The Supergirl Special Struggle

Supergirl tackles her complicated feelings over Power Girl in The 2023 Supergirl special by Mariko Tamaki. Kara is struggling to deal with her place in the Super Family and it's impacting her superheroing. Does this story work well on it's own or in conjuncture with the ongoing Power Girl series by Leah Williams? We compare and contrast and discuss here on Casually Comics!

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Power Girl Is Broken

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[Skeezer]

I always felt Power Girl was like Supergirl's older, independent sister. This sort of insecure girl rivalry feels like a major step back.

[billyhills]

They could have have had a fight over the ownership of the cat. This would literally have been a Supergirl / Power Girl cat fight.

[Artemisa]

As a woman with large brests, I don't love that their solution to her "oversexualization" was to change her body. It lowkey made me feel like there was something wrong and dirty about MY body, in their eyes at least, because obviously if you are large chested you're going to look like you're in a porn movie no matter what 🙄

[Kitsunekun]

Powergirl was always "Come for the boobs, stay for the character, " I picked one of her first books back in the 80's because I was a teen and couldn't buy playboys. But I liked the fact that she was different from Supergirl, and I've stuck with the character. I have not been a big fan of the current version in her own series. Paige sucks as a name. I think they may have wanted to move away from "Karen" because of the implications of that name, but I wish they had addressed in story and left her as Karen. "My name is Karen, I'm not a Karen, though I still need to speak to your manager."

[bensneb]

If all the Robins can get a long, Supergirl and Power Girl can find a way to get along

[benjohnson]

I completely agree with your opinion on Power Girl's appearance. Her big bosom was part of her look, as silly as that sounds, and you could tell a lot about her personality by the fact that she rocked the boob window. I would even argue that it forced artists to draw her looking confident because it would be really hard to draw a demure person with so much...ahem...gifting. Also, Brad Bird was wrong. Capes are better than jackets, screw Edna Mode.

[DrewDesign]

You hit the nail on the head, i think. PG & SG are different characters. Even if they are meant to be sort of the same person they are at different stages of that life - Classic Karen (Paige?) is older, confident, mature - though sometimes brash, and is someone who fully embraces her physicality and the effect it has on others. Kara is young, often insecure, often angry but also sweet and empathetic. This blurring of the lines between the two feels like deliberate executive meddling.

[GitShiddy]

There's no way Lois didn't just buy cupcakes. That's way more Lois.

[christopherulichney]

Back in the Bronze Age, when Power Girl was first introduced, there was never any similarities in the personalities of Supergirl and Power Girl. Other than the desire to live up to Superman's standards they were completely different characters.

Side note: Has there ever been like am elseworlds story or something like that where Kara arrived on earth at the same time as Kal-El? It could make an awesome story with her raising him on the run from the government or someone.

[TetsuShima]

Speaking of Supergirl and Power Girl's relationship, it's pretty funny that, as Amanda Conner showed in a sketch, Kara is REALLY jealous of her Earth Two counterpart's much bigger "plot." It is not only hilarious af, but also gives Kara an adorable touch of femininity that makes her more human.

[JonPaulMaki]

I just find the dynamic so bizarre. We start out back in Action with Power Girl having beef with Supergirl and Supergirl being baffled by it, and then Power Girl seemingly working through what her issues were. Then here we have Supergirl having beef with Power Girl and Power Girl being baffled by it. And it's especially odd because it really came across as Supergirl *deciding* to have beef with Power Girl just because it seemed like she should.

[bluesnake]

I feel like it is completely possible to have both Supergirl and Powergirl. To me I feel like they would fit in well with an older sister younger sister dynamic. They both have similar pasts and even technically the same parents. But they ultimately still faced different situations throughout their lives have had different reactions, just like siblings do. You could have a few issues where Supergirl fights against it much like this, but learns to accept Powergirl as something like a sister. Someone who they both can rely on, who knows things about their family and history that only they can share. But also can recognize that they are different people who bring different things not only to the Super-family, but to their own relationship. Powergirl as a more mature and self confident figure can help Supergirl explore and learn how to be confident and secure in her own way. And in that same vain you can take a little bit of the plot of Powergirl's current series. Powergirl can be confident in who she is as a person and as a hero, but still feel disconnected from the super family. Supergirl then can be Powergirl's bridge to the Superfamily as her first step to feeling like she has a family on this earth. I feel like their is so much potential for some cute interactions with the two of them just they just get a chance to vibe with each other and even learn to get on each other's nerves in just the right way that only a sibling can. Just let them acknowledge each other as individuals, but also as close family that have a connection beyond the whole of the superfamily.

[ProfessorHurt]

I want a Mariko Tamaki-written Cassandra Cain series. She obviously has a knack and love for the character (per her Tec run, OBD: Two-Face #1, and the one-shot Cass story for AAPI).

[jerfuhrer]

This is the dynamic I wanted back! I would have loved to see PG all sassy and bombastic all of the time, while trying to make her space in the Superfam. Her being 10 years older than Supergirl always gave her "cooler, older cousin" vibes to me. And I'm sorry it's not in her own series.

[TheoWerewolf]

ACK! You missed mentioning the most direct 'we're really the same person' reveal! The 9 panel cupcake thing was a set up - to show some quirk that's uniquely Supergirl's - tearing a cupcake in half then smooshing it onto the frosting of a second cupcake... which Power Girl then ALSO does later on page 38 right under the laughing panel you show. This basically says 'they're WAY more alike even down to their subconscious quirks'.

Also, yeah, the 'destiny' thing is really awful. It suggests neither of them have real agency - this is how things HAVE to be.

[EVENINGWOLF]

That was one of the many great things about the Pre-crisis stories...having them on separate earths made that argument regarding any level of redundancy between them no -existent. There were so many counterparts of other characters that it almost felt wrong to NOT have a Supergirl analog on Earth-2. And making her so different from her Earth one counterpart really gave a good sense that she was her own character rather than just another doppelganger like Batman, or Superman, or Wonder Woman. From what I have seen in these more recent depictions...it's almost like they are working towards some contrived story line where we find out that they are actually half of a single being and that, in the same way they are now more physically similar (bye bye booswhams, OY...what am I 12) that they will make their personalities so identical that, at some point not only do we find out they are the same person, just split into two parts, but that they will have some reason they have to be re-merged into a single being, either one, or both of them will die if they don't, or their existence is causing such a cosmic dysfunction that if they aren't re-merged back into a single being it could destroy the universe; and we all know DC DOES love a good (or more accurately BAD) universe destroying event. OF course now....IF they were to use that to reset the multiverse back to it's original pre-crisis mode I could get behind that, but that would be the ONLY way. Mind you this is just all my mind going off on it's tangents.

So to clarify, no I really don't like the way they are going with these two characters and frankly I can't see any real benefit to what they are doing. I realize I'm not privy to the long range plans they have, but they way things are now...not so much.

[chrischriskidnicky]

I’m 43 years old and just now learned that some people think Power Girl is redundant because of Supergirl, or vice versa. I’ve always just thought they filled their own niches. This beginning with people on social media saying they’re “twinimes” or whatever just seems forced to me, since I don’t even think of them as looking similar.

[punkinpiez]

Hearing the name Pustulio was like being jump scared by my 6th grade self.

[jasond]

I don't really read supergirl and don't think I've ever read a pure powergirl book but I super enjoy the way you break their stories and histories down and even get me to think about them in a completely different way than I would ever have on my own. Great channel and love you sharing your takes!

[matthewlloyd]

Great video, Sasha! I think the traditional differences between Supergirl and Power Girl is one of the best uses of the parallel earths concept. It shows the “same” character can have similar paths with different outcomes.