Best Shots Extra: Power Girl #1

Power Girl #1
From: DC Comics
Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray
Art: Amanda Conner

Power Girl is a straight-forward, upbeat, old-school super-hero title, which is something that’s sure to confuse the hell out of a lot of people. As we seem to be set entirely in the age of grim, a light-effort such as this might actually come across as anachronistic. However, I find it totally refreshing. Power Girl as a character has a lot of possibilities in a way that franchise-locked Supergirl might not, and in many ways, this book could carve out a strong following.

Palmiotti and Gray, whose best work as a duo is the dark (and often fiendishly clever) Jonah Hex, manage this one well. They put in origin bits, establish Power Girl’s civilian identity and job, toss in some robot-fighting action, and work in a classic villain; at no point, though, does this issue seem crowded. Really, it’s a marvel of pace and storytelling economy.

An equal share of the credit for that goes to Amanda Conner. Until this issue dropped, Conner was probably the best artist in comics without a monthly series. And this seems to be a perfect assignment for her. Conner smoothly handles action and comedy with an almost animated tone. She’s able to play Power Girl’s, er, heroic figure, for the occasional laugh, but she does that in a brassy style that never lets you doubt that PeeGee is the character in charge.

Frankly, I enjoyed this issue quite a bit. It came off as good fun, and it’s nice to see Power Girl get some due as a businesswoman as well as a heroine. The choice of surprise villain makes sense, and it’ll be interesting to see where that goes. I think that the keys to success for this book are well in place; it’s my hope that it gets a chance in the rough marketplace. I believe that if the larger readership samples this book, they’ll be back for issue #2.