Book-It 'o12! Book #40
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. 2: Roleplay by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming
Details: Copyright 2001, Jinxworld Inc
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Heroes glide through the sky on lightning 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 detectives Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim work special homicide cases that involve...Powers.
But this case is the most disturbing one of their careers. A group of college kids who "role play" their favorite real life super heroes D&D style are being murdered one by one. And the path of violence takes our detectives to the most unexpected places.
It's cops and capes like you have NEVER seen them by writer Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man, Daredevil, Alias) and artist Michael Avon Oeming (Bluntman and Cronic, Hammer of the Gods.)
This collection reprints the sold out Powers issues 8-11. And features an all-new section: ANATOMY OF A COVER: an Oeming gallery of unused covers and art with commentary by Bendis, and an interview with Oeming."
Why I Wanted to Read It: The next I read of a clump given to me found secondhand! The first I read of this series (again, I stress out of order), is here, and I actually read somewhat in order by having the one intended to be next (reviewed here).
How I Liked It: This volume might be short, but it manages to combine what could be a stand-alone story with some hearty eking out of the still-fresh universe of these characters along with the continuing plots.
Maybe it's the parceling, maybe it's because I haven't read the first volume yet, but it seems like the creators were working especially hard to present top form to a series that was probably still finding readers.
The art seems to be more impressive in this volume for some reason (although it's always impressive), possibly since this contains the least (of the three volumes I've read so far) nude Barbie bodies in porn caricature poses.
I can't really judge yet how good this volume is as compared to the first with establishing this universe, but I'll say this is fairly excellent.
Notable: For my complaints of the ever-present Barbie porno stars that populate this series, the writer offers some unintentional irony in his commentary on the unused cover gallery.
“Ever notice how there's about five basic mainstream comic book cover designs? You know them:
* The hero leaping at you, ready for battle.
* The close up of the hero grimacing at you, with the shadow of whatever villain he is facing cast half over his face.
* The logo of the comic smashing under the force of the great battle going on underneath it.
* The big maniacally laughing villain close up.
* And let's not forget, the ever popular giant boobs smushed together in the middle of teh cover with a couple of spots of blood on them that, at first glance, somewhat resemble nipplage.
These are what we call in the business: Comic Book Cliches. And if I am ever responsible for purposefully executing one here in Power, I will kill myself, but then make it look like Mike Oeming did it.”
Title: Powers, Vol. 2: Roleplay by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming
Details: Copyright 2001, Jinxworld Inc
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Heroes glide through the sky on lightning 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 detectives Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim work special homicide cases that involve...Powers.
But this case is the most disturbing one of their careers. A group of college kids who "role play" their favorite real life super heroes D&D style are being murdered one by one. And the path of violence takes our detectives to the most unexpected places.
It's cops and capes like you have NEVER seen them by writer Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man, Daredevil, Alias) and artist Michael Avon Oeming (Bluntman and Cronic, Hammer of the Gods.)
This collection reprints the sold out Powers issues 8-11. And features an all-new section: ANATOMY OF A COVER: an Oeming gallery of unused covers and art with commentary by Bendis, and an interview with Oeming."
Why I Wanted to Read It: The next I read of a clump given to me found secondhand! The first I read of this series (again, I stress out of order), is here, and I actually read somewhat in order by having the one intended to be next (reviewed here).
How I Liked It: This volume might be short, but it manages to combine what could be a stand-alone story with some hearty eking out of the still-fresh universe of these characters along with the continuing plots.
Maybe it's the parceling, maybe it's because I haven't read the first volume yet, but it seems like the creators were working especially hard to present top form to a series that was probably still finding readers.
The art seems to be more impressive in this volume for some reason (although it's always impressive), possibly since this contains the least (of the three volumes I've read so far) nude Barbie bodies in porn caricature poses.
I can't really judge yet how good this volume is as compared to the first with establishing this universe, but I'll say this is fairly excellent.
Notable: For my complaints of the ever-present Barbie porno stars that populate this series, the writer offers some unintentional irony in his commentary on the unused cover gallery.
“Ever notice how there's about five basic mainstream comic book cover designs? You know them:
* The hero leaping at you, ready for battle.
* The close up of the hero grimacing at you, with the shadow of whatever villain he is facing cast half over his face.
* The logo of the comic smashing under the force of the great battle going on underneath it.
* The big maniacally laughing villain close up.
* And let's not forget, the ever popular giant boobs smushed together in the middle of teh cover with a couple of spots of blood on them that, at first glance, somewhat resemble nipplage.
These are what we call in the business: Comic Book Cliches. And if I am ever responsible for purposefully executing one here in Power, I will kill myself, but then make it look like Mike Oeming did it.”