Power Girl 18
Reviewed by Alistair Robb 15-Dec-10
I’ve just sat down and read Power Girl 18 and I thank God that I’ve been following the JLA/JSA titles as well, because if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have understood the deeper story here.
I’ve just sat down and read Power Girl 18 and I thank God that I’ve been following the JLA/JSA titles as well, because if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have understood the deeper story here.
Having said that it’s still an enjoyable ride; Judd Winick has, as always, given us a nice self-contained story. Nothing much in and of itself, but enjoyable nonetheless; though it helps to have read previous issues, it’s not essential as this is a prolonged fight scene which Winick handles with his usual deft touch and verve. We see a Dr. Sivana who is really and truly shown up to be what he is, the twisted mad scientist who has enough wherewithal to turn a quick buck. The fight scene itself is kept ticking along dynamically with a few twists and turns along the way, with a larger twist at the end (if you have been following the book) that may or may not be resolved here or in the pages of JSA.
Sami Basri has ably taken over the art chores on PG: after the superlative initial run by Amanda Conner it needed to be someone like Basri to keep up the cheesecake quotient. A worthy successor in the “Adam Hughes School of Art” it would seem.
All in all a satisfying 10-minute read, but (Oh God! Here comes the “but” I hear you cry!) this is another of those books that both of the “Big Two” are putting out more and more frequently that relies on what is happening in other books to give us a fuller understanding of what’s going down and give the story deeper resonance. I find this disconcerting and I’m not a little miffed that I am obliged to buy and read books that I either don’t or marginally like.
I really think that it’s about time Marvel and DC got back to telling self-contained stories that don’t stray out of their particular book and rely on other books to fill in the gaps. It’s a marketing ploy that has worked up until now however, it has every chance of back-firing one of these days.
Tags: DC, Judd Winick, Power Girl, Sami Basri
Whenever I see this comic in shops and look at Powergirl’s costume I find myself thinking that it is titles like this that give comics a bad name.
Because the phrase was used next to that cover, I did not immediately parse that ‘Big Two’ referred to Marvel and DC.
Ian,I hear where you’re coming from.But I think that PG has been given a rough dealover the years because of this. The run started with Palmiotti, Gray and Conner tried,I think,to integrate thecheescake element inherent in PGs costume with some good, solid and intelligent(within the bounds of the character’s premise) storytelling…and let’s face it…chicks with big tits fighting sell comic books,unfortunate but the true bottom line. Let’s hope that Winick and co. keep upthe intelligent story telling.
I sadly agree with the proposition that women with big tits sell comics, but I think this is something that should be fought against rather than encouraged. If nothing else, it serves to perpetuate the idea that comics readers are all a bunch of sweaty palmed male onanists. Which maybe we are, but still.
I hear what you are saying about the intelligent storylines in PG, but I will never be able to get past those rather large breasts.