This is one of those premises that doesn't hold any basic appeal for me, but I can't deny that it is at least something different, and maybe worth a look on that basis. Unfortunately, what Cherniss and Johnson have come up with here is a story that feels kind of lacking in purpose, an examination of what might have happened in a Marvel Universe that was just like ours except that it doesn't grant powers, just the physical deformities that might come from all these superhero origin "accidents." The trouble is, the coincidence of all these characters relating to the same psychiatrist is too much of a contrivance, and the way the story is played out is just so dull, without any message to speak of becoming clear in this first issue. Warren Ellis explored a similar notion in his two-part dark parody Ruins, and that was a lot of fun, but Powerless could just as well have been called "Pointless."
The one bright beacon in the whole story is the psychiatrist at the center of the tale, because he comes out of a mysterious coma and has visions of the real Marvel Universe, leading me to believe maybe this is some sort of supervillain plot or weird mystical thing, and maybe that will turn out to be the point of the whole thing. Because if the point really is just to see what these characters might be like if they didn't have their powers, I've got to say it sounds like a question nobody was asking. At best, it's got room for a one-issue gimmick story focusing on one of the characters, not a story that tries to weave a thread through a number of them.
Powerless tries to make some cute jokes, having Emma Frost complain how Scott won't pay any attention to her because of that "skank Jean from work" or showing us Reed and Sue Richards as married doctors, but all I could think is how much less interesting these versions of the characters were. Powerless has art by Michael Gaydos, whose previous work was on a similar "more real" look at the Marvel Universe in Alias, but that had the benefit of superpowers and a sense of fun about it, while all Powerless has to offer us is a crippled Peter Parker, a Frank Castle who is on trial for a murder he didn't commit and a Doctor Strange who is a phony palm reader living on the streets. Whee!
It just seems to me like Powerless is missing the point of these characters. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby sparked the Marvel Universe into life because they had the notion of mixing the brightly-clad superheroes with a world that was a little more like our own, throwing in a little drama in real life to compliment the big slugfests. Powerless has the big idea of removing all the brightly-clad superheroes and seeing what that drama looks like without those elements, and it looks like what it is, watered-down drama that is supposed to be added to something else to really work.
The thing is, even with all that, I really can't bring myself to hate Powerless. It's off the beaten path in terms of concept, which I have to respect, it's just that nothing about the book interests me or compels me to find out what happens next. It's just kind of lifeless and dull, like someone sucked all the color and joy out of the Marvel Universe and forgot to replace it with something else.
