Let those who would threaten his people taste the raw destructive power of Vartox the Hyper-Man! 
- — Vartox
Power Girl (Volume 2) #7 is an issue of the series Power Girl (Volume 2) with a cover date of February, 2010. It was published on December 16, 2009.
Synopsis for "Lust in Space"
In the Outlands of planet Valeron, Vartox beats down a raid of Kashkavonian yeti pirates. However, the pirates have launched a contraception bomb in order to reclaim Valeron after their inhabitants' gradual extinction. After several days the Valeronian Council determines that, indeed, the whole population has been sterilized, but Vartox has started looking for a suitable woman with whom to continue the species. He learns of Power Girl and decides someone with such assets and power who has managed to outlive her universe will be the perfect genetic donor. Certain of his wooing talents, Vartox gets ready his interstellar headship, but just in case he decides to bring along a couple of safeties.
In New York City, Power Girl and Doctor Mid-Nite are in the midst of a fight with the Blue Snowman. They easily defeat the foe and are wondering why that kind of villains commit robberies instead of legally making money off patenting their inventions when Vartox's headship descends, and his owner proclaims loudly his intention of winning Kara Zor-L over. Seeing Power Girl doesn't seem interested, he shoots his seduction musk rifle. The foul odor is strong enough to knock Doctor Mid-Nite out, and affects Blue Snowman, but Kara is immune.
Power Girl gets angry at the fact Doctor Mid-Nite is down and Vartox is still rambling on about romancing her thanks to his physical prowess. Still angry, Kara punches Vartox and Blue Snowman then tries to wake up her teammate. Vartox concludes such a strong woman like Kara needs him to prove his own manly power, so he lets loose an IX Negaspike, an indestructible planet-eating monster with a voracious appetite. Kara's eyes went wide with alarm at the Negaspike's presence on Earth, and the superheroine became even more frightened when it devours Blue Snowman, tilting its head back and swallowed the supervillain, armor and all, in two seconds. Fearing that the Negaspike would eat Mid-Nite next, Kara quickly takes him away to safety.
Meanwhile, the IX Negaspike strikes Vartox away and accidentally breaks Vartox's teleportation mechanism into pieces, destroying it. Then the Negaspike turns for Power Girl, who bravely faces this dangerous monster. But before Kara can take it out of the city, the Negaspike opens its mouth to roar, knocking her back. Kara tries to defeat the Negaspike by using her heat vision, which proves futile when the Negaspike only laughs, and Kara felt the Negaspike's attack on her left arm. As the scramble continues, the Negaspike snatches up Kara with its salivating mouth, getting the best of her.
As Power Girl is almost eaten by the IX Negaspike, Vartox joins in the fight. Kara has no time for Vartox and manages to get the monster out of New York, but she doesn't appear to be able to defeat it, and she finds out Vartox doesn't know its weak point, either. He intended to teleport the Negaspike back to its dimensional plane once she got impressed enough, but his teleportation device got broken. Out of patience, Power Girl freezes it with her arctic breath, then smashes it to pieces. As Vartox had warned however, the creature is indestructible and begins replicating.
Appearing in "Lust in Space"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- IX Negaspike
- Blue Snowman
- Joker (Mentioned only)
Other Characters:
- Charlie the Owl
- JSA (Mentioned only)
- Groovicus Mellow
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
- Vartox's Interstellar head ship
Notes
Superman #281
- This issue's cover is an homage to Superman #281.
Trivia
- The story makes several references to the 1974 Sean Connery film Zardoz which served as inspiration for the original Vartox character.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Supergirl Recommended Reading
- Action Comics (Volume 1)
- Adventure Comics (Volume 1)
- All-Star Comics (Volume 1)
- Supergirl (Volume 1)
- Superman Family (Volume 1)
- Supergirl (Volume 2)
- Infinity Inc. (Volume 1)
- Power Girl (Volume 1)
- Supergirl (Volume 3)
- Supergirl (Volume 4)
- Supergirl (Volume 5)
- Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 1)
- Power Girl (Volume 2)
- Supergirl (Volume 6)
- Worlds' Finest (Volume 1)
- Supergirl (Volume 7)
- Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (Volume 1)