THIS WEEK: Girls Super and Power team up and travel to a fantasy realm in Power Girl #6. Plus, Amanda Waller moves closer to Absolute Power in Green Arrow #9 and things get freaky in Harley Quinn #37
Note: the review below contains spoilers. If you want a quick, spoiler-free buy/pass recommendation on the comics in question, check out the bottom of the article for our final verdict.
Power Girl #6
Writer: Leah Williams
Artist: Marguerite Sauvage
Letterer: Becca Carey
Cover: Amy Reeder
This latest volume of Power Girl continues to be a blast month after month, and this week’s issue is no exception.
The blank slate given to Paige at the start of Leah Williams’ run has worked wonders for the character, especially when it comes to her interactions with the rest of the Superfamily. There’s this sense of tension that comes with her wonky multiversal origins, and while it’s made her feel tremendously out of place at points, it also means we get to see her rebuild these connections and truly integrate with the rest of the House of El. We’ve gotten to see her spend some time with Superman, but this issue kicks off a new arc, revolving around a team-up with Supergirl, Kara Zor-El.
There’s a great bit of tension between the two that drives the story, which revolves around a magical drug that transports users to a strange fantasy world called Ferimbia. It’s not the most overt beef, but there are moments, like where Paige and Kara briefly argue over the ethics of what they’re doing, that you can feel a strain between the Kryptonians. It seems like Paige is doing whatever she can to prove her worth to Kara (even though she doesn’t need to!), and it’ll be interesting to see if they’re able to work things out over the course of this story.
Marguerite Sauvage returns to PG’s world for the first time since Power Girl Special #1, and it’s great to see her pull out all the stops. Her colors are fantastic, with bright pinks, blues, and greens that makes the book look gorgeous, helping to set it apart from anything else on the shelves. Sauvage also chooses to switch between a more realistic and a fantastical style for the world of Ferimbia, adding to the level of incredulity that comes with this magical realm.
Williams’ biggest strength as a writer is her ability to dig into the emotions of her characters and get to the heart of whatever may be bothering them (as well as being a wicked funny writer). To do this with Sauvage and her expressive cartooning is a treat, and it’ll be exciting to see where they take these characters in the next issue.
Verdict: BUY
Round-Up
- I’ve never been a huge fan of comics’ biggest archers (avenging or otherwise), but Joshua Williamson and Sean Izaakse have been doing a pretty good job in Green Arrow. Issue #9 launches a new arc, with Ollie trying to figure out what’s happened to Roy now that he’s working for Amanda Waller. Much of this is spent setting up what’s to come, in both this now-ongoing series and the rest of the DCU, with a last page reveal that I absolutely did not see coming. I’m worried that these kind of individual stories are going to take a back seat as we move closer to the enormous crossover that’s coming (especially because this is technically a Beast World epilogue), but I’m holding out hope in the meantime. Colors for this are by Romulo Fajardo Jr. and letters are from Troy Peteri.
- Here’s the thing: in concept, I like what’s going on in Harley Quinn #37. Bouncing between different selves across the multiverse AND different artstyles? Really interesting! But it just feels like there’s too much to follow. While I love the experimental approaches here, it’s a bit of a sensory overload. The main story is from Tini Howard, with art by a smörgåsbord of talented creators. There’s also a great backup from Erica Henderson and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou that’s a truly freaky Blair Witch parody.
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