Artist’s interpretation of social media, 2023.
Star Power #19
(June, 2017)
“Star Power And The Last Jump Gate” part 4
WRITER: Michael Terracciano
ARTIST: Garth Graham
Back on the station, Psi-Cop does a beach episode while Grex learns why Burke got in trouble, after finding out that his captain was transporting HUMAN cargo among his other smuggling operations. On the planet, Star Power meets with people on both sides of the war, the Evebians and Vebenians, and learns that both sides seem like decent people but convinced the other is evil. This may have something to do with the propaganda broadcasts that now declare Star Power an agent of the other side to each group. Now caught between the two, she finds a third faction who isn’t fighting made up of both groups: the Evebenians. Found by both sides, who declare them heretics, they’re in for a surprise. The upgrade is complete and the Star Power Sentinel is now…the Star Power Centurion!
What they got right: I love the design of the energy armor (though I just noticed…Danica’s usual outfit is open-toed, which seems a bad idea). It looks really cool and powerful but not threatening. We also learn more of Grex’s history as well as Burke’s, and this will all play out in a later storyline. Danica struggles with maintaining her mission but a memory of something her dad says spurs her on to help others, the “real heroes” according to her dad in a similar incident they heard about on TV. She does what is right in the end because she’s that good a hero. The alien profiles are back, showing us what’s been lost on both the Evebians and Vebenian sides, though not where the Evebenians come from. The profiles do state they’re two separate groups with their own culture and cultural debates going on before the war happened and cost them all of that.
What they got wrong: I’m not sure why we’re seeing the Psi Cop stuff except to remind us Kaylo and Shi Lalis are here. The comic relief doesn’t work in the opening before all the heavy stuff unless they were writing for where to put it in the trades (still available from the site by the way). At least the Grex and Burke moments are going somewhere, but points for not trying to force Beena and Old Tom’s current discussions in here as well.
What I think overall: How do you write a good female superhero comic? Read this one and you’ll see. Otherwise, just take what makes a good male here and use a woman instead, with all the differences that would make that interesting versus the guys.
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