In A Perfect World

Power Girl #26

I like Matthew Sturges' work, particularly his superhero comics.

Shadowpact and Blue Beetle were consistently good and it was a shame to see both series get cancelled way before their time. Salvation Run provided us with one of the best fights ever - Gorilla Grodd bludgeoning Monsieur Mallah to death with Brain's holding tank and raised questions about the centre of gravity of gorillas and their tipping points. Of the four Final Crisis Aftermath series that came out, Sturges' Run! was by far the best and JSA All-Stars has been a great read on the whole, again cut far too short.

Now with issue #26, he begins a two-issue fill in on Power Girl which regular readers will know has long been one of my favourite titles and there's an interview with him about it over at CBR and it's clear he gets the character:

"The thing about Power Girl is that she's a character that hasn't been around as long as [Superman or Batman] and isn't as iconic as those characters. She is herself a comment on superheroes because she's this alternate version of Supergirl. The fact that her personality is a little more aggressive and a little brasher gives you a lot of comedic opportunities and certainly that's something that I always play into. It's fun to watch her get annoyed by the things that are going on around her. She's not the most patient person and she doesn't have time for a bunch of crap."

I was frankly dismayed when Judd Winick was announced as the writer for PG but over the last year or so have come to openly admit to being pleasantly surprised by his work on the title. Ably assisted by the gorgeous artwork of Sami Basri, Winick's stories have been funny and warm after an initial couple of issues where crap hit the fan.

However, if Winick were to leave Power Girl for the proposed new Justice League International title, I'd really, really like Matt Sturges to take the reins.

As long as it then doesn't get cancelled, of course.