Review: Power Girl #7
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Leah Williams
Art: Marguerite Sauvage
Colors: Marguerite Sauvage
Letters: Becca Carey
Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd
Summary
Power Girl and Supergirl defeat the villain who has transported them to Ferimbia…and, they receive the help they need to return home.
Positives
This is an ongoing Power Girl comics and it’s a great idea to have a Power Girl ongoing series (have to start somewhere). The story here has a bit of Silver Age wackiness as noted in the review Power Girl #6. It’s easy to imagine Supergirl having an adventure like this in her stories from the backups in Action Comics in the 60’s.
Marguerite Sauvage changes up her style to reflect the world that Kara and Kara are in. It’s a solid story telling choice that accentuates the “other” place they are in.
Negatives
Tonally this storyline which concludes in this issue is way out of place for Power Girl. Of course, one must understand her character which Leah Williams has so far over the past 13 months has demonstrated she does not. It’s not that surprising that Williams writes a story that doesn’t fit. This is not to say if Power Girl (the one true Power Girl, this ain’t her in this series) couldn’t have a story like this, it’s just that her reactions to everything would be completely different. Williams has PG lean into the whole thing. It would’ve been in character for her to be annoyed, angry and a bit more aggressive and impatient in this situation. There’s a single instance that comes close to this in Power Girl #7. This tone somehow doesn’t translate to a throwback/ nostalgia feel for the Supergirl stories in the Silver Age, but instead pulls a little bit of Amethyst, but mostly what one imagines My Little Pony comics to be like. It feels nothing like a Power Girl story.
Williams tries to land a Power Girl boob-joke, but it doesn’t land. Williams can’t find a way to put the pieces together to make her version of Power Girl feel legitimate. It just comes off like a parody…almost like a Mad Magazine version of a Power Girl story.
From a story craft perspective, too much of this issue is an an information dump giving some Ferimbia’s history and why there’s a usurper on the throne. It’s necessary to have this information for the resolution, but perfunctory in its presentation. This gives the impression that the story has been rushed and that’s probably so that beginning next month Power Girl can be part of the Superman event (yawn), House of Brainiac. Whether or not one is excited for this event, it remains a mistake to force Power Girl into the Superman family. To do so, once again exposes Williams’ ignorance of the substance of Power Girl’s character and DC Comics lack of care for her and her fanbase. It’s literally the last thing Power Girl would want to do.
Verdict
There’s just no reason to expect Power Girl #7 to be any better than issue #6. In fact, there’s not reason to expect any issue of this series to improve significantly. Williams’ lack of understanding of the character and inability to write an interesting story (she abandoned the interesting stuff in the first arc) give no hope for Power Girl fans. Perhaps, Power Girl is new to you…it’s impossible to separate established a character substance, history and tone for longtime fans. This series has turned its back on those fans seemingly in the hope that this new Paige-iteration will attract a different audience. Head over to the current Justice Society of America comic for the real Power Girl (costume notwithstanding) so Paige can wither and die on the vine with a subsequent rebirth of Karen Starr, Power Girl.
