Power Girl

Worlds’ Finest Annual #1

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Worlds' Finest Annual #1Before they were Power Girl and the Huntress on another Earth they were Supergirl and Robin. More times than not comic annuals aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. Overpriced and often featuring multiple disjointed stories from more than one creative group, the standalone issues often don’t even fit into the series’ current storyline.

With the Huntress and Power Girl, however, there’s an entire vein of tales left untapped from their time as Robin and Supergirl from Earth-2. Other than a few short flashbacks, we’ve seen little of the heroines original time as heroes before becoming trapped on an alternate Earth.

We get three separate tales. The first gives us Robin’s first outing as Batman‘s partner. The second involves Kara enjoying a little normalcy before being unable to save her date for the evening. And the third story combines the first two as Helena and Power Girl work together to take on an evil Amazon (with an unusual connection to Wonder Woman) who is to blame for Kara’s recent misfortune. Despite the $5 price-tag, it’s still worth a look.

[DC, $4.99]

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Power Girl: Bomb Squad

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Power Girl: Bomb SquadRecollecting issues #13-18 of Power Girl‘s self-titled series prior to the New 52 reboot, Power Girl: Bomb Squad features our heroine dealing with a hidden enemy out to not only destroy Kara but her alter-ego Karen Starr as well. The run also reintroduces Maxwell Lord as the hidden puppet master who has made everyone but a handful of the former Justice League International members including Booster Gold forget his existence.

Along with the slow rediscovery of who Max is, and what he’s capable of, this six-issue run from writer Judd Winick and artist Sam Basri pits Power Girl against the living bomb Crash out to destroy New York City, a clone of Kara named Divine, and features cameos from Booster Gold and Dick Grayson as Batman (during Bruce Wayne’s lost-in-time storyline).

It may not be the title’s best arc (although it leads up to those issues), but there’s plenty for Kara to tackle here and I quite enjoy her interactions with old friends (especially with Dick Grayson’s Batman). Worth a look.

[DC, $14.99]

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Worlds’ Finest #19

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Worlds' Finest #19With Power Girl‘s wild power fluctuations becoming more frequent and dangerous, the Huntress decides it may be time for the pair to consider finding help. After a year-and-a-half of the title focues on the pair to themselves (other than Helena’s friendship with Damian, and Power Girl meeting Supergirl) it appears Worlds’ Finest is finally ready to introduce Earth-2’s Robin and Supergirl to this world’s heroes.

Much of Worlds’ Finest #19 is set-up as Kara’s latest power freak-outs leave Helena stuck in a public park in her pajamas and almost burn down Starr Industries’ board room. Realizing her friend needs all the help she can get, Helena breaks into the Batcave hoping to convince this world’s Batman to help the daughter of another world’s Batman.

I”m glad the pair’s isolation is coming to an end, but I would have preferred the issue to move along quicker rather than simply set-up events for confrontations which apparently won’t even take place in this title (as DC plans to begin the pair’s introduction to the wider DCU in Batman/Superman #8). Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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Worlds’ Finest #18

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Worlds' Finest #18After finding a way to temporarily de-power her out of control partner by dunking her in the East River, the Huntress still has to continue her search for the the super-powered tattoo killer (who DC Editorial has unfortunately decided to name “Tats”) who has a personal vendetta against the city’s more glamorous population. Meanwhile, Power Girl continues to try and get her bearings and come to grips with the fact that her powers are now completely out of control.

Because so much of the issue is spent resolving the cliffhanger and Huntress finding a way to stop her best-friend from going nuclear in the middle of the city, little progress is made in the search for their killer. However, the issue does introduce the woman’s boss, a priest of the demon Xazdi whose gifts have allowed her to wreak havoc in the city.

As always the best parts of the comic are the interactions between our two heriones which we get quite a bit of to both open and close the issue. I’m not sure where this Tats/Xazdi storyline is going but I’ll keep sticking around for more of Helena and Kara who next month are finally going to earn their first annual. Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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Worlds’ Finest #17

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Worlds' Finest #17As Power Girl heads off for a space adventure hoping that closer exposure to the sun may help stabilize her wonky powers, the Huntress continues to track down the super-powered arsonist targeting models and high-priced galas. Power Girl’s little space voyage isn’t cheap, and despite her hopes things don’t go exactly according to plan as the sun overwhelms her and sends an out-of-control super-charged heroine hurtling back towards Earth.

Helena doesn’t fair much better as the villain strikes another event before the Huntress can stop her. While pursuing the arsonist, Helena gets a front-row seat of her friend returning to Earth which makes Huntress give up her pursuit of her query to save her friend while questioning how someone with Kara’s power-set gets into so much trouble.

With Kara’s powers still on the fritz it may be time for the ladies to call in help, even if it means exposing themselves to possible questions about their origins. Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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