COMICS!! Review: Power Girl #23

This review was originally posted on my ComicVine.com account. That's HERE!

Power Girl might just be the most consistently good book I've been reading since I've thrown my hat back into the crazy world of comic books. Whether that's because the character herself is just about everything I like in my superhero(ine) protagonist, or because the writing of Judd Winick and the the art of Sami Basri has genuinely been THAT good is beyond me, but quite frankly I don't care. Power Girl's awesome, and #23 continues that streak of awesomeness.

Every Little Thing She Does is Magic

And really how could it not, with the last sighting of Power Girl had her fighting magic dinosaurs alongside her cousin, Superman. The source of these beasts, a magic thief calling himself Siphon, has captured Zatanna and is intent on making her powers permanently his own. Really, what could have just been a silly, but entertaining side story, actually ends up with Power Girl making a very important step in growth for her character.

And that's really what this book was missing. Sure, Karen's gone through a roller coaster of events both mental and physical since Winick's taken the reigns, but the status quo has always been maintained throughout. Now, we actually get a sense that PG's really got a direction to head in now, and is now fully fleshed out as a superheroine. Combined with Winick's uncanny sense of humor, that makes for a great issue. Few titles make me chuckle like his Power Girl.

Sami Basri continues to provide the solid artistic backbone for the series. There's not much more I can say about his art here that I haven't already stated a bajillion times before, but he continues to maintain the series unique look.

Whu Oh...

The only criticism I'd level is that, now seeing Power Girl and Zatanna side by side throughout most of this issue, you can see somewhat of a sameness with which Basri draws his females' faces and figures. It's not huge, and it's not as if I expect every heroine to look drastically different, but I feel that Power Girl does have a bit of a distinctive build (being an extremely tall, well-muscled, and well... endowed female character).

I also felt that the introduction of the Siphon character ended up being a bigger throwaway than I would have liked. I assume he may return later in PG's book or in some other title, but he felt more like a clever plot device than an actual character or threatening villain.

My Dream Girl

These issues aside, this is just a fun conclusion to a great two-parter. I can say that I've yet to read a comic that began with our heroes fighting magical dinosaurs and that ended with such a huge character advancement. The funny thing is, it was handled in stride and without fanfare or much ado. And that's what I really love about Power Girl as a series, it just has this quiet un-assuming pace and existence, but consistently churns out some of the better story-telling in DC comics. I can't wait to see where Power Girl goes from here.

Issue #23 gets a solid 4 stars out of 5.

Top 15 Justice League Unlimited Episodes: Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of my countdown of the greatness that is Justice League Unlimited, and to all nine people who read part 1, welcome back! Ya know, doing this countdown has actually given me greater appreciation for this series. Apparently, my already creepy fanboyism towards it still had room to flower and grow into a monstrosity of even greater creepiness. WHO KNEW?!

But enough of this fuzziness, it's time to do this thing. This portion definitely has a lot more variety and in the storytelling. Here is the continuing countdown of the Top 15 Justice League Unlimited episodes, numbers 9-5.

9.) Episode 17: Task Force X

Starting this part off with a bang, we get a radically different episode that focuses on villains. More specifically, this is JLU's take on teams like the Suicide Squad and Secret Six; teams made up of villains attempting to shorten their sentences and repay their debt to society by being forcibly made to do the dirty work of shadowy government agencies. Here, the Task Force, made up by Rick Flagg, The Clock King, Plastique, Deadshot, and Captain Boomerang, plan on breaking into the JLU Watchtower to steal a weapon of devastating destructive power (hint hint). What really makes this episode is the whole "bank heist" feel of it. Each character has a specific job and, despite their motivations being less than noble, you kinda wanna see them succeed. It's a shame that there weren't more episodes featuring Task Force X, but luckily the thoroughly entertaining Captain Boomerang shows up in another episode (and one that perhaps lands higher on our countdown?)

8.) Episode 33: Patriot Act

Like I said in part 1, Justice League Unlimited is mainly about celebrating those little-known heroes that don't get a lot of fan-fare. No episode does that better than "Patriot Act", as when none of the original 7 Justice League members are available for a parade happening in Metropolis, Green Arrow takes a group of non-powered heroes to fill in. Before long, General Eiling (a recurring antagonist on the show), shows up as an Incredible Hulk-like creature and promptly starts beating the snot out of them in an attempt to provoke Superman into showing up. Outmatched as they are, all these heroes just refuse to give up as long as human lives hang in the balance. This is punctuated by an amazing final stand by the heroe, Shining Knight, in a sequence that shows that being a hero isn't about having super-powers, and exposes the dichotomy of the attempt to prevent violence with more violence. Truly a great moment in this, the series' waning episodes.

7.) Episode 5: This Little Piggy

This is a WEIRD and hilarious episode that really needs to be seen, so I'll make the description relatively brief. This one's written by Paul Dini (genius behind Batman: The Animated Series) and unsurprisingly, it focuses on Batman. Apparently he has some feelings for Wonder Woman, but before long she's turned into a pig. No, that's not a typo. Circes the Sorceress turns Wonder Woman into a pig, and now Batman must enlist the help of a (presumably?) old flame in the form of Zatanna in order to change the Amazonian princess back. And that's how I'm going to leave this one... ridiculousness ensues, but it's really better left to your actual watching of the episode.

6.) Episode 20: Clash

The age old crowd pleaser of having Superman fight Captain Marvel is enough motivation for this episode to make the top 15. However, it actually does manage to distinguish the two characters and spin a tale of the dual nature of being a hero. Does one try to preempt crises or must we give people the benefit of the doubt? The ambiguity of this storyline and the fact that it actually makes the audience question whether or not Superman is really right in his methods is what makes it such a great pit-stop in the series. Sadly, it's the only one featuring Captain Marvel, who really could've been used to a greater extent.

5.) Episode: Double Date

What better way to close out this installment of the countdown than with some romance? To be honest, the actual villain and conflict of this episode is kinda lame (outside of some truly haunting and pretty edgy re-tellings of Huntress's troubled childhood), but what makes it is the concept of two super-hero couples pitted against one another. It's funny, mostly thanks to The Question, and it's also genuinely cute. Of course Green Arrow is in it with Black Canary, but Question and Huntress and their truly odd burgeoning romance really steal the show. Don't believe me? TAKE A LOOK FOR YOURSELF!!

And that'll about do it for this part. Next time, we'll head into the home stretch and close this one out with the crop of the cream in the Top 4. Hopefully you'll continue to be inspired to check out this phenomenal series, and any input you may have is greatly appreciated.

Stay tuned, true believers!