Power Girl

I’ve documented the history of lots of female superheroes by this point and when we talk about the history of our female heroes we find that they are mostly written by men. Now what this has mainly produced is women that are oversexualized, women that are 1 dimensional with absolutely no depth, women that are used as plot devices and women that are openly treated like crap. Now, suddenly in 2023 some of them are finally getting written by female voices, saving them from the depths of the patriarchy. One of arguably the most important ones is Power Girl.

Power Girl is easily one of the most oversexualized, sexistly created superheroes of all time. Power Girl is Kara, all grown up. The artist was convinced that the editors weren’t paying attention to anything he did so he continued to draw her boobs bigger and bigger with every issue until somebody said something. Occasionally artists try to draw her like a normal human being but she is always returned to her male gaze driven appearance. Huge boobs, small waist, shapely legs all shoved into a tight fitting, very revealing uniform.

This year, 2023 was the first time Power Girl was ever written by a woman. Ever. A hyper-sexualized comic book character was only ever written by men? Shocking…we are shocked. But 2023 has brought lots of women written comic book gifts and has also granted Power Girl her first actually female voice. Unfortunately it is just a one shot but if it is popular enough there is always the possibility that her character will get picked up by someone who actually cares about her and gives us better stories, time will tell.

Her one off story follows her in pursuit of stopping Johnny Sorrow. A psychic villain who has used horseman to further his plot to take over the world. But Power Girl is not working alone, she is going through this with Omen, another mentally based hero. Now I love this immediately because the rest of the heroes we might call upon in this situation are out of commission due to the psychic attack, and having a lovely female friendship that keeps our heroes grounded makes the story beautiful to read.

There is this heart wrenchingly written line at the beginning of the book that just really got my attention. “The moment you set foot within human spaces as a fully grown woman for the first time, where your body will be treated like an open invitation. Like a question you never meant to ask.” This, this line right here is how you know immediately that this book is written by a woman.

“You don’t even understand at first, but an unspoken question strangers are all too eager to answer with their stinging words and their hungry eyes and their impatient hands”

Power Girl’s first woman voice has affected me so deeply and I’m only 4 pages into this one shot. The story is very clearly dealing with Power Girl feeling lonely and broken and alone. She feels like she ruins everything she touches and like the rest of the super family doesn’t want her, but that isn’t true.

Johnny Sorrow tells Power Girl that he was drawn here, to her by her loneliness and sadness. Paige and Lilith’s friendship saves her though, that is a very sweet part of this book.

Paige has to learn how to accept herself and let herself be loved, and that is a very universal struggle. The best friend relationship between her and Lilith is the best part of the book. It really grounds the character and so rarely in media do we actually get to see true, real female friendships and it was really well written. The book also spoke to the female experience in the sense that it points out that as a woman it doesn’t always feel like you’re in control of your own body. It is an incredible book written by a powerful female voice, and absolutely everyone should read this book and demand more of it.