Power Girl Appreciation 2022

[Ascended]

Finished One Star Squadron.

Karen gets a good ending. Well, as good as anyone in the tale, anyway. It is remarkably dour, as far as superhero endings go. Which seems to be about par for course with Russel.

Spoilers, if anyone else still cares about this.

........

After the office burns down, Karen gets back to basics; saving lives as PG and not worrying about the capitalist rat race or who has the biggest bank account or which hero is most popular. She burns all the self-help books, apologizes to Red for trying to get him fired, they make peace, and she goes off on her way. Her role in the issue is pretty minor, everything came to a head already in issues 4 and 5, and this is largely just epilogue. But it *does* put her back into familiar territory. Nothing excuses the idea of her reading Max Lord's books but other than that, the entire thing could be written off as a short-term phase she went through. You could *almost* fit it into continuity if you were so inclined (though I question why anyone would want to).

So I guess the best we can say for this book, as PG fans, is that it gave her somewhere to be for a few months and didn't end up doing any legitimate damage to her. She was frustrated at her own lack of success and tried to achieve great things another way, by taking on business and economics, and after that failed experiment, got back to doing what she's good at. She screwed over a friend, but in the grand scheme it's not a huge mistake and her actions actually didn't really make a difference anyway; the business was gonna be sold regardless of what she did, and she had nothing to do with the office burning down.

Honestly, I think everyone else comes out looking worse than she does. Including Red. Still not a great story for Karen, but it ended far better for her than most of us feared it was going to.

[achilles]

Finished One Star Squadron.

Karen gets a good ending. Well, as good as anyone in the tale, anyway. It is remarkably dour, as far as superhero endings go. Which seems to be about par for course with Russel.

Spoilers, if anyone else still cares about this.

........

After the office burns down, Karen gets back to basics; saving lives as PG and not worrying about the capitalist rat race or who has the biggest bank account or which hero is most popular. She burns all the self-help books, apologizes to Red for trying to get him fired, they make peace, and she goes off on her way. Her role in the issue is pretty minor, everything came to a head already in issues 4 and 5, and this is largely just epilogue. But it *does* put her back into familiar territory. Nothing excuses the idea of her reading Max Lord's books but other than that, the entire thing could be written off as a short-term phase she went through. You could *almost* fit it into continuity if you were so inclined (though I question why anyone would want to).

So I guess the best we can say for this book, as PG fans, is that it gave her somewhere to be for a few months and didn't end up doing any legitimate damage to her. She was frustrated at her own lack of success and tried to achieve great things another way, by taking on business and economics, and after that failed experiment, got back to doing what she's good at. She screwed over a friend, but in the grand scheme it's not a huge mistake and her actions actually didn't really make a difference anyway; the business was gonna be sold regardless of what she did, and she had nothing to do with the office burning down.

Honestly, I think everyone else comes out looking worse than she does. Including Red. Still not a great story for Karen, but it ended far better for her than most of us feared it was going to.

Hmmm, still, my preference if for her to play a key role if not the key role in a gripping story where she is shown in character trying to do things that make sense for her, given her prior history, and wherein she comes off very well, and actually accomplishes something big. I mean, if they want to use her at all, why not use her well?

[Ascended]

Well obviously.

I just know a lot of us gave the mini a shot and dropped it pretty quick, and I figured I'd let folks know how it ended. It *is* the only book she's appeared in lately.

[achilles]

Well obviously.

I just know a lot of us gave the mini a shot and dropped it pretty quick, and I figured I'd let folks know how it ended. It *is* the only book she's appeared in lately.

It's good to know that no permanent damage was done, and that we can just pretend it never happened as it likely will never be referenced again. I hope. So...a plus?

[Ascended]

She got treated much better than I'd first expected, and comes out looking better than most (for what that's worth). Considering how things looked when it started, I think we can call it...an interesting experiment. Karen as a Karen, as it were, but finding her way back to herself at the end.

I doubt it'll be referenced again, the book is too...unvarnished?...to be canon, and I doubt it'll influence her characterization much, if at all. Not unless another writer liked what they saw here.

If nothing else it's a bullet dodged. An oddly fun Elseworld where the D-list League meets the Office, worth reading for its own oddness and not for the larger DCU. A unique look at Karen that, in the end, didn't feel entirely wrong footed, just uncomfortable.

Maybe we did or maybe we didn't come out ahead on this one, but we didn't lose any ground. As PG fans, that's kind of a win these days.

[achilles]

It's such a shame that a character who was vibrant, unique in her personality, and still has been mostly missing in action for years now with no prospect of bringing her back in a meaningful way, or indeed in any way at all that is more than an Elseworlds. Nearly totally left out of other media, unlike characters created almost literally yesterday.

It isn't even about sales. How many chances in the comics, not to mention the times the newer Blue Beetle has been in other media, ranging from animated series to live action to video games and novels. Cyborg too, getting big budget, albiet horrible huge budget movies as well as many animated series.

All of whom sold less than Power Girl's comic at it's lowest, (at their lowest, which was considerably lower than PG's lowest in some cases, and still kept their series for longer than they should. And then got new series, which PG never did.

Video games. PG's been in a couple, both as skins and DLCs, never the main characters. hell, in Injustice 2, the skin PGs don't even get their own ending when they win the whole thing----it just defaults to Supergirl's ending.

Basically, to me it seems that DC and WB have largely abandoned PG in favor of SG, and all the various other Kryptonian characters.

Nor do I think that Discovery has any interest or knowledge of PG, and probably will simply ruin her, or just abandon her entirely.

[achilles]

Power Girl has been in precisely one of the DC/Marvel crossovers, in only one panel as it happens, a mass fight scene where the participants keep changing. She was fighting She-Hulk IIRC. No outcome because it just changed again before anything happened, but it's interesting the choice of opponent. I would have thought Carol Danvers as a closer analogue in powers, but perhaps the personalities are more similar?

[marhawkman]

It's such a shame that a character who was vibrant, unique in her personality, and still has been mostly missing in action for years now with no prospect of bringing her back in a meaningful way, or indeed in any way at all that is more than an Elseworlds. Nearly totally left out of other media, unlike characters created almost literally yesterday.

It isn't even about sales. How many chances in the comics, not to mention the times the newer Blue Beetle has been in other media, ranging from animated series to live action to video games and novels. Cyborg too, getting big budget, albiet horrible huge budget movies as well as many animated series.

All of whom sold less than Power Girl's comic at it's lowest, (at their lowest, which was considerably lower than PG's lowest in some cases, and still kept their series for longer than they should. And then got new series, which PG never did.

Video games. PG's been in a couple, both as skins and DLCs, never the main characters. hell, in Injustice 2, the skin PGs don't even get their own ending when they win the whole thing----it just defaults to Supergirl's ending.

Basically, to me it seems that DC and WB have largely abandoned PG in favor of SG, and all the various other Kryptonian characters.

Nor do I think that Discovery has any interest or knowledge of PG, and probably will simply ruin her, or just abandon her entirely.

DCUO doesn't use PG much either, BUT... they actually have more than one of her courtesy of the Multiverse shtuff. The alternate version of her? No idea what universe she came from but she's a Blue Lantern. also, I'm not sure if they use her as anything but decoration in the House of Legends. It has mostly alt-u characters in it... most of which don't get used much if at all.

[Gaius]

Dan Jurgens: Superman
Art Thibert: Powergirl
Tom Grummett: Superboy
Jon Bogdanove: Supergirl
Phil Jimenez: Superboy Prime

[Stanlos]

DCUO doesn't use PG much either, BUT... they actually have more than one of her courtesy of the Multiverse shtuff. The alternate version of her? No idea what universe she came from but she's a Blue Lantern. also, I'm not sure if they use her as anything but decoration in the House of Legends. It has mostly alt-u characters in it... most of which don't get used much if at all.

So, is Tanya Spears mothballing or are we to see her in the future sometime?

[Stanlos]

It's such a shame that a character who was vibrant, unique in her personality, and still has been mostly missing in action for years now with no prospect of bringing her back in a meaningful way, or indeed in any way at all that is more than an Elseworlds. Nearly totally left out of other media, unlike characters created almost literally yesterday.

It isn't even about sales. How many chances in the comics, not to mention the times the newer Blue Beetle has been in other media, ranging from animated series to live action to video games and novels. Cyborg too, getting big budget, albiet horrible huge budget movies as well as many animated series.

All of whom sold less than Power Girl's comic at it's lowest, (at their lowest, which was considerably lower than PG's lowest in some cases, and still kept their series for longer than they should. And then got new series, which PG never did.

Video games. PG's been in a couple, both as skins and DLCs, never the main characters. hell, in Injustice 2, the skin PGs don't even get their own ending when they win the whole thing----it just defaults to Supergirl's ending.

Basically, to me it seems that DC and WB have largely abandoned PG in favor of SG, and all the various other Kryptonian characters.

Nor do I think that Discovery has any interest or knowledge of PG, and probably will simply ruin her, or just abandon her entirely.

I think that narrative perfectly explains the issue with doing away with Linda Danvers and reviving the Supergirl who died. If that happened and they hadn't un-Atlantean'd Peege, she could have survived. But both things pretty much default to that annoying reality: Supergirl is the primary of the two

[marhawkman]

So, is Tanya Spears mothballing or are we to see her in the future sometime?

To my knowledge, the videogame DCUO has never used Tanya Spears at all.

[achilles]

Power Girl appears to be absent from Dark Crisis or whatever this one's called, does she not? Well, if so, then it's just another opportunity leaving her behind. Shame.

[seccruz]

Power Girl appears to be absent from Dark Crisis or whatever this one's called, does she not? Well, if so, then it's just another opportunity leaving her behind. Shame.

I get using Kara for JL, but Jon could have at least offered a position to Karen

[seccruz]

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After workout Karen