SUPERGIRL #1

Power - Chapter One:  JSA

October 2005

Written by Jeph Loeb

Pencils by Ian Churchill

Inks by Norm Rapmund

Cover by Ian Churchill

Synopsis

Hovering over New York City, Supergirl explains to Stargirl how she ended up on Earth.  Because of their similar origins, Supergirl is looking for Power Girl.  At the moment, the JSA is in the middle of battling Solomon Grundy.  During the battle, Power Girl’s powers start to fade on her.  Supergirl comes to the rescue and knocks out Grundy.  When Supergirl and Power Girl go to shake hands, Power Girl suddenly uses her heat vision on Supergirl.  The two fight for awhile until Mr. Terrific deduces that they are like power wires on a transformer, ready to blow when they touch.  This is most likely because of their similar origins; it is like two people trying to occupy one spot.  Mr. Terrific suggests tests, but Power Girl has enough and leaves.  Later, Power Girl and Supergirl do talk.  Supergirl wants a friend, but Power Girl wants to be left alone to determine who she is in the world.  Elsewhere, Lex Luthor overhears the conversation.  He guesses that Supergirl is looking for a friend and Luthor will be waiting to introduce himself.  Meanwhile, Supergirl flies to Smallville to talk to Superboy, but he greets with her a hostile reaction and a warning to leave. 

Review

“She’s kinda like you, only with a different bra size.”

I just can not, for the life of me, make a judgment on whether or not I liked this issue.  Yes, it was a quick and it was entertaining and there were a number of issues that were addressed that had me scratching my head.  But there was also a lot of filler and unnecessary parts that pushed out the more interesting parts and while there were questions, there were not many answers.  I suppose the answers for Power Girl can be found in the current JSA Classified series, so I will not quibble with that.  I will quibble with the first three pages, which essentially recapped the Superman/Batman story arc that first produced Supergirl.  Was this really necessary?  Are there really going to be people reading this comic who are not aware of the Supergirl’s return that we need to do it again?  My other quibble is the fight with Solomon Grundy.  Again, I must ask, was this really necessary?  Did it accomplish anything?  The upshot is that the JSA looks incredibly weak because they can’t defeat Grundy.  Yeah, Supergirl is powerful, but that was driven home in the last issue, and better.  I think it would have been more interesting to have Supergirl enter the JSA Brownstone and simply discuss things with the JSA rather than go through the Grundy.

The one question that I found intriguing is the Mr. Terrific assessment that Supergirl and Power Girl are two people trying to occupy the same spot.  As readers, we know this is true.  So, is Terrific’s comment a meta-textual aside by Loeb to the readers or will this be explored more fully?  Like a lot of what Loeb does, the question was asked, but not really answered.  At the moment he seems more interesting in having Supergirl do a meet and greet with all of the various super teams, so this little tidbit is left for someone else to pick up.  Yet, for me, this was the most interesting aspect of the book.  It figures it would be the one thing that was not expanded upon. 

In fact, there is a lot that is not expanded upon.  For a first issue for a title called Supergirl, there was actually very little information about Supergirl and most of that we already knew.  I suppose Loeb is slowly going to get at who she is and how she belongs in the DCU, but this does not seem to me to be the way it should go.  More Supergirl, less JSA or Power Girl.  At one point Supergirl mentions living on Paradise Island and her relationship Wonder Woman, so it would be helpful to actually show this rather than telling us.  It certainly would have been more helpful than the useless battle with Grundy.  -- MRB

Comic Connection

A look at the origins of Power Girl occurs in JSA: Classified, beginning with issue #1 (September 2005).

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