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By Jason Bourgeois
After a bit of a break, it's time to come back to the Superman corner of the DC Universe. Not exactly, but the character is loosely related to Kal-El. Which is weird, but I'll get into that in a moment.
This month, I want to take a look at the new Power Girl series. How is she related to Superman, some of the newer people might ask. Well, in brief, she's Kara Zor-El from an alternate Earth, making her an analogue for Supergirl, but older, and with an entirely different history. She's forged her own identity, and made her own existence separate from Superman, and is pretty much nothing like any other version of Supergirl that has appeared. That's the simple version. The longer version involves an infinite number of crises, changes to her past, confusion, no connection to any Kryptonians ever, and is generally a mess. A few years ago it was streamlined back to the original version, and we move forward. Her origins are almost never mentioned, or even that she's essentially Supergirl. She's made her own life, and the writers have run with that. She's Power Girl first, or Karen Starr, and a Kryptonian second. As long as you know she's got powers like Superman, that's really all you need to know about the character. With all the different versions of her that have been, this is the best way to go with the character. Just ignore it and do your stories.
Power Girl has been around for a long time, been on various incarnations of the Justice League and is even currently leading the Justice Society. She had a miniseries some time ago, but otherwise she's mostly been a bit player in other books, or on teams. Having her with her own book after so long, is well past due. She's a unique character, which is strange with her origins, and DC can always use more strong, female leads.
Considering Power Girl's most obvious assets, it's a bit too easy to just make her book be nothing but boob jokes, and the title does fall into that here and there, but I don't think they overdo it. It's becoming less and less with each progressive issue as well. The art has even gone to lengths to cover her up when she's in her civilian guise as Karen Starr. But such jokes have become almost as much a part of the character as the humour. At least I think they're done tastefully, and done with a very tongue in cheek manner.
The title is brought to us by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, with art by Amanda Conner. The writing is pretty spot on, and hits just the right notes with me. The stories are done seriously, but the characters bring a fair amount of laughs with them, keeping the most serious things like alien invasions and stealing Manhattan Island, from being too dark. In addition to that, they work with continuity and old, familiar faces, and some forgotten ones, working well within the tapestry of the DCU. This is almost the perfect type of book for me, much like Booster Gold, Excalibur, and She-Hulk, to varying degrees.
Conner is a great choice for art on this book, as she's great at storytelling, and sneaks in stuff in the background to keep things interesting or funny when there's nothing but a lot of talking going on with the characters. Her faces tend to be a bit generic and samey after awhile, but she could well be considered a master of expressions. She can bring a wealth of different looks to those faces, and that really helps sell the moments, no matter what they may be, but especially the laughs. A highlight example would have to be when she drew Power Girl's cat being very pissed off, with an expression every cat owner would recognise.
The book opened with a quick three issue arc with giant robots terrorising the city, leading to Manhattan being stolen by the Ultra-Humanite, whose ultimate goal is to steal Power Girl's body. Because being in the body of a curvaceous Kryptonian is much better than being stuck as an albino gorilla. I applaud his choice.
The second of the three issues was a bit of a letdown, but not much, as it almost entirely focused on the origins of the Ultra-Humanite, which is fair enough since not many people will know much about him, but it felt like the story slowed down for a ton of exposition. Even if it was expertly given to us by the creators involved.
The newest issue was a done in one story that was almost a sequel to the Terra miniseries by the same people. In that series, PG befriended the title character, and this issue picks up on this friendship as they hit the movies and saves the city from a Tolkienesque invasion. The new issue, #4, is a great example of what this comic could be, and is great to check out, since it's mostly wrapped up with a brief setup for the next issue to bring people back for more. It's got action, humour, and great storytelling in words and art. All while showing us what sort of person Power Girl is, in overt and subtle ways, in the story and the pictures. This issue is a near perfect blend of all involved, and everything just clicks together.
If you're looking for a solidly done, fun, action book that isn't afraid to poke fun at itself and comics in general, definitely check out the newest issue to get a good taste of the title. The first three issues should still be easy enough to find as well, but the new issue is a good way to check the book out for yourselves. I give it a high recommendation of something different in a comics world dominated by darker, more serious stories.
Jason M. Bourgeois
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