First Contact Part 1
Pak, Lee
SPOILER ALERT!
I will most certainly be SPOILING!
This review is for the tried and true fans of the pre 52 JSA. If you are like me, you’ve been anxiously reading the Earth 2 series, waiting for the characters you loved to be reintroduced in some new and interesting way, wanting just a taste of the world that we so stridently followed. The First Contact event is about the first time the main DC universe and the Earth 2 universe come into contact. It focuses around Earth 2’s Supergirl and Robin. In the opening issue of Earth 2 the two young women pass through a portal, that we now know lead to the main DC universe.
The issue of Batman Superman opens with Batman viewing a young girl, Huntress, trapped in one of the Batcave’s security measures. The interrogation offers the character’s origin as the daughter of Batman and Catwoman, as well as the death of the Wonders from Earth 2. Ending with the girl’s name change from Supergirl and Robin to Power Girl and Huntress.
Batmen believes her, which only seems to make him more suspicious and knocks her unconscious to make some inquiries and perform a test or two. Just as he finishes his DNA testing, which confirms her story, she reveals that she is both awake and free of her cell. Her familiarity with Batman’s systems, to show him Power Girl and that she is out of control.
The two heroes immediately climb into the Batjet and go out looking for her. They come across her accidentally running amok on an island town. That is, until Superman shows up to stop her. A bit of discussion and super powered brawling, and Superman temporarily solves the problem. Turns out that Power Girl is dealing with being super charged and has to let some of the solar energy burn off.
While Superman is mentoring the young, alt-world kryptonian, Batman and the Huntress begin tracking down the source of the solar instability. They find it leading to a man named Kaizen Gamorra, a villain I believe you would recognize form an earlier run of the Authority comics.
Erring on the side of caution, Huntress follows Batman’s trust-no-one lead and they attempt a cloak and dagger fact finding mission during one of Gamorra’s parties. A brief but shady conversation with Gamorra gives Huntress enough cover to find the information that they are looking for. Information that is both urgent and dangerous.
Batman contacts Superman and warns him about Power Girl’s potential to detonate. Superman seeks to keep Batman’s words from hurting his cousin’s feelings, just before she cheap shots him into the ground. The surprise attack gives her the head start she needed to fly as far up as she can to protect others from her impending detonation. In a mildly touching scene, Superman stays with her after she is debilitated by the first blast, holding her as the next explosion begins to swell out of them.
I found this issue interesting, but not in a super hero kind of way. I enjoyed the feeling of competence from Huntress, and vulnerability from Power Girl. The mentor angle of the two heroes as they work with their Earth 2 counterparts made for a compelling dynamic, even though it was a little expected. The largest draw for this event is the Kaizen Gamorra character, and the fact that something he is doing has turned a character from Earth 2 into a timebomb. All in all, a solid story building towards a multiverse changing climax.
My rating 4 / 5
this series is usually a solid read. scheduling aside, the mini-event has been no exception to that standard.