Power Girl gets her shot at another series as they try to clear up her continuity and place in the DC Universe.
What They Say:
In her own ongoing series at last! Straight from the pages of JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA, Power Girl starts life anew by building herself a secret identity. But a major villain from her past has other plans in store for the Super Hero, and to get his way, he’s holding Manhattan hostage!
The Review:
When it comes to the DC Universe, some characters have a much harder time fitting in than others. Karen Starr, aka Power Girl, is definitely one of them. With her origin redone a few times, mucked around and altered to fit in with various storylines, she’s become a character that unless you follow closely it’s easy to get confused. With her origins on Earth Two being eliminated because of the Crisis on Infinite Earths and then her new one from there being eliminated with Infinite Crisis, you almost really want them to just start over and reboot the character. But with her being so well tied to Justice Society and integral to other storylines, it’s not something they can get away with easily.
Such is the problem that Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray face in writing this series as they have to cover some of the basics of the background without making it too incredulous while still making it interesting and respectful to the fans who have supported her for so long. So having the opening of the book focus on a literal whirlwind of events that has her reflecting on all of it with a bit of a chuckle and a smile sets the tone right. We’re not getting a completely lighthearted book here, ala Stars and Stripes, but it’s not going to be an overly angsty book where she’s regretting everything and feeling like she’s so completely disconnected from the world she inhabits.
The opening issue of Power Girl does a fair bit of stage setting after it gets past the initial attack on Manhattan that she has to deal with. In a nice twist, rather than just going low profile with a basic mundane life that allows her to be Power Girl at all random hours while trying to make ends meet, Karen instead goes back to her basics and starts up Starrware Labs again. This gives her a good place to work out of and a potentially interesting supporting cast to grow, but they take it a step further making it a company that’s intent on doing good and meaningful things rather than just the basic pursuit of the almighty dollar. Karen’s style is in full evidence here as well since she’s happy, smiling and has a little bit of snark to her as they go through the first month of a startup.
If there’s an area where Power Girl’s first issue didn’t wow me, it was with the choice of the main villain to get it all rolling with. Ultra-Humanite certainly has a history in the DC Universe, retconned as it may be, but he’s never been a villain that I’ve cared much for or felt has all that much of a personality. He does have a good idea here though in that he wants to get his highly evolved intellect out of the rather unfriendly body that he has and if you’re going to do that, Karen’s body certainly is one that you’d want to swap into. I’m just not keen on how they go so big with his attack on Manhattan at the end as it’s simply too much destruction and chaos for what’s actually involved.
With the mixture of lightheartedness at times, a large scale selection of action and lots of fanservice required simply because of her costume, Amanda Conner captures the right look for the series overall. Power Girl has plenty od appeal to her but with the regular smiles or the grimaces, she never comes across as a pure bombshell. Conner doesn’t shy away from showing off her assets to be sure, but it doesn’t feel like every panel or shot is dripping with sexuality and that goes a long way. She’s definitely been a character that’s been abused before this way and si very easy to abuse, but as a regular book they needed to find a better balance for it and Conner nails it very well. Some of the panel layouts are a bit too cramped and the flow isn’t completely smooth, but with the necessary chaos of doing a first issue in covering introductions and so forth, they’re minor issues overall.
Digital Notes:
This Comixology edition of Power Girl leads with the Amanda Conner cover but also includes the Adam Hughes cover, a practice that I definitely approve of as a very fan friendly thing and gives the digital editions just that little bit more value for appreciating the artwork.
In Summary:
Karen’s personality is a big selling point in this book. She’s the kind of character that could easily go all dark and brooding considering the way she’s been messed with over the years, but having her be optimistic and positive is a very welcome thing. So many books go for the dark and gritty to tell the tale, but Power Girl looks to have found a good balance in giving us action, character and fun without going too far in any one direction. There’s a lot of potential here but it could also fall into the trap of balancing things well but never really excelling at anything. That wouldn’t be terrible since we’d have a fun and well done book, but Power Girl can be so much more if given the chance and left alone for awhile so she’s not caught up in other things. The team behind it has me interested in seeing what they can do.
Grade: B-
