Justice Society of America #5 spoilers/discussion

[MajorHoy]

If the JSA actually came back. If their history was restored in Doomsday Clock and they always were, the Karen Starr identity for the JSA's Power Girl would have continued...

Y'know, that's another thing Johns needs to / should have clarified by now.
And why for gods' sake he had to tie Power Girl specifically to having been around in the 1970s, clearly much earlier than Superman's existence, . . .

[clonegeek]

Y'know, that's another thing Johns needs to / should have clarified by now.
And why for gods' sake he had to tie Power Girl specifically to having been around in the 1970s, clearly much earlier than Superman's existence, . . .

I think it would have been wise if DC had Supergirl and Robin get stuck in the 70s for a few months. Supergirl becomes Powergirl to avoid messing with the time line and Robin becomes the Bronze age Robin

[bat39]

Y'know, that's another thing Johns needs to / should have clarified by now.
And why for gods' sake he had to tie Power Girl specifically to having been around in the 1970s, clearly much earlier than Superman's existence, . . .

I've said it before I guess but I'm pretty okay with it. From a brand perspective, Power Girl is pretty separate from the Superman franchise anyway (though she now has a backup in Action Comics I believe).

I do hope they explain what the deal is with her and how her history within the context of Earth 0 played out. Back on Earth 2, it was Kal-L who found her when the Symbioship landed on earth and took her under his wing. Post-Crisis, it was Kal-El who found her, and she briefly believed she was his cousin until tests proved otherwise. Who found her in current continuity, since Superman wasn't around in 1976?

[MajorHoy]

I've said it before I guess but I'm pretty okay with it. From a brand perspective, Power Girl is pretty separate from the Superman franchise anyway (though she now has a backup in Action Comics I believe).

I do hope they explain what the deal is with her and how her history within the context of Earth 0 played out. Back on Earth 2, it was Kal-L who found her when the Symbioship landed on earth and took her under his wing. Post-Crisis, it was Kal-El who found her, and she briefly believed she was his cousin until tests proved otherwise. Who found her in current continuity, since Superman wasn't around in 1976?

I don't remember that part of post-CoIE, but then again, I had taken a looooooooong break from comic books starting around 1995 (when Power Girl was still related to Arion of Atlantis).

[CaptCleghorn]

Y'know, that's another thing Johns needs to / should have clarified by now.
And why for gods' sake he had to tie Power Girl specifically to having been around in the 1970s, clearly much earlier than Superman's existence, . . .

PG did debut before Superman in JSA (2023) continuity. But it wasn't her Superman. Her Superman got erased from existence as did her universe which makes her an anomaly.

As to the nature of the JSA's "return", if there's a relationship between JSA characters and non-Earth Two characters, then I think it's evidence that the JSA returned with their history (whatever it is this time around) restored. Flashpoint erased them from existence so that no one remembered them. Had they just popped up again, who would know who they were?

[MajorHoy]

PG did debut before Superman in JSA (2023) continuity. But it wasn't her Superman. Her Superman got erased from existence as did her universe which makes her an anomaly.

But having Power Girl around for so long before Superman debuted makes Superman . . . not "special".
He's just another boring superhero with super powers. Power Girl preceding him makes his first appearance more of a "been there / done that" thing.

[CaptCleghorn]

But having Power Girl around for so long before Superman debuted makes Superman . . . not "special".
He's just another boring superhero with super powers. Power Girl preceding him makes his first appearance more of a "been there / done that" thing.

That's been said about the clutter earth JSA in general. Power Girl isn't really adding much to that argument.

[MajorHoy]

That's been said about the clutter earth JSA in general. Power Girl isn't really adding much to that argument.

Well, Power Girl is much more like Superman.

Besides, in the early days after CoIE, Superman's first appearance could have been more unique if the JSA hadn't been all that active in the years just prior to Superman's first appearance.

[Refrax5]

I've said it before I guess but I'm pretty okay with it. From a brand perspective, Power Girl is pretty separate from the Superman franchise anyway (though she now has a backup in Action Comics I believe).

I do hope they explain what the deal is with her and how her history within the context of Earth 0 played out. Back on Earth 2, it was Kal-L who found her when the Symbioship landed on earth and took her under his wing. Post-Crisis, it was Kal-El who found her, and she briefly believed she was his cousin until tests proved otherwise. Who found her in current continuity, since Superman wasn't around in 1976?

I think Infinite Crisis established her as the Earth 2 Power Girl, having essentially fallen through the cracks in reality when reality reformed after the original Crisis. Unless that's been retconned since.

I have no idea who found her now though if she was around in the 70s.

[Digifiend]

I've said it before I guess but I'm pretty okay with it. From a brand perspective, Power Girl is pretty separate from the Superman franchise anyway (though she now has a backup in Action Comics I believe).

That back up has finished. The last few issues had Steel instead. PG's getting her own book.

[MajorHoy]

That back up has finished. The last few issues had Steel instead. PG's getting her own book.

Well, the pretend Power Girl is getting her own book.

[M@Bowers2014]

That back up has finished. The last few issues had Steel instead. PG's getting her own book.

She actually has the lead story in Knight Terrors: Action Comics for anyone that's interested. Even features Omen just Power Girl's back ups have recently.

[bat39]

I don't remember that part of post-CoIE, but then again, I had taken a looooooooong break from comic books starting around 1995 (when Power Girl was still related to Arion of Atlantis).

It was established just before IC while they were laying the groundwork for the restoration of Power Girl's Earth 2 history and relationship with Kal-L.

Post-COIE Superman found Power Girl's Symbioship. For a while she believed she was his cousin. Then tests proved her wrong, which made her depressed. The 'boob window' on her suit was symbolic of the fact that she did not have the S symbol, or any other symbol to place on her chest

Well, Power Girl is much more like Superman.

Besides, in the early days after CoIE, Superman's first appearance could have been more unique if the JSA hadn't been all that active in the years just prior to Superman's first appearance.

Well, we still don't know how long before Superman's debut were the JSA still active. They need to explain when the sliding timescale now kicks in for the JSA.

But honestly, it really isn't that big an issue - especially if Power Girl was mostly restricted to Siegal/Shuster power levels. If the prior existence of Green Lantern or Flash or hell, Wonder Woman, doesn't steal Superman's thunder when he debuts, then why should Power Girl? It's not as though people would see Superman and go like "Hey...he seems to be the alternate universe cousin of that superhero who was in the JSA X decades ago?"

I think Infinite Crisis established her as the Earth 2 Power Girl, having essentially fallen through the cracks in reality when reality reformed after the original Crisis. Unless that's been retconned since.

I have no idea who found her now though if she was around in the 70s.

I guess "fallen through the cracks of reality" has basically become "temporal anomaly" now. Johns' approach to JSA continuity in general now seems to be substituting Multiversal stuff with time-travel/Hypertime stuff. So Helena isn't the daughter of Earth 2 Batman, but rather of Earth 0 Batman from a possible future (now seemingly erased). Power Girl is a temporal anomaly rather than a multiversal remnant. And so on.

[kcekada]

From my perspective, Power Girl should always be connected to the original Superman -- who eventually became the Superman of Earth 2. That's part of her appeal -- the definitive link to the very first and arguably most well-known super heroes. Whenever I watch those old Fleisher movies, I can't help but think this is Power Girl's cousin in his younger days. I'm not reading this series and everything I read about it makes me glad I'm not. I don't get why Johns is doing what he is doing to Karen (not Paige) and Helena.

[M@Bowers2014]

From my perspective, Power Girl should always be connected to the original Superman -- who eventually became the Superman of Earth 2. That's part of her appeal -- the definitive link to the very first and arguably most well-known super heroes. Whenever I watch those old Fleisher movies, I can't help but think this is Power Girl's cousin in his younger days. I'm not reading this series and everything I read about it makes me glad I'm not. I don't get why Johns is doing what he is doing to Karen (not Paige) and Helena.

No offense but since you haven't read the current JSA you don't know what Johns has done to either character. For the record Johns isn't the one making big changes to PG. That's happening in Action Comics and other titles. As a long time PG fan I'm glad for the current exposure she's getting. So far, even with the added powers, nothing has happened to negate her connection to the Earth 2 Superman. In fact the whole push seems to be to tie her more directly into the Superman Family which I love. She's even wearing an S-shield on her jacket which I'm not 100% digging. Regardless none of that stuff is being written by Johns.