There Must Be Other Names In Her Rolodex

Reading through Power Girl #16 I was a little surprised Power Girl would go to Batman for help. Not entirely, since I've seen the solicitation for October's issue so I knew he was showing up then at least. I know I shouldn't have been surprised she called him "Dick", since all the heroes at DC refer to each other by first names these days, but I've never thought of Power Girl and Dick Grayson being particularly close.

I know Dick Grayson is supposed to be the cheerful guy who's friends with all the other heroes, but I didn't think they crossed paths much. I had thought she was in Europe with the Justice League while he was on the Titans, then when she was in the JSA, he was running the Outsiders and sticking to the shadows more.

I'm mostly curious why she doesn't turn to her friends in the Justice Society. Couldn't Mr. Terrific help track down her stolen money? Is that representing that split in the JSA, where we have the Justice Society and the All-Stars? So Power Girl's on one side, and doesn't feel comfortable asking for help from folks on the other team (not sure how I'd reconcile that with her brief team-up Mid-Nite against the Blue Snowman)? It could just be a sign of her desire to handle things herself, which she mentioned to Terra at the start of the Palmiotti/Gray/Conner run, though turning to Batman is hardly handling things herself.

I don't know if Max Lord is behind the embezzling of Power Girl's funds (though his mind control powers would explain the divorced mother swiping her money, fleeing the country, then dying of an "overdose), but if so, Batman being involved makes a certain amount of sense. Diamondrock mentioned a few weeks back that Bruce Wayne will be back from his time jaunt soon, and he ought to still remember Max Lord existed. He was an original member of the JLI, founded by Max Lord, and it's the few remaining members who are trying to stop Max. So until Bruce makes it back, it might make a certain amount of sense for Grayson, as Batman, to help out a member of the JLI, with a potentially Max Lord-caused problem.

I don't know, do you think there's a similarity between Power Girl and Dick Grayson? They both try to live up the examples set by older heroes, though Batman was (obviously) more of a mentor to his ward than Superman was to Karen*, and Dick was much younger than Karen was when she reached Earth. They've both lead teams, both been Nightwing (Peej during that story in Kandor in the early stages of the current Supergirl title, and maybe some other times I don't know about). They both get written with lots of angst periodically, Grayson when a writer wants him to mope about Bruce not loving him, Power Girl about her frequently changing origin. Still, they usually seem to really enjoy themselves, fighting crime, saving people. Dick Grayson obviously enjoys dating, Power Girl likes gory horror flicks. They like being super-heroes, they like enjoying the world they protect.

* In this universe anyway. Maybe in the Earth-2 she originally came from, he was an active presence in her life after she reached Earth.