Month: March 2018

Power Girl Redesign

Remember when the New 52 launched and they redesigned most characters’ costumes? Power Girl had a makeover in promotion art for Worlds’ Finest:

and I think it’s fair to say the reaction to that was overwhelmingly negative, so much so that by the time #1 of Worlds’ Finest actually hit the stands, the redesign had received a redesign:

Neither look was brilliant and it wasn’t long before she was back in her classic costume, boob-window and all:

But think how much worse things could have been . . .

Back in 1997, in issue #2 of JLA, the back page had a handful of sketches and character designs and, tucked away among them was this little item (I’ve cropped and moved it for a better display):

I think Power Girl is the one on the left, but even the editor wasn’t sure.

I don’t know about you, but I’d take either of the New 52 designs over the ones from 1997.

Darkseid Joins The Justice League

If you’ve been reading the title for a while, you probably have your favourite Justice League line-up.

Maybe it’s the gang from the New 52’s flagship title; or Gardner Fox’s classic but terribly dated Happy Harbour crew; or the Giffen and DeMatteis bwah-ha-ha bunch; or the timeless satellite line-up (possibly my favourite); or even dear old Justice League Detroit.

There have been enough members of the League over the decades that it’s hard to surprise long-time readers with new members but, as you can tell from the post’s title, the newest member is perhaps the very definition of surprising.

Darkseid is joining the Justice League – specifically a team called Justice League Odyssey – and he even gets a new look:

I don’t know whether to be impressed or stunned at the audacity of this idea, particularly when the rest of the article contains this:

writer Josh Williamson and artist Stjepan Sejic will create Justice League Odyssey, in which Cyborg, Starfire, Azrael, Jessica Cruz, and Darkseid (yes, Darkseid) explore the universe in one of Brainiac’s old head ships with flames painted on the side.

I’ve read a few of Williamson’s books – I think I was one of only three people to enjoy his Voodoo run – and I love both Nailbiter and Birthright so I’m willing to give this a go even though I’m on the fence about Darkseid joining the League . . . even if he is in “one of Brainiac’s old head ships with flames painted on the side.”

100 Issues Ago November 2009

I came across this “100 Issues Ago” panel in an old Justice League of America and thought I’d tidy it up and re-purpose it. If one month = one issue, what was I reading 100 Issues Ago?

It’s a bit of a cheat, this one, as it’s a trade rather than a single issue but, back in November 2009, my comics collection was dominated by Blackest Night and the aftermath of Final Crisis so instead of picking out yet another issue of Power Girl like last month, I figured I’d grab this one.

While I’d grown up reading 2000AD, I stopped reading it sometime around the mid to late 80s – this was during my comics drought years when I was discovering the joys of beer and (not very successfully) women – so was surprised one weekend in 1990 when a friend called round clutching this issue:

He’d seen that cover – a scarred, disfigured man holding Judge Dredd’s badge – and been intrigued enough to buy it and share it with me. Even though we hadn’t read any issues running up to it, the story of Dredd taking the Long Walk, being attacked by the Sisters of Death and struggling to survive and regain his memory was great.

Almost twenty years later, with the release of The Dead Man collection, I finally got to read the whole story. By that time, the publisher Rebellion had been producing lovely reprints in Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files as well as other collections so I’d read the story that The Dead Man led into – Necropolis – but it was nice getting the background and being able to finish the story.