By Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti (writers), Amanda Conner (art), Paul Mounts (colors)
The Story: The women of the Planet Valeron, ruled by Vartox the Hyper-Man, are all rendered sterile by the contraception bomb. Vartox goes off to find the perfect mate to ensure that his species continues. He picks Power Girl.
What’s Good: Do not pick up this issue if you’re looking for a Justice League feel, an Outsiders feel, or even a Batgirl feel. This issue is for people who buy Deadpool or who thought Barbarella was funny. This is a book of tongue-in-cheek irony, zaniness and cleavage with a villain who talks like his lines were swiped from a Republican serial. This exuberance works because Vartox the Hyper-Man (think part Zap Brannigan, part Austin Powers, talking about himself in the third person) has to fight Yeti pirates, who in defeat, spring a contraceptive bomb on Valeron. It works because Vartox has advisors like Groovicus Mellow (ripped right out of a 70s blaxploitation movie) and because he can order the seduction musk rifle to be prepared. It works because Vartox wears lesser clothes than Power Girl, exposing hairy legs that definitely aren’t worth the view. Gray and Palmiotti play with our expectations for a cleavage-focused series like Power Girl, and turn them against us with a hairy, speedo-wearing sleazebag.
Amanda Conner is a great cartoony artist who draws a mean sword-wielding yeti, a ridiculously unattractive Vartox, and a hard-bodied Power Girl. Her faces evoke emotion and even without dialogue, the story would have been told well. She reached back into the cheap and trashy movies of the seventies to imbue Valeron with a disco sci-fi mood with kitschy beads and huge pink throw-pillows in crystal palaces. The action scenes were clean and clear and I always knew what was going on. All in all, a great issue for Conner.
What’s Not So Good: It’s hard to pick at this issue, because it is trying to do something very different. I think it succeeded.
Conclusion: You can read this issue on the surface and have a good laugh. However, Gray and Palmiotti were trying to make us laugh and make us uncomfortable at the same time (something only the best comedians can do) by exposing our pretty superficial expectations and motivations for reading this series. They succeed. If you want mildly titillating irony aimed at you, then pick up this book.
Grade: B+
-DS Arsenault
Filed under: DC Comics Tagged: | Amanda Conner, Barbarella, Comic Book Reviews, comic books, comic reviews, Comics, DC Comics, DS Arsenault, irony, Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, Mike Carlin, Paul Mounts, Power Girl, Power Girl #7, Power Girl #7 Review, Rachel Gluckstern, review, Reviews, Weekly Comic Book Review
