Power Girl #1 – Leah Williams, Writer; Eduardo Pansica, Penciller; Julio Ferreira, Inker; Romulo Fajardo Jr, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: Following up on Power Girl’s backup, which was much more of a psychological battle as she and Omen worked their way through PG’s many hangups about her place in the community, she’s finally ready to step out on her own as a hero again—just in time for Blue Earth to cause more problems. She has a new name (Paige), a new secret identity (a high-ranking scientist who is trying to do something similar to Steel in reshaping Earth’s sustainability network) and a new sense of focus. But it’s not long before her big debut is crashed—not just by protests, but by alien enemies. The villain, Amalak, is a very obscure space mercenary who was dug up from the vault for this story, and mostly seems to be driven by a hatred for both Kryptonians (for their colonialism) and humans (for being weak and stupid). He’s not exactly nuanced, but he makes for a good punching bag this issue.
While the action is okay, there are a lot of interesting things around the fringes of this issue. The friendship Paige has formed with Omen is really interesting, especially given the complex history both of them have in their corners of the DCU. This issue introduces a few major new players as well, including a potentially shady scientist who tries to recruit Paige after her big speech. However, I’m still not sure about this issue’s take on Superman. He comes in full of bluster to criticize Paige for how she handles the attack on the conference, continuing to talk to her like a sidekick rather than an experienced hero who has been doing this almost as long as he has. Some kinks to be worked out with that, similar to this book’s sort-of-sister book Fire & Ice, but at the end of the issue there’s a great twist that calls back to Paige’s multiversal roots and provides a strong hook to bring us back next month.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
