Symbol Pending - A Power Girl Blog

  THE CRATER THAT WAS KEYSTONE CITY SHOWCASE #99 Published:  17th January 1978 Cover Date: A pril 1978 Cover Artists:   Joe Staton / Dick Giordano Writer:   Paul Levitz Penciler:   Joe Staton Inker:   Dick Giordano Colourist:   Adrienne Roy Letterer:   Shelly Leferman Editors:   Joe Orlando Introduction Apart from a few pages, we're well out of the formation of the rebooted Pee Gee, instead, we see how she'll work with the rest of the JSA. Now those bits are very important, but that doesn't mean the rest of the comic isn't interesting in itself. Synopsis We start with a full splash page of Brainwave ranting that his computer can't find Power Girl, with the computer apparently using a beauty shot of the woman herself! Meanwhile, Kara herself is finally setting up a secret identity, with the help of Andrew Vinson, she's become Karen Starr a software expert (it was the 70s you have to excuse them not knowing what a programmer was) getting a job ...

WHEN THE SYMBIOSHIP STRIKES SHOWCASE PRESENTS #98 Published:  15th December 1977 Cover Date:  March 1978 Cover Artists:   Joe Staton /  Dick Giordano Writer:   Paul Levitz Penciler:  Joe Staton Inker:   Dick Giordano Colourist:   Adrienne Roy Letterer:   Ben Oda Editors:   Joe Orlando Introduction There is an advantage of bingeing a whole load of comics is that you get to remember the lost classics, and lost duds, that have gotten lost in the general zeitgeist of the shape of things now. Those who do it the long way around however tend to edit history to suit whatever the current image of a character/show. An excellent example of this is Captain Kirk from the original Star Trek, his womanizing ways, a characterization that made it into the Kelvinverse films, is vastly overstated and even compared to the time he's almost chaste. What has this got to do with Power Girl you ask? Well unless you're a completes and/or a blogger/YouTuber the v...

POWER GIRL* SHOWCASE #97 *The issue's story is unnamed. Published: 15th November 1977 Cover Date: February 1978 Cover Artists: Joe Staton / Joe Orlando Writer: Paul Levitz Penciler: Joe Staton Inker: Joe Orlando Colourist: Jerry Serpe Letterer: Ben Oda Editors:   Joe Orlando Introduction So this is a little bit of a soft reboot, a DC tradition in itself, I wanted a chance to cover some of the original comics (my original content being terrible) as well as look at a wider range of comics. It's a chance to catch some of those comics in a blank spot I have in the mid-90s. But where to start? I've covered her original appearance in All-Star Comic #58 several times already, so we're best than the comics that told Power Girls' origins, only two years after she was first introduced. And as is appropriate to my soft reboot Showcase is also a soft reboot of Power Girl, making her if not softer at least a more rounded character. It's also more relevant than ever, in m...

The Crater That Was Keystone City Showcase #99 Cover Dated:  March / April 1978 Released: 17th January 1978 We start with a splash page with probably the best image of Power Girl of the three, and that's a static image on a screen! It seems Brain Wave can't find any trace of her, his apparently biggest foe. This is because Power Girl has been busy creating a new identity, Kara is now Karen Star applying for a job at Ultimate Computer Corporation. She's now a software expert, this is computers of the 70's remember, thanks to some time in Wonder Woman's training machine. Personally, this feels like a missed opportunity to have had her picked it up in the VR of the last issue, it seemed that she was already going for a job in the equivalent of the Kryptonian STEM fields. But Karen confirms that the training the ship provided was more or less useless, which really shows an oversight on her father part. Apparently, the owner of the company is willing to take her on no qu...

When the Symbioship Strikes Showcase #98 Cover Dated:  March 1978 Released:  15th December 1977 We start with another splash page of ugly Power Girl, one so bad she has a look of dull surprise at the attack by the reporters in the red Power Armour. It takes another few pages before we get the reveal that the armour is actually Power Girls Symbioship, something that I apparently missed any mention before this moments. The fight goes badly before Kara realises that she, and the cops that keep getting in trouble, can't beat the armour directing and instead uses a piece of metal to weigh down the armour to get the reporter out and shut the armour down. At this moment she actually says she learned it from Wildcat and thank him for such things, which is amazing seeing how often the two have ended up fighting in the past. She then leaves the Gotham taking the ship with her, and the reporter who grabs hold of her to get the whole story. It's also strange that in Showcase it shows...

Showcase #97 Cover Date: February 1978  Release Date: 15th November 1977 I don't generally comment on art in general, having no talent for it myself but the opening splash page for this image is terrible its meant to be dynamic and action pack but Power Girls position and face do not make for the best of images. Whilst it's been going back and forwards since All-Star #69 this is where I personally began to notice her scallop top with choker version of the costume. After Wally Wood departure the boob window went straight away, but the collar would fluctuate from the top to the bottom of her neck from panel to panel, which I guess is the reason for the new design. Whilst the boob window is the most iconic version of her costume, this costume is probably the one she wears for the longest, right the way to her new golden number in Justice League Europe #15 in 1990! The art somewhat settles down as Power Girl stops some goons who are stealing micro-transformers for their mysterious ...