The Power Girl Universe: The Justice Society, Karen Starr

Most of the characters have an entourage inherited: a city, a family, adversaries attached to their name. Power Girl has none of that, and for a structural reason.

His original world was erased. What she has today, she must have constitute— and that’s what makes his world different.

The Justice Society: a substitute family

The character joined the publisher's historical team from its first issue, in 1976, and never really left.

This affiliation fulfills a specific function, and it explains the longevity of the character. A heroine without a world of origin, without an assigned city and without a gallery of adversaries should have disappeared; the team provides him with permanent frame that nothing else offered him.

It is important to note the particularity of this team: it brings together characters from the very first years of the medium, often elderly in the fiction. Power Girl therefore occupies the position of heiress rather than peer — which is appropriate for someone whose past has been erased.

Superman: a cousin from another continuity

She was introduced in 1976 as Superman's cousin - the one from a parallel Earth.

When this Earth disappears, this link becomes problematic: the Superman of the remaining continuity is not the one she knew, and she is not exactly his cousin.

This corpus considers that this is the real subject of the character, and it is more subtle than it seems. She has not lost her family: her family still exists, in a slightly different form, and does not recognize her as she expected.

Few narrative situations are so precisely designed to produce discomfort — and so rarely exploited to their full extent.

Karen Starr: the identity she constructs for herself

The character takes on a civilian identity and runs a technology company.

This choice is worth noting, because it is rare among heroes with great powers. A civil identity is usually used to hide ; here it is used to exist— to occupy a place in a world where the character has no roots.

The solo series from the end of the 2000s largely exploits this dimension, and this is what gives it its particular tone: a heroine who manages office problems between two confrontations.

The exiled partner

Stories from the 2010s permanently associate her with another heroine from the same vanished world.

The device is effective because it solves a real problem: two characters without valid origins mutually validate each other. Each is, for the other, the evidence that the erased world existed.

This is probably the best response found by the authors to the situation created in 1985.

Collection strategy

This universe calls for recommendations different from most files.

Don't expect entourage keys. The character has no personal adversary or supporting roles with sought-after first appearances. This is a direct consequence of its lack of its own world.

Aim for team numbers. This is where most of her presence is, and they're never sold as Power Girl issues. A coherent whole is formed there at the cost of everything.

Don't neglect short modern series. That of 2009 and that of the 2010s complete each other completely for a paltry budget, and contain the character as he is written today.

As always, condition and gradation determine value; relying on real recent sales is strongly recommended.

For the complete selection, see ourPower Girl key issuesand ourcollection guide.