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Showing posts from June, 2022

Let them fight! - Worlds' Finest #4

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 Rebirth, part IV Worlds' Finest #4 Cover Date:  October 2012 Released:  1st August 2012 ⋅ Writers:   Paul Levitz  ⋅ Pencilers:  George PĂ©rez / Kevin Maguire  ⋅ ⋅  Inkers:  Scott Koblish / Kevin Maguire  ⋅ ⋅  Colourists:  Hi-Fi Design / Rosemary Cheetham  ⋅ ⋅  Letterers:  Carlos M. Mangual   ⋅  Editors:  Wil Moss  ⋅  Continued from  Rebirth, part III . We start with the two going out to Tokyo bay, discussing possible Darkseid influence - something that Kara seems to be obsessed with. With the now kaiju villain attacking ships the two split up, with Huntress helping to rescue sailors in the water whilst Power Girl starts by stopping an oil leak from a tanker. Trying to lift it causes it to break, so she resorts to using her laser eyes to burn away the oil. We then flashback to their meetup in Rome, set up in last issue's London visit. Kara has her plan to get experts to work for ...

Kaiju Conflict - Worlds' Finest #3

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Rebirth, part III Worlds' Finest #3 Cover Date:  September 2012 Released:  4th July 2012 ⋅ Writers:   Paul Levitz  ⋅ Pencilers:  George PĂ©rez / Kevin Maguire  ⋅ ⋅  Inkers:  Scott Koblish / Kevin Maguire  ⋅ ⋅  Colourists:  Hi-Fi Design / Rosemary Cheetham  ⋅ ⋅  Letterers:  Carlos M. Mangual   ⋅  Editors:  Wil Moss  ⋅  Continued from Rebirth, part II .  We picked up from part 2 with Huntress having to protect Power Girl from the nuclear creature, using her athletics and crossbow to dodge around until Kara has recovered enough to grab the villain. Huntress then puts a crossbow bolt into the cooling pipes dumping radioactive water on top of them. Power Girl then does what all good Kryptonians do and yeets him away from the nuclear reactor. We also have some really good banter between the two characters, mostly about how invulnerable Power Girl is to just about everything. We then get ano...

Two Kara's aren't better than One! - Supergirl #1

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Girl Power, part 1 Supergirl (volume 5) #5 Cover Date:  October 2005 Released:  10th August 2005 ⋅ Writers:    ⋅ Pencilers:  Ian Churchill  ⋅ ⋅  Inkers:  Norm Rapmund  ⋅   Colourists:  David Moran / Beth Sotelo  ⋅ ⋅  Letterers:  Richard Starkings / Comicraft   ⋅  ⋅  Editors:  Jeanine Schaefer / Eddie Berganza  ⋅  If you wonder why the writer isn't mentioned, please read this first . This starts so well with Courtney (Stargirl) and Kara (Supergirl) talking among themselves, sounding as close to teenagers when written by middle-aged men! Meanwhile, most, of the JSA are fighting Solomon Grundy. A big deal is made about the absence of Power Girl, her lack of presence is felt strongly in this first part of the story. This is probably the last nice thing I'll say about this issue. The first cracks show when they talk about Power Girl's relationship with Kara and the rest of the Super Family. No...

Dealing with problematic creators

 In our modern connected age, it is so much easier to find out about a creator's bad view, which means we as consumers have to decide what our response is to their material. Really it boils down to three choices, 1. You refuse to engage with their material at all. 2. You engage with their material, but refuse to support them. 3. You carry on as normal Now, none of these responses are wrong, but calling out someone else on their choices are, each person has their own line on what they will and will not cross. Polite discussion about people's choices are fine, calling people out are not. Each person has their own line and needs to respect other people's choices. That is unless you choose to support an artist because you agree with them for their sexist, racist, ableist, anti-LGBT+ or any kind of extremist views, then I (among others) don’t want you in these spaces. Whilst it’s not a perfect fit I think Olivia Hill Rule applies here . For this blog I’m going to follow a simpl...

I've seen Fire and I've seen rain - JSA #76

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In Search of... JSA #76 Cover Date:  October 2005 Released:  3rd August 2005 ⋅ Writers:   Geoff Johns  ⋅ Pencilers:  Ken Lopez  ⋅  ⋅   Inkers:  Fernando Blanco  ⋅   Colourists:  John Kalisz  ⋅ ⋅  Letterers:  Rob Leigh   ⋅  Editors:  Peter Tomasi / Harvey Richards  ⋅  Continued from JSA #75 So 'erm apparently Atom Smasher is... alive and well, that whole heart thing being some kind of magical metaphor or something... This is an issue where we finally get Infinite Crisis starts to show its influence on the title, and this being the JSA we get several storylines weaving together, none of them yet being related to each other. The main story is members of the JSA, Alan Scott (Green Lantern), Jay Garrick (Flash), Ted Grant (the real Wildcat), Michael Holt (Mr Terrific) and Carter Hall (Hawkman) fighting, and generally losing, against an OMAC. It's complicated but OMACs are nano-machine that can...

Birthday Cheesecake! - Bombshells #1

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Enlisted Bombshells #1 Cover Date:  October 2015 Released:  15th July 2015 ⋅ Writers:   Marguerite Bennett  ⋅ Pencilers:  Marguerite Bennett  ⋅  ⋅   Inkers:  Marguerite Bennett  ⋅   Colourists:  Marguerite Bennett  ⋅ ⋅  Letterers:  Wes Abbott   ⋅  Editors:  Jessica Chen / Jim Chadwick  ⋅  So whilst the first post on this blog was 25th March 2019 the actual first review was posted today (if you're reading it live) on 17th June 2019, don't bother though it's terrible (rather than okay-ish). So I'm calling this our third birthday, and as it's also Pride month, I'm going to indulge myself a little as look at a series I love Bombshells!  (And like the Queen I can always have two birthday to sneak more of these in!) For those not in the know the Bombshells were originally a set of Chibi figures, based on the art of Ant Lucia. And yes I do have some, Power Girl (natch) and Harley Quinn. S...

Third verse same as the first (or second) - Power Girl #3

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Heritage! Power Girl #3 Cover Date:  August1988 Released:  3rd May 1988 ⋅ Writers:   Paul Kupperberg  ⋅ Pencilers:  Rick Hoberg  ⋅  ⋅   Inkers:  Arne Starr  ⋅   Colourists:  Julianna Ferriter  ⋅ ⋅  Letterers:  Bob Pinaha   ⋅  Editors:  Robert Greenberger  ⋅  We start with not!Ted Grant, who I have to try really hard not to call Kord, teaching Kara martial arts, Karate because that was the fashion of the time. Now I'm not against her learning to defend herself, I actually like when the comics (and TV show) suggest that just because  Kryptonians   (or Atlanteans, whatever!) are super strong they shouldn't learn how to fight better. But here she'd doing it because everything is spiralling out of control, and this comic, like the last continues this really passive Kara. How she doesn't break his arm of throw him into orbit as she's not paying attention I'm not sure, but luckily fo...

Three degrees - Power Girl #2

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Tapestry Power Girl #2 Cover Date:  July 1988 Released:  5th April 1988 ⋅ Writers:   Paul Kupperberg  ⋅ Pencilers:  Rick Hoberg  ⋅  ⋅   Inkers:  Arne Starr  ⋅   Colourists:  Julianna Ferriter  ⋅ ⋅  Letterers:  Bob Pinaha   ⋅  Editors:  Robert Greenberger  ⋅  After talking with the cop who arrested the bad guy last issue, enjoying a hot dog as they talk, and learning nothing Power Girl ends up fighting a liquid controlling villain Hydra. With what is a really good black and white costume. Hydra keeps Power Girl away with her liquid control power first using milk, disappointingly missing the most obvious joke, and finally gasoline setting the area on fire. Frustrating for Power Girl she doesn't manage to get a single hit on the villain despite technically being more powerful.  We then cut to the corporate drama going on with more challenges to Karen Starr's business, including that t...

Dysprosium Knowledge here! - Worlds' Finest #2

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A Deadly Threat From Earth 2? Worlds' Finest #1 Cover Date:  August 2012 Released:  6th June 2012 ⋅ Writers:   Paul Levitz  ⋅ Pencilers:  George PĂ©rez /  ⋅  Kevin Maguire   ⋅   Inkers:  Scott Koblish / Kevin Maguire  ⋅   ⋅  Colourists:  Hi-Fi Design / Rosemary Cheetham  ⋅ ⋅  Letterers:  Dezi Sienty   ⋅  Editors:  Wil Moss  ⋅  We start with Power Girl facing down with  Hakkou, that radiation man, and doing a pretty good job until she tries to touch the villain only to collapse in pain. So Huntress just steps up and just shoots him in the head, he flees and the women chase after him. We get another five-year flashback, to them burning their costumes. Then a skip to a few months later and Kara not being happy to be on Earth 0, wanting to just do something rather than just sitting around and gathering intel. We then flash to the near now where Karan Starr is running her busin...

The Tower - Earth 2 #1

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The Price of Victory Earth 2 #1 Cover Date:  July 2012 Released:  2nd May 2012 ⋅ Writers:   James Robinson  ⋅ Pencilers:  Nicola Scott   ⋅     ⋅   Inkers:  Trevor Scott  ⋅  Colourists:  Alex Sinclair  ⋅ ⋅  Letterers:  Dezi Sienty   ⋅  Editors:  Pat McCallum / Sean Mackiewicz  ⋅  If the original Earth-2, not to be confused for this much more contemporary Earth 2, used the fact that it was an alternative Earth to make a few cosmetic changes this as a concept goes in all in! The conceit of this other Earth is that this universe Darkseid, or according to other material there is only ever one of him, has invaded Earth with his army of Parademons. We don't see this invasion, only the final battle to draw this invading force away with what appears to be the last heroes on this version. Obviously being DC it's the fabled Trinity, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, but we also get Kara (as ...

Who is Power Girl? Part 1 - JSA Classified #1

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Power Trip, Part I JSA Classified #1 Cover Date:  June1988 Released:  1st March 1988 ⋅ Writers: Geoff Johns ⋅ Pencilers: Amanda Conner ⋅     ⋅   Inkers: Jimmy Palmiotti ⋅  Colourists: Paul Mounts ⋅ ⋅  Letterers: Rob Leigh ⋅  Editors: Harvey Richards / Stephen Wacker ⋅    Remember last issue when I said that when a character gets a focus issue it was normally there last? Well, Power Girl not only buck that trend, but she also gets four issues all of her very own!   The reason for that is that despite it not being mentioned anywhere, this four-part series is a lead into Infinite Crisis and fixes the thorny issue of Kara's origins. Though it's probably worth mentioning that whilst thanks to blog time it's only been a month or so, in real-time it's been nineteen years since her Atlantean origin was established. This means almost a generation of readers knew this as her origins, well sort of it seems like it's very rarely mention...