Supergirl has now undergone three major iterations. The newest one, debuting in the mid-2000s, may not be the best, but the newest heroine does have certain transgressive elements the other two could not have pulled off, as SUPERGIRL #15 demonstrates.
Without going in to the backstory of the heroine, suffice to say that this story builds on some of the familial traumas that inform Supergirl's origins. The story itself concludes an arc in which Supergirl, having dated a superhero named Power Boy long enough to become more than a little attached, suddenly finds that he's as loony as the proverbial bedbug-- if the bedbug were born on Apokolips, as PB was.
Joe Kelly and Ian Churchill are essentially writing a story of spousal abuse through the medium of superhero characters. As such they prolong the heroine's abuse a bit to keep up the comparison with real-life situations, before they permit Supergirl to fight back. The fight-scenes aren't that long but the moment when the aggrieved heroine drops a house on Power Boy's head is a show-stopper.
I'm of the impression that later on Power Boy cleaned up his psycho act somewhat and reconciled with Supergirl. But to say the least, they don't go back to being boyfriend and girlfriend.
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