Image Comics have announced “The Power Fantasy,” a new, superhuman sci-fi series by writer Kieron Gillen, artist Caspar Wijngaard, and letterer Clayton Cowles. Set in an alternate history that unfolds from 1945 to 1999, the series follows six “extranormal” people across the globe, all with “the destructive capacity of the nuclear arsenal of the United States of America.” The official synopsis states, “The world’s continued existence relies on them never coming into conflict.”
At an Emerald City Comic Con panel, Gillen described the series as the “HBO” counterpart to “Immortal X-Men,” just as “The Wicked + The Divine” came out of the thought experiment of a HBO version of his and Jamie McKelvie’s “Young Avengers” run. “You can stop reading ‘Immortal X-Men’ and jump over to read this and see what happens next,” he said. “It’s as if, what if ‘Watchmen’ had six Doctor Manhattans?” However, he added “It’s not really a superhero book. None of these people save the world. Well, they save the world by not using their powers.” He also says it can be considered an extension of the themes in his other series, like “WicDivian alternate-pop culture, a Cold War take on ‘Uber’s’ realpolitik, [and] ‘Die’s’ social group drama hyper-charged by genre.”
Wijngaard echoed Gillen’s comment about the book’s genre at ECCC, saying, “We really didn’t want to do capes, we wanted to feel more grounded with these characters. I wanted to visualize their powers in a weird way. They’ve all got their own separate skillset, they’re all uniquely powered. It’s fun to do that in a human element instead of just relying on a suit to do that.” In the press release, he states “We’ve been able to create some incredible characters, each with their own vibrant personalities and worlds in which they inhabit. If you are a fan of my most recent Image titles ‘Home Sick Pilots’ and ‘All Against All,’ you’ll see a lot of its DNA here. I’m truly putting everything I’ve learned into this series, and ‘The Power Fantasy’ is a large and beautiful canvas for me to operate on.”
“The Power Fantasy” #1 will be released in August; in the meantime, you can read a two-page teaser at The Hollywood Reporter.
