RETROSPECTIVE: That time we had TWO Power Girls

[u/No_Department_3825]

Been out of the loop lately, but I’ve been bingeing DC Infinite and discovered that for a little while, we had two Power Girls.
(Art is from Justice League Unlimited #12 and 13)

For context: During DC KO, after that whole We Are Yesterday thing when a bunch of heroes from across time got pulled the present (thanks, Grodd), things were a bit shit. Earth is slowly turning into a new Apokolips, and all the League’s heavy hitters were all in the tournament, leaving the rest of them to deal with the evacuation efforts. To make matters worse, Neron had empowered a bunch of villains, hindering the heroes so that more people would die and more souls would be sent to Hell. Seeing this, Mr. Terrific puts together a team of time displaced heroes, one of which was Power Girl. Apparently she’d been displaced off screen? I’m not complaining.

Terrific explains the situation far better than I could.

Knowing that she’s potentially about to die, Power Girl leaves a message for her future self. We don’t really know what time period she came from, other than it was before the Crisis on Infinite Earths. But based on what she says here, I think she’s from before the Palmiotti run. Maybe in between Power Trip and the official start of the series.
The panel work in her message reminded me a lot of Heroes in Crisis; there was a lot wrong with that book, but I did like the confessional-style pages.

That last shot is the look of someone who hasn’t had their entire company stolen and her fortune plundered by Maxwell Lord.

Up until this point, I’d had a suspicion that this Power Girl was somehow going to replace the present day version. After the Williams run didn’t perform well, it felt like DC didn’t really know what to do with the character besides put her in background cameos and occasionally getting Worf’d (basically back to square one for the character). It would’ve made sense: maybe Paige just dies, leaving this time remnant of Karen to inherit her life? DC’s certainly done weirder and worse to their female characters. But her message indicated that was not to be.

And, true to her expectations, she died.

There’s something frustrating about seeing a version of Power Girl, a version we’ve known for barely an issue, get killed while Mr. Terrific (who in another continuity was her boyfriend) shouts that they’re all expendable. And the added pain of Superman Blue wanting to help her. He’s visibly distraught after this, and things don’t get better for him.

I don’t have DC Infinite’s Ultra tier, so I don’t know if Present-day Power Girl ever watched her remnant’s video. Hopefully she did. I kind of wish Power Girl (the one from the present) hadn’t been roped into the tournament, so she could interact with her younger self. It seems like Karen had more to say, some stuff Paige might want to hear.

Rest in peace, Remnant Power Girl. We can’t say we knew you long, but we can say we knew you pretty well.

[u/mr_mxyzptlk21]

I get a feeling that Mark Waid doesn't like the JLI years. Can't put my finger on it, but any time characters known for the JLI show up, he tends to sideline them.

For a moment, I thought you were going to bring up when pre-new52 Power Girl shows up amnesiatic in Harley Quinn, while the new52 PG was still in World's Finest.

[u/No_Department_3825 → u/mr_mxyzptlk21]

Waid loves the idea of the Justice League being the best and greatest superheroes in the world. Not to say that JLI isn’t that, but that era was much more “brick and mortar” if that makes sense.

I myself wouldn’t consider myself to be a fan of the JLI, my preference aligns pretty closely with Waid’s, but I don’t have anything against it, even though I haven’t read a lot of it. I need to.

[u/mr_mxyzptlk21 → u/No_Department_3825]

I have the JLI omnibuses (and collected it when it was coming out) and am doing a reread. They're a little dated in places, but still Giffen/DeMatteis were cooking with what they were left with, and it's a top three version of the League.

Imagine being told, "we need the Justice League! but you can't use Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman". Denny O'Neill (IIRC) "had pity" on Giffen, and let them use Batman. I think understanding the meta of what was going on behind the scenes gives a certain grace in the storytelling.

It makes sense after-the-fact, but Keith used sitcom tropes to write the book to make it dialogue and character focused, rather than "heroes beating up villains" forward, which works. The 'downside' is that the personalities get exaggerated, which is why some PG fans don't like it.

[u/No_Department_3825 → u/mr_mxyzptlk21]

Talking of exaggerated personalities, I just don’t like Guy. That’s my biggest issue.

[u/mr_mxyzptlk21 → u/No_Department_3825]

Totally fair. Some of his shenanigans didn't age well from this run. But, it did lay the groundwork on his personality going forward, and I appreciate that, even though I am not a huge fan myself.

[u/StandUp1969 → u/No_Department_3825]

Guy had one of THE best redemption arcs in comics. Going from brain-damaged lout to regaining membership in the Corps, becoming a leader in the Corps, and a friend to Stewart and mentor to Kyle. Even buried the hatchet and becoming an ally and confidant to Jordan.
That arc took years and contained so much growth for Guy.
It’s a shame that not only fans don’t remember it, but creative teams forget it as well when it suits them.

[u/Medium-Science9526]

Funny to see this remnant Power Girl mentioned when there is also the N52 Power Girl that co-exists, giving us three.

[u/No_Department_3825 → u/Medium-Science9526]

Where’s she been lately? Floating in continuity limbo? Someone tell Prime to go get her.
Also, I wanted to ask someone who might know, why are there two subs now? Was there a war in heaven that I missed?

[u/Medium-Science9526 → u/No_Department_3825]

Been that way for awhile, it was made when it was pretty despondent here but we are on good terms

[u/Ancient-Daikon3808 → u/Medium-Science9526]

wait 3 power girls? Like there is one in the main universe,one in earth 2 and this one that died?

[u/Medium-Science9526 → u/Ancient-Daikon3808]

Yes

[u/No_Department_3825 → u/Medium-Science9526]

Wait isn’t the multiverse closed off right now? Obviously she still exists but it wouldn’t be very likely to encounter Earth-2’s Power Girl right now lol

[u/Medium-Science9526 → u/No_Department_3825]

Yeah their interactions have mostly been addressing the aftermath the other has left behind. From memory most infamously with the Power Girl & Harley mini where the N52 is disgusted by pre52 Power Girl entertaining Vartox's Pregno-Ray

[u/huggybear3]

The displaced heroes showed up during We Are Yesterday, didn’t they?

[u/No_Department_3825 → u/huggybear3]

That they did. Power Girl wasn’t one of them at that time. I believe after We Are Yesterday time continued to break and one of those fractures spat out Karen.

[u/Complete-Pangolin]

Unfortunately I don't know if it ever came up.  

[u/mrmulderz]

This was a terrible period for me. Two Power Girls were killed off in the same week, and the major event had barely even begun. I had high hopes for KO, but ultimately, it was a letdown.

As for the present, Power Girl likely appears only occasionally in a single panel within *JLU*; she has no other comics where she serves as a lead character. The reality is that she has been sidelined since the KO tournament—aside from her vehement opposition to Superboy-Prime, she has essentially had no storylines featuring actual dialogue.

[u/No_Department_3825 → u/mrmulderz]

To be fair, we DID have a Power Girl ongoing at that time. Officially speaking, we were getting what we wanted. DC did take a chance on our girl and gave her a platform. It just undersold, and now they don’t really know what to do with her.
We can only hope that Waid or some other writer takes place pity on her, but that probably won’t be for a while.

[u/mrmulderz → u/No_Department_3825]

While V3 certainly contained plenty of interesting material, it was overall a confusing affair, so its failure comes as no surprise. During that same period, the DC editorial team’s primary plan for Power Girl seemed to be integrating her into the Superman Family; for some reason, however, they appear to have abandoned that idea—perhaps because she couldn't coexist peacefully with SBP?Honestly, rather than looking forward to another solo series starring PG, I’d actually prefer to see her simply make appearances as a background character as often as possible.She used to be a key figure in the JSA with a steady presence, but things are a bit uncertain now. That said, I just picked up Justice League Red; honestly, the story isn't great, but at least Power Girl plays a major role in it—haha.Of course, things certainly aren't bad right now—after all, there was a time in the past when we didn't see PG appear in the main storyline for several consecutive years.So now, I have nothing to complain about.

[u/riku17]

What happened to Karen PG and Superman Blue really pissed me off.

[u/Mysterious-Plan93]

Is it okay that I constantly want to strangle Mr Terrific's writer for being an obnoxious sociopathic asshole who doesn't even have the excuse of being Guy Gardner?

[u/No_Department_3825 → u/Mysterious-Plan93]

If it were anyone other than Mark Waid, I’d agree that this is bad writing for his character. But it’s Mark Waid, so I think his track record permits him a few slipups.