Power Girl #10 – Review

By: Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (writers), Amanda Conner (artist), Paul Montes (colorist)

The Story: Terra manages to save Power Girl from the gravity well stuck to her chest. They limp away, back to PG’s apartment, where the comic dork with the pictures of Power Girl comes with his terms. He demands/ requests three things: that she accompany him to his local comic shop, that she take care of two bullies, and help him ask out a girl. The Ultra-Humanite wouldn’t interrupt a plan like that, would he?

What’s Good: Power Girl as a series is about the medium, the culture that surrounds it, its audience and its conceits. This is a book about metafiction. Put on your protective goggles before reading – because Palmiotti and Gray have scripted big sections of this book to laugh at you. I enjoyed this issue making fun of comics, including Satanna trash talking Terra for reusing superhero names (“There’s like what? Two…three…Flashes?”), Power Girl trashing on Satanna’s motivations (“She attacked me because, well, because that’s what people like her do.”), and Terra asking why villains can’t just shut up during fights. The writers have fun laughing at them (and us, because these are sacred cow conventions we’ve come to expect as readers). The fanboy crushes on fictional, chesty women is also aimed squarely at those who buy this book (or Power Girl posters, models, action figures, etc). Gray and Palmiotti also take a shot at the industry (a comic doesn’t show up on time because an artist fell behind schedule) and in the end, Terra trashes on Power Girl in the “totally clichéd hero/friend fights” where she gives Power Girl the chance to say “I know you’re stronger than this” and “this isn’t you.” There are too many more gems than can fit in this space, but leave a comment if you spot more. The art and inks are, as always, clear, clean, dynamic, and fun. The cartoony, self-aware style fits well with the type of humor the writers are building.

Power Girl #7 – Review

By Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti (writers), Amanda Conner (art), Paul Mounts (colors)

The Story: The women of the Planet Valeron, ruled by Vartox the Hyper-Man, are all rendered sterile by the contraception bomb. Vartox goes off to find the perfect mate to ensure that his species continues. He picks Power Girl.

What’s Good: Do not pick up this issue if you’re looking for a Justice League feel, an Outsiders feel, or even a Batgirl feel. This issue is for people who buy Deadpool or who thought Barbarella was funny. This is a book of tongue-in-cheek irony, zaniness and cleavage with a villain who talks like his lines were swiped from a Republican serial. This exuberance works because Vartox the Hyper-Man (think part Zap Brannigan, part Austin Powers, talking about himself in the third person) has to fight Yeti pirates, who in defeat, spring a contraceptive bomb on Valeron. It works because Vartox has advisors like Groovicus Mellow (ripped right out of a 70s blaxploitation movie) and because he can order the seduction musk rifle to be prepared. It works because Vartox wears lesser clothes than Power Girl, exposing hairy legs that definitely aren’t worth the view. Gray and Palmiotti play with our expectations for a cleavage-focused series like Power Girl, and turn them against us with a hairy, speedo-wearing sleazebag.

Amanda Conner is a great cartoony artist who draws a mean sword-wielding yeti, a ridiculously unattractive Vartox, and a hard-bodied Power Girl. Her faces evoke emotion and even without dialogue, the story would have been told well. She reached back into the cheap and trashy movies of the seventies to imbue Valeron with a disco sci-fi mood with kitschy beads and huge pink throw-pillows in crystal palaces. The action scenes were clean and clear and I always knew what was going on. All in all, a great issue for Conner.