Oh Friday Recommendation. How I’ve missed you. There are so many books I wish to recommend, so much to talk about. The reason for my prolonged absence in writing this column is my own fault. I wanted to hold off so I and I alone could have the pleasure of writing this particular article. That and I wanted to make sure that this article exists. Why? Because next week Powers volume 3 #1 comes out, and I want the whole world to be prepared for it’s triumphant return. And believe you me – it’s going to be triumphant.
So what is Powers? Well, quite frankly Powers is by far and large the definitive epic penned by Brian Michael Bendis. Some people would say that his work at Marvel is the true epic, such as on the title New Avengers, Daredevil, or even Ultimate Spider-Man, and that may be so, but Powers is something you can read from start to finish without any prior knowledge or any tie-ins. It’s all one coherent storyline from Point A to Point B, and it’s absolutely magnificent. In fact, where a lot of people have complaints to the changes he has made in the normal Marvel U, there’s no room to complain here. It’s all 100% creator owned and it’s all 100% awesome.
Powers is a book in which superheroes take a background image. The main focus is on two detectives, Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim. They are beat cops who investigate superpower-related crimes. That’s the jumping off point for the story, anyway. The first major arc involves the death of the single most popular heroine of all time, and her death is felt through the rest of the entire series, and as we learn more about Christian Walker (who is definitely one of the coolest characters ever) and Deena Pilgrim, the story begins to shape and take form as an incredibly concise tale that, once you see how it ends, you’ll need to go back and re-read the first issue. And that’s JUST for the first volume (the one being released next week is the start of volume 3).
Powers acts not only as a gritty crime drama, but it’s also very much a tribute to the industry. In the first volume, Warren Ellis himself makes an appearance in order to do a ride along, at which point he extrapolates endlessly about the merits of comic books to the completely disinterested Walker. If I’m understanding correctly, Bendis actually took things Ellis had written in the past and literally copied and pasted it into the lines of dialogue, forming and shaping it to fit the story. Also, I think I should note that I view this book very much the way I view Invincible. Invincible is Robert Kirkman’s main entry into the world of superherodom, and it features many characters in it that are analogies/parodies of heroes from the main two. Well, as much as Powers is as much a tribute as Invincible, it actually refrains from the super hero analogies. While some superheroes could be obviously seen as analogies, for the most part they all remain 100% original creations in this world, making the story all that much better.
This is Bendis purely at his best. I firmly believe that when any creator is working on a character they created or that they completely reinvented they’re bound to be at their best, and Powers is a great example of this. Since Powers does not have a firm beginning set and end period (depending on how you look at it – you could actually view each volume as a “season” considering how interconnected they are), there is no point in which the stories have to end. In fact, there are many “loose” ends at the end of the second volume for which the story to elaborate on, most of which I look very forward to seeing. All of the characters that Bendis creates take on lives on their own, our main two “heroes” are prime examples of this. This is a perfect book to sit down and watch characters grow, and believe me there will be changes you could NEVER see coming. We’re talking time jumps and complete 180’s here, people. The greatest part is that, much like on Doctor Who, you’ll never fully see the ending of each volume coming. You might have little guesses along the way, but believe you me, if you’re not a die hard fan by the end volume one then clearly you need better taste. The book also has Bendis’ trademark humor and love of dialogue strewn across the page, so be prepared for lots of mouthfuls of dialogue.
The other star rising in this book is Michael Avon Oeming, the book’s artist. Powers is definitely his first “big” work, and what’s amazing about it is you can very much see his growth as an artist throughout each book. The art on the last page of the second volume is so much different than the art on the first page of the first issue. It’s much better, refined, and definitive. It’s very rare that you get to see how much an artist improves over time, but Powers is a fine example of that to the point that I now read books just because Oeming does the art for it. On top of that, Oeming takes a lot of risks with his art. He doesn’t feel like he needs to use the full pages to convey the story, and sometimes they really intensify the drama of the story. You’ve got frames twisted on their sides, frames bleeding into each other, even thousands of tiny frames fill up the page. He even has plenty of running gags in his frames that’s all callback to earlier frames. Oeming plots out his images to the T, and it frames the story so well that I couldn’t imagine anyone else on this title ever. Not even as a guest spot. This is very much Oeming’s world, and I’m glad it has remained as such.
So next week as we start up with issue 1 of volume 3, now is definitely the time to hop into this. Unfortunately, for those that are not caught up yet, you will miss out on some of the references assuredly. Luckily, this week a Powers Encyclopedia came out with all the other great titles, so you can pick that up and use it as a tool to brush up. Or you can go and grab one of the many trades available. I feel that for those who currently read modern comics, Powers is a MUST read on all lists, especially those who are fans of Bendis because this is him at his unequivocal best. The dialogue is fresh, the story is truly epic beyond even your wildest expectations to the tale, and the artwork just gets better and better as it goes. If you’re not reading Powers by now, then I’m just plain sorry.
