Power Girl #1 (July 2009)

When it comes to powerhouse heroines, the Big Two are far from lacking. She-Hulk, Wonder Woman, Big Barda, Supergirl, Magdalena, etc. But there is one underrated lady powerhouse out there that should get more attention: Power Girl.

First appearing in All Star Comics #58 (January/February 1976), Kara Zor-L originally hailed from an alternate universe's Krypton. When the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths multiverse was still a thing, Power Girl was essentially Earth-2's counterpart to Earth-1's Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl. Unlike her Earth-1 counterpart, Kara Zor-L arrived on Earth as an adult. Unlike her teenage counterpart at the time, Power Girl was portrayed as more mature and more aggressive in combat. In fact, she adopted the "Power Girl" identity on her native Earth because she wanted to be seen as her own heroine, not as a sidekick/partner to her Earth's Superman. 

Power Girl would go on to become a member of Earth-2's premier superhero team, the Justice Society of America. Her association with that group would continue on until the Crisis on Infinite Earths hit, which caused five Earths to be melded into one continuity, including Earths 1 and 2. 

This would end up causing a lot of problems for the heroine discussed here. As established earlier, she was essentially Earth-2's Supergirl. Due to a moratorium on introducing other Kryptonians at the time (it was felt it made Superman seem less unique), Power Girl's origins had to be revamped. She would be established originally to be the descendant of a DCU magician named Arion. Fans hated it, and the character would undergo various other changes with her powers and origins. 

She would eventually be a member of the JSA once more. In the lead-up to the Infinite Crisis miniseries, Power Girl's original backstory as a survivor of an alternate universe Krypton would be restored. But in the wake of the New 52, DC Rebirth, and Doomsday Clock, it's up in the air what her backstory is. 

The comic we're looking at this week is the first issue of her first ongoing series. Her first solo comic was a 1988 mini-series. This ongoing series of hers would last for nearly 30 issues. So, with that out of the way, let's take look at Power Girl #1!

The cover is an Amanda Conner piece. It's pretty awesome, despite it being a bit basic. Our heroine is shown posing on a star, while stars in the background fly behind her. I can't help but wonder if there was inspiration drawn for the intro of the 1970s Wonder Woman show when deigning this cover?

"A New Beginning"
Writers: Justin Grey, Jimmy Palmiotti
Penciler: Amanda Conner
Inker: Amanda Conner
Colorist: Paul Mounts
Letterer: John J. Hill
Editors: Rex Ogle, Brian Cunningham
Executive Editor: Dan DiDio

The story begins with Power Girl flying past the Statue of Liberty. She's been wanting a fresh start, and she figures why not come to the City that Never Sleeps? However, the blonde bombshell's day of peaceful flying is about to get ruined. Such is life for a superhero.

The strange vortex starts sucking people into it like a vacuum sucking up dirt. Kara's super-hearing picks up that the vortex has also made people seemingly go crazy. People attacking each other, etc. Beings emerge from the vortex, clad in suits that make them look like cheap ripoffs of the Big Daddies from the Bioshock games.

Kara's X-Ray vision allows her to discover these beings are actually robots. They're essentially unmanned attack drones...and there's strange radiation around them that affects the mind, making people feel afraid. However, it's undetermined if it's the robots or the storm causing this radiation. Power Girl herself is feeling the effects of the radiation. 

After all, her mind is just as vulnerable to psychic attack as anyone else's is. However, Kara is a woman known for her strong will. While she fights the drones, we get a flashback to her restarting her old company, Starrware.

Starrware is a vehicle for Kara to help the world in another manner. Some problems can't be solved by putting on a white leotard and punching things. That's where Starrware comes in. Kara is looking for people to work for her. Among them is Dexter Nichols. Young, shy, but brilliant. Especially in nanotechnology. She impresses him with a demonstration of "gray goo", showing it building a Pontiac GTO from raw materials.

Back to the present! Power Girl tries to fight off the robots, only to get hit with a massive blast of the fear radiation.

It's then revealed who is responsible for this.

The Ultra-Humanite. We've met him before. One of the oldest super-villains in comics. We flash back again to Karen continuing work on her company again. We meet some more of Karen's new co-workers, most notably Xander Bevlin.

Bevlin believes that humanity needs a massive change in how they think of themselves and the environment. He believes most people have pathological symptoms, and Starrware's current way of helping people is too slow. Karen points out that Starrware is about engineering, and he's talking philosophy. She tells him to leave, as she feels he wants to force people to think a certain way. He pulls the classic "You'll regret this" spiel. Yeah, maybe Kara had a point in showing him the door.

We then go back to the present. As she tries to stop Ultra-Humanite, Power Girl notes that he's never had this much power and hardware at his disposal. And there's seems to be no reason for any of this. What does the Humanite want? Power? Money? His own ice cream flavor? Well, it's simple. What he wants...is Power Girl's body.

You see, the Ultra-Humanite's shtick is that he likes to transplant his brain into new bodies on occasion. It's how he got his arguably most famous appearance: The albino gorilla body, which he put his mind into in Justice League of America #195-197 (1981). And the story ends with the Humanite forcing Power Girl to make a choice: Let him put his brain in her body, or Manhattan goes kablooie.

I enjoyed this comic very much. It's a first issue that does what a first issue is supposed to do very well. It establishes who Power Girl is, gives us an idea of what her deal, and starts establishing a status quo and a supporting cast of hers. The one that does bother me is that Power Girl doesn't really try to hide her identity as Karen Starr. She literally just puts up her hair. As Power Girl, she doesn't wear a mask or anything like that. I know people like to make fun of Superman using glasses to hide his identity as Clark Kent, but at least he's doing something in that department. 

Some would say that starting the book with an invasion of robots may be a bit much, but for Power Girl, it fits her. She's a Kryptonian from an alternate universe. You have to go big. I also appreciate the usage of the Ultra-Humanite. He's one of DC's lesser-known villains, DCAU appearance aside, so it's nice to see him here. 

Amanda Conner's art is wonderful to look at here. It has a nice mixture of cartoony qualities and "good girl" art. Her characters are also very expressive. It helps make some of the humorous moments of the comic more enjoyable.  

If you want to read this yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2009 trade paperback Power Girl: A New Beginning. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get your vaccination/booster! See you next time!