REVIEW: Power Girl #18

Power Girl #18, “Does Anyone Want to Play Tixit With Mariposa?” is an excellent blend of high adventure and comedy making for a very fun read. Although it ends on a foreboding note and there is world ending stakes in play, it leans well into the strong friendships between Power Girl, Omen, and Steel to keep the story from feeling too dark.

The standard cover is by Yanick Paquette and Arif Prianto. A chaotic scene of intrusive vines crashes Paige’s housewarming party causing party favors to fly and Streaky to look concerned. It definitely gives us a snippet of what to expect within the pages of this issue as the new Daily Star building falls under attack.

The only variant we have this issue is by Elizabeth Torque and Sabine Rich. A very no nonsense take on Power Girl graces the cover. With arms flexed and fist in hand, she definitely looks ready to fight.  

David Baldeón and Colorist Romulo Fajardo Jr. do a fantastic job with the interior art. One of the new antagonists uses sign language and the way they capture it is quite clever and adds to the character’s imposing demeanor. In fact the emotional range of each character is on full display and really helps ground the fantastical elements of the story. In their hands the dinosaurs, Norse mythological characters, genocidal elemental beings, and super heroes all seem very plausible which just makes for an awesome looking book.

Leah Williams, lettered by Becca Carey, gives us a little more setup to the events leading up to the isolated attack on the Daily Star building. Here is where most of the comedic beats of the story take place as Mariposa is left alone to host a room full of visiting Asgardians, whom all seem unfamiliar with current phraseology, while Power Girl, Omen, and Steel deal with last issue’s Striker’s Island incident. Once we’re caught up we get a little more insight to the motivations behind the attack, but just as soon as fists start flying, we reach the last page.  

(7/10) While the art is terrific and the dialogue had me chuckling in multiple areas, very little seemed to happen in Power Girl #18. There’s still a lot of questions and hopefully it all makes some sense by the resolution of this arc.