Graphic Novel Reviews: Worlds' Finest 012

The Story
Power Girl and Huntress fight Desaad, but discover that he has only revealed his true form to them. To everyone else it looks like two women randomly attacked Michael Holt. The two make their escape, and the scene shifts to Huntress fighting Yakuza a few months prior. Back in the present, things have not been going well for Starr Industries, and the problem escalates as Karen's aid reports that the Cambridge Lab has exploded. While Power Girl and Huntress deal with the catastrophe, Desaad attacks Karen's facility, leaving none alive. When they return to the scene, Karen laments how she made them all targets, and she and Helena decide to go under cover and finish Desaad on their own.

Graphic Novel Reviews: World's Finest 011

The Story
Huntress investigates Holt Industries, to discover how an apparently missing man ordered his goon's to Power Girl's island. In a flashback Huntress and Power Girl break into a government facility to find what information they can use to get home, but find that the government doesn't even know anything about parallel worlds. Back in the present the two of them attend a Holt Industries convention party. Here is where Michael Holt reveals himself to actually be Desaad in disguise.

The Review
With the exception of what I consider miss-characterization on the part of Power Girl, I quite liked this issue. I'll be interested in how Apokolips plays into the rest of the DC universe from here, but for now I'm content to see it in the context of this series alone.

Graphic Novel Reviews: Worlds' Finest 002-010

The Story
Kara Jor El and Helena Wayne use their skills to try and find a way to return to their home dimension. Their search for a way home leads them to face off against many foes, and many possible allies. Sometimes they work alone, sometimes they work together, but each has their own backstory and issues to deal with. Each has their own approach to the problems they face.

The Review
First, let me talk about what I like about this book so far. I've been quite enjoying Helena's part of the story. Huntress hasn't been one of the characters I was exactly invested in. And after she was no longer Helena Wayne pre-New 52 I really never found a reason to care about her. Tying her into Power Girl's origin, and return her to her pre-crisis identity as Helena Wayne was a great way to get Batman fanboys such as myself invested. This book seemed like a godsend. Power Girl AND a Huntress that is Batman and Catwoman's daughter? Sign me up!

Graphic Novel Reviews: World's Finest Issue 001

So apparently I need to read Mr Terrific because Karen Starr was a character there all along, and she is actually Power Girl. I'll save comments about the events of that book for whenever I review that series, but let me make one comment about what I do know.
Ahem.

Stop pairing off my comic book crushes, writers! It happened with Storm, and now apparently Power Girl gets involved romantically! Stop crushing my fragile nerd heart!

That being said, I do have a point to make with this. I've noticed that there are certain characters that are better off not paired off romantically. And they seem to occur in serialized media more often than not. I think part of the phenomenon is that readers form connections with the characters. And when one of the characters are single and of the prefered gender, something of a crush can develop. So when the character is paired off later, it damages the reader's enjoyment of the series. I'm not saying the writers are doing anything wrong, or even that the readers are doing anything wrong (general society may disagree with me, but screw you my pretend girlfriends can throw lightning or are bullet proof!), it's just something I find interesting enough that more people should be aware of. If a certain character hasn't had a romantic interest over the course of years of publication, it might be a good idea to consider the impact giving them one will have on the readers. It would be easy to say the readers should grow up, or stop being infatuated with fictional characters, but that's not a writer's job. A writer's job is to consider their audience, and how what they write affects said audience.