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Power Girl
Power GirlPower Girl

Power Girl

233 appearances · Bronze Age · 1976–2026 · 9 key issues
Who is Power Girl?

Kara Zor-L is the Earth-Two counterpart of Supergirl — Superman's cousin, who escaped Krypton's destruction as an infant and was sent to Earth in a rocket. Arriving older than her cousin due to a longer journey, she adopted the identity of Karen Starr and became Power Girl, a founding hero of the Justice Society of America.

Few characters embody the ambition and energy of Bronze Age DC quite like Power Girl, who burst onto the scene in All-Star Comics #58 in 1976, courtesy of Gerry Conway and Ric Estrada. Over a remarkable fifty-year publishing history spanning 220 catalogued appearances, she has grown from debut sensation to one of DC's most enduring figures, racking up nine key issues that any serious collector will want to track down. Her world is unmistakably DC's finest — she shares pages with the likes of Superman, Batman, The Flash, and their civilian counterparts Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent — and her deepest roots run through Justice League Europe, Justice League of America, and Infinity, Inc., a résumé that speaks to a character trusted across generations of storytelling. Whether you're a longtime fan or just discovering her, Power Girl is exactly the kind of character who rewards attention.

Identity

Real name. Kara Zor-L (alias Karen Starr)

Powers. Kryptonian powers: super-strength, flight, invulnerability, super-speed, heat vision, freeze breath, enhanced senses (powered by Earth's yellow sun).

Teams & affiliations
Justice Society of AmericaJustice LeagueJustice League International
★ First appearance
All-Star Comics #58
Jan 1976

Trivia

  • Power Girl was deliberately stripped of a visible S-shield for years because DC wanted her to read as a distinct hero rather than a derivative Superman sidekick.en.wikipedia.org
  • Her infamous boob-window costume was not a later gimmick but part of her original design, and it became one of the longest-running examples of comics trying to balance sex appeal with superhero branding.en.wikipedia.org
  • In the 1980s, DC gave her a wildly different non-Kryptonian origin involving Atlantis and magic, one of the most confusing identity retcons in mainstream superhero comics history.en.wikipedia.org
  • After Crisis on Infinite Earths, Power Girl spent years as a character whose memories and backstory were repeatedly rewritten, making her one of DC's clearest examples of the company's multiverse-reboot fallout.en.wikipedia.org
  • Keith Giffen has written more of Power Girl's comics than any other writer in our catalog — 27 issues.

Top series

Covers through the years — 1976–2023

All-Star Comics #58 1976
All-Star Comics #58
DC Comics Presents #38 1981
DC Comics Presents #38
Infinity, Inc. #4 1984
Infinity, Inc. #4
Secret Origins Annual #1 1987
Secret Origins Annual #1
Congorilla #3 1993
Congorilla #3
Guy Gardner: Warrior #39 1996
Guy Gardner: Warrior #39
JLA #27 1999
JLA #27
JSA #54 2004
JSA #54
Infinite Crisis #4 2006
Infinite Crisis #4
DCU Holiday Special #1 2009
DCU Holiday Special #1
Huntress #6 2012
Huntress #6
Harley Quinn and Power Girl #[nn] 2016
Harley Quinn and Power Girl #[nn]
Batman #71 2019
Batman #71
Nightwing #100 2023
Nightwing #100

Appearances (1–150 of 233, oldest first)

52 (2006)
All-Star Comics (1976)
#58
The Comics Journal (1977)
Flash (1970)
Justice League of America (1960)
Elson's Presents Super Heroes Comics (1981)
#3
DC Comics Presents (1978)
The Best of DC (1979)
#23
All-Star Squadron (1981)
Infinity, Inc. (1984)
Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe (1985)
Secret Origins Annual (1987)
#1
Who's Who: Update '87 (1987)
Warlord Annual (1982)
#6
Superman (1987)
Adventures of Superman (1987)
Action Comics (1938)
Doom Patrol (1987)
Action Comics Weekly (1988)
Justice League America (1989)
Justice League Quarterly (1990)
Hawk and Dove (1989)
#24
Hawkworld Annual (1990)
#2
Hawk and Dove Annual (1990)
#2
Comics Scene (1987)
Green Lantern (1990)
#30
Congorilla (1992)
#3
Superman & Batman Magazine (1993)
Wonder Woman (1987)
#77
Green Lantern Corps Quarterly (1992)
#6
Green Lantern: Mosaic (1992)
#17
Guy Gardner: Warrior (1994)
#39
Supergirl (1996)
JLA (1997)
Body Doubles (1999)
#3
Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. (1999)
#9
JLA / JSA Secret Files & Origins (2003)
#1
JLA / JSA: Virtue and Vice (2002)
Aquaman (2003)
#4
JSA (1999)
Spécial DC (1997)
#22
Identity Crisis (2004)
#1
Justice League Elite (2004)
JLA: Classified (2005)
#6
DC Premium (2001)
#39
Infinite Crisis (2005)
I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League (2005)
Plastic Man (2004)
#20
Outsiders (2003)
#36
Superman / Batman (2003)
#33
Justice League Wedding Special (2007)
#1
The Brave and the Bold (2007)
World War III (2007)
Nightwing (1996)
Countdown to Final Crisis (2008)
DCU Holiday Special (2009)
#1
Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2009)
#1
Superman: Shadows Linger (2009)
Superman: Camelot Falls (2008)
#2
Solomon Grundy (2009)
#5