Power Girl #1

I have to admit I was impressed. I've been a big fan of Gray and Palmiotti since first encountering their work on the Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters series. (I actually just saw their name on an old series I read, too, but can't recall it.) While this is no Eisner award winning series, it is very solid comic book-ing. An interesting story with lovely art. What more could you ask for? From the joking reference to Morrison's "All-Star Superman" on the first page through the floating manhattan island on the last, I was smiling from ear to ear the whole time. I'll admit, from the previews foisted on us last month I had no high hopes for the book. PG was a character I liked from Geoff John's run on JSA and my first foray into Birds of Prey. Yeah, she's a character who has, since the early 90s, become a bit of an emblem for what's wrong with the industry, but when handled right she's a star in her own right. I won't go into the plot, but I will say the dual storytelling was nice, but simple and worked for this intro issue. it's a novel approach to setting up an identity in a new locale, while keeping things interesting for the reader. I think it's obvious Conner is helping G/P out with some of the plotting, if only because it didn't have that "woman from a man's perspective feel to it." It's also nice to see a female character tower over the "average joe." The story isn't exactly new, or remarkable but fun. Full of nice jokes, good action and some obvious attempts at getting the "Yes you're reading a book about a character with big boobs, get over it." And for the most part it works. And I simply loved the art. In a week where you have EVS on Flash and Sal Larocca on Iron Man, you'd think it would be hard to love cartoony art. Well, not at all. Conner's style perfectly suits this book and character. There's a jauntiness to the work that makes it fun, light and airy, it doesn't seem overly concerned with accuracy in depiction but accuracy in reception. And the little comedic bits Conner adds to backgrounds are awesome. My only complaint with the art is that we have the bad guys from "Bioshock" in the book, unabashedly and that took a little bit to get over with. But otherwise I loved the art. There's a sense of movement to it, and I loved the added touch of Power Girl's bangs *moving* panel to panel. Unlike other superwomen, Power Girl apparently doesn't invest in hairspray. And that's a real nice, feminine touch from the artist that a lot of male artists miss. Just look at the panel where PG as Karen Starr is taking a cup of coffee from her assistant and her friend interrupts. Brilliant. I doubt this book would really be a POW unless it were a slow week, but that's not my hope for the book. I just want a solid, month-to-month book about a super-hero and her daily life. I don't need crossovers, event banners and the like. Give me PG month-to-month, and I'll be a happy comic reader.