Customer Reviews

Power Girl: A New Beginning

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After having witnessed so many Crisis, wondered where she belonged and found out that there were no more place for her, Power Girl decides to settle on our Earth, New York City to be precise. Here comes again her alter-ego Karen Starr who has funded Starrware Labs, a business made for the greater good. Of course, the super-hero stuff doesn't leave her some free time and Power Girl has to manage pretty aggressive robots who makes the New Yorkers completely berserk ! She will discover that an old enemy is behind all this. An old savage and furry enemy ...

You don't need to read Crisis on Infinite Earths or Infinite Crisis or JSA: Thy Kingdom Come to understand the Power Girl series and that's a really good point ! Power Girl is the kind of comic-book that can be your first comic-book. You have action, you have humour and wonderfully beautiful art. It's enjoyable to the core, it's all fun, characters are light-crazy, everything has all the ingredients that make comic-books cool to read !

Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray & Amanda Conner deliver the best comic-books there are if you're tired with grim-n-gritty stuff and if you want to spend some good time.

A few years ago, I really wanted to get back into comics. I'd missed a lot since I stopped collecting in my late teens. Back then, I was mostly a Marvel fan anyway. I'd never even heard of Power Girl. When the news came out that Power Girl was going to be in her own book, I did a little research and discovered that she's a fascinating character. I had gotten the graphic novel, "Power Girl" (Geoff Johns, Paul Levitz and Paul Kupperberg) because I wanted to learn more about her. The more I read, the more I like her and the more I wanted to read, but it was totally the Amanda Conner drawings and Paul Mounts coloring that made me fall in love with Power Girl.

This series is not only fun and full of humor and little details in the drawings that will put a smile on your face, but its a great comic to just pick up and read without any commitment to buying 20 other books every month. Its like the "good old days" of comics, when I was a kid and comics could be bought and followed without all the tie-ins and big events.

Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray are fantastic writers. I really look forward to their storytelling each month.

If you are serious about getting into Power Girl, pick up the aforementioned "Power Girl" graphic novel (there's probably a link to it on this page) and also pick up "Terra", by Jimmy Palmiotti/Justin Gray/Amanda Conner/Paul Mounts. Find out who PG's current best buddy is. The Terra book takes place right before this series of Power Girl starts.

In all honesty, I am very saddened that this creative team is leaving Power Girl as of issue #13. I have little hope that the new team will even come close to matching the power and magic in the first 12 issues. That will only make me treasure this book and the next volume, even more. With any luck, Amanda Conner will come back to PG one day, perhaps even to rescue her.

Power Girl: A New Beginning trade collects the first 6 issues of the effort by DC to finally give an individual voice to Power Girl. Predominately used as a running gag or a second tier character for DC and the JSA, the creative team of Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray have taken that worn concept and pulled the rug out from the reader. No longer is Karen an after thought, she is a driving force in her own series and city. She believes she truly wants to do good both in costume and out. The latter is where I think the creative team has shined. She is a part of the city and the people she surrounds herself with are just as inspired as she is.

No one is ever going to give Amanda Conner and Paul Mounts enough credit for what they delivered into each and every page. There wasn't a throw away page or panel in the book. The story telling is utterly amazing and if there was a guide for facial expressions and visual emotions, Amanda Conner would have to be the author.

They've strung together a story of action, anguish, humor and heart. Buy this book and sit back and enjoy the romp this team created for us.

Putting aside her confusing origin, just think of Powergirl as an older more aggressive version of Supergirl. In this book she moves to New York, starts a company, gets a new sidekick (Terra from the recent series also by Palmiotti and Conner) and has some adventures. The art by Amanda Conner is fantastic throughout but the story by Jimmy Palmiotti is unfocused and unimpressive.

The story starts big, a talking gorilla uses his giant steampunk airship to harpoon Manhattan and carry it off to the sky. Its a cool, zany, fun comic book plot. But Palmiotti takes it way too seriously with New Yorkers committing suicide and people comparing it to September 11th.

Yeah.

Because nothing says 'fun' like September 11th.

Once the gorilla is defeated we get into a story about a group of party girls from space that has no real menace and no real point.

But while the main plots are duds the subplots are well done. The relationship between Terra and PG is warm and touching. Scenes in Ikea or watching a horror film are very funny.

So I recommend this but I wish the superhero action was as well done as the character moments.

In a world full of dark titles like Hellboy, Green Lantern, and Thor, its good to see that publishers take chance with such book like the one you have here, Power Girl: A New Beginning. PG is comedy/cape title much in the vane of Marvel's Incredible Hercules and Dark Horses' Empowered, its almost acts like a middle ground between them.

This book collects the first six issues of PG series, in which she battles the Ultra Humanite as well as some more off color foes, much to her annoyance

Now, for those of you who know Gray and Palomitti and their long run on Jonah Hex, you know that they are more than capable of delivering a good entertaining story. Though more than a step away from the gritty west, they manage to adapt no trouble all.

What can I say about Amanda Conner except I couldn't be happier with an artist on a book.

Ok just to keep you informed you might want to give these 2 books a shot...though not completely necessary they do add some background (plus both are penciled by Conner!):

Power Girl: by Geoff Johns tries to clear up PG origin. Think of it as a book 0
Terra: by the very same team from this book, introduces Atlee, PG sidekick...Think of it as book ½ or something, plus PG is in like 3 out 5 issues in the book

Needless to say this book is Highly Recommended

I read these when they originally came out as individual comic books, and for Christmas I got the collected TPBs because I knew my fiancee would love them.

Amanda Conner really brings PG to life and makes the stories even more fun and enjoyable.

If you are looking for a happy, goofy, upbeat comic book, this is it!

Here's how I came to read Power Girl. I am a fan of Empowered by Adam Warren and suggested it to my brother in law. The heroine in Empowered is an accident and bondage prone young woman of gorgeous proportions. He loved it. This led to a discussion about Power Girls large, ehm, ta-tas. Definitely his area of interest.

I bought him the two Power Girl books for Christmas, read them first, then ran right out for copies of my own! What a cool series!

I am a long time Wonder Woman fan who is little interested in the last few years of story lines. Even back in the 40s, Princess Diana was written to be a compassionate woman. True, she is a warrior and not afraid to fight when necessary. But she searched for creative solutions to actually help her foes when possible. (She is no longer written in this personal vein. Sigh.) This is what I read in Power Girl. She confronts enemies with force when necessary, then with compassion and assistance when appropriate.

Karen Starr's story is written with great visual and linguistic humor. The situations, characters and plot are funny. The artwork is positively addictive! Amanda Conner is a master of facial expressions and the colorist, Paul Mounts, does beautiful work.. Especially fun are the progressive panels featuring the same scene with small changes in emotion and dialog. For instance, in one scene Karen settles into bed just a few minutes ahead of her alarm. One panel shows her smiling slightly at the cat as he settles in beside her. The next panel shows them both asleep. The third shows her alarm going off, Karen smashing it with an annoyed look on her face, and the cat racing off.

Sadly, Amanda Conner left the series after the second book was complete. I wonder how the new artwork will measure up. But these two books are worth every penny and minute of your time. Enjoy!

EDIT: See my review of Volume 3, Bomb Squad. I was impressed with the new creative team!

I hadn't found a comic that made me laugh as much since Dan Slott's run on She-Hulk.
And it can be very hard to find a comic that is a good read when trying to use humor. A lot of writers and artists get one joke or two and then fall on their faces. The Power Girl team avoids this and executes their work superbly.
If you're a "Make mine Marvel I'll never read DC!" quit being a jerk and pick this up, you'll appreciate it more than another diva worshipping, poorly plotted x-men comic.

This story for Power Girl is simply amazing! You cannot get better then her. The art work is amazing and plus she doesn't have a dark story. Her story is bright and colorful. I recommend this for anyone!

I bought Power Girl when it was in comic form and now when it is in trade form.Want can i say,that has all ready been said.Great storys and great art.Before this comic,Power Girl never really had a personality.That's the same reason i like this book and Terra is a great character in her own right as well.The story telling is alot like Dan Slott's run on She-Hulk,another series that i hold in high regard.Power Girl is highly recommended.