Power Girl (2009 run) # 3

 By Mark Rodriguez

Ultra Humanite has suspended the island of Manhattan above the sky and has also captured Power Girl. He wants to place his brain in the body of Power Girl or he threatens to drop the island, threatening countless lives. With Power Girl strapped down and the surgery about to begin, what will she do???

 

"Gorilla Warfare" opens with Power Girl strapped down to Ultra-Humanite's machinery. As Power Girl ponders how Humanite assumes she's just all body and no brains, the tubes attached her start to freeze up. Humanite asks how she is doing that and Power Girl breaks free of her restraints, sending a piece of machinery into his shoulder. Humanite asks how she did that and Power Girl says she used her freezing breath. She admits it's one of the most glamorous super power in her move set but the point is Humanite isn't as smart as he thinks he is.

She socks the albino gorilla into the machinery. Humanite throws a piece of machinery at her, saying she should be weakened since he drained some of the solar radiation from her cells. Power Girl fries the device in mid-air with her heat vision and says she wasn't weakened as much as he'd like.

Humanite says her powers don't matter since she is still a fragile and weak-minded female (did he suddenly forget that she's Kryptonian?) . Power Girl grapples with him and says this is his last stand and he'll be going to either a padded cell or the petting zoo. She throws him into the machines and some of the pipes burst spilling green liquid all over him.

Power Girl is surprised that Ultra-Humanite is not moving and the fight is already over. She notices that the green liquid was some sort of acid and the villain is covered in severe burns. With his fur completely burnt off, Humanite wants to kill Power Girl. She says she didn't mean to do this and she can fix this. She offers to get him medical attention if he helps put the city back. Humanite doesn't care and wants both her and everyone in the city to die.

Robot arrive to attack and Power Girl tells Humanite that more fighting isn't going to help. Power Girl fights the robots as some of them pick up Humanite and take him to the control room. Power Girl notices this and smashes the robots away from him. 

Power Girl tells Humanite to help her save the city. He says she won't and all of their deaths will be on her conscience. He says once the hooks are locked onto the city, they can't be retracted, so even thought she won she still loses. Power Girl will not accept this and will use her X-Ray vision to find the control room. Humanite says if she gives him her body he can save the city, but she naturally refuses. She then notices something that looks important.

The control room looks like a giant combination of several orchestral organs, which she calls a mash-up of 20,000 leagues under the sea and phantom of the opera. Humanite boasts that he's the only one that knows how to play it but he currently has a problem with his hands. Power Girl tries to play the keys and angrily busts it up. She storms off and says she will return for Humanite.

 

Power Girl flies out of Humanite's floating base and sees that there are only four main anchors and the rest are stabilizers that keep the city together. She admits she's not really a planning type of girl, she's more about action and smashing things. She notes she clearly can't cut the cables since the city will drop and cause untold damage. She contacts Terra and asks for help.

Terra is already on the job, being attached to the bottom of the island. She says it physically hurts her when the Earth is torn up like this. She stares in awe as she has  never seen the Earth from such a high distance before, and Power Girl tells her to focus. Terra isn't sure how they'll solve this problem and Power Girl says to give her hope and she believes in her.

Terra is going to try something crazy. She will grow the Earth in form of a catcher's mitt to catch the city as it falls. She will need Power Girl to cut all for cables at the same time, otherwise the city will drop at an angle which would be bad news for all the buildings. Power Girl calls for extra help from other heroes like the Jay Garrick Flash and the Alan Scott Green Lantern but they're busy dealing with the chaos below. Terra has things ready and needs Power Girl to cut the cables now. Power Girl tries to focus as it's all up to her.

Power Girl flies as fast as she can, smashing her way through all four cables. Terra carefully sets Manhattan back to the ground. Power Girl is surprised that Terra is underneath the island, but she says the Earth doesn't squish her. Terra says she has more work to do, like fixing the structural damage and subway tunnels. As the people celebrate, Power Girl thanks Terra and says she owes her a night out. As Terra emerges from the surrounding ocean, she asks about the thing in the sky.

Power Girl notices that Ultra-Humanite's air fortress dropping to the ground. Power Girl flies up to catch it and try to slow down it's fall. With the aerial base being as big as a small city, it will cause massive damage if it hits the city. She also can't let it land in the ocean since that would cause tidal waves and earthquakes. 

As the news hits covering all of the destruction, the employees within Karen's company are still under lockdown. Donna demands that Simon opens the doors since the crisis is over and their families are still out there. One of the employees asks if they heard from Karen Starr, and Simon says the phones are still down and he hopes she's alright. Donna gripes that their boss just happened to leave the building just before lockdown.

Power Girl uses all her strength to stop the descent of the base just mere inches from it touching the ocean. Now with the base secure, she carefully lets it drop onto the ocean as several beach goers are amazed by the sight. Power Girl pulls Ultra-Humanite out as he says he hates her so much. Power Girl says he lost and now she'll get him medical attention and possibly some psychological help.

Later on, Power Girl is visiting Blackgate Prison to check on Ultra-Humanite. As she walks down the halls with one of the employees, she gets either cat calls or threats from the inmates. She comments that Humanite's cell doesn't look secure enough. The man states it's the cell they normally use for Killer Croc. Humanite has been pumped full of anti-psychotics but there are zero chances that he will regain sanity. Power Girl tells him to do what he can for him and make sure he stays locked up. The man asks where she's going now, and Power Girl says she's returning to her city.

Meanwhile, three alien women are flying through space. One of them asks the woman named Anez what their next party planet is. Anez says they are going to Earth and nobody will find them there. One woman says they're going to party like it's the end of the world. The third woman says, for the people of Earth.. it will be.

 

My Thoughts- 

This was a cool story that sets things up for Power Girl and her status quo in a new city and her life as Karen Starr. As I said in the other issues, I first saw Ultra-Humanite in the Justice League cartoon where he wasn't as cold-hearted and unhinged as seen here. I'm also a bit confused as to how he was able to give Power Girl in a fight. Sure, we can assume Karen is holding back when hitting him, but just how strong is an albino gorilla that Humanite can fight back? I also wonder how Humanite didn't know about Karen's ice breath, but I guess he doesn't encounter Superman or Supergirl enough to know about all of the Kryptonian powers.

Terra also makes an appearance here and I did some research to find out she is another character named Atlee, and not the same Terra that is usually associated with Deathstroke and the Teen Titans. I was a bit confused I first but I guess there are two Terra's with Earth controlling powers in the DC universe?

As for this issue itself, it took a few turns I wasn't expecting, mostly Humanite being tossed into tubes that were pumping acid. Even Power Girl was surprised the fight ended so quickly until she realized what had just happened to him. The rest of the issue was trying to get the city back down safely while the only person that knew how to pilot the base (by playing a giant organ no less) was purposely refusing to help.

I like the idea of Power Girl being a 'punch first, ask questions later' type of character only now she found herself having to think on her feet as countless lives were on the line. She had to move fast enough to cut those cables and she had only one shot to get it right. It's clear that she's more at home kicking ass and smashing things, but she was still able to pull through and save the day.

Now we have something interesting for the following issue, a trio of party alien babes that party so hard the planet might not survive? We'll see what happens there. 

I'm glad I got to find this one as the first three issues of the 2009 run were the hardest to find. I already had a copy but somehow it got lost during the move to the new house. Thanks to HipComic and Collectors World I was able to find another copy and complete the run.