The Good
I liked Kevin Maguire's pencils on the flashback scenes of this issue a lot -- I thought they were fun and fluid, even though there were moments where I felt I needed to go back and take a closer look at the panels to see what was going on (the ca scene comes to mind). George Perez's pencils, however, just aren't what they used to be, I guess. I love when emotions translate through the expressions and movement of the characters, and I did not get that in this at all.
The flashbacks are the best part about the issue. You get a sense for who these girls are and their relationship to one another -- and I think that's interesting. I also like the idea of these two powerful ladies, globetrotting across the world on a big adventure, but there's something about it that I am just not buying 100% of the time. I love the scene where Helena is reminiscing about her past and her parents -- it's a little bit sad. I think it's a great scene and I really hope that we do get to learn more about the identities of these girls -- where they come from, who they are and what they are struggling with internally.
The Bad
I really was not a big fan of George Perez's pencils on this issue. To me, they just weren't what they used to be, I guess. I love when emotions translate through the expressions and movement of characters, and I did not get that in this issue very much at all. The girls seemed expressionless and very stoic, and you could not tell what they are feeling through the art at all.
Did anyone else find that the Japanese sailors in this issue were less than a little bit articulate? Okay, for the record, when I read something printed between two angle brackets (like so: < >), I assume that what is being said in a word bubble by a character is a direct translation. So I have to ask: in Paul Levitz's mind, does Japanese just not smoothly translate to English?
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I did feel slightly curious reading the panel. To me, it's as though the Japanese sailors couldn't form proper sentences when the American sailors (shown later in the issue) seem to have no problem. I posted the panel in part to reference what I mean. If anyone's speech should appear "broken" it should be Huntress' and not the Japanese sailors since she is speaking to them in Japanese in this panel.
There were some other fundamental flaws in this issue, as well. The fight with the giant atomic bomb eating monster was just okay -- not really what I thought to be thrilling. Like I mentioned above, the best moments in this issue are the flashbacks.
Did anyone else also notice the strategic hole that tore through Power Girl's costume, smack dab in the middle of her chest? If we're going to see that, what's the point in changing her costume in the first place? There was really nothing wrong with the old one -- especially not after Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Amanda Connor got their hands on her. Enough of my reminiscing about a series that was really good, though.
I did see this mentioned elsewhere, and I think it's a good point. The entire last two pages of this issue outline all the problems that appeared in the book. Huntress is exposed to a massive amount of radiation...and she's okay? Yet when Power Girl is, she has problems? something just isn't right. Unless this is character development in the making, it's a huge oversight by Levitz. Also, why would he pinpoint the flaws with the issue?
The Verdict
I think that if a little bit more thought were put into this issue, it would be fantastic. There's so much potential here: a book featuring two really kick butt female heroes with interesting dialogue and banter? Sign me up, please! Yet even with all of that potential I feel like this book has some flaws, and that's unfortunate. I do hope that those flashback scenes are addressed in the series' zero issue and that things eventually pick up for the two ladies. They are great characters that a whole lot of us DC fans were missing from the relaunch of their universe, but the series -- as it is -- just isn't doing them the justice the deserve.