Latest Comic Book Reviews (05.21.2011) - Power Girl #24 and Alpha Flight (v4) 0.1

Got a chance to read two superhero comic books today featuring one of my second favorite Kryptonian (next to Superman) and the return of Marvel Comics' premiere Canadian superteam. Both books we're really good so I decided to write a review for them. 

You know the drill:  titles are rated by the number of stars I give them, with 5 stars being the highest. That means if a title gets a rare 5 stars, then that should be really m'effin good! 

Now that we got that out of the way, go and read all my reviews after the cut.

Power Girl #24

Written by Judd Winick

Art by Hendry Prasetya

Cover by Sami Basri and Sunny Gho

Colors by Jessica Kholinne

Pubslihed by DC Comics 

First thing I noticed is the fact that Sami Basri’s art is completely missing in this issue. After delivering 10 consecutive issues of solid artwork, I was very disappointed that Sami was out for this one. Hope he gets back soon.

Hendry Prasetya fills-in for the starter here, and his art does not stand out as well as the latter. But he does have some good sense of narrative in his illustrations and even tries to be faithful to Basri’s templates and artistic sensibilities. I love the way he handled PeeGee, Batman and everybody else, though his inconsistencies in drawing Peej face every panel is a little bit of a turn off. Kholinne's beautiful toned-down coloring compensates for the not so good stuff though and therefore made the overall art work.

When Batman cameos in your series,
you know you're in for superstardom.

I really like Winnick’s continued commitment to making the character a force to be reckoned with in the DCU -  not only as a superpowered Kryptonian – but also as a complete professional who stands for her beliefs and knows what she doing in the business side. Karen Starr becomes more of a powerful business mogul here, able to stand on her own in the tough corporate world as she continues to expand Starrware by venturing into other fields, aside from developing eco-friendly devices.

Bruce Wayne/Batman also makes a cameo here in a supporting role, giving Kara some helpful advice on how to handle her fast growing empire. Who knows more running a billion dollar company during the  day while “ridding the world of all evil” night in and night out, than Bruce Wayne himself? Exploring these unique character relationships are the ones that makes this series really good, and if this book continues to elevate Kara’s alter-ego by making everything revolve around her, then Power Girl could be no doubt become DC’s greatest heroines in the forefront.  No longer a second fiddle to Superman or to any hero for that matter.

But that’s not the only thing that is tackled in this issue. The “villain” – if I could call him that – in the name of Reyhan Mazin, an innocent American-Arab metahuman who gets the unfortunate taste of racial stereotyping is one interesting subplot that could possibly move this story to new heights. Winnick covers this topic very effectively (and cautiously, mind you) by making Mazin very easy to sympathize with subjects of “injustice and racism” playing in the background.

Still a very good solid issue here for “Power Girl” despite Basri’s absence. The title continues to deliver very engaging storylines while making Kara Zor-L a lot more interesting than ever. “Power Girl” is one of those books that I do follow every month since its inception, and I have no plans of leaving this series at all at this point. It’s that good.

Rating: 

Alpha Flight 0.1

Written by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente

Art by Ben Oliver and Dan Green

Colors by Frank Martin

Published by DC Comics

I have no idea what Alpha Flight is until I started reading volume 1 of The New Avengers a couple of weeks ago. They are Canada’s premiere super-team and Marvel is bringing them back with this special point-one issue.

With no idea about the character backgrounds at all, I was surprised on how Pak was able to make this a very easy and entertaining read for me despite my complete ignorance. New readers should be able to grasp the story pretty quick without having to read their Marvel wiki pages one by one, and that's always a plus for the writer. 

Canada's superhero team returns.

What I really like about this issue is how action packed it is right from the get-go. The team looks really good together against an adamantium-armored guy who’s trying to disrupt Canada’s elections. Alpha Flight works cohesively and strikes with complete badasserry, with Sasquatch’s first blow a memorable one for me. Paks’ dialog is very seamless and he handles each guy on the roster so well that nobody gets ignored.

Oliver’s art is a big eye-catcher as I am a sucker for realistic illustrations of superheroes with thin, clean lines. The colors just make it even better as it gives off that “canvas painting” effect on the inked pencils. Very well done. And for some reason, the overall artistic approach reminded me of this 1940s Superman Kellogs ad made by an unknown artist.

Only problem is that Pak wasn’t able to provide an explanation on how a former Alpha Flight member suddenly became a foe in this issue, but I guess that’s for the succeeding issues to answer.

Alpha Flight 0.1 succeeds in many areas and with lots of questions waiting to be answered by the last pages concerning the purple-pheromone villain Persuasion; it looks like Marvel’s Canadian team is poised for a good take off.  But since they are not as popular as the other teams from “the House that Stan and Jack Built”, I’m thinking of AF getting shelved right away – that is, if it doesn’t get that much attention and the much needed support from its fans. 

Rating: 

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Comic Book Review: Power Girl v2 (Issues 1-12)

Power Girl (v2) Issues 1-12

Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray

Art by Amanda Conner

Covers by Amanda Conner and Adam Hughes

Published by DC Comics

Never thought I would find myself reading a comic book with a superheroine as the main protagonist, let alone reviewing it, but here I am folks, writing quite a long review to express my thoughts on this title.

Power Girl is one of the hottest (yes, pun intended) ongoing titles that DC Comics is offering right now and it started with the first twelve issues helmed by the husband-and-wife team of writer Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner together with Justin Gray in July of 2009. At first I was a little bit skeptical about reading the series mainly because I was never a fan of Peej - except for her big boobies - but I'm glad I gave it a chance. 

It starts off with issue # 1 titled "New Beginning" with Power Girl (Kara Zor-L) once again assuming the identity of Karen Starr (this could be a great pornstar name to be honest), a business-woman and CEO of Starrware Industries - her own company which she decided to revive in the city of New York. She's also got a new friend named Atlee who is actually the superhero-in-training named Terra, who has the ability to control anything made of rock or earthly substances at her will. 

Over the course of the series, we get to see  super-villains and other alien beings coming over taking their own shot at PG. Her first encounter was with an intelligent monster named Ultra-Humanite who is holding the entire city hostage hoping that Power Girl would give up her body so that he can transfer his brain to Peej's more powerful bod. Right after that she's got to deal with 3 alien princesses who started wreaking havoc on Earth, and then, in my most favorite arc in this series,a guy named Vartox (who I'm damn sure is a Peter North/Ron Jeremy hybrid) from an alien planet called Valeron comes crashing in and tries to seduce PeeGee into being his mate so that his "impotent" planet could survive  (thus preventing his race's extinction) after being blown completely by a "contraceptive bomb" courtesy of a hostile race, and... so much more. 

Though some of these stories and plot devices are pretty nonsensical, Palmiotti still was able to make  it entertaining, as evidenced by his effective use of crazy, over-the-top stories and the very light-hearted and well timed humor in dialogues even when the busty hero is kicking some alien ass. There's  a lot of obvious inside jokes, especially when it comes to Power Girl's breasts, but he handled it very well and I thought it was a nice balance to all the slamma-jamma action that PeeGee goes into most of the time. 

Speaking of action, there's definitely a couple of slugfests where PeeGee just straight on unleashes the monster in her but then gets pasted-with-her-butt-kicked pretty hard in return, which brought to me to one interesting observation: she is actually getting more "hardcore" action scenes than any other superheroine - or superhero for that matter - in the DC Universe. Not even Supergirl or her popular cousin Superman ("Grounded storyline, anyone?) gets the same kind of treatment from writers and artists in that department. 

Let's move to another side of PG's identity - Karen Starr. The CEO of her own business who's trying to make it to the mainstream with the goal of making the Earth a better place to live in. This is where we see the more charming and intellectual side of the brash and smart-ass superheroine, who actually works and cares for her "other job" as much as her superhero thingy.  She knows where she wants her company to be, and therefore she keeps a rather hands-on style in running Starrware with her trusty employees. This makes her very appealing  as she suddenly is this kick-ass babe who isn't afraid to play with the big boys in any situation and field. A symbol of female empowerment.

Karen's dynamic with the young heroine Terra is something nice to see too, as she teaches her the do's and dont's of being a hero while being a good friend to her as well. This is a nice angle made by the writers in my opinion. A sort of laid-back and cheerful sidekick to counterbalance Karen's aggressive and busy character who seems to be doing something all the time like punishing perverted wimps, saving some random stranger, giving out errands at her office, giving her pet cat a bath, taking her clothes off to tease the reader , or just plainly saving the world in between all of that. 

To top it all off, Amanda Conner's top-tier art throws in the true eye-candy to this as she brings her A-game in every issue. She really knows how to make Power Girl as sexy and voluptous as any model posing for FHM and Vanity Fair. PeeGee's hips, ass and titties are spot on alluring, and to top all of that, her facial expressions and body languages are all masterfully done by Conner as she is able to relay stories even with the smallest amount of thought-balloons.  She  had some pretty bad panels too, where some of her illustrations were bland, too cramped up, or very "cartoony" at times. But other than that, she has done a superb job overall and gave PeeGee some justice.  Actually, I never heard of Amanda before, but its because of her work in PG that I became an instant fan of hers.  

Then there's another plus you can dig yourself in this series:  the AWESOME covers from pin-up cover artist Adam Hughes. 

Now, after reading all of that, you gotta run to your nearest comic shop now and get this Palmiotti-Gray-Conner PeeGee run because trust me, this is one of those rare titles that you can just simply enjoy and smile  to. Period. If you're doubting whether to get this or not , please give it a shot because I'm betting on my ass that as you hit the first issue, you would be screaming for more Karen Star(r). 

Note - Issue 12 was the last time Conner and Palmiotti would do Power Girl and has then turned the duties over to writer Judd Winnick and artist Sami Basri, who by the way, is doing one hell of a job keeping the momentum alive starting with issue #13 up to the current issue #23.

Probably the BEST Power Girl Cosplayer Yet..

Sweet. That's some serious power right there.

Power Girl is basically Supergirl except that she came from an alternative world called Earth-2 (Supergirl is from Earth One). She has the same powers that any Kryptonian would have: super-strength, super-speed, super-breath, x-ray and telescopic vision among others. 

And that incredible costume showing her breasts. Maybe that was designed to distract enemies, no? 

[via geeksaresexy.com]

Stanley "ARTGERM" Lau's Artwork Reeks of Awesomeness

Another week, another new gallery. This time, its `Artgerm and his works that are featured today. He's one of my favorite artists out there in deviantArt. 

I think I first fell in love with his art with his Flash and Impulse airbrush which I also showed here somewhere (I forgot what the entry was and I'm too lazy to try to find it now so I apologize..), and now I see more new illustrations and man, they are beautiful! I'm kinda biased with DC characters so you would definitely see a whole of 'em here, but he's also got some cool Japanese heroes too so I threw them in.

Take a look at more of my favorites from his gallery after the jump:

Batman

Huma

Morrigan from SF

Power Girl

GI Joe's Snake Eyes

Wonder Woman

X-Men

Chun Li

Rider V3

Ultraman's Mom!??

[images via his deviantart gallery]