A mysterious entity has been possessing Power Girl’s foes! She could barely defeat it before, but what can she do now that it’s possessed her OWN body? Your Major Spoilers review of Power Girl #4 from DC Comics awaits!
POWER GIRL #4
Writer: Leah Williams
Artist: Eduardo Pansica
Inker: Julio Ferreira
Colorist: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letterer: Becca Carey
Editor: Brittany Holzherr
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: December 26, 2023
Previously in Power Girl: Will Power Girl be able to fight the dark entity who has been lurking inside her enemies? Or will she succumb to it herself? The true battle has only begun for our heroes as their artificial antagonist invites them to join it… or die!
TRAPPED IN HER OWN MIND
We begin in the mind of Symbio, the A.I. pilot of the ship that brought Power Girl to Earth-2, and her lost cousin Kal-L, the Golden Age Superman. Power Girl and the universe have been through a lot of changes, but Symbio has somehow become a free-ranging digital consciousness, possessing random beings as it travels, but after ending up in an alien body, Symbio knows what it wants: Power Girl’s body. Cut to the real world, where Paige (UGH) finds herself a passenger in her own body, as Symbio battles Superman with her body. It’s touch-and-go, as the two Kryptonians are evenly matched, but the cavalry arrives in the form of Streaky the Super-Cat and Power Girl’s best friend Omen. Overmatched by the combination of physical and psychic attacks, Symbio is driven from Power Girl’s body, leaving Omen to greet her dear friend:
“What’s up, dingus? Ya got some schmutz on your face.”
BFF TO THE RESCUE
Even if I’m not a fan of the Paige (short for “Pee Gee”) nickname for Power Girl, the relationship between our hero and Omen is the heart of this series, and this issue in particular. Omen’s arrival, in a speedboat, no less, is a cool visual moment, but it’s a bit of an anticlimax, especially when the creature is immediately annihilated by her telepathy and Streaky’s heat vision. Both the story and the art have some well-done moments (like Streaky giving Power Girl the kitty head-bonk or the care with which Omen bandages her friend’s wound). Pansica’s Superman is a strange, lanky figure, though, and there are a number of color choices that seem designed to convey “reality” but instead only equate to “grime.” Most bothersome to me is the final page, a cliffhanger that makes the Man of Steel look like a jerk and actually undermines the dramatic end of the fight just a few pages before.
BOTTOM LINE: JUST ABOUT AVERAGE
Fans who are angry about the changes to Power Girl in the Superman Family era won’t be getting any less angry at Power Girl #4, but the basic story beats are solid enough, and there are some nice visual moments to be had, earning 2.5 out of 5 stars overall, even if the creators still have a few lessons to learn. It’s an okay comic book experience with a cute friendship and a flying cat, so there’s still a lot to like here.
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POWER GIRL #4
If you can accept Power Girl's new status quo, there's a lot of potential here, but both the art and the story have room for improvement.
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Writing4
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Art7
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Coloring5
Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.