JSA Classified #2

JSA Classified #2 (October 2005)
title: "Power Trip! Part 2"

writer: Geoff Johns

penciller: Amanda Conner
inker: Jimmy Palmiotti

letterer: Rob Leigh
colorist: Paul Mounts

asst editor: Harvey Richards
editor: Stephen Wacker
cover: Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti & Paul Mounts (signed)

reviewer: Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage

Mission Monitor Board:  
Power Girl/Andromeda, Superman, Supergirl, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy; appearances by Phantom Girl, Sun Boy, Karate Kid, Micro Lad, Dream Girl, Shadow Lass, Ultra Boy, Star boy, Chameleon, Brainiac 5

Guests: 
Jimmy Olsen, Mr. Terrific, The Flash, Dr. Mid-Nite, Mr. Bones

Opponents: 
time-warping and/or dimensional hopping, the Psycho Pirate

Synopsis: 
Mr. Terrific, the Flash, and Dr. Mid-Nite are talking about the power surges and outages Power Girl is suffering from, going wildly from down 10% to up 30%. Mr. Terrific and the Flash go to STAR Labs to pick up the space-ship that Power Girl was in when she arrived on Earth. However, they find Mr. Bones and Checkmate already there examining it. They find something that might be a Legion Flight Ring.

In Metropolis,  Power Girl is waiting on top of the Daily Planet to talk to Superman. Jimmy Olsen happens along and they chat. Power Girl waits for him to look down at her chest, and although he takes longer than the average male, he eventually stares. Just as she starts to feel sorry for herself because Superman is hanging out with newly-arrived Supergirl, the Legion arrives.

The three Legionnaires tell Power Girl that she is really Andromeda, the Daxamite Legionnaire who they say was sent back in time by the White Witch to help the Justice Society battle Mordru. Power Girl, of course, does not remember the Legion or being Andromeda.

Suddenly, Power Girl hears an airplane beginning to go into a crash dive. She tries to fly off to rescue it, but the Legion tells her that she can't "interfere" any more in the present time-line than she already has. Saturn Girl tries to retrieve Power Girl's memories telepathically, but it doesn't work.

Power Girl tells the Legionnaires that she definitely won't let the airplane crash, and several other Legionnaires appear to try to restrain her. They of course can't stop her, either.

Power Girl struggles to save the jet as she suffers from another power outage. Superman and Supergirl arrive then, saving it easily. When Power Girl tries to explain that she was distracted and delayed by the Legion, she realizes that they have disappeared. Nobody but her saw them. When she tells him that Jimmy Olsen saw them, too, Superman tells her that Jimmy has been in Washington with Lois Lane all day.

Superman suggests Power Girl get a psychological scan. She refuses, telling him that she is just lonely and confused. Superman offers to help, but Power Girl wants to find out her history on her own. Superman wishes her luck.

Elsewhere, it turns out that Jimmy and the Legionnaires were constructs of the Psycho-Pirate, who is trying to drive Power Girl crazy as part of a Luthor plot to kick off Infinite Crisis.

Commentary: 
If you are a fan of Amanda Conner, and you are a fan of the Legion, then I strongly suggest you pick up this book. There are not very many times when she draws the Legionnaires, so this is just fun all over the place. It doesn't hurt that the main character is Power Girl, who Conner is justifiably famous for drawing.

The story is confusing, but that is atleast in part by design. When Lightning Lad arrives and introduces himself, Power Girl asks, "I thought you went by Live Wire?" This is a reference to the time when several Reboot Legionnaires spent time "back" in the present day, circa The Final Night story-line. The uniforms of the Legionnaire are straight from the then-current Threeboot Mark Waid-Barry Kitson era....of which Andromeda was not a member. And of course, the argument that Power Girl shouldn't save the people on the airplane flies (ouch) in the face of their own logic, as they admit they sent Andromeda to this era to fight Mordru! The point of this story was to mess with Power Girl's mind, though, so I guess the continuity "errors" can be excused.

As the second-part of a four-part tale, there isn't much to discuss about the story. It is just one more step in the Psycho-Pirate's plot to drive Power Girl crazy, making her feel more isolated and giving her yet another possible "origin" (as a time-displaced Legionnaire). It serves its purpose.

Unfortunately, this four-parter does not end well. There is no real conclusion! Power Girl learns what we know is her "true" origin, and then tries to come to grips with the knowledge that she really is from a no-longer existing "Earth-2."

Still, it's a fun "What If?" or "Elseworlds" type encounter between two great tastes. And really, even if Geoff Johns is incredibly hit-or-miss, you can't go wrong with Amanda Conner.

Science Police Notes:  

• Jimmy Olsen is not an Honorary Legionnaire in this continuity, as he has no only a vague idea of who the Legion is when they appear. 
• The battle between Mordru and the Justice Society that the Legion references is probably the "Princes of Darkness" story-line from JSA #s 46-51. 
• Brainiac 5 is mis-colored in Power Girl's "flashback" and when she uses her flash vision. Shadow Lass is mis-colored on the same page. 
• The concurrent Legion of Super-Heroes issue when this story came out was LSH/Threeboot #9. They had not yet met Supergirl at this time. 
• The item that Checkmate thinks might be a Legion Flight Ring turns out to be one of the Psycho Pirate's Medusa Masks.
• Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti (this story's inker) are married to each other.  

Status: 
This issue has been reprinted in Power Girl TPB, Supergirl: Candor TPB, DC Comics Presnts The Sequential Art of Amanda Conner, and Power Girl: Power Trip TPB.