Review: Power Girl #20
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Leah Williams
Art: David Baldeon
Colors: Romulo Fajardo, Jr.
Letters: Becca Carey
Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd
Summary
Karen Starr is back and…it’s pretty lame, just like the rest of this series. This run of Power Girl ends as oddly as it began, with a gross misunderstanding of the character.
Positives
The art isn’t bad in this issue, and indeed the art and especially the covers have been the highlight of this series. Yanick Paquette delivers another cool cover that promises way more than what’s delivered on the inside. David Baldeon isn’t the best artist for this series, but he’s not really given a good script to let him do his best work.
Even though this series ends with huge disappointment as a longtime Power Girl fan, from a craft perspective Leah Williams does close the circle she began back on her first story with Power Girl in Lazarus Planet: Assault on Krypton #1.
Additionally, this series ending is good for the character, because this series has only damaged Power Girl. Starting over with a writer that knows and likes Power Girl is now possible. Now let’s make this happen DC, and get rid of all this “Paige Stetler” nonsense!
Negatives
The conceit of this series has been that Power Girl is somehow emotionally damaged and distanced from her past. Unfortunately, Williams has ever explained how Power Girl got to this point. After Power Girl returned at the end of Doomsday Clock, she didn’t have any substantial appearances until Lazarus Planet: Assault on Krypton #1. It’s the first time Leah Williams writes Power Girl and she sets up her idea in that issue with Power Girl believing she is dying and questioning her life saying, “I wish I had mattered.” Only Williams knows where this comes from because it is completely incongruous with Power Girl’s past. She certainly mattered as member of the Justice Society of America, as the link to the original Earth-Two and thus the Multiverse. Williams references her past in this issue acknowledging the destruction of her Krypton AND the Universe from which she came, the aforementioned Earth-Two in the Multiverse. There’s even an image of Psycho-Pirate, the other Earth-Two survivor, albeit the one who ALWAYS remembered the Multiverse and the Crisis on Infinite Earths (“Worlds will live, worlds will die etc…” and all that).
Her last pre-Flashpoint appearance showed her reinventing her look as Karen Starr in order to have a viable secret identity. She was doing important work with her tech company and she had just been instrumental in catching Maxwell Lord in Justice League: Generation Lost and she’d also just been affirmed by both Batman and Superman in issues of her ongoing series. To imagine she was insecure and believed she “didn’t matter” is befuddling. Additionally, her confidence and competence throughout her career belayed most doubts she had. She mattered, no doubt. NO. DOUBT.
Negatives Cont’d
Consequently, Williams entire take on Power Girl has just felt off since the beginning. Williams admission that she didn’t know much about the character is obvious in her writing decisions. She’s like a completely different character, a character that didn’t have all the experiences in her past that Williams references. Huh? Yeah, she references Power Girl’s past but ignores the substance of the past. Go figure. Even worse is that DC/ Editorial took no steps to redirect her…gee, DC, do you care about Power Girl at all?
This approach consequently makes Power Girl fans constantly feel like something is wrong…like “this can’t be Power Girl! It’s a clone! A Durlan! An imposter! Mind control!” And, oddly enough there are bits and pieces throughout the series that appear to indicate this, most prominently that she’s somehow being controlled by Omen, her (according to Leah Williams) best friend (ugh!). These elements make Power Girl #20, the final issue series appear that something big is going to happen, especially since the solicit harkens the return of Karen Starr! (Surely, this is the real Power Girl, returned! Right?!?!?!)
It’s not. Instead, Power Girl #20 is a rushed and truncated issue that just uses Ejecta masquerading as Karen Starr. There’s no major showdown, or revelation or any sort of justice for longtime Power Girl fans who’ve been suffering with this pitifully bad series. Williams heavy handedly, and disappointingly has Omen validate “Paige” to show how she matters.
Verdict
Power Girl #20 ends this run with a whimper instead of a bang. Williams had the opportunity to makes sense of things by returning PG to her Karen Starr identity and personality, but instead opted to double down on all her bad ideas. She closes out with Omen trying to show PG how she matters. I suppose that’s the thing Williams was trying to demonstrate all along so this is her conclusion. Ironically, since Power Girl always mattered this feels hollow and tone deaf to Power Girl’s entire pre-Williams publishing history. She was always confident that she mattered. Williams invented a problem for Power Girl that didn’t make sense based on the substance of her history. She may not have known where she came from, but she knew she mattered and that she was going to make her way on her own, BECAUSE she mattered. It’s her belief that she mattered that gave her the confidence and drive to succeed on her own. Even if she thought others didn’t believe she matterd, she herself KNEW she did. Apparently, Williams is the only one who didn’t know Power Girl mattered, exposing not only Williams’ ignorance of the character, but the contrived nature of this series.
