Power Girl #27 Good-Bye Karen

 This week I lost the second book I have most enjoyed in the past two years.  Power Girl was not a character that I have ever really followed.  Mostly Fan Art bought and the Infinite Crisis was how I knew her.  Gray, Palmotti, and Conner began a humorous action filled adventure book that I ranked up there with Batgirl as my most anticipated read each month.  It was a book that I felt good reading.  I was sad as Winnick took over but hung around because I figured it was temporary.  I just didn't realize the temporary was a line wide revamp that would eliminate this title.

Matthew Sturges wrote the last story.  It would have been nice to have read his run on this title.  He brought back the Power Girl I fell in love with at the start.  She is smart and confident without arrogance.  This is a heroine that despite her impressive curves is to be admired.  I like that he included a character here that Power Girl knows well, but that I do not, Cyclone.  I kinda figured where Sturges was going with Cyclone, but how he did it was a neat twist.  It also displayed just how smart Power Girl really is here in this adventure.

I added the cover without the writing on it.  This is just an amazing work of art.  No, her chest is not what draws you in either, it is her eyes.  They are simple amazing in this artwork.  I also am amazed at how her outfit stands out on a white background.  It is just breath taking.  I read for the stories, but I can appreciate a great piece of art as well.

So long Power Girl.  No more reading of you dealing with the stinky cat, neighbor fanboys, or cosmic gigolos.  I loved reading and collecting your adventures.  Hope they use you soon and in a way that lives up to this run of your adventures.  Up, Up. and Away!


BDS

Flashback Friday: The New West #1 & #2 (HeroesCon Finds)

[MATURE READER WARNING]

Believe it or not I paid zero for these two issues.  A man was giving away comicbooks.  Not sure why but he had around a hundred I guess on the table when I came by and picked up some issues.  I picked this up with the idea of getting Phil Noto to sign them, but every time I went by his booth after that he was gone.  Still, I figured I was OK because Jimmy Palmiotti wrote the story and he is a great writer.  I knew nothing of the book.  I knew Black Bull was a defunct publisher that had ties to a former Wizard Magazine guy.  So I guess if it was not my taste the price was right.

The story is really cool.  It reminded me of the movies like Chinatown and Devil in a Blue Dress.  Those Crime Noir dramas that always had the grizzled character that ended up having to correct an injustice even though the world had spit on him.  Guess you get the plot right there.  What was neat was the use of technology that placed Los Angeles back into the days of horses and low tech options.  All that keys into the mystery and it was a direct moment in the main characters life.  He is a once veteran cop that lost his partner and his case the day the planes fell from the sky.  Now the sister of the woman he could not save is a constant in his life and her family hates him.

Now he is put into the position of saving her dad.  This is just window dressing for the bigger conspiracy that is revealed along the way.  Using the setting of L.A. was great.  It does follow the history of the land and water rights of old in crafting a modern day version of corruption and graft.

I put the Mature Warning on this because it is like those movies I mentioned.  Rough language, graphic violence, and sexual content are part of the gritty tale.  It is not for the kiddies.  Their parents however will find this an interesting grown up use of the medium.  Palmiotti and Noto do a fine job in rendering this hard boiled story into a comicbook format.  Maybe next year both fellows will be at HeroesCon and I can get these signed then.

BDS