Art by: David Baldeón
Colors by: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letters by: Becca Carey
Cover art by: Gary Frank, Brad Anderson
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: January 23, 2024
Power Girl #5 takes the day off for a Streaky the Cat adventure where he saves neighborhood pets and strays from a mysterious lab.
Is Power Girl #5 Good?
This is the issue. When concerns were raised about Leah Williams coming to DC from Marvel, the thought was that all the terrible writing on titles such as the X-Terminators would follow. So far, Power Girl has had its problems, but nothing as bad as Williams's time at Marvel. Power Girl #5 may be the shoe you've been waiting to drop.
When last we left Power Girl, she managed to free herself from the Symbio-Ships infection/possession with a little help from Superman, losing an eye in the fight. When all seemed right with the world, we got a peek at a fragment of the Symbio-Ship taking over and merging Kelex with the corpse of the dead Kryptonian lion to form an impressive-looking techno-organic Lion-cyborg-beast monster.
Now, we stop every ounce of anticipation and momentum coming out of that cliffhanger for Streaky the Cat to break up a pet/stray animal kidnapping ring. The kidnappers bring the animals to a scientist conducting mysterious experiments for some unknown purpose. We never learn what the kidnappers and scientist are doing because Streaky hears human speech as gibberish, which means this is a pseudo-silent issue about a super cat.
And that's it.
Do we see the Cyber-Lion monster? Nope, not even a hint.
Is there any warning or suggestion that something is wrong with Kelex? Nope, not in the slightest.
Does the ending at least suggest we'll get back to where the last issue left off? Nope. Kara shows up at the end to ask Power Girl for help on a mission, but there's no indication the mission has anything to do with the last issue's cliffhanger.
What's great about Power Girl #5? All credit goes to Baldeón and Fajardo Jr's art for doing their level best to communicate a largely silent story through the art. Silent issues can be a treasure or trash if the art team doesn't pull it off, so it's fair to say the art team pulled it off here.
What's not so great about Power Girl #5? The fifth issue is the wrong time and place for a cooldown issue, for a cooldown issue that's a silent issue, or for a cooldown issue that's a silent issue starring the titular character's cat. What was Williams thinking?!?
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Bits and Pieces:
Power Girl #5 makes little sense as a cooldown, silent issue that focuses on Power Girl's cat. Williams did her best to build up the Symbio-Ship's return as a defining moment for Power Girl with an intriguing cliffhanger at the end of the last issue, only to dispose of every ounce of momentum and intrigue for no benefit. This issue is a waste.
4/10
