More ART OF AMANDA CONNER: Power Girl's curves of steel

In anticipation of the upcoming collected edition, THE ART OF AMANDA CONNER, the gallery of our intrepid pencil-jockey's work continues with some of her signature work on DC Comics's zaftig bruiser, Power Girl.

If ever there were a textbook case of an artist taking a pre-existing and somewhat marginal character and making it their own, it's Amanda's working relationship with Power Girl. Originally created as an analog of Supergirl, only from one of DC's plethora of alternate Earths, for much of her four-color career the character's sole defining attribute was her rather impressive bosom (thank you for that, Wally Wood!). But in the hands of scripter Jimmy Palmiotti and with Amanda as illustrator, Power Girl took on an unprecedented life upon the page, literally bursting with character in ways to match her equally bursting double-D cups.

Power Girl, displaying some of the patented expressive Conner visual language.

Winsome, aggressive, and more well-defined as a viable entity than many of her contemporaries, Amanda's take on Power Girl won both the character and her artist a burgeoning cult following that's constantly represented at conventions by enthusiastic fans. Perhaps the most fun and unexpected aspect of Power Girl's newfound cult status is that she has become a favorite choice to be portrayed in the alluringly-real flesh by cosplayers who proudly adorn themselves in the character's gear, complete with the most cleavage-exposing décolletage in the annals of American comics.

Power Girl — as embodied by cosplayer extraordinaire, Amber Love — meets her illustrator and makes with the noogies.

For more on Amanda's work on Power Girl and her illuminating thoughts on the subject, be sure to snag yourself a copy of THE ART OF AMANDA CONNER, coming in January 2012 from Desperado and IDW, and available for pre-order from Amazon.

An Amanda fan's treasure trove.