Karen Starr Power Girl Appreciation 2021

[Thor-Ul]

Which we'd all rather forget.

Amen to that, brother. Another proof than Levitz was not in his best moment.

[Robanker]

Amen to that, brother. Another proof than Levitz was not in his best moment.

I think he could have done it, same with the Legion, if the marching orders weren't "be dark and different than what came before."

So PG went from a confidant woman making her own identity to "lol I was Supergirl but they have one so I'm totes Power Girl now," which sucks on toast. Same with his Legion run. I have zero doubts that Levitz would have delivered better on either IP but editorial was busy indulging their 13 year old brains.

[achilles]

If PG ever gets another solo, she should go on a "Starr" themed buying spree, buying the Daily Star and putting Alan Scott in charge, and Starlabs. That'd give her a theme...er...and also science/tech themed stories, plus newspaper stories, plus supporting characters galore. As for Alan...while IMO he as well should get a solo, he's not really, is he? So, any appearances of him is a good thing, and he has the media experience IIRC.

[achilles]

Which we'd all rather forget.

Hey, you've hit on a way for Max Lord to do a face turn! He makes the world forget the nu52 ever happened, and he's a hero in my eyes...

Actually, that reminds me, Max is probably at the top of her rogue's gallery. Although they should maybe explain why he can put the mental whammy on PG but Saturn Queen can't.

[seccruz]

If PG ever gets another solo, she should go on a "Starr" themed buying spree, buying the Daily Star and putting Alan Scott in charge, and Starlabs. That'd give her a theme...er...and also science/tech themed stories, plus newspaper stories, plus supporting characters galore. As for Alan...while IMO he as well should get a solo, he's not really, is he? So, any appearances of him is a good thing, and he has the media experience IIRC.

I would love more businesswoman Karen!

[Thor-Ul]

I think he could have done it, same with the Legion, if the marching orders weren't "be dark and different than what came before."

So PG went from a confidant woman making her own identity to "lol I was Supergirl but they have one so I'm totes Power Girl now," which sucks on toast. Same with his Legion run. I have zero doubts that Levitz would have delivered better on either IP but editorial was busy indulging their 13 year old brains.

That really damaged her more. Even after COIE, PG had her own personality. After Flashpoint she became more an alternate Supergirl than ever she was. Then Rebirth came and Supergirl recover part of her identity but Powergirl was left with nothing to make her distinctive.
I really would wish a new series to restablish her as a character distint than Supergirl and not only as "alternate Supergirl".

[achilles]

Ah, the nu52 Earth 2, a wasted opportunity. Darkseid should never have gone near the Earth 2 universe. He was too...dark for what Earth 2 should be like. And that entire story was too dark.

I suspect the answer to PG's "alternate Supergirl" problem is to make her explicitly NOT another SG. In short, change her relationship to Kal-L or even Kal-El if they want to go that way. Make it so she's no longer Kara Zor-L; so she's no longer an alternate universe version of SG. And never, ever again call her Supergirl.

[Thor-Ul]

Ah, the nu52 Earth 2, a wasted opportunity. Darkseid should never have gone near the Earth 2 universe. He was too...dark for what Earth 2 should be like. And that entire story was too dark.

I suspect the answer to PG's "alternate Supergirl" problem is to make her explicitly NOT another SG. In short, change her relationship to Kal-L or even Kal-El if they want to go that way. Make it so she's no longer Kara Zor-L; so she's no longer an alternate universe version of SG. And never, ever again call her Supergirl.

I think you misunderstood me. I have no problem with Powergirl being from a parallel universe and an alternate version of Kara Zor-L. That I like. Writers tried to disconnect her from the Superman myths and worked until she reconnected herself to the JSA. Why would she hang with those dudes and not with the league anymore?

What I didn't like is when they start to use characters as interchangeable, as if the only difference between them is the name. Both can a cousin of Superman, but their origins and what defined them as characters is different: Supergirl had an adolescence in Krypton, Powergirl no; Supergirl arrives to earth as an adolescent, Powergirl arrives as an adult; Supergirl was adopted by an human family, Powergirl lived by herself from the beggining; Supergirl is searching her identity, Powergirl built her identity as a CEO for a technology enterprise; Supergilr had a more timid, sweet personality, Powergirl was more assertive and agressive in her intentions; Supergirl obeys Superman, Powergirl defies him; Supergirl wishes to continue the legacy of Superman, Powergirl wants to create her own name.

The new52 "Powergirl" was just a classic Supergirl with a new horrible suit meanwhile writers tried to give the mainstream Supergirl more "Powergirlish" traits (a more agressive personality, not having a close connection to humanity, being more independant from Superman, a shorter hair). Hell, in the New 52 Powergirlwas literally, the Supegirl of earth 2!

And then with Rebirth,writers tried to give all those traits on Supergirl, leaving Powergirl with nothing. Doesn't help than in most recent media adaptations (DCSuperhero girls and SBFF) the Supergirl present is just a Supergirl just in name but a Powergirl in personality and attittude.

It would not surprise me if suddendly some DC writer decides to have Supergirl start her own enterprise of technology. That would be the cherry of the cake for me an a other nail in the coffin for PG.

[iChepito]

Very disheartening to hear this in a recent Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner interview...fast forward to 15:53

Amanda and Jimmy state the wanted to go back to do more Power Girl, but DC Comics had no interest.

I think we are all screwed if we are hoping for anything new, such as a PG solo series or the character being featured in a new book.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but here's hoping those rumors about AT&T wanting to sell are real.

Sucks being a Power Girl fan right now!!!

[Robanker]

I think you misunderstood me. I have no problem with Powergirl being from a parallel universe and an alternate version of Kara Zor-L. That I like. Writers tried to disconnect her from the Superman myths and worked until she reconnected herself to the JSA. Why would she hang with those dudes and not with the league anymore?

What I didn't like is when they start to use characters as interchangeable, as if the only difference between them is the name. Both can a cousin of Superman, but their origins and what defined them as characters is different: Supergirl had an adolescence in Krypton, Powergirl no; Supergirl arrives to earth as an adolescent, Powergirl arrives as an adult; Supergirl was adopted by an human family, Powergirl lived by herself from the beggining; Supergirl is searching her identity, Powergirl built her identity as a CEO for a technology enterprise; Supergilr had a more timid, sweet personality, Powergirl was more assertive and agressive in her intentions; Supergirl obeys Superman, Powergirl defies him; Supergirl wishes to continue the legacy of Superman, Powergirl wants to create her own name.

The new52 "Powergirl" was just a classic Supergirl with a new horrible suit meanwhile writers tried to give the mainstream Supergirl more "Powergirlish" traits (a more agressive personality, not having a close connection to humanity, being more independant from Superman, a shorter hair). Hell, in the New 52 Powergirlwas literally, the Supegirl of earth 2!

And then with Rebirth,writers tried to give all those traits on Supergirl, leaving Powergirl with nothing. Doesn't help than in most recent media adaptations (DCSuperhero girls and SBFF) the Supergirl present is just a Supergirl just in name but a Powergirl in personality and attittude.

It would not surprise me if suddendly some DC writer decides to have Supergirl start her own enterprise of technology. That would be the cherry of the cake for me an a other nail in the coffin for PG.

Nail, meet head.

Very disheartening to hear this in a recent Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner interview...fast forward to 15:53

Amanda and Jimmy state the wanted to go back to do more Power Girl, but DC Comics had no interest.

I think we are all screwed if we are hoping for anything new, such as a PG solo series or the character being featured in a new book.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but here's hoping those rumors about AT&T wanting to sell are real.

Sucks being a Power Girl fan right now!!!

They would include Harley to sexually harass PG some more and I'm done with that noise. I loved their first run by Harley has become persona non grata. If I buy a book with her it's because I'm tolerating Harley for the guest star. She's become Pepe Le Pew to PG; you know, the aggressive borderline rapey Looney Tune. It has to stop.

I love how much they love her and I know they have more great PG in them. If it's Karen and Atlee, that rules. If Harley shows up I'd rather pass.

I don't know if I can see Harley get a pass for full-stop sexual harassment again. The only thing that can be worse at this point is if she breaks Karen down and gets rewarded for her behavior.

[iChepito]

They would include Harley to sexually harass PG some more and I'm done with that noise. I loved their first run by Harley has become persona non grata. If I buy a book with her it's because I'm tolerating Harley for the guest star. She's become Pepe Le Pew to PG; you know, the aggressive borderline rapey Looney Tune. It has to stop.

I love how much they love her and I know they have more great PG in them. If it's Karen and Atlee, that rules. If Harley shows up I'd rather pass.

I don't know if I can see Harley get a pass for full-stop sexual harassment again. The only thing that can be worse at this point is if she breaks Karen down and gets rewarded for her behavior.

I had a love/hate relationship with their 12 issue run of Power Girl. I disliked some of the humor at the time and wanted PG to be written a bit more serious. I remember being excited when Winnick took over, but ultimately disliked how Basri drew PG. Now that time has passed, I miss Palmiotti/Conner/Gray's take on Power Girl and would love to see them return.

I mainly posted the video to show more evidence (not that it's needed) that DC Comics has zero interest in Power Girl at the moment. That interview was a couple days ago.

[achilles]

I had a love/hate relationship with their 12 issue run of Power Girl. I disliked some of the humor at the time and wanted PG to be written a bit more serious. I remember being excited when Winnick took over, but ultimately disliked how Basri drew PG. Now that time has passed, I miss Palmiotti/Conner/Gray's take on Power Girl and would love to see them return.

I mainly posted the video to show more evidence (not that it's needed) that DC Comics has zero interest in Power Girl at the moment. That interview was a couple days ago.

Sigh. But, given how quickly DC has been changing it's mind these days, maybe there is hope. Also, maybe DC just doesn't want a PG series from THEM, given their rather dismal drop in sales rate during their run. Hopefully, someone out there with enough pull will get interested enough in PG to develop a pitch DC does like. Yeah, I know, not likely, but ya gotta have hope.

[Stanlos]

Which we'd all rather forget.

Except for the Perez art. THAT was a treat. (But it was the only thing.)

[Robanker]

Except for the Perez art. THAT was a treat. (But it was the only thing.)

I'm partial to Maguire too. The book didn't want for talent, they just had a bad direction for Karen (arguably the worst), but who knows if that was their marching orders?

At the onset of the New 52, Karen was a depowered (or appearing as such) trophy friend with benefits for Michael Holt so it was just a bad time for her start to finish.

[achilles]

I'm partial to Maguire too. The book didn't want for talent, they just had a bad direction for Karen (arguably the worst), but who knows if that was their marching orders?

At the onset of the New 52, Karen was a depowered (or appearing as such) trophy friend with benefits for Michael Holt so it was just a bad time for her start to finish.

I do recall hearing things at the time. I recall that there were according to both Perez and Maguire so many mandates that kept changing at the last minute that they wasted lots of art because the editors kept changing their minds. The awful nuPG costume...I kind of blamed Maguire for it when it came out that he "designed" it, only to be corrected by Maguire about who was responsible. According to him, it was design by committee, and their demands kept changing. His role was implementing their suggestions and then doing it over when they changed their minds. Which according to him happened a number of times during the process. They were BTW pissed off at those changes, because not only did it mean they had to do twice as much work, but it apparently lowers the value of that art if it winds up not being used in a book, so they lost money on the deal too.

So I think that Levitz, Perez, and Maguire did the best they could under the circumstances; it was DC Editorial that failed us. And them too, for that matter. As for that first appearance....I don't know if you can blame Eric Wallace, (writer of that horrible Mr. Terrific nu52 series and current showrunner IIRC for The Flash), for that horrible, cringe worthy bit of PG being Holt's trophy blonde who is sleeping with him because she wants to steal his tech.

There is SO much wrong with that, I don't know where to start, so I won't. And I don't need to, anyone with a heart knows all the reasons that was horrible. I still want Max Lord to do a face turn by making ME forget that horrible time...