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POWERS #21
Recommended (8/10)
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Image Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Mike Avon Oeming
Colors: Peter Pantazis
Letters: Ken Bruzenak
Copy editor: K.C. McCrory
Price: $2.95 US/$4.50 CAN |
Bendis embarks on a new direction. There are familiar elements and new ones, and it makes for an unpredictable but solidly entertaining read, as always. Bendis combines mature super-heroics and police drama seamlessly, and Oeming envelops it all in a dark, foreboding atmosphere. Powers continues to stand out as one of the best titles under the Image Comics banner.
Almost a year after Christian Walker left the police force behind, Detective Deena Pilgrim finds herself breaking in a new partner, Detective Argento. They've just caught a red: a super-hero's been slain, the latest in a string of related murders. And what's worse is that Pilgrim is all too familiar with the one particular commonality that ties the killings together.
Oeming opens the book with some conventional super-hero visuals, but he pulls it off brilliantly. He captures the energy, action and even a little wonder in the battle between Omega 6 and Black Mondo. The tone of the art -- and of the story -- quickly changes, though, as a darker tone overtakes the book. Oeming's police-station scenes are still characterized by a delightful film-noir sensibility as well.
I'll be honest... when Pantazis took over as the regular colorist on this book, I was a little disappointed. His work was fine, but the work from the previous colorist, Pat Garrahy, was far more subtle and rich, I thought. But Pantazis has come into his own. His colors have progressed, capturing the intense power of the caped figures while nailing the darker, more subtle look that suits the crime genre.
Perhaps the best thing about this new direction is that we're getting a chance to know Deena Pilgrim a bit better. She's thrust into the primary role, and her personality is, of course, radically different than that of her former partner. She's more down-to-earth, but we can already see how her time on the job, and on the Powers beat in particular, has changed her somewhat. She's more savvy, maybe even more confident.
This new story arc is fairly accessible to new readers, as one might expect. What I enjoyed about it, though, that although everything that was old is new again, Bendis also takes the title full circle, connecting this new direction to the first story arc that got Powers going in the first place.
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