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POWERS #16
Highly Recommended (10/10)
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Image Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Michael Avon Oeming
Colors: Peter Pantazis
Letters: Ken Bruzenak
Copy Editor: KC McCrory
Price: $2.95 US/$4.70 CAN |
I'm not sure, but I think I might wind up enjoying "Supergroup" more than "Who Killed Retro Girl?," the Powers story that started it all. The media angle to all of this was fantastic in this issue, and the multi-layered relationship between Deena and Walker, with hints of romantic interest between the two as well as complications from their outside lives, is getting ever more interesting. With the usual incredible job on artwork, particularly some outrageous sex scenes and images of power use and the always entertaining dialogue, Powers continues to hit my top ten list
every month.
I thought that for powerful
imagery, Oeming and Pantazis would find it hard to top the death scene in last
issue. Of course, they manage to top it with page one of this issue, which finds
Deena and Walker doing something I never thought I'd see them doing, and
continues on into an odd, disturbing and somewhat funny sequence that follows up
on some of the dialogue from "Groupies," the last story arc.
That sequence actually brings
up something about Oeming's work on this book that I think has made it work as
well as it does. The super-powers, the violence, the talking, everything is done
in an art style that many have described as "cartoony," but it has a realism and
a harsh quality to it that makes the far-out notion of super-powers and costumes
seem down-to-earth. For example, the explosion of power during the interrogation
is brutal and quick-paced, feeling like any other shootout in a cop movie, but
with more impressive special effects.
Leaving aside some of the cop stuff in the issue, though, Bendis gets into what I thought Powers was going to be all about in the first place: the
media and super-heroes. The segment of "The Powers That Be" was a terrific read,
a take on news discussion shows that is true-to-life but also has a satirical
edge. In addition to enjoying the device that was used, I enjoyed the issues
raised in the discussion, such as how government-funded super-heroes would work
in a more realistic world. And the finale of this issue, bringing Walker right
into a confrontation with his past through a link in the media, has me anxious
to see the next issue.
Sex, violence, humor, police
work, the media... all of these elements and more combine in Powers to form one
of the best comics on the stands. And the hilarious letter columns by Bendis are
an added treat, making the single issues as enjoyable to pick up as the
beautiful trade collections.
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