Power Girl Appreciation 2022

[Stanlos]

Controversial statement: Powergirl’s costume is kind of uninspired and boring apart from the cleavage window. When you remove it, the boring just becomes more evident.

I can't co-sign that. I have loved her costumes thus far with the exception of Connor onward.

[Digifiend]

Whatever happened to her? I think she was last seen with Deathstroke. Does anyone know?

Tanya Spears appeared in Future State: Shazam, where she was operating as Powerhouse. Presumably that was intended to also be her new name in the present day due to pre-Flashpoint Karen (i.e. not the version of her who gave her the Power Girl name) coming back, but she's not appeared since.

Courtney has a point. Karen is simply an AU version of Supergirl, so the two probably should have a sisterly relationship. Instead, they rarely interact at all and PG gets omitted from Super family gatherings like the one that just happened in Action Comics!

[achilles]

Tanya Spears appeared in Future State: Shazam, where she was operating as Powerhouse. Presumably that was intended to also be her new name in the present day due to pre-Flashpoint Karen (i.e. not the version of her who gave her the Power Girl name) coming back, but she's not appeared since.
Courtney has a point. Karen is simply an AU version of Supergirl, so the two probably should have a sisterly relationship. Instead, they rarely interact at all and PG gets omitted from Super family gatherings like the one that just happened in Action Comics!

Can't argue with any of that. Plus, when they are used together, they almost always fight. Not how I see that relationship. That idea of making them actual sisters would work IMO, and help DC and WB understand that they can use PG without confusing anyone. Honestly, that they feel that way at all seems weird to me; it's never been that complicated, and the idea of multiverses is an old one. But for whatever reason, DC and WB never seemed to get that. And now that they, including WB, seem to have embraced multiverses, they're STILL nearly ignoring PG.

[marhawkman]

Tanya Spears appeared in Future State: Shazam, where she was operating as Powerhouse. Presumably that was intended to also be her new name in the present day due to pre-Flashpoint Karen (i.e. not the version of her who gave her the Power Girl name) coming back, but she's not appeared since.
Courtney has a point. Karen is simply an AU version of Supergirl, so the two probably should have a sisterly relationship. Instead, they rarely interact at all and PG gets omitted from Super family gatherings like the one that just happened in Action Comics!

Well, not ALL of them, but most of them yeah. The story with Karsta Wor-Ul mentioned it. At that point she wasn't registering on scanning devices as Kryptonian.... but.. yeah....

THIS version has it that they're TOO similar to each other and had some weird symbiotic relationship. PG is weakening BECAUSE Supergirl is there.

[Digifiend]

So they actually wrote in an excuse to keep the Karas apart? Ugh. That does neither of them any favours.

[Stanlos]

I feel more and more that DiDio killed what could have been the best thing to happen to either of them. PAD's proposed team-up monthly featuring both Kara's AND the original Kara would have been ....well, SUPER. I don't care whether they called it BLONDE JUSTICE or SUPERGIRLS. It would have had epic heroic moments and it would have been clever.

[achilles]

I feel more and more that DiDio killed what could have been the best thing to happen to either of them. PAD's proposed team-up monthly featuring both Kara's AND the original Kara would have been ....well, SUPER. I don't care whether they called it BLONDE JUSTICE or SUPERGIRLS. It would have had epic heroic moments and it would have been clever.

We'll probably never know if it would have worked. Personally, I'd pair PG with WW in a duo title for the contrast. Especially now that they've tried their best to make SG into PG.

[Primal Slayer]

So they actually wrote in an excuse to keep the Karas apart? Ugh. That does neither of them any favours.

In Supergirl?

[mathew101281]

[achilles]

In Supergirl?

I love how PG always comes off worse in these things with SG. There, she's "weaker" somehow, which is why she attacks or something, it was just an excuse to get SG over. Though that one story had PG being stronger than SG mentally, able to resist Saturn Queen's mind stuff when SG couldn't. But even in that, it ends with SG physically beating PG, (they provided an explanation, but the real explanation was that PG was appearing in SG's title, and they again wanted to get SG over, while also making her, (SG) an unlikable selfish jerk). Ironically, PG get a lot better treatment from Gail Simone over in Wonder Woman than she ever did in the Super titles. Simone had to of course have WW win in her own book, but she managed it with about as much respect for PG as was possible, though at times I think that they should eliminate Kryptonite, red suns, and magic as weaknesses of PG's, since her clear weakness is really being put in a headlock You'd think that after the first such loss, an apparently vastly more skilled fighter than SG would bother to learn how to escape. Even when it's WW rather than SG putting it on her.

On that subject, feats of power that comic book characters of that sort are judged on; she's got very few. Let's see if I can get them all.

She fought WW quite well for a Super, actually gaining the upper hand for a bit until Diana realized that Kara just can't take a headlock. Nu52 version managed to gouge out Darkseid's eye, thought that didn't seem to bother him, and did so by going right through his Omega Beams, one of the few who could manage that. She also is the only being other than a Flash that I know of to outrun his Omega Beams. She still lost though. She helped bat around Prime for a bit. Then she just let J'ohn restrain her from trying to save her cousin, and cried a lot. She helped a few others move the moon or something. With others is the key. Not a solo feat. A future version of her survived Kryptonite poisoning and the moon being blown up with her on it. She's smarter than Mr. Terrific, as is SG, or at least better at science and engineering, something you'd expect from citizens of a hyper advanced race. And she battled the Gen Lost JLI, mostly winning until they sprung out a weakness she's never had before or since, and doesn't even make sense given the character's powers.

That's it. She's never beaten anyone of note solo without extenuating circumstances. Like knocking out both mind controlled Superman and Black Adam in basically two punches, nice, but mind controlled.

[seccruz]

Aw... Looks cool!

[The Frog Bros]

Putting this here cause its cool to see PG included.

20220915_091312.jpg

[seccruz]

Putting this here cause its cool to see PG included.

20220915_091312.jpg

The artist does a great PG!

[SuperX]

Putting this here cause its cool to see PG included.

20220915_091312.jpg

Are these still getting made? It's been awhile since I saw any of these.

[achilles]

Power Girl has been gone for so long, and done so little in so long, that this would be the perfect time to re-introduce her with a more detailed origin story than she's ever had, and one that has her as a bit less passive in that origin. That said, while she may come back as part of the JSA, she almost certainly won't have such a story, which would be best told in a mini.