“Classic courtship ritual. They’re dating.”
Moving on from the spring event, House of Brainiac, readers are taken back down to the romantic drama of series protagonist Power Girl and the mysterious Axel Gust, a presumed CIA agent who has fallen head over heels for the clumsy yet charming human identity of Paige Stetler.
Romance is something Leah Williams is excellent at. All the way back in Marvel’s Age of X-Man saga, Leah Williams headlined a mini-series called X-Tremists that, in spite of its more controversial moments, was praised for the romance between Betsy Braddock and The Blob as the two engaged in a private love amid chaos growing in this new world. Since then, Williams has kept the train rolling with romance as her many X-titles tackled romance here and there and as she departed from Marvel to start work on DC’s Power Girl, that focus on romance became crucial.
DC Comics
Historically romance has been one of the largest focal points of the average Power Girl and Supergirl title, such as with dead actors who may or may not be a floating mask in a suit or the occasional run-in or charming but stalker-y scientists who are allegedly related to Brainiac. Williams returning to romance with this week’s Power Girl was expected; however, the problem of this new arc is, unfortunately, the romance. With the return of Axel Gust, we’re re-introduced to an overarching problem his character has faced thus far, which is a lack of presence equating his sporadic appearances up to now.
Axel’s initial appearance back in issue one was filled with promising potential as he comes across as the cute nerdy guy with secrets, the type of character that is perfect for Power Girl because it sits in comparison to the dual lives of Kara Zor-L. Sadly, his lack of presence has impacted the momentum of this long-awaited arc. We don’t know Axel in the way the book wants you to know him, which becomes a speed bump when building the new romance because so far Power Girl has significantly more chemistry with Omen.
The strength of this is that the saturation of comedy is high, moving away from the grindhouse feel of the previous arc to present itself as a traditional romantic comedy between our recurring characters. Paige freaks out to Lilith over dates, embarrasses herself and even stresses out about what she’s going to wear, exemplifying Williams’ lean on more stereotypical romcom tropes to set the tone of this storyline. And to her benefit, it’s phenomenal.
DC Comics
All of this is further touched upon with Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy’s Adriana Melo appearing as the guest artist for this issue. Her art is gorgeous and carries a similar charm that Marguerite Sauvage has brought to the series: a more hyper-femme aesthetic that lends itself to the romantic and fashion-heavy aspects in the storytelling. While Pansica, for example, is phenomenal with how he tackles more traditional action, what keeps Power Girl alive is the different collaborations that diversify the tone and story structures. Melo delivers a strong introductory issue that feels natural to the book.
Melo’s character design is also gorgeous, with Paige Stetler in particular being at her all-time best fashion and style wise. Melo also uplifts the present design of Axel Gust to appear as the charming and handsome man that Paige sees him as. The subtle details with Paige’s outfit reflecting that of her costume’s color scheme in particular is also a noteworthy detail, which is an interesting touch in a story clearly trying to subvert some secret identity romance tropes.
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