Power Girl Appreciation 2023

[marhawkman]

Yuck. Was she a better character at least this time? As in did she have any character?

Divine? enh... not really. She was a distraction from the main plot which was PG dating Jimmy Olsen. She fights PG, but we don't actually even see the end of the fight.

[bat22]

Divine? enh... not really. She was a distraction from the main plot which was PG dating Jimmy Olsen. She fights PG, but we don't actually even see the end of the fight.

Yeah, but "main plot" is putting it mildly since we get a few snippets of them dating but no real meat to the interaction. "My Date With Power Girl" is something that could've taken a proper-sized issue.

[The Frog Bros]

Yeah, but "main plot" is putting it mildly since we get a few snippets of them dating but no real meat to the interaction. "My Date With Power Girl" is something that could've taken a proper-sized issue.

Season two of Fraction Lieber Jimmy Olsen book?

[OBrianTallent]

Season two of Fraction Lieber Jimmy Olsen book?

That could be hilarious...an entire season of Jimmy Olsen going on Super dates!!

[SuperX]

That could be hilarious...an entire season of Jimmy Olsen going on Super dates!!

Karen would ruin Jimmy for all other woman no doubt

[Robanker]

Season two of Fraction Lieber Jimmy Olsen book?

I want it so bad.

Karen would ruin Jimmy for all other woman no doubt

You're not wrong.

[bat22]

Season two of Fraction Lieber Jimmy Olsen book?

I think that would be a best-selling Superman Family book.

Karen would ruin Jimmy for all other woman no doubt

Jimmy was already hitting way above his weight class with Karen Starr. Add Power Girl to equation...

[Digifiend]

1992 Trading Card.

Attachment 129552

Earth's Mightiest Heroes, really? That's the Avengers tagline. Isn't the JLA's version World's Greatest Heroes? Was there also a Marvel set by the same company and they just used the same tagline on both?

We are getting a Powergirl special spinning out of Action Comics. Same creative team

Makes sense. This combined with those backups will fill a short trade. Equivalent of four normal sized issues I'd say.

While the popular opinion may be to pair PG with Ms. Marvel (Kamala Who?), I'd have her team up with Namorita from the 90s New Warriors. They'd be birds of a feather.

Plus Karen could mention that time she thought she was an Atlantean!

My first thought was Ms. Marvel Carol .

Carol does make more sense than Kamala for this. If Kamala was to team up with a DC hero, it'd be more likely to be one of the Titans. Maybe Robin, as they're both leaders of teams.

[bat22]

Plus Karen could mention that time she thought she was an Atlantean!

Even as a Kryptonian, I like to think that Power Girl has some special history with Atlantis. A crossover with Namorita could be like Batman/Hulk or Batman/Spider-Man where the DC/Marvel heroes just happen to occupy the same Earth. So Kara and Nita could already be very familiar from growing up around Namor and Arion.

[bat22]

Can't say that I'm a fan of Divine who just shows up with this big connection to Power Girl (I'm also not a fan of Judd Winick's other creation Thunder who just shows up as Black Lightning's grown daughter). Having another Kryptonian around should have been a bigger deal than how blasé Divine's presentation was. On the other hand, DC doesn't seem to have any shortage of Kryptonian and pseudo-Kryptonian (Daxamite, Phaelosian) characters these days.

The idea of a cloned Kryptonian villainess was well-done with Galatea, but that was because PG as we know her didn't exist in the Timm-verse; and the age difference between 'Tea and Supergirl was a nice angle. I think a younger Galatea would work against Power Girl, but that figure would be redundant with Supergirl around.

Divine ultimately does nothing that an evil Power Girl from another Earth would satisfy as well. It would be better to instead have built up an enmity between PG and an established villainess like Faora-Ul or Mala brought over from S:TAS.

[Agent Z]

Can't say that I'm a fan of Divine who just shows up with this big connection to Power Girl (I'm also not a fan of Judd Winick's other creation Thunder who just shows up as Black Lightning's grown daughter). Having another Kryptonian around should have been a bigger deal than how blasé Divine's presentation was. On the other hand, DC doesn't seem to have any shortage of Kryptonian and pseudo-Kryptonian (Daxamite, Phaelosian) characters these days.

The idea of a cloned Kryptonian villainess was well-done with Galatea, but that was because PG as we know her didn't exist in the Timm-verse; and the age difference between 'Tea and Supergirl was a nice angle. I think a younger Galatea would work against Power Girl, but that figure would be redundant with Supergirl around.

Divine ultimately does nothing that an evil Power Girl from another Earth would satisfy as well. It would be better to instead have built up an enmity between PG and an established villainess like Faora-Ul or Mala brought over from S:TAS.

I'd rather Karen keep Divine than sponge off Clark or Kara.

[Ascended]

I'd rather Karen keep Divine than sponge off Clark or Kara.

More or less agreed.

Bat22 isn't wrong that what Divine offers can easily be covered by an alternate-earth Kryptonian or a Phantom Zone inmate. And I think there's value in using an established, big name villain now and then to help push and sell a lesser known hero like Karen. Like, a cover where Power Girl is fighting Faora or Brainiac or even Livewire is gonna get more attention than the same cover with Karen fighting some random unknown bad guy.

But ultimately, if a character is going to stand on their own as a solo property they need a mythos and cast of their own. Even a legacy still needs a mythos that belongs to them, rather than constantly stealing from the parent franchise. It's in Karen's best interests to build up a proper rogues gallery and Divine is, conceptually, fine. She's an evil clone, Karen's (more attractive) Bizarro. All Divine needs is some development and character work.

In these discussions I usually suggest stealing a few villains who rarely get used, and using them to help hold sales up while you establish the unique rogues gallery. So give Divine an arc and put some effort into making her a quality villain, then do an arc with Psycho Pirate (a villain who works well against Karen, and they have some history to pull from) to keep reader's attention, then do an arc with another original/Karen-specific villain, then do an arc with Ultra-Humanite or Zod, etc. Before long, those original/PG-specific villains will have enough stories under them that their conflicts with Karen will be able to keep the book going and you won't have to borrow villains from other characters. Divine or whoever will never be as popular as a Zod, but they just have to be popular enough that the reader wants to see how Karen deals with them, they don't need to be A-list they just have to be interesting enough to justify grabbing the next issue.

[bat22]

I'd rather Karen keep Divine than sponge off Clark or Kara.

Superman isn't hard-up for a Kryptonian villain, and it can be argued that Zod and Ursa are his essentials plus a 3rd or 4th henchman. Even Jor-El became villainous material. Ladies like Faora-Ul or Mala pop up now and then but more can be made of them with someone like PG than keeping them limited to the Superman corner.

It would be like giving Sabretooth a bigger enmity with a hero other than Iron Fist in whose book he debuted.

[bat22]

More or less agreed.

Bat22 isn't wrong that what Divine offers can easily be covered by an alternate-earth Kryptonian or a Phantom Zone inmate. And I think there's value in using an established, big name villain now and then to help push and sell a lesser known hero like Karen. Like, a cover where Power Girl is fighting Faora or Brainiac or even Livewire is gonna get more attention than the same cover with Karen fighting some random unknown bad guy.

But ultimately, if a character is going to stand on their own as a solo property they need a mythos and cast of their own. Even a legacy still needs a mythos that belongs to them, rather than constantly stealing from the parent franchise. It's in Karen's best interests to build up a proper rogues gallery and Divine is, conceptually, fine. She's an evil clone, Karen's (more attractive) Bizarro. All Divine needs is some development and character work.

In these discussions I usually suggest stealing a few villains who rarely get used, and using them to help hold sales up while you establish the unique rogues gallery. So give Divine an arc and put some effort into making her a quality villain, then do an arc with Psycho Pirate (a villain who works well against Karen, and they have some history to pull from) to keep reader's attention, then do an arc with another original/Karen-specific villain, then do an arc with Ultra-Humanite or Zod, etc. Before long, those original/PG-specific villains will have enough stories under them that their conflicts with Karen will be able to keep the book going and you won't have to borrow villains from other characters. Divine or whoever will never be as popular as a Zod, but they just have to be popular enough that the reader wants to see how Karen deals with them, they don't need to be A-list they just have to be interesting enough to justify grabbing the next issue.

I just don't know if Divine is worth the effort. Her very name is eye-rolling. I try to think of any worthwhile heroic or villainous clone and I can only think of Ben "Scarlet Spider" Reilly who's really been put through the ringer in the past decade.

Maybe Divine could fill a spot to PG that Bizarro occupies to Supes, but her value as just a brunette clone is limited. She shares PG's powers and attitude but she's eeevil. I guess it could be a case of Single White Female whenever she shows up, the Leigh to Karen's Fonda.

[achilles]

I just don't know if Divine is worth the effort. Her very name is eye-rolling. I try to think of any worthwhile heroic or villainous clone and I can only think of Ben "Scarlet Spider" Reilly who's really been put through the ringer in the past decade.

Maybe Divine could fill a spot to PG that Bizarro occupies to Supes, but her value as just a brunette clone is limited. She shares PG's powers and attitude but she's eeevil. I guess it could be a case of Single White Female whenever she shows up, the Leigh to Karen's Fonda.

Honestly, if it were up to me and such a character type was desired as a foil for PG, I'd go with Galatea instead. It is much better than Divine; both the name itself and the origin.