Review by Woodrow Phoenix

Secret Entity! is book four of Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade, a revision of Supergirl especially designed for a middle-school readership, with a simplified origin and a story outside  regular DC continuity. Landry and Jones continue to add complications to Linda Lee’s life in Stanhope Boarding School with another character drawn from the original 1960s stories. Back then, Supergirl and Superboy owned so many super-powered animals between them that there was (for a while, anyway) a Legion of Super-Pets: Streaky the supercat, Krypto the superdog, Comet the superhorse and Beppo – a supermonkey.

This time around, Supergirl’s attempts to neutralise the deadly radiation from Green Kryptonite lead to a little orange cat becoming super powered and self aware, but is he going to use that new intelligence and power for good or for evil? Linda, science-whiz Lena and Green-K duplicate Belinda have to team up to deal with the fallout from this new problem (Belinda: “Did that cat just punch me?!”). Then Lena makes a discovery that could transform her friendship with Linda – from best friends to best foes.

Supergirl’s Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade is an exhilaratingly smart romp with a girl-positive cast rare in superhero comics and even rarer in comics for young readers. The adventures continue in Evil in a Skirt! Although the hardcover binding makes this a thick book, it’s only 22 pages of story. This is ideal for young readers, but there is also a trade paperback with all six parts complete in one place as Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade.  It’s not as sturdy as this book with its library binding, but is much better value for almost the same price.