“Here’s the plan, latex Barbie.”
Off the heels of House of Brainiac effects in the previous installment of Power Girl, readers are thrown into heavy action as we see series protagonist Paige Stetler get caught in a chaotic crossover with Crush and The Holiday Girls. Leah Williams promised an action heavy Grindhouse inspired arc and delivered as such with a strong sense of comedy and mystery. But how does it hold up as an event tie-in?
The choice of characters used in this arc thus far has been intriguing. The Holiday Girls were a recurring bit in the Wonder Woman comics of the past which now predominantly reside in Earth-2. However, they have been recreated a few times in the past through Grant Morrison’s Wonder Woman: Earth One, and later brought back into continuity fully through DC’s Infinite Frontier relaunch; this is the first time since their return that they’ve been properly used.
The decision to use a creation that predominantly existed in Earth-2 has the potential to play with Paige’s character, leaning into the overarching mystery of the story Williams are crafting that focuses on the larger stresses and anxiety Paige feels about Earth-2, whether it’s the technological parasite Symbiote that she was bonded with or the fact she is forever a stranger to an Earth she never belonged to. This brings the general idea of this being a House of Brainiac tie-in fascinating because Paige’s story feels more disconnected from the event, instead choosing to focus on her personal issues and how the horror of the invasion can affect her.
DC Comics
The previous issue helped to shape this idea that Paige’s fear of being alone festers with her realizing that everyone—including Streaky, Kara, and Lilith — is gone, taken away to Brainiac’s Skull Ship, leading to Paige fighting back and defending what’s left of Metropolis. The stakes presented make the crossover with Crush and the Holiday Girls entertaining because it’s a just bunch of misfits and oftentimes misunderstood heroines taking the fight to a bunch of Czarnians.
The action Williams writes also benefits the art as we see Pansica, Ferreira, and Fajardo take advantage of her script, showing the true madness of what Metropolis has become as readers feel every punch, kick, and slap that each character experiences. The issues especially allows Pansica to stretch his legs as an action-focused artist allowing for dynamic expressions and movement between panels and pages. This is further added to with the collaboration between Ferreira and Fajardo with their beautiful inking and coloring.
Another key piece of the action is further uplifted by Becca Carey’s phenomenal lettering in which she delivers dynamic onomatopoeias in each page to further express the level of chaos that the script and art showcase. It also shows how dedicated the creative team is to making the series as fun as any good Power Girl adventure is as they find new ways to cooperate with each other’s respective strengths.
The latest issue of Power Girl is a tie-in purely in setting and circumstance, allowing the creatives to present a kinetic action story in a the dire confines of the House of Brainiac.
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