The AIPT Comics podcast is happy to host Leah Williams and Joanne Starer on today's show to discuss Power Girl Special #1 (art by Marguerite Sauvage and Natacha Bustos) out on May 30. We dig into character development, what to expect in their upcoming series Power Girl (ongoing) and Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville (currently slated for six issues), out September 5th, and so much more. And by more, I mean we even talk about Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom!

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NEWS

1. Dawn of DC grows with ‘Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War’ event
2. Sci-fi toy turned comic 'Rom' returns to Marvel Comics in 2024
3. Marvel adds ‘The Micronauts’ to release schedule in 2024
4. Meet new hero Kid Venom emerging from 'Death of the Venomverse' #2
5. Bryce Gold named Head of Comics at Kickstarter
6. DSTLRY sheds light on first title 'The Devil's Cut' out August 2023
7. Image Comics signs exclusive distribution deal with Lunar Distribution

Our Top Books of the Week

Dave:

1. Fury (2023) #1 (Al Ewing, Scot Eaton, Cam Smith, Tom Reilly, Adam Kubert, and Ramon Rosanas)
2. Extreme Venomverse (2023) #2 (Various)

Nathan:

1. Unstoppable Doom Patrol #3 (Dennis Culver, Chris Burnham)
2. Action Comics #1055 (Various)

Standout KAPOW moment of the week:

Nathan - Darth Vader: Black, White, and Red #2 (David Pepose, Alessandro Vitti)

Dave - Unstoppable Doom Patrol #3 (Dennis Culver, Chris Burnham)

TOP BOOKS FOR NEXT WEEK

1. Dave: DC Pride (Various)
2. Nathan: DC Pride (Various)

JUDGING BY THE COVER JR.

1. Dave: Detective Comics #1072 (Kelley Jones)
2. Nathan: Alien #2 (Dave Johnson)

Interview: Leah Williams and Joanne Starer join the show to discuss Power Girl Special #1 (art by Marguerite Sauvage and Natacha Bustos) out on May 30.

1. Leah and Joanne, thank you for being on the AIPT comics podcast! Congrats on the Power Girl Special, and thank you for bringing these characters into the Dawn of DC initiative!
2. To start at a baseline: What are your histories with these characters?
3. All of these are characters with a good bit of baggage, both emotionally and in terms of decades of continuity. How did you create these stories as jumping-on points for new readers?
4. At the same time, these characters have all lent themselves to various interpretations over the years. Human Target, the New 52, etc. How do you go about synthesizing and building off of all of the different women they have been? - i accidentally did this too
5. Power Girl Special feels like it gets to a lot of emotional areas for Power Girl, especially grief and self-doubt. These emotions are so resonant and deeply powerful, how do you achieve the emotionality in the character and make it so real?
6. Johnny Sorrow, what makes him so fun to write?
7. Leah, we loved X-Terminators – and it got us wondering - and feel free to jump in here, Joanne: What DC characters or team would be ripe for an X-Terminators-style grindhouse book?
8. Joanne, superhero breakups seem to be the worst. Are they actually more difficult than they are for civilians, or just louder?
9. Something tells us Smallville won’t be all cornfields and apple pie. What does this series have in store for our heroes?
10. Joanne - Sirens of the City is finally coming to print from Boom in July! How did this come about?
11. Do you have anything else to promote today?
12. Lighting round
    1. Favorite ice cream flavor?
    2. Favorite pet type?
    3. Favorite Kryptonian?
    4. Do you play Marvel Snap? If so, what deck do you run?