In every installment of I Love Ya But You’re Strange I spotlight strange but ultimately endearing comic stories. Feel free to e-mail me at brianc@cbr.com if you have a suggestion for a future installment!
In 1964, Stan Lee introduced Wonder Man, a new member of the Avengers who was secretly working for the Masters of Evil. However, DC Comics was not thrilled that Stan Lee introduced a character named Wonder Man, due to, well, you know, their Amazing Amazon. So Stan agreed not to use the character going forward. I don't believe that Stan actually PLANNED on using the character going forward, but he still said yes. Fast forward eleven years and Gerry Conway introduced a Power Girl character for DC Comics. That irked Jim Shooter, since Marvel obviously had a Power MAN, so Shooter then brought Wonder Man back in the pages of the Avengers. Amusingly enough, during the ensuing time, Conway returned to Marvel from DC and became Marvel's Editor-in-Chief (it did not last long and Conway was soon back to DC for a long stint). None of that really has anything to do with anything, but it amused me, so I figured I'd share it with you all.
Anyhow, my pal Alan wanted me to write about an awfully peculiar interaction between Power Girl and Superman, so here we are!
Again, Conway was new at DC, and he was trying to figure out what to do there. He talked over some ideas with his old Marvel colleague, Roy Thomas, and Thomas has always been a fan of the Justice Society of America, so he suggested Conway do a Justice Society book. Conway agreed, but decided to do a new twist on the idea. Instead of doing the "old" team (after all, Conway only knew these characters from their team-ups with the Justice League and not from their old comics like Thomas, who was only 12 years older than Conway, but that's a whole other generation in comic book terms!), Conway decided to introduce a new team of younger heroes. He revived an older character, the Star-Spangled Kid, he added a current popular character, Robin, and he introduced a brand-new character, Power Girl, who was Conway's attempt to do an Earth-2 version of Supergirl.
As you may or may not know, when Supergirl was introduced, Superman kept her a secret for a couple of years. Well, Conway's theory is that on Earth-2, Superman kept her quiet for much longer.
Clearly, Conway also wanted to do a "liberated" female superhero, and Power Girl was certainly different from most superheroes. Anyhow, she was definitely the standout character from the series.
What happens, though, when Power Girl meets her Earth-1 cousin, Superman?
Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='Kissing cousins?!']
Okay, so Power Girl finally participated in her first Justice League of America/Justice Society of America crossover events in Justice League of America #147, in a story by Paul Levitz and Martin Pasko and art by Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin.
Check out what happens when she meets Superman, who is the Earth-1 version of her Earth-2 cousin...
How awesome is that? I especially adore Black Canary's reaction! That is PRICELESS!
I mean, yes, Black Canary was an Earth-2 hero who got involved with an Earth-1 superhero (Green Arrow), but he wasn't the Earth-1 version of her COUSIN!
They didn't have any other really notable interactions the rest of the crossover (they DID team-up to beat up Wildfire, though).
That's it for this installment! Thanks for the suggestion, Alan! If anyone else has a suggestion for a future I Love Ya But You're Strange, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!