Supergirl (2010) # 63

 By Mark Rodriguez

A Harvard kid named Alex created the Flyover app that lets anybody report superhero sightings so he can send robot replicas of super villains after them. Supergirl tracked him down thanks to Robin and Blue Beetle, as well as Miss Martian who was sent undercover. Alex captured Miss Martian and has control over her, and sends her after Supergirl. After Blue Beetle sends off a sonic shockwave, Alex's computer teleports everybody away to his main lair. Supergirl was left behind as she was knocked unconscious by Alex's Kryptonian heat vision and landed out of teleport range. What will happen now?

"Good Looking Corpse part 4" begins with Lois Lane sitting at the hospital waiting to hear on the condition of her informant, Catherine whose son was recently murdered thanks to Alex. The news on TV switches from the news to the recent incident at Harvard and show images of Supergirl knocked out. The nurse calls for Lois, as she is able to see Catherine now. Lois asks how she's doing and the nurse says if she means in general or considering the fact that her son was murdered. Lois apologizes for sounding so blase and the nurse says she expected as such from a news reporter.

Supergirl wakes up and sees Alex's friends, Justin, David and Elise. Supergirl remembers the fight with Miss Martian and how Alex surprisingly blasted her with eye beams. She realizes that Alex has her friends and flies off. Elise wonders if they should say something and Justin says it's better if she finds out for herself. Supergirl crashes against some sort of invisible barrier and comes crashing back down.

Alex watches this from his computer, who tells him the rehab cycle still has 30 minutes. He says the clock is ticking and they have work to do. We see that Blue Beetle and Robin are tied down. 

Lois sits alongside Catherine who says she wanted to tell her the truth about the Cadmus project. Catherine explains that he didn't just escape from the lab, she helped set him free. 

Justin, Elise and David take Supergirl to the computer in the Harvard server room. We notice that it starts raining and the water hits the invisible barrier that surrounds the area. The college kids woke up in the area and noticed they were the only ones left on campus, but have no memory of how they got there. Supergirl says she finds this very convenient and then flies off telling the kids they'll understand. She wants to test a theory and the kids are confused as to what she means.

Alex is impressed that he was able to get Blue Beetle's secrets about the Justice League so easily but can't get anything out of Robin. Robin says it runs in the family. Alex says that he has very impressive mental defenses and will instead try to make him face his deepest darkest fears. Damian envisions a nightmare scenario where he kills the Bat-Family, much to his mother's approval. 

At one point, Bruce and Dick were both Batman at the same time

Catherine tells Lois that Alex promised to cure her son. Lois is still surprised she helped him considering she was very devoted to Cadmus. Catherine said she'd understand if she had a son, she couldn't bear to see a child suffer like that. Lois says her son's illness still doesn't justify what she did. Catherine says she wasn't talking about her son. 

Supergirl feels bad since everyone, except Robin, trusted her and thought she knew what she was doing. She tears into one of the busted up drones. Justin asks if they can be filled in on what she's up to. Supergirl finds the Kryptonian Sunstone that powers the drone and tells them they'll find out soon enough. 

Catherine explains that Alex was grown in a lab. His age was accelerated and his education was implanted. He was raised by an AI 'Father System'. She considered this inhumane and unfeeling. Lois asked if she took it upon herself to mother him. Catherine prefers to say they developed a bond. She stands up, her eyes glowing red, telling the reporter that these types of bonds are very difficult to break. 

Alex is watching what Catherine is doing from his computer and he tells it that if they wait any longer they'll be having a gatecrasher on their hands. We also see Justin, David and Elise are actually imprisoned behind him. Alex tells his Father AI to create one last portal, the time has come for the masks to come off.

Supergirl is working on something and Justin asks her if she's finished. Supergirl says she is, and so are they as she activates the Flyover App Test Mode. This makes the college kids that are with her short circuit and fall over, revealing that were robot drones.

Alex appears in front of Supergirl, saying he's impressed. He admits the fake college kids were meant to keep her busy long enough for him to recover. Supergirl flies at him yelling to let her friends go. Alex raises his hand and uses his telepathic powers to send the heroine flying against a wall. He moves his hand back and forth making her fly and crash against opposites side of the room. He says no and thrusts his hand downwards, making the Kryptonian slam against the ground. 

Supergirl is hurt and says there's no way he's Kryptonian. Alex raises her off the ground with his powers and says he only has some Kryptonian DNA to spice up his genetics. Supergirl asks what he is and he says it'll be easier just show her. Alex reveals himself to be Dubbilex!

My thoughts- 

So Alex turned out to be one of Cadmus' creations, Dubbilex all along, I'm assuming cloned or something, seeing as he was created in the lab. He has appeared before in comics and it seems he even appeared in the Young Justice cartoon show. 

The story is a bit of a breather story as the characters prepare for the final battle. Supergirl gets a chance to gain her bearings, Catherine explains Alex's backstory and Alex finally reveals his true identity. It seems his father was really just an AI after all.

One thing I noticed is that between the images of the phone app and all the screens that Alex is always looking at, the artists had a field day re-using and re-sizing previous panels, rather than re-drawing things in different angles. Even the news on TV would sometimes re-use panels. 

I did like the panel with Damian facing his greatest fear, to actually become the killer that Talia wants him to be. Despite his attitude, he does care for and respect his family in his own way. The page does take me back considering where the Bat-Family was back then. 

There was a time where Bruce was presumed dead, so Dick took up the role, with Damian becoming Robin. When Bruce came back, he decided to leave Dick as Batman in Gotham while he carried on being Batman elsewhere as he led Batman Incorporated against Leviathan. Tim was Red Robin and Stephanie was Batgirl. Of course all of that changed after the New 52 reboot.

It looks like this will ramp up and also wrap up in the following issue. Let's see where all of this leads. Also, I'm assuming Alex/Dubbilex was meant to be the 'Good Looking Corpse' the story is named after?

Also what the hell with the nurse snapping at Lois? All she said was 'is she ok?' Like what else would anyone ask in that situation?