lot of space to work, but the color DOES make an impact on this issue. The eerie skeletal blue of one of Kara’s semi-clones makes a creepy visceral impact. Some of the issue’s energy blasts are given a luminosity that adds atmosphere.

There’s a lot of potential in a story that pits Supergirl against monstrous mutation of herself. And while Andreyko and company find exciting ways of delivering the horror of that action to the page, the overall execution lacks the inventiveness that could have accompanied an issue like this. That being said, the inner conflict that Kara feels rests entirely at the center of a story continues to come across convincingly.

Grade: B-