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POWERS ANNUAL #1
Highly Recommended (9/10)
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Image Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Mike Avon Oeming
Colors/Letters: Pat Garrahy
Copy editor: K.C. McCrory
Price: $3.95 US |
Ever watch NYPD Blue? More often than not, the writers of that show point out that most criminals are particularly stupid. Criminals are caught because they're just not that bright, or they haven't thought things through. Bendis makes the same point here, crafting an entertaining story about a sad little man.
Detectives Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim interrogate a would-be masked hero named the Shark, AKA Tommy Mills, in connection with the death of a former super-villain known as TRK. Over the course of the interrogation, Tommy's history under another masked guise comes to light, as does a connection to TRK. Fast forward to a few months later, to Tommy's trial, in which his story changes.
In the first part of the story (which reprints the contents of Wizard Entertainment's Powers #1/2), we get more of the delightfully cinematic art of Michael Avon Oeming. This is the title that's really put him on the map, and it's easy to see why. There's really not much for him to draw, at least as far as traditional comics storytelling goes; this is very much a talking-heads kind of script. Oeming keeps it interesting, though, as he shows us a little man's gradual emotional collapse in the interrogation room. And while I'm enjoying the new colorist's work on Powers, it was a treat to see Garrahy's mono-chromatic, moody approach again.
I'm a newspaper reporter by trade, and believe me, I've spent countless hours in courtrooms. On those occasions when the accused takes the stand, it's rarely hard to tell when s/he is lying. People aren't that bright, and they don't stand up under pressure well either. Bendis captures that notion perfectly in this book, both with his interrogation sequence and the faux court transcript.
It's been clear for some time that Bendis's greatest strength as a writer is his dialogue. It always boasts a genuine sound, and that's quite apparent in the second part of the book: the text-oriented courtroom scene. Though the copy-editing needs to improve just a little, the tone and pace of the dialogue is perfect.
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