Powers #31 is proof that Brian Michael Bendis has gone absolutely, completely, bugfuck-out-of-his-skull insane. And I'm going with him, because anyone with the balls to so completely change up the status quo and style of a popular title like Powers deserves my support. And also because, thanks to the work of Oeming and Pantazis, this effectively silent story is easy to read and not so hard to figure out in the context of the Powers universe, especially with the clues dropped from a couple of the upcoming covers. Make no mistake, those of you who breathlessly rushed to this issue wanting to see the fallout from the surprising cliffhanger in Powers #30 are going to want to kill Bendis and company after reading this, but take it on its own merits, and this is an intriguing opening to what could be the best and most unusual Powers story yet. Or it could wind up a complete clusterfuck, but Bendis, Oeming and the rest have earned my faith at this point.
So look, this story is about monkeys at the dawn of time. They're man's ancestors, so they're more like the cavemen of Quest For Fire than the monkeys of Monkey Versus Robot, but they don't have language or much of an evolved civilization, so it really is like reading about animalistic monkeys. Still with me? OK, it also seems to be the story of the first encounter between a super-villain and a super-hero in the Powers universe. A touch of 2001: A Space Odyssey, a touch of Action Comics #1, and the nudity and violence we've come to expect from Powers, all wrapped up in one bizarre little story.
I have got to give it up for Oeming and Pantazis in this issue. I give full credit to Bendis for having the guts to write this story in the first place, given that it's going to take so many readers by surprise, but without this art team, he would have fallen flat on his face. No dialogue cues. No pre-established characters. No narration. Not even that much variance in color, which has sort of a "red glow of Mars" primeval look to it. And yet, it's fairly easy to grasp the central story, a power struggle between two would-be Alpha males over a woman, as well as to pick up on the tragedies of the ending. This is genius storytelling, and though it can't truly be called a "silent" comic (it's got plenty of grunting and groaning), it's effectively silent storytelling at work, and some of the finest I've seen.
Of course, without the dialogue, Powers does lose a bit of its biggest strength, and this definitely feels like a completely different series. While Powers is about the way super-powered inviduals interact with a modern, civilized world, this story is about how they interact with a primitive world where strength is key. It's a different kind of story than the one that Bendis usually writes, nowhere near as funny (unless you get a kick out of monkey sex, and really who amongst us doesn't?) but pretty powerful and definitely intriguing.
A lot of how I view this issue at the end will be determined by the payoff of this arc, and I'm kind of hoping we get an explanation for where the powers came from rather than having them just spontaneously erupt, but this does serve notice that the next arc is going to be something quite different, and after the somewhat repetitive vibe I got off of "The Sellouts," I'm glad to see that.
