Supergirl

Supergirl relaunched for the New 52 as a teenager who arrives on Earth angry, grieving and unwilling to accept that Krypton is gone. The Red Lantern arc is the run's most interesting stretch: Kara's rage qualifies her for a ring, and the book takes her anger seriously instead of treating it as a phase to be corrected. The Cyborg Superman reveal, that he is her father, is also one of the New 52's better retcons.

Supergirl: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1 is Kara Zor-El's historical foundation, built around secrecy, adolescence, Kryptonian legacy and the challenge of becoming a hero while living in Superman's shadow. The appeal is not modern decompression but origin texture: Linda Lee, hidden powers, family loss and the gradual construction of Supergirl as her own DC figure. For a character shelf, this is the place where Kara's long publishing identity really begins.

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow The Deluxe Edition collects Tom King and Bilquis Evely's eight-issue western in space, told by a teenage girl named Ruthye who hires Supergirl to help her hunt her father's killer across the galaxy. Kara is not the narrator, and seeing her through someone else's eyes is exactly what makes the book work. Evely and colourist Mat Lopes produced some of the most beautiful pages DC has published this decade.

Kara Zor-El spends the second half of the New 52 run angry enough to be handed a Red Lantern ring, which is exactly as bad an idea as it sounds. Red Daughter of Krypton is the stretch where the series finally works out what to do with a Supergirl who does not want to be a symbol.

A girl hires Supergirl to help her hunt the man who killed her father, and the journey across eight worlds turns into an argument about whether revenge is worth what it takes. King and Evely wrote the Supergirl story the film was built on, and it is a western more than a superhero comic.

Supergirl: The Silver Age, collected as a pack of 2 oversized omnibus volumes and cheaper than buying them one by one. Supergirl: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1 is Kara Zor-El's historical foundation, built around secrecy, adolescence, Kryptonian legacy and the challenge of becoming a hero while living in Superman's shadow. The appeal is not modern decompression but origin texture: Linda Lee, hidden powers, family loss and the gradual construction of Supergirl as her own DC figure. For a character shelf, this is the place where Kara's long publishing identity really begins. Continuing the Silver Age Supergirl saga, this second volume collects stories from Action Comics #308-376 as Linda Lee Danvers enrolls at Stanhope College and juggles her dual identity while facing cosmic threats. Supergirl encounters Lex Luthor's sister Lena Thorul, battles alongside the Legion of Super-Heroes, and considers leaving Earth for a planet of super-powered women. These stories showcase Supergirl coming into her own as a hero independent of Superman.

Continuing the Silver Age Supergirl saga, this second volume collects stories from Action Comics #308-376 as Linda Lee Danvers enrols at Stanhope College and juggles her dual identity while facing cosmic threats. Supergirl encounters Lex Luthor's sister Lena Thorul, battles alongside the Legion of Super-Heroes, and considers leaving Earth for a planet of super-powered women. These stories showcase Supergirl coming into her own as a hero independent of Superman.

Supergirl by Peter David Omnibus Vol. 1 collects the run that turned Supergirl into something genuinely strange: a shapeshifting protoplasmic being merged with a troubled human girl, forced to share one body and one conscience. Peter David wrote it for eighty issues and it is unlike any other Supergirl.