Power Girl Appreciation 2024

[Stanlos]

For those of us saying it isn't P.G., do you feel this new take calls back to any earlier iterations?

[Factor]

For those of us saying it isn't P.G., do you feel this new take calls back to any earlier iterations?

Of Supergirl, maybe. But she acts nothing like any PG I’ve read.

[achilles]

For those of us saying it isn't P.G., do you feel this new take calls back to any earlier iterations?

No, not really. PG has never before been at all like this. This is a completely new character, not PG.

[Stanlos]

No, not really. PG has never before been at all like this. This is a completely new character, not PG.

Not even the early All Stars version or the one that appeared in those back up stories with Huntress? I have been digging around and it is looking like they really are wiping out the Post Crisis persona and going back to that. She very much seemed to be the same as Supergirl but from an earlier point in her history. In some of these stories, she doesn't fly but does the leap over tall buildings thing. Even the way she was drawn was different. She wasn't muscular and she wasn't supertall. Some artists gave her uh chest area more heft and with varying levels of support from her suit.

I find it sad because I adore the Post Crisis Power Girl and don't really care much for the Pre-Crisis Powergirl beyond the look. I didn't dislike her and she did catch my eye but it wasn't until the ubertall, ubermuscular, uberopinionated, and uberunapologetic Kara of the Royal zhouse of Atlantis bearing the Atlantean jewel sigil that I became a hardcore fan. Her personality was so different and bold and the sheer joy and aggression in using her powers was the business!

But I can see from a historical purpose how, assuming they were not going to leave PreCrisis Supergirl dead, that could be a disservice to Supergirl who is the primary.

I have stopped buying from DC as I don't recognize many of these characters. But in my head canon, Kara of Atlantis aka Peege is still around today and I just insert the Tanya Spears character there while Powergirl aka Paige can be whatever it is Geoff and company make her. After all, they are all imaginary stories. There are fans who write (like Ares) and who draw. Their stuff is often truer in spirit than whatever is going on. I still say if I could go back in time, I would totally block Dan DiDidiot's rise and instead use the Superman office's ,odel for defining the verse. It is similar to the model used in crafting 52 after Infinite Crisis and not to be confused with the New Poopy-2 that followed Flashturd. Busiek, Waid, Rucka, and Simone or PAD with Morrison as events idea consultant

[Factor]

From the very start she's always had an attitude and she was never content just being a "Supergirl". Her first appearance is iconic for renouncing the S-shield. Now she's short-haired Supergirl.

[Stanlos]

From the very start she's always had an attitude and she was never content just being a "Supergirl". Her first appearance is iconic for renouncing the S-shield. Now she's short-haired Supergirl.

That's the thing: she's ALWAYS been a take on Supergirl. The realization was rather galling for me. But it really hit home when reading Alex Ross notes on Kingdom Come. The reason for Powergirl inclusion? She was the Supergirl stand-in.

That for me was eye opening and it set off alarm bells. For if the prime was indeed returning, that means jeopardy for the newly independent alternate.

And so it was.

[OBrianTallent]

Power Girl has never been a "stand-in" for Supergirl. Supergirl has always been happy to wear the S shield, Power Girl never was. In All-Star Comics #64, Star Spangled Kid gives her an emblem for her costume, it's a P in a shield. She rejects it by calling him a "chauvinistic pig" and then says "I may be Superman's cousin, but I'm not his carbon copy. I'm my own woman"
Putting Karen in an S shield completely takes that initiative away from her. She started and ran her own company, she was boss. There's nothing of that woman present in this iteration of Power Girl. She's a very pale shadow. It might have been different if they had given us some kind of in story reasoning for all the changes from Karen Starr owner of StarrWare to Dr. Paige Stetler of...nothing, but they haven't. She's not even the same Power Girl who debuted with New 52 in the pages of Mister Terrific, Worlds' Finest with the Huntress or even Earth 2. She's a complete different character wearing the clothes of someone else. It's really disappointing from Holzherr, Kaminski and Leah Williams.
We had a really good take from Palmiotti and Conner, even Winnick and Basri's version was solid. This unfortunately isn't even in the same park and DC really just doesn't seem to care that we do.

[achilles]

She's obviously a VERSION or SG, that's just fact. But...and this is absolutely critical, she's a completely different character than any version that calls herself SG. Regardless of that regrettable bit of the nu52 PG. But most of their character aspects are different. Way different. PG is certainly the older, more experience and skilled version of the two, more aggressive, prone to leaping before she looks, socially awkward...I could go on about the differences.

[Stanlos]

FYA--the stand-in comment comes from a sketchbook on Kingdom Come. As you know, I lubs Peege.

But don't MAGA out and ignore facts. The fact is Powergirl was alternate universe version of an existing character and that character was Supergirl. Undoing Crisis makes that inescapable. Unfortunately the JSA title under Johns elevated that to such a degree that it consumed the character to boot. Especially during that Kingdom Come epilogue of sorts in JSA. I don't stan her JSA tenure much because once the checkups with the lab guy started, I knew something dreadful was coming.

I will ask the board, did her JSA tenure ever NOT have her all focused on her connection to Supes?

[marhawkman]

She's obviously a VERSION or SG, that's just fact. But...and this is absolutely critical, she's a completely different character than any version that calls herself SG. Regardless of that regrettable bit of the nu52 PG. But most of their character aspects are different. Way different. PG is certainly the older, more experience and skilled version of the two, more aggressive, prone to leaping before she looks, socially awkward...I could go on about the differences.

Yeah this.... it's still Kara Zor-El.

[Celgress]

FYA--the stand-in comment comes from a sketchbook on Kingdom Come. As you know, I lubs Peege.

But don't MAGA out and ignore facts. The fact is Powergirl was alternate universe version of an existing character and that character was Supergirl. Undoing Crisis makes that inescapable. Unfortunately the JSA title under Johns elevated that to such a degree that it consumed the character to boot. Especially during that Kingdom Come epilogue of sorts in JSA. I don't stan her JSA tenure much because once the checkups with the lab guy started, I knew something dreadful was coming.

I will ask the board, did her JSA tenure ever NOT have her all focused on her connection to Supes?

This is fiction (and often poorly-written fiction at that). They can do pretty much anything they want with any character at any time, especially at DC where the slogan due to more crises than one can easily count is "everything happened, sort of, kind of, yeah". Sorry, but I loathe comic book continuity stans most of all DC continuity stans because it is such an illogical position, such a stupendously stupid mountain to die on when even those creating the comics at DC are unsure exactly how this continuity works from day to day due to its elasticity. So, who gives a **** about what happened in JSA, I know I don't. JSA shouldn't be used to justify the bad writing of Power Girl, or any other character when it can easily be ignored like how 50% or more of general DC continuity is ignored seemly at any given time. Give me a recognizable Power Girl, not a Supergirl replica; strong, competent, confident, independent, scientifically gifted, sporty, sex-positive, sociable, fun-loving, successful businesswoman, and screw this elastic continuity.

[Thor-Ul]

She's obviously a VERSION or SG, that's just fact. But...and this is absolutely critical, she's a completely different character than any version that calls herself SG. Regardless of that regrettable bit of the nu52 PG. But most of their character aspects are different. Way different. PG is certainly the older, more experience and skilled version of the two, more aggressive, prone to leaping before she looks, socially awkward...I could go on about the differences.

She is the cousin of Superman who came later to earth after Superman was a established hero.
Of course she IS a variant of the Supergirl story. Try to denied is absurd. But the point is she is an alternate version who won popularity and had a personality different from her original basis. At difference of Supergirl, she didn't wanted to use a symbol nor the same colors as Superman, she created a identity different, she hjhad a different work. She was similar enough to be called a variant of Supergirl but also different enough to be her own character.

The problem isn't PG.

The problem is Supergirl.

Everytime DC writers and editors want to sell Supergirl as different they imitate what makes Power Girl interesting, and they do it as if always had been a characteristic of Supergirl.
And this last series simply took all the characteristics of Supergirl and gave them to Power Girl, with a new name and submisive attittude unharacteristic of her.
I insist, the present writer wanted a Supergirl series, but she got the Power Girl series instead because whatever plans got Gunn for the Supergirl movie.

This is fiction (and often poorly-written fiction at that). They can do pretty much anything they want with any character at any time, especially at DC where the slogan due to more crises than one can easily count is "everything happened, sort of, kind of, yeah". Sorry, but I loathe comic book continuity stans most of all DC continuity stans because it is such an illogical position, such a stupendously stupid mountain to die on when even those creating the comics at DC are unsure exactly how this continuity works from day to day due to its elasticity. So, who gives a **** about what happened in JSA, I know I don't. JSA shouldn't be used to justify the bad writing of Power Girl, or any other character when it can easily be ignored like how 50% or more of general DC continuity is ignored seemly at any given time. Give me a recognizable Power Girl, not a Supergirl replica; strong, competent, confident, independent, scientifically gifted, sporty, sex-positive, sociable, fun-loving, successful businesswoman, and screw this elastic continuity.

I think you are confusing continuity with coherence. Continuity can change and it changes a lot of time, but the coherence of the characters, how a characters behave, how they react, that is the important aspect of the identity of the characters, it is what defines them. You can keep the Kents dead or alive, but Superman always will help people, for example.

[GreyFox]

People often consider things and characters to be the same if they have the same name, which can damage character integrity. Power Girl had been successfully established as separate from Supergirl even after she returned in 2004. I don't think characterization from 35+ years ago takes precedence over that. Williams' changes mostly ignore this hard work. Being 'creator-focused' may be the popular stance, but sometimes it goes wrong. Time will tell, but I get the impression from the comments the existing Power Girl fandom is being eroded by this, and I doubt that new fans will make up for this.

[achilles]

People often consider things and characters to be the same if they have the same name, which can damage character integrity. Power Girl had been successfully established as separate from Supergirl even after she returned in 2004. I don't think characterization from 35+ years ago takes precedence over that. Williams' changes mostly ignore this hard work. Being 'creator-focused' may be the popular stance, but sometimes it goes wrong. Time will tell, but I get the impression from the comments the existing Power Girl fandom is being eroded by this, and I doubt that new fans will make up for this.

Ah, and here's the danger in what DC is doing with PG; losing fans. I think this is real, and will get worse as long as this continues. DC needs to pull this writer and editor, and simply pretend this interlude never happened. Give fans an actual Power Girl title featuring...and this will shock DC, Power Girl as the star, not some pretender who shares some superficial similarities to much better versions of the character, but that's it, superficial only.

[marhawkman]

So what do you guys think of the idea of having PG being a sort of mutant throwback Kryptonian?

'cause the old stories... had the idea that Krypton had it's own version of radiation-spawned mutants, who had different powers than regular Kryptonians.