Candor is a 2006 Supergirl storyline written by Greg Rucka, originally published in Supergirl (Volume 5).
Synopsis
Ultraman has taken over the Bottle City of Kandor II -named after the original Kryptonian Kandor-, populated by aliens of varying worlds. The ruling class is made up for those who Ultraman deems "Kryptonians" and the lower class for everyone else. Only the heroes Flamebird and Nightwing oppose Ultraman's brutal dictatorship.
Kara Zor-El is leaving a tatto parlor when she's ambushed by three aliens. They insinuate they intend to rape her, and the tallest grabs her by her neck. Feeling no fear, Kara warns them against picking a fight with her, but they don't want to listen. Nightwing turns up to talk them down but they don't want listen to her either, and Kara has run out of patience. Kara beats the three of them up and is about to blast one of them down when Nightwing flies in and takes her to the top of a building.
Nightwing takes her mask off, revealing to be Kara Zor-L, and tells her counterpart if she craves for a fight so badly she can fight her. Supergirl glares for a moment but then she relents, looks away and apologises. She mutters she wasn't really going to kill those thugs, she just lost her temper because she's attacked and insulted by the very people she's trying to save. Power Girl is worried about Supergirl's snappy mood she's been in of late, and thinks she should take her younger self home, but Supergirl doesn't want to leave, even though she's been there for one month. She doesn't fit in the outside world and she thinks she can find in Kandor a lead to Argo City. Power Girl tells she'll help Kara find the way back Argo when their mission is over.
Later, Flamebird and Nightwing break several aliens free. Unfortunately Flamebird is angry at Ultraman and his followers sullying her cousin's name and her family emblem, and her anger makes her fight sloppily; a soldier manages to tear her costume's back during the brawl and sees her tatto written on Kryptonese.
Ultraman later arrives and is informed about Flamebird's tattoo. Ultraman deduces both heroes are Kryptonians, something nobody can know about. Ultraman quickly kills all of his followers who took part in the fight and sends out his enforcers to hunt down Flamebird and Nightwing.
On her apartment, Supergirl is taking a shower but she still feels dirty. When she shuts her eyes she sees hallucinations which she believes to be real memories of her father indoctrinating her in killing her cousin. Power Girl walks in to tell her it's the time... and she's worried about Supergirl. Her counterpart is getting more unstable.
Meanwhile, Ultraman finds the tattooist who marked Flamebird, and begins torturing Chezzt by ripping his arms off. Afterwards he reports to a female figure in the shadows.
Flamebird and Nightwing meet Mamoth, leader of the resistance. Both heroines' actions have stirred Ultraman up, and his troops are scouring the whole city in their search. Then Ultraman publicly announces that he will kill one-hundred aliens every ten minutes unless Flamebird and Nightwing surrender themselves.
Ultraman stages a public execution at sunset, disguising human-shaped bombs like hostages. Both Karas fall into the trap but endure the explosion and attack Ultraman. Supergirl beats Ultraman up as Power Girl crushes his enforcers.
Supergirl lays a beatdown on Ultraman, infuriated at his impersonation of her cousin, when she's assaulted by a string of fake memories. Then she's mind-controlled into surrendering to Ultraman by the same person who's just disabled Power Girl and has created that whole reality: Saturn Queen.
After capturing Power Girl and brainwashing Supergirl into becoming Ultraman's betrothed, Saturn Queen interrogates Power Girl with zero success. As she tries to break Power Girl both physically and mentally, though, she realizes something is going wrong with Kara.
Kara's talking to Ultraman, who off-handily states he'd just die if she broke on their wedding night and he doesn't want to wait so long for ravishing her. His careless innuendo triggers on Kara hallucinations of her father wanting her to kill Kal-El which weaken Saturn Queen's hold.
Saturn Queen barges in the chamber to restore her mind-control. Upon touching Kara's mind again, Kara gets a glimpse into her memories. She sees Saturn Queen and the Legion of Super-Villains setting out to create a new reality by travelling far into the past and indoctrinating the future Superman and Batman.[1] Their plan failed, and following Alexander Luthor's attempt to create a new reality by restructuring the Multiverse, Saturn Queen and Ultraman were displaced from their native timelines/realities and temporarily shunted into the Phantom Zone. Since escaping, Saturn Queen mind-controlled Ultraman into being her "son" and calling himself Kal-El, and used her mental powers to create her own personal version of Kandor.
Supergirl tries to fight Saturn Queen's brainwashing, but the villainess reasserts her mind control. Though she triggers more horrible hallucinations which make Kara snap and finally break free of the brainwashing. Saturn Queen mind-controls Ultraman into attacking her, but an infuriated Kara punches him across the city.
Panicked, Saturn Queen quickly heads to the place where Power Girl is awaiting for her execution and orders the executioner to cut her head off now. However Supergirl arrives right then, smashes the executioner down and frees her counterpart.
Ultraman turns up to kill both women, but Supergirl and Power Girl fight him, and their battle becomes the spark that ignites the Kandorian rebellion. Supergirl defeats Ultraman and her hallucinations are goading her into killing him, but Saturn Girl asks her to spare him in exchange for the truth about Argo City.
Supergirl agrees to spare Ultraman's life and suddenly flies off. Confused, Power Girl trails after her.
Issues
- Supergirl (Volume 5) #6 (Candor, Part I of III)
- Supergirl (Volume 5) #7 (Candor, Part II of III)
- Supergirl (Volume 5) #8 (Candor, Part III of III)
Notes
- "Supergirl: Candor" was a three-part story chronicled in issues #6-8 of Supergirl (Volume 5). The events from this storyline take place during the "missing year" following the events of Superman/Batman: Absolute Power and Infinite Crisis.
- Later it was revealed this Kandor wasn't the real Kandor II but a false reality created by Saturn Queen.
- Supergirl (Volume 5) #35 also revealed Supergirl's mood swings and brittle temper were caused by Kryptonite poisoning.
- Kara's being exposed to Black Kryptonite happened in Supergirl: Girl Power.
- Argo City indeed survived Krypton, but it was also destroyed thrity-five years prior to this issue's events.
- The title is apparently a misspelled of Kandor.
Recommended Reading
- Supergirl Recommended Reading
- Action Comics (Volume 1)
- Adventure Comics (Volume 1)
- All-Star Comics (Volume 1)
- Supergirl (Volume 1)
- Superman Family (Volume 1)
- Supergirl (Volume 2)
- Infinity Inc. (Volume 1)
- Power Girl (Volume 1)
- Supergirl (Volume 3)
- Supergirl (Volume 4)
- Supergirl (Volume 5)
- Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 1)
- Power Girl (Volume 2)
- Supergirl (Volume 6)
- Worlds' Finest (Volume 1)
- Supergirl (Volume 7)
- Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (Volume 1)
Links and References
Supergirl Storyline This event or storyline is specifically related to the character of Supergirl and/or her supporting cast. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the Supergirl Storylines category. |
Superman Family Storyline This event or storyline is specifically related to Superman, or to members of the Superman Family. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the Superman Storylines category. |