Supergirl #18 - DC

This one, I have to admit, had me confused a little. This other Supergirl shows up this issue. Claims she's the real one, and that Kara has been a mistake all along. They go back and forth at each other for most of the issue. But then, towards the end, we get some major revelations. It happens after the "new" Supergirl finally has her pretty beaten down emotionally. She has her facing all of her doubts, and has her convinced that the world would be better off without her. So basically she just absorbs Kara into herself. But . . . Kara's a fighter. Not a quitter. She burst out of her . . . prison . . and tells her, "A tip for your super-scrapbook "honey" . . . . don't play mind games against a crazy chick. I am messed up. I make mistakes all the time . . . I feel stupid and scared and ugly and insecure, just like everybody else . . . but when I blow it, I don't shrivel up and die. I get myself up. I try to do better. I always try again." It turns out that this other Supergirl is actually Dark Angel. And she's an agent of a Monitor. "Dark Angel is one of many agents we used to prod and provoke the anomalies, in order to ensure their veracity in this world . . ." It turns out, she has been being tested, by this Dark Angel, and the monitors, ever since the beginning. She got her in space, after the Father Box exploded, and has been testing her ever since. The whole thing about the memories of her father, and how he made her a weapon to destroy Kal-el, all a charade. She's also the one that set the assassins on her tail. She's not responsible for the phantoms that are following Superman, but I think she is responsible for the Red-Sun thing. It's a little confusing at the end. But the Monitor decides that she's where she's supposed to be, so they'll leave her alone from now on. But where they leave her is out in deep space. And someone is there waiting for her. But . . . we won't find out who, until next issue. I think that this is Joe Kelly's last story-arc for this book. So apparently he's trying to wrap up everything, all the way back to the Superman / Batman story. I loved the story, but I have to say I wasn't to thrilled about the art. Ale' Garza is still on the pencils, but this issue he's assisted by Adam Archer. And I have to say, the mixture of the two, gave it a real "comic" look. I wasn't pleased at all. But hopefully it was only for this one issue. From the looks of the DC previews, I think Tony Bedard and Renato Guedes are taking over after this story. But, those are for some Amazon Attacks crossover books, so I don't know if they'll be the regular creative team. But I guess we'll find out soon enough. My only concern is that when they have a good creative team on this book, it does amazingly well. When that team changes . . . it starts to sink. And I really like this character. So I would like to see her done right. But mines just one voice. So . . . . we'll see.