I have a hard time seeing Power Girl getting an ongoing series these days, but back when she did have one, it was a lot of fun.
Let's just get this out of the way.
Power Girl (Kara Zor-L) is a character that appeals to a lot of people because of her physical characteristics. Comic legend has it that artist Wally Wood felt his editors weren't paying attention to him, so he started enlarging Power Girl's chest with each issue he drew, stopping only when the editors asked him what he was doing. Since then, Power Girl's breasts have been as much a part of the character as her being a tougher, alternate universe version of Supergirl. It's just one of those things that either makes comics goofy-dumb or pathetic, depending on your viewpoint.
Writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti took the right tone with this series, which alternated between action scenes and gentle humour. Sure, there were the expected instances of sexual innuendo and visual gags, but they worked because Power Girl was in on the humour as well. She is a character that is aware of her sexual power over people. She knows she has a body that makes people stop and stare. She is also that rarest of superheroes who seems to not only acknowledge her sexuality, but actively enjoy it.
The story in this issue deals with an alien who dresses like a Seventies porn star coming to Earth in hopes of mating with Power Girl to save his planet. It's actually a lot better than it sounds. The alien looks like a refugee from Zardoz, complete with bikini underwear, a biker moustache and more body hair that all of the Seventies combined. He even has a spaceship shaped like a giant head.
Power Girl is at first horrified by the concept, but as the two of them fight off an alien invasion, she slowly agrees to a date aboard his Giant Head Spaceship. After changing into a nice dress and having a few glasses of golden wine, Power Girl starts to find Mr. Zardoz Homage attractive, but not enough to actually sleep with him. More is revealed about the alien's life and his planet's take on sexuality, which is the opposite of what you would think it would be, and in the end, Power Girl kind of mates with him and saves his planet.
The entire issue revolves around sexuality, even aside from the main storyline. This being Power Girl, artist Amanda Connor makes sure we never forget why Power Girl is so beloved by male readers. Even her night dress is an echo of the design choices she has with her costume.The yearning the alien has for her is played against Power Girl's clear growing infatuation with him, which may or may not be down to her drinking the aforementioned golden wine. And when the 'mating' is finished, the alien even attempts to make a joke about saying that he has to go now, which ends with Power Girl punching him through the spaceship.
But still, my favourite page in the book is towards the end, when Power Girl returns home. It's a nine panel page that shows her landing outside her apartment, smiling at her cat, and crashing into bed. Her alarm reads 5:57 as her cat crawls up beside her. At 5:59, she's fallen asleep. At 6:00 her alarm goes off, and she smashes it with her fist while the cat leaps into the air, Power Girl grumbling that she doesn't want to get up for work.
It's just a nicely drawn page that shows more of who Power Girl is, aside from the tight costume and bombshell physique.
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