“Let me give you a synopsis of what’s going to happen here, sweet girl.”
After years upon years of editorial-mandated reboots and inconsistent creative visions, a new defining version of Supergirl was brought into the spotlight once more with the release of Tom King’s and Bilquis Evely’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. This miniseries proved to be a trailblazer in the task of modernizing the character’s Silver and Bronze Age sensibilities and overall feel. This task has since been taken up during the Infinite Frontier and Dawn of DC initiatives by writers Philip K. Johnson and Mark Waid, the latter of whom has been slowly rebuilding her early history in World’s Finest.
With Woman of Tomorrow set to be adapted into a film under James Gunn’s and Peter Safran’s new DC Studios, it’s a great time to be a Supergirl fan. But her fans also know that Supergirl isn’t one of a kind. Literally. If Supergirl is back and better than ever, then surely her equally popular yet underappreciated counterpart from Earth-2 shouldn’t be too far behind, right?
After being granted new psychic abilities during the Lazarus Planet event, being paired with the former Teen Titan Omen, and changing her civilian name to Paige, a new era for Power Girl is fortunately imminent. However, new powers and a new name aren’t all that she’s brought to the table, because she’s also carrying a massive chip on her shoulder with Supergirl’s name on it.
The main segment of this special one-shot is written by Leah Williams – who is notable for her work on Marvel’s line of X-Men titles – with art from Marguerite Sauvage of the digital first DC Comics Bombshells series. The story is centered on PG as she and Omen battle Johnny Sorrow, who has unleashed his Four Horsemen of the unexplored Subtle Realms upon the world. His bid is to get Paige to fall in love with him in order to feel truly human again, a plan which hinges on taking advantage of Paige’s tragic view of herself as a fake person who’s undeserving of love.
Williams brings a uniquely fitting voice to PG, who, as explored in her preceding backup stories in Action Comics, is trying to fully understand her place in a Superfamily that is not technically her own. Narrative emphasis is put on Paige’s feelings of loneliness, sense of imposter syndrome, and resentment towards Supergirl, whom the former sees as a petty rival. Omen is a character who gets little love outside of Titans-centric stories, so it’s very nice to see her play a role of the telepathic voice of reason in PG’s doubtful mind.
The script is rife with Williams’s brand of witty and often outlandish humor, but also shows a deep understanding of our protagonist’s troubled psyche, which is taken quite seriously in contrast to how many fans view this character. That contrast itself is even explored with how Paige perceives what her family thinks of her, what the public thinks of her, and what she thinks of herself. Active narration paired with snappy dialogue help make for a charming and intelligent introspective into the character that is equally as rewarding for old fans as it is engaging for newcomers.
Elevating this script is Sauvage’s delightfully eye-popping art, which shines at every corner. There is incredible variety ranging from the stark visions into PG’s mental scape, epic and touching character moments, and not to mention stylish action sequences. The fluid structure of each page showcases a fantastic synergy with William’s script that brings a perfect visual energy to match the story’s tone and pacing. Each panel emphasizes character emotions in favor of precise locations, which leads to a narrative that is intent on being deconstructive and character-driven with excellent results.
Notable about the art as well is the air of empathy and compassion that comes with it, with the narrative of course being driven by a twisted love story by the designs of Johnny Sorrow. This makes for a poignant tale reminiscent of Supergirl’s romance-driven pre-Crisis stories more so than most of her comics since then have been. And though its use is very effective for Power Girl in Supergirl’s stead, romance is not the only present aspect of love, because this story is also very much about familial love, as well as the importance of self-love that needs to come with it all.
The Fire & Ice backup leading up to the anticipated miniseries tackles similar themes in a much different fashion. And though it is a cute story setup, it is an arguably flawed followup to Leah Williams and Marguerite Sauvage’s emotional beginnings of the soon-to-be Power Girl series.
“I love you, but no.”
The short story, written by Joanne Starer and drawn by Natacha Bustos, follows Fire and Ice’s heroic struggles with Guy Gardner, Tora’s ex boyfriend, and their newly found problems after the fall of the Justice League. The main problem lies not with the story but more so the characterization of the two heroes and the loud-mouthed Green Lantern many have come to love.
Starer’s interpretation of Guy Gardner is a callback to his early days on the Justice League International, which is fun but enters the realm of redundancy. Guy Gardner already had his redemption arc, he’s evolved as a person and while he’s still a rude and loud-mouthed individual he’s not the man he was, and it is clear that this is how he’s going to be perceived throughout the miniseries until he, once again, learns his lesson. However, this is not a large negative for Starer, as her writing for Bea and Tora is fantastic and holds very well done comedic timing which adds to the narrative presented and sets the tone well for the upcoming series. I can believe that this can be a well structured story and I believe in Starer’s ability to write these characters even if the vision is not clear for all of them.
As for the art, Bustos is a strong artist and brings life to these characters in a well done and striking way that helps with the tone presented for the story. You can really feel the comedic tension within each panel and the awkwardness and anger Bea and Tora feel throughout, even in the final moments of the backup. The two collaborators bounce off of each other in a brilliantly coordinated manner almost as well as Williams and Sauvage showed in the story prior to this backup. You can sense a clear understanding of how Bustos reads the script and adds to it in a fun and unique way.
All around, this special is a cute but slightly rough introduction into the upcoming miniseries and as a continuation of these character’s lives it is a fairly flawed story. However, you can’t truly judge the beginnings of a story, only how they’re presented to you thus far. We will just have to see how this creative duo develops the story issue by issue.
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