REVIEW: Power Girl #8

Power Girl #8, “Paige Has a Crush” takes the events from the first two installments of the House of Brainiac crossover with ‘Action Comics’ & ‘Superman’ and spins them to Power Girl’s perspective. As the title suggests, Lobo’s daughter, Crush, finds her way into the story as well, which should prove extremely entertaining to this tie-in tale.

The standard cover by Yanick Paquette and Arif Prianto has Crush commandeering the spotlight and title. It’s a super fun piece that captures everything you need to know about Crush’s personality if you’re not too familiar with the character. An unlikely duo, to say the least, it makes perfect sense in context with ‘House of Brainiac’ to pair these two together.

The variant by W. Scott Forbes is an elegant pose of Power Girl shading her eyes as she takes in some Sun. The brightness of the sky, along with the joy on her face, easily makes this a great feel good cover.

I don’t normally like to compare artists to another, but Irvin Rodriguez’s variant is on a level with Alex Ross. At first glance, you’d think this painting was a photo of a really good cosplayer. It’s absolutely stunning work and I hope there’s more in store for us from him in the future.

Mark Brooks pays homage to Adam Hughes with his variant. Using his own distinctive style, Brooks could’ve easily passed this off as his own if he hadn’t payed tribute directly on the cover. With a wave and a smile, Power Girl seems ready to take on the world regardless of where the inspiration originates.

The initial series interior art team of Penciller Eduardo Pansica and Inker Júlio Ferreira return this issue. They make a conscious effort to keep the book dynamic from beginning to end and visually convey the mood change within the story. A lot of emotion can be felt from each page that helps highlight the impact ‘House of Brainiac’ already has on Superman related tales going forward. Much like ‘Action Comics’ #1064, this issue puts us on the same rollercoaster ride but without looking or feeling redundant.

Leah Williams, lettered by Becca Carey, expertly utilizes the events from ‘Action Comics’ #1064 to land Paige in her own story related to the ‘House of Brainiac’ crossover. Without needing to read any other comic we know exactly what’s going on, why Power Girl wasn’t abducted, and establish a need to follow-up with Earthbound events while Superman’s in space. Taking advantage of the Czarnian involvement, it’s only fitting that Paige runs into Lobo’s daughter, Crush. Whether or not they’ll team up or throw down is yet to be seen, but one things for sure, it’s gonna be fun either way.

(9/10) It’s impressive to have a story clearly connected to what’s happening in two other books but capable of standing apart on its own. Not only is ‘Power Girl’ #8 a smart tie-in to ‘House of Brainiac’, but it’s also a great first issue to a new arc.