Book-It 'o12! Book #38
The Fifty Books Challenge, year three! (Years one, two, and three just in case you're curious.) This was a secondhand find.
Title: Powers, Vol. 3: Little Deaths by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming
Details: Copyright 2002, Jinxworld Inc
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Heroes glide through the sky on lightening bolts and fire. Flamboyant villains attempt daring daylight robberies. God-like alien creatures clash in epic battle over the nighttime sky. And on the dirty city streets below, Homicide Detective Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim do their job.
Powers: Little Deaths collects the "Groupies" story arc, along with "Ride Along," from the sold-out Powers #7 in which Warren Ellis guest-stars as himself. Also included is the complete Powers Annual (including the story from Wizard's Powers 1/2) and the Powers Coloring and Activity Book, along with a dazzling new sketchbook section from Oeming, a cover gallery, an in-depth interview with Bendis, and a special bonus feature, Bendis and Oeming's very first collaboration, the crime noir tale, "Keys."
It's cops and capes like you have NEVER seen them in the surprise hit from the EISNER award winner team of Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spiderman, Daredevil) and art deco comic artist Mike Avon Oeming (Bastard Samurai, Hammer of the Gods)."
Why I Wanted to Read It: This was one of a clump (more of them to come) given to me that was found secondhand. Generally, I'm not really into superhero comics since there tends to be a lengthy mythology involved in which I'm not invested. But the art on this looked somewhat like my beloved Batman the Animated Series from my childhood and it looked like an interesting premise.
How I Liked It: Much like with Strangers in Paradise, I managed to jump into a series rather than read the first book and work from there.
So a universe where superheroes are real, relatively common, and the main characters are an ex superhero-turned-cop and his "mouthy" partner, a punkish young woman with a wonderfully foul mouth and a quick temper (draw your own conclusions as to whether a quick temper and a constant need to speak one's mind would be notable character traits in a male character).
The premise is engaging and the creators devote a great deal of energy towards the universe in which the "powers" exist, including fake magazine covers, proposed films, and a hilarious (and kinda brilliant) "kids coloring book" that masterfully clues us in to this world.
The storylines don't seem as strong, but of course I'm judging only one of a series and it's out of order. Still, I've read series before and out of order (see: Strangers in Paradise) and even fragmented, their stories were capable of being cohesive. Still, the stories here, if not gifted with distinct endings, manage to usually land some kind of punch, however small.
The artwork is indeed in the style of the lauded Batman: the Animated Series, but with an adult twist. Nearly all female characters, save for children and the occasionally "gross" older lady, are Barbie dolls, and they're falling out of their clothes constantly. This complaint is nothing new and almost a joke in itself in the comic realm, but it's no less annoying and frustrating (for those ready with a "Well, they're cartoons! Men don't have all those muscles either!", may I point out that not only is there a variety of male bodies and not just in superheroes, but the unrealistic bodies on the male superheroes aren't sexualized unrealistic bodies-- think Donelan or the other art aimed towards arousing gay males for examples of this).
The added fact that the hyper sexualized female characters seem to always find a porno pose (and I'm not just talking the sex scene, although we see plenty more of the female character and "on display" more than we do of the male character); we're not just down their decolletage, we're practically among it, and the illustrator seems to angle women suggestively, getting the best curves of their rears and busts.
Flaws aside, the series is incredibly addictive, largely due to the devotion to immersing the reader in the series' reality. The attention to detail is nothing short of amazing and is possibly one of the biggest selling points of the series.
Notable: A cringe-inducing racial stereotype appears in the form of a "woman on the street" interviewed in one of the lead stories of this volume, a neighbor by the name of "Tamaraleigh Blanchard", a faux Kente cloth wrap and dangling earrings and a cartoonish (so to speak) "hood" accent with a "ho" every other word, seemingly. A testament to the "authenticity" of such a character is the fact when she proclaims
"He got more ho's than Snoop Dog on the Fourth of July."
Snoop Dogg's name is spelled wrong (we won't even get into that reference).
Title: Powers, Vol. 3: Little Deaths by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming
Details: Copyright 2002, Jinxworld Inc
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Heroes glide through the sky on lightening bolts and fire. Flamboyant villains attempt daring daylight robberies. God-like alien creatures clash in epic battle over the nighttime sky. And on the dirty city streets below, Homicide Detective Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim do their job.
Powers: Little Deaths collects the "Groupies" story arc, along with "Ride Along," from the sold-out Powers #7 in which Warren Ellis guest-stars as himself. Also included is the complete Powers Annual (including the story from Wizard's Powers 1/2) and the Powers Coloring and Activity Book, along with a dazzling new sketchbook section from Oeming, a cover gallery, an in-depth interview with Bendis, and a special bonus feature, Bendis and Oeming's very first collaboration, the crime noir tale, "Keys."
It's cops and capes like you have NEVER seen them in the surprise hit from the EISNER award winner team of Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spiderman, Daredevil) and art deco comic artist Mike Avon Oeming (Bastard Samurai, Hammer of the Gods)."
Why I Wanted to Read It: This was one of a clump (more of them to come) given to me that was found secondhand. Generally, I'm not really into superhero comics since there tends to be a lengthy mythology involved in which I'm not invested. But the art on this looked somewhat like my beloved Batman the Animated Series from my childhood and it looked like an interesting premise.
How I Liked It: Much like with Strangers in Paradise, I managed to jump into a series rather than read the first book and work from there.
So a universe where superheroes are real, relatively common, and the main characters are an ex superhero-turned-cop and his "mouthy" partner, a punkish young woman with a wonderfully foul mouth and a quick temper (draw your own conclusions as to whether a quick temper and a constant need to speak one's mind would be notable character traits in a male character).
The premise is engaging and the creators devote a great deal of energy towards the universe in which the "powers" exist, including fake magazine covers, proposed films, and a hilarious (and kinda brilliant) "kids coloring book" that masterfully clues us in to this world.
The storylines don't seem as strong, but of course I'm judging only one of a series and it's out of order. Still, I've read series before and out of order (see: Strangers in Paradise) and even fragmented, their stories were capable of being cohesive. Still, the stories here, if not gifted with distinct endings, manage to usually land some kind of punch, however small.
The artwork is indeed in the style of the lauded Batman: the Animated Series, but with an adult twist. Nearly all female characters, save for children and the occasionally "gross" older lady, are Barbie dolls, and they're falling out of their clothes constantly. This complaint is nothing new and almost a joke in itself in the comic realm, but it's no less annoying and frustrating (for those ready with a "Well, they're cartoons! Men don't have all those muscles either!", may I point out that not only is there a variety of male bodies and not just in superheroes, but the unrealistic bodies on the male superheroes aren't sexualized unrealistic bodies-- think Donelan or the other art aimed towards arousing gay males for examples of this).
The added fact that the hyper sexualized female characters seem to always find a porno pose (and I'm not just talking the sex scene, although we see plenty more of the female character and "on display" more than we do of the male character); we're not just down their decolletage, we're practically among it, and the illustrator seems to angle women suggestively, getting the best curves of their rears and busts.
Flaws aside, the series is incredibly addictive, largely due to the devotion to immersing the reader in the series' reality. The attention to detail is nothing short of amazing and is possibly one of the biggest selling points of the series.
Notable: A cringe-inducing racial stereotype appears in the form of a "woman on the street" interviewed in one of the lead stories of this volume, a neighbor by the name of "Tamaraleigh Blanchard", a faux Kente cloth wrap and dangling earrings and a cartoonish (so to speak) "hood" accent with a "ho" every other word, seemingly. A testament to the "authenticity" of such a character is the fact when she proclaims
"He got more ho's than Snoop Dog on the Fourth of July."
Snoop Dogg's name is spelled wrong (we won't even get into that reference).