Worlds' Finest #12

I see she's already fallen in love with her new/old Boob Window outfit provided to her by Supergirl's Sanctuary of Solitude.

Desaad decided to show up at the end of Issue #11. I don't believe I've ever read anything with Desaad in it. Yes, I've never read any of Jack Kirby's Fourth World stuff. And perhaps I have read something somewhere with Desaad in it. But the main reason I know of Desaad is because I have his stupid action figure from the 80s Super Powers collection. I suppose he's meant to be some dastardly, conniving, evil high-powered henchman of Darkseid but I always imagined him as a toady little scrub whose main purpose was to shine Darkseid's boots and babysit Kalibak.

I don't ever remember him looking like this though! Not even from last issue!

Everybody flees from the scary monster man except for Karen, Helena, and one lone security guard with a serious case of one of DC's worst mental illnesses, Attacking The Wrong Mother Fucker Mania.

Helena deals with it appropriately.

Some new guards dive on Power Girl and try to arrest her for attacking Mr. Holt. It turns out Desaad is only showing his true face to Helena and Karen. So why did all the guests flee? I think it might be because Desaad's true face shows when viewed through a phone camera which everybody at the party seemed to have up to their faces when Michael Holt appeared. Who can resist taking pictures of a rich guy? Anyway, that explains why the guard went after Helena. Although it doesn't explain how Helena was able to see Desaad's true face before Desaad knew which member of the crowd was Karen's bodyguard! So maybe everybody fled the room because Desaad showed his true face to everyone except the guards!

You know, it's much easier to read comic books if you don't stop to think about why something is the way it is.

Because it really doesn't look too good to be beating up on Michael Holt, Karen grabs Helena and they fly off with a style that puts the best Superman rescuing Lois moments to shame.

Maybe Helena could have worked on her facial expression a bit more. Lois never would have looked so sour.

The time then shifts to the days when The Huntress and Power Girl were investigating the life of the man that became Hakkou. They just end up finding a bunch of Yakuza that don't know anything about how Ryouta became Hakkou. While their investigation doesn't turn up much, Power Girl opens up to Helena about why she seems to be enjoying the fame of being Karen Starr so much.

I like this moment a bunch. It's a touching bit of insight and shows real thoughtfulness for the characters. Instead of Power Girl being an extreme extrovert who craves attention, we see she's merely finding herself and her place after years of having to hide away in Superman 2's Fortress. And of course going a bit over the top like an Amish kid on Rumschpringe.

Ten days after Karen's confrontation with Desaad, Starr Enterprises begins falling apart. Stocks are down. Her top scientists are leaving the company. Time magazine is writing articles about her breasts. And then one of her factories explodes. And while she's away trying to save everybody in the building, Desaad invades Starr Island.

How are they supposed to regulate the speed of the burn when all the tanks come in blasting everything to rubble immediately?

Desaad destroys everything and personally kills Karen's assistant, Somya. I think it was Somya. It must have been Somya even though it didn't totally look like Somya. And just after Somya showed her ability to kick ass. It's too bad Levitz needed an easy way to show Desaad was a big time evil creep. I guess Somya knew what her purpose was the minute she became Power Girl's assistant. She was simply there to eventually die and make Karen really sad so that Karen could kick some major ass while getting revenge. It's the oldest comic book story there is. Unless I mentioned an older one in some other commentary. Than this one is just slightly younger.

When Power Girl sees all the people that died working for her, she realizes that she put them all in danger. It's time to create a secret identity that doesn't stand out and isn't hunted constantly by the Paparazzi. She and The Huntress decide to go underground to defeat Desaad. Bruce Wayne could learn a lesson here. Although I just began reading Grant Morrison's Preboot Batman Incorporated and I like that Selina asks him what he's going to do once the bad guys begin coming after Bruce Wayne and his people. At least Catwoman is thinking ahead. Which is, you know, really, really rare. Anyway, Bruce simply says, "You'll see." So he expected it! I hope he had a big company meeting where he warned everybody at WayneTech that their lives were now at risk simply by being employees. What a dick.

Worlds' Finest #12 Rating: No change. Nearly every issue before this one ended with Power Girl's costume being torn and ripped to shreds. Now that the Boob Window is back, there's no reason for it to be torn up. So I imagine it will never get another rip ever again. Plus it was made with Super Cotton, so that probably helps quite a bit as well.