Saturday, June 20, 2009

Power Girl #2

A friend of mine (hi, Jeff!) once commented that the movie The Empire Strikes Back should have been called "The Empire Wins," since the bad guys spend most of the movie beating the bejeezus out of the good guys.

In similar fashion, this issue of Power Girl could be titled "The Ultra-Humanite Wins."

That's because the two duke it out in this issue, and our heroine has a tough time of it.

It's interesting to see a super-heroine in the middle of a knock-down, drag-out fight. It happens occasionally, of course, but the really brutal fights in comics are usually just for the guys.

The story by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti doesn't advance things as far as I'd like, but that's mostly to provide time for the Ultra-Humanite's backstory (and by the way, a story should really refer to the villain by name at least once - not all readers have been around for decades like yours truly).

The art, as always, is terrific. It's almost tiresome, going off on these "I love Amanda Conner's art so much" tangents - but she just has the most entertaining, appealing style, and manages both action, expression and body language with amazing skill.

This issue leaves us anxiously awaiting the next chapter. Would it be wrong to suggest the title "Return of the Power Girl?"

Grade: B+

No comments: