By ANDREW A. SMITH, Scripps Howard News Service

For one of the most attractive and popular characters in DC's superhero books, Power Girl is a mess. But two writers have vowed to clean her up.
"The fans were demanding" a Power Girl book, said co-writer Jimmy Palmiotti. "DC Comics wanted to try it, and the guys in charge liked what we did on a few other books and rolled the dice and gave us a shot."

DC Comics is undergoing something of a superhero renaissance of late, which is reflected in a host of terrific collections in my Teetering Tower of Review Stuff:
-- The history leading up to "Final Crisis" ($29.99, by Grant Morrison, J.G. Jones and Doug Mahnke) is a long, strange trip -- as is the book itself.

DC Comics is undergoing something of a superhero renaissance of late, which is reflected in a host of terrific collections in my Teetering Tower of Review Stuff:
-- The history leading up to "Final Crisis" ($29.99, by Grant Morrison, J.G. Jones and Doug Mahnke) is a long, strange trip -- as is the book itself.

In 1956, he launched the superhero revival, which continues to this day. He ran for 30 years as the Fastest Man Alive, in his own title, in the Justice League, as a guest star and on TV. He's been gone for 23 years, after having died heroically in a cosmic crisis and replaced by his own protege.
And now he's back.

As "Star Trek" soars effortlessly at or near the top of the box office, it's obvious that director J.J. Abrams has figured out how to stretch the franchise's appeal beyond the hard-core fans known as Trekkies -- or, as I call 'em, "my peeps."
How'd he do that? By being very, very smart.

Marvel's "Dark Tower: Treachery" has topped The New York Times graphic-novel best-seller list for two weeks, and there's a reason for that: It's really, really good.

"Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" He's having a heckuva birthday party, that's what.

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine," premiering May 1, seems a straightforward concept. The X-Men movies were popular, and Wolverine was the most popular character, so make a movie about him.
But there's really nothing straightforward about the history of the feral X-Man -- and the movie won't make it any simpler. Let me X-plain:

Dark Horse has been finding and reprinting many overlooked and underestimated comics in its handsome, hardback Archives series. Three recent ones, while not the greatest of comics, are nevertheless rife with historical superlatives.
I am referring to the first volumes of "Roy Rogers," "Tarzan" and "Turok, Son of Stone" (Dark Horse, $49.95 each).

It's the wrong time of year for Halloween, but the Teetering Tower of Review Stuff is full of scary stuff.
-- "The Raven and Other Poems" (NBM, $9.95) is a Classics Illustrated Deluxe hardback collecting various Edgar Allan Poe works, illustrated by famed cartoonist Gahan Wilson. From that description alone, you know it's worth the sawbuck.