I don't think her visual really requires a multiversal component (not all costumes include bits from every idea at play), but if I'm wrong it wouldn't be the first time she changed her costume. Easy fix.
The IC origin didn't change her personality, which was part of why it was good, but it reinforced certain things, expanded on others, and complimented what traits and quirks were already there. Could/should it have played a larger role? Obviously, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation. But a point in the origin's favor is that it didn't make fundamental changes to who she was; it just made all those things stronger and more clearly defined.
And her origin doesn't have to be a front and center component of her everyday story. Not every Superman story is about Krypton, not every GL story is about being a pilot or watching your dad crash. Karen's origin should have been emphasized more, but it was never the be all end all of PG, and shouldn't be.
She's been adapted? The only larger media showings I've seen since Infinite Crisis are....Injustice 2, and one episode of Super Hero Girls. I think Injustice might have a line or two of dialogue referencing earth-2, and SHG uses the earth-2 origin as well (but in it's weird, making fun of itself way), but while fun, neither were worth much notice. Did she get an actual adaptation somewhere that I missed? An appearance on Supergirl or something?Every adaptation of her had to ignore her origin story or massively rewrite it.
So, this is why I support this origin.I honestly want to understand why you feel that the interdimensional refugee origin helps her character.
1. From a business perspective we know it's viable. There is money to be made there. Not Batman money (what is?) but respectable bank. This isn't hypothetical, we've seen it. Risk factors seem low; if the book fails you're only losing mid-level sales revenue. Potential returns seem sizable; look at how much more popular PG became after Infinite Crisis; from not being able to hold anything, to leading two team books and a solo with decent sales. What could the last ten years have looked like for her, had DC simply kept doing what was already working? As a medium-length investment and looking at the gains we got over the short-term, it seems like an effort that could have paid off nicely. I obviously don't have access to DC's balance sheets, but looking at what we know, we know it was working and while nothing says it would have kept working, nothing says it wouldn't either.
2. Creatively, "Dimensional refugee" is a relatively unique niche within modern DC. It's a perspective no one of note can offer. And it opens up story avenues that other characters rarely touch on. It was (and largely still is) a concept that nobody else was offering, that nobody else in DC "owned" and Karen could have made it her own. And still could.
3. Thematically it harkens back to DC's past (they're still known for the multiverse, and it's used in larger media a lot) without actually being beholden to it. It's very DC, but Karen doesn't have to be from earth-2. She just has to come from a dead reality that has some remarkable similarities and differences to the main DCU. It can be called another earth in the multiverse, or a hypertime branch, or a variant timeline, or a pocket dimension, or whatever the hell you have to call it to make it fit around the wider DC cosmology, as long as it's a dead reality from outside the native universe where Karen knew versions of people like Clark, Helena, her next door neighbor, whoever.
4. As I said, it reinforces a lot of who she was already. Her temper, her weird quasi-distant relationship with the Kents, the IC origin compliments all of that and more. This is basically just taking who she was originally, and saying that she remembers surviving the Crisis (even if the continuity of the moment forces that to be metatextual instead of literal), and using that to develop and define her character. It's not reinventing the wheel, it's perfecting it.
You never know. Anything is possible, and sometimes directions nobody expected to work end up becoming definitive. Maybe "Kara's big sister" would throw her into Harley levels of popularity. Y'never know. But what I do know is that the refugee got a small push for a short time, and in that time Karen was more successful than ever. And I know that I've seen a lot of big changes and new directions with PG over the years, some minor and some huge, and the refugee was the only time any of it was successful. Why would I *want* to get rid of the concept?And do you think she could work better without it?
But again, I reiterate; the problem lies with DC's apathy, not the character. It doesn't actually matter whether the character is broken, or whether a different idea would be more successful, because DC isn't interested anyway. Not in your ideas or mine or anyone else's.
It's like this; I hate country music. Doesn't matter how good the song is or how well crafted the melody is, I won't like it. And I don't like country singers. Tell me Garth Brooks did a rock album (he did, once) and I still won't care (I didn't). Karen is DC's country music. They just don't give a shit, man. On the most basic level. It doesn't matter what idea you come at them with, they see little value in the name of Power Girl, so nothing you attach to that name will be seen as valuable either. *That* is the problem PG fans need solved before anything else matters.
My genuine pleasure. I'm always happy to get new perspectives; an opinion is only as strong as the arguments against it and you have valid critiques.(Of course I understand if none of this interests you. I'm genuinely appreciative of the people having this conversation with me because I want to understand how you view this topic)
So let me ask; let's say DC does something drastic, like your suggestion of Karen being Kara's sister (or anything big). Is that still Karen or a new character with a old name? As a PG fan, why should I care to follow this new version and what assurances do I have that it won't end up ignored and failed like nearly every other time this has been done?