Book-It 'o12! Book #43
The Fifty Books Challenge, year three! (Years one, two, and three just in case you're curious.) This was a library request.
Title: Powers: The Definitive Hardcover Collection, Vol. 3 by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming
Details: Copyright 2009, Marvel Comics
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "A member of one of the classic supergroups falls victim to a seedy sex scandal, and the murder investigation takes Walker and Pilgrim on a journey that will forever change the way the world looks at superheroes. Plus experience the origin of Powers in a story that literally spans the history of man as all the mysteries of Powers and the Powers universe unfold, following a lone warrior's trek through the greatest stories ever told.
This special collection breings you the entire third year of the Eisner award-winning Powers. Every page, every shocking plot twist, every gorgeous panel, and packed with extras including the "Who Killed Madman?" story from the Oni Press Color Special 2001!
Written by Brian Michael Bendis (Secret Invasion, New Avengers, Ultimate Spider-Man) and illustrated by Michael Avon Oeming (Mice Templar, Rapture)."
Why I Wanted to Read It: I was given a clump of graphic novels (mainly superhero comics, which aren't really my interest) and several of them were of the Powers series, which I found surprisingly engaging. The first I read of this series (again, I stress out of order), was Powers, Vol. 3: Little Deaths, and I actually read somewhat in order by having the one intended to be next ( Powers, Vol. 4: Supergroup, and then went back out of order with Powers, Vol. 2: Roleplay and then Powers, Vol. 1: Who Killed Retro Girl?
How I Liked It: This book was the only way I could get a continuation, albeit skipping Powers, Vol. 5: Anarchy (I've only read up to Powers, Vol. 4: Supergroup). This collection contains Powers, Vol. 6: The Sellouts and Powers, Vol 7: Forever (and a random, not-in-series comic "Who Killed Madman?"). Since these are really three different stories (or intended to be three different books/stories), I'm going to review them as separately as I can.
Powers, Vol. 6: The Sellouts
The story starts promisingly enough, the creators hearkening back to the strengths of the series, the solidly constructed pop culture in which the Powers are entrenched. The story went a little eschew for me when we're introduced to a superhero suspect who happens to be gay. The series reaches a surprising and uncharacteristic sensitivity when the suspect reveals a brutally touching story about accidentally letting unrequited feelings be known to his superhero idol and mentor by way of an accidental kiss in the excitement of solving a case. The heartbreak of the hetero freak-out physical beating that ensued (and the "official" end to their partnership by way of his belongings being moved, a confidentiality agreement being presented, "And I was told to fuck off") jolts in a way the series generally reserves for the deaths of its universe's beloved characters (and in such a manner that is hurting one of the main). However, this promising turn is tossed when a few pages past that admission, the character somehow turns into a swish, "Honey"ing the male interrogator and when informing the police that superheroine Ultrabright was behind several of his motives (spoiler alert: he's not the murderer. We're at least spared that trope) since after all, "That's her super power, men do whatever she says," the male interrogator exclaims "Even gay men?" to which our suspect fairly shrieks (we're going by the close-up and his facial expression)
"Especially gay men!!"
As the plot tightens to reveal the killer (who, incidentally, is leaving a swath of destruction, including setting off a nuclear blast in Utah, killing another suspect, burning the Vatican and the Pope from the inside out, and destroying the Gaza Strip in a "dimension-temporal-thingmajiggy"), we're given a decent amount of well-plotted suspense and backstory, and some of the finest art of the series (although it clearly pains the artist to go a few panels without some form of pressed balloon cleavage so he injects it where he can).
Finally, we get to the final reveal where the killer/villian monologues his reasoning (I'll do my best to avoid any spoilers). What follows is some of the most trite, pretentious dialog of the series entire, along with both the confessor and the detective (not going to specify which gender is which identity) both naked in a cosmic, non-sexual way (yes, really), but guess which one is naked in a more pin-up, sexualized fashion (including lingering shots of her perfectly erect nipples jutting in nearly every position she finds, which you see in nearly every panel)? It reads as though it was written by a fourteen-year-old boy and drawn for a straight fourteen-year-old boy. In what's clearly intended to be one of the most profound and epic parts of the entire series, it's easily the most insufferable.
Powers, Vol. 6: The Sellouts
Here we nip from our storyline to go back through time, suddenly, to the origin of the characters. Perhaps it's coming from the lasting vapidity of one of the final exchanges in the previous volume, but this feels almost as pretentious, particularly the opening vignette.
A rather ham-fisted beginning has a series of humanlike apes (two of whom are intended to be the series' main protagonist, Christian Walker, and his arch enemy, "Wolfe") presumably at the dawn of time, and their power struggle, largely over a female and her attentions, particularly after Walker's simian form is able to best Wolfe's simian form in the killing of a predator cat that picks off one of their own. We're shown her rather humanoid breasts as well as when she displays her rear to entice Ape Walker (we even see bright pink labia-- not entirely sure how they got away with that).
As the struggle continues, we're not spared a graphic rape at the hands of the "bad guy ape" (Ape Wolfe?) including a panel close-up of the female ape's anguished face. In the grappling that ensues, Wolfe accidentally kills the female with his until-then-unknown superpower. We're left with the grappling that ensues between Walker and Wolfe as setting the tone for their relationship (and the creepy feeling more than ever that the female character was a possession).
The next chapter in time is a hazy "Xena the Warrior Princess" era on ripped clothing, shaggy hair, and "tribal" tattoos. A fight over a woman ensues again, but it's not the redheaded horny inn-keeper with whom "tribal!" Walker shares a porno scene (you have to give the artist some perverse credit for the fact he can render erect nipples clearly through any fold of clothing-- it almost distracts from the fact the woman's rather gentle sexual advance is met with a rough and not-that-consensual-looking ((at one point, she cries "STOP IT!"-- towards his roughness or the sex itself we're not exactly made sure)) fuck).
No, this war consists of a princess (who may or may not be an early incarnation of Retro Girl) who apparently had a relationship with Walker and they were to be married but Walker (known in this incarnation as "Gora") decides to up and leave since the pressure of knowing he's a superhero (or... something) gets to be too much and we also find out that the princess's father is an early incarnation of Walker's friend and one of his later partners, Triphammer. We learn this through a series of heated (hokey) exchanges between Wolfe (who suddenly appears) and Walker/Gora. Their fight is not unsimilar to the ape battle, (however more aware-- Wolfe willfully kills Walker's girl this time) and a vow to meet again is promised.
The next chapter takes place in late nineteenth century China. Walker seeks out a temple headed by a Kung-Fu master to try to understand his immortal superhero qualities (which apparently he forgets every few decades or so). There, he meets other superheroes (including a Zora, who, despite the fact this is 1880s China, is dressed in a mod-mini and go-go boots, her usual costume-- but wait! There's a slight "Asian influence" to her collar!). Here, Walker learns more about his powers, his identity, and how to work with a team and for justice (and some sick Kung-Fu moves along the way, apparently). No Wolfe, no girl; this is easily the best of the chapters for its purpose so far.
Chicago, 1936! Christian Walker, at the advice of his wife, seeks out Albert Einstein (in a "cameo" that has his accent kinda inconsistent, to say the least) since apparently he's forgotten again that he's a superhero and immortal (in his recollections of his extraordinary feats, we see what's probably an homage to the first Superman cover, particularly the make of the car). Einstein throws down some words of wisdom and Walker returns home to find his wife disembowled by, you guessed it, Wolfe. Aside from the Tarantino-esque gore stretched out before us, most troubling is the fact the artist needed to include the fact Walker's wife (who was apparently sleeping stark naked at the time of her attack) had a pert and impressive pair of breasts, one of which lies down the bed alarmingly intact and is actually included in a panel close-up of Walker's horror. Unfortunately for Wolfe who planned this to be an epic battle once again, Walker has forgotten who Wolfe is while he was forgetting who he is. Wolfe once again swears revenge and it's off to the next chapter while Walker sits in the now-rubble of his apartment building, cradling his wife's remains (I shit you not, in a body that was clearly disenboweled, one pert Barbie breast is visible nudging against Walker's body-- and this is from a long shot).
1986 greets us with Walker after a threeway with Retro Girl and Zora (bits of their costumes helpfully greeting us in the corners of the bed for identification purposes), stretched out and arranged so you can appreciate both tits (Retro Girl) and ass (Zora) both of whom boast waists half the size of their thighs (even by cartoony standards this is troubling). Walker, the only one covered, lies dazed in the morning light. We sweep into what we get is Walker's everyday business as superhero Diamond. On a visit to Triphammer after a blow-out (where he is of course victorious), his friend reveals a new invention that can "freeze" superpowers and create a power-free zone, perfect for imprisoning super-villians! He demonstrates it on Walker and gets the chilling response that Walker finds it almost freeing. For (presumably) the first time, he and Walker discuss Walker/Diamond leaving superhero life for good (Triphammer is aghast that Diamond would even consider it) but are interrupted by Retro Girl summoning them to help fight an epic Powers battle. Shit goes down and Wolfe and Walker reunite, yet again, this time with Walker in full consicousness of his identity. They battle hard, and Walker in a burst of inspiration, drags Wolfe to Triphammer's lair and the powers-removing device which cleanly swipes Wolfe of his powers (and thus his ability to be hurt). Walker, still fully concious of their history (and Wolfe disemboweling his wife in the 1930s) proceeds to beat Wolfe viciously, now that he can feel it. In Walker's rage, Wolfe manages to leap for the control panel, and many explosions and monochromatic panels later, the invention is revealed to have gone out with a bang, stripping both of their powers. Wolfe sits in jail, now mortal. Walker must decide what to do with his life.
In a nice turn-about in a decent origins story, Walker calls on the favor promised to him by one Detective Cross (whose ass Walker happened to save two years prior during that bout of everyday superhero business before he got a look at Triphammer's invention) and Captain Cross grants the favor, and helps Walker become a cop.
The final chapter is the "present day", or at least the first volume, to which it harkens back. Turns out the scary villian Walker and his partner went to interrogate about the death of Retro Girl in Volume I is none other than... well, you get the idea. For "twenty years", Wolfe has sat in prison sans powers only-- he suddenly gets them back. And breaks free. The twenty years Wolfe's sat powerless apparently has given him a lot of time to think, since although the first thing he does is trash Walker's apartment, he's still pretty disatisfied with his life's accompliments, and appears to be ready to commit suicide and hopefully take Walker with him. As you may have imagined, since this is occuring appoximately during Volume I, it doesn't work and it is only Wolfe who is dead. This is a particularly clumsy bit of storytelling, since although this is clearly an integral part of the plot, Wolfe's death has never appeared to come up in the series.
ONI PRESS COLOR SPECIAL 2001! WHO KILLED MADMAN?
There is sometimes a good reason why things aren't reprinted. Sometimes that reason is that the material simply doesn't warrant reprinting. That is the case with this. It's not a story, it's a string of nudge-nudge comic insider (and by insider, I mean the people that actually work in the industry) jokes. The art, while interesting, particularly as they flit in and out of series, is simply not enough to warrant the fact that this exists. While completeists may be glad to have it, particularly since it contains presumably rare mentions of obscure characters, it's done in such an obnoxious, inside-joke-that-isn't-that-funny-anyway manner as to only be annoying.
Notable: In the 1930s chapter of Powers, Vol. 7: Forever, a newspaper opens the scene. In carefully lettered "of the period" inks, the newspaper lists the date as "Tuesday, August 28th, 1928". However, under that in what looks like a last minute edit, is type-face (rather than drawn and/or "aged") text that reads "Sunday, August 30, 1936."
Title: Powers: The Definitive Hardcover Collection, Vol. 3 by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming
Details: Copyright 2009, Marvel Comics
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "A member of one of the classic supergroups falls victim to a seedy sex scandal, and the murder investigation takes Walker and Pilgrim on a journey that will forever change the way the world looks at superheroes. Plus experience the origin of Powers in a story that literally spans the history of man as all the mysteries of Powers and the Powers universe unfold, following a lone warrior's trek through the greatest stories ever told.
This special collection breings you the entire third year of the Eisner award-winning Powers. Every page, every shocking plot twist, every gorgeous panel, and packed with extras including the "Who Killed Madman?" story from the Oni Press Color Special 2001!
Written by Brian Michael Bendis (Secret Invasion, New Avengers, Ultimate Spider-Man) and illustrated by Michael Avon Oeming (Mice Templar, Rapture)."
Why I Wanted to Read It: I was given a clump of graphic novels (mainly superhero comics, which aren't really my interest) and several of them were of the Powers series, which I found surprisingly engaging. The first I read of this series (again, I stress out of order), was Powers, Vol. 3: Little Deaths, and I actually read somewhat in order by having the one intended to be next ( Powers, Vol. 4: Supergroup, and then went back out of order with Powers, Vol. 2: Roleplay and then Powers, Vol. 1: Who Killed Retro Girl?
How I Liked It: This book was the only way I could get a continuation, albeit skipping Powers, Vol. 5: Anarchy (I've only read up to Powers, Vol. 4: Supergroup). This collection contains Powers, Vol. 6: The Sellouts and Powers, Vol 7: Forever (and a random, not-in-series comic "Who Killed Madman?"). Since these are really three different stories (or intended to be three different books/stories), I'm going to review them as separately as I can.
Powers, Vol. 6: The Sellouts
The story starts promisingly enough, the creators hearkening back to the strengths of the series, the solidly constructed pop culture in which the Powers are entrenched. The story went a little eschew for me when we're introduced to a superhero suspect who happens to be gay. The series reaches a surprising and uncharacteristic sensitivity when the suspect reveals a brutally touching story about accidentally letting unrequited feelings be known to his superhero idol and mentor by way of an accidental kiss in the excitement of solving a case. The heartbreak of the hetero freak-out physical beating that ensued (and the "official" end to their partnership by way of his belongings being moved, a confidentiality agreement being presented, "And I was told to fuck off") jolts in a way the series generally reserves for the deaths of its universe's beloved characters (and in such a manner that is hurting one of the main). However, this promising turn is tossed when a few pages past that admission, the character somehow turns into a swish, "Honey"ing the male interrogator and when informing the police that superheroine Ultrabright was behind several of his motives (spoiler alert: he's not the murderer. We're at least spared that trope) since after all, "That's her super power, men do whatever she says," the male interrogator exclaims "Even gay men?" to which our suspect fairly shrieks (we're going by the close-up and his facial expression)
"Especially gay men!!"
As the plot tightens to reveal the killer (who, incidentally, is leaving a swath of destruction, including setting off a nuclear blast in Utah, killing another suspect, burning the Vatican and the Pope from the inside out, and destroying the Gaza Strip in a "dimension-temporal-thingmajiggy"), we're given a decent amount of well-plotted suspense and backstory, and some of the finest art of the series (although it clearly pains the artist to go a few panels without some form of pressed balloon cleavage so he injects it where he can).
Finally, we get to the final reveal where the killer/villian monologues his reasoning (I'll do my best to avoid any spoilers). What follows is some of the most trite, pretentious dialog of the series entire, along with both the confessor and the detective (not going to specify which gender is which identity) both naked in a cosmic, non-sexual way (yes, really), but guess which one is naked in a more pin-up, sexualized fashion (including lingering shots of her perfectly erect nipples jutting in nearly every position she finds, which you see in nearly every panel)? It reads as though it was written by a fourteen-year-old boy and drawn for a straight fourteen-year-old boy. In what's clearly intended to be one of the most profound and epic parts of the entire series, it's easily the most insufferable.
Powers, Vol. 6: The Sellouts
Here we nip from our storyline to go back through time, suddenly, to the origin of the characters. Perhaps it's coming from the lasting vapidity of one of the final exchanges in the previous volume, but this feels almost as pretentious, particularly the opening vignette.
A rather ham-fisted beginning has a series of humanlike apes (two of whom are intended to be the series' main protagonist, Christian Walker, and his arch enemy, "Wolfe") presumably at the dawn of time, and their power struggle, largely over a female and her attentions, particularly after Walker's simian form is able to best Wolfe's simian form in the killing of a predator cat that picks off one of their own. We're shown her rather humanoid breasts as well as when she displays her rear to entice Ape Walker (we even see bright pink labia-- not entirely sure how they got away with that).
As the struggle continues, we're not spared a graphic rape at the hands of the "bad guy ape" (Ape Wolfe?) including a panel close-up of the female ape's anguished face. In the grappling that ensues, Wolfe accidentally kills the female with his until-then-unknown superpower. We're left with the grappling that ensues between Walker and Wolfe as setting the tone for their relationship (and the creepy feeling more than ever that the female character was a possession).
The next chapter in time is a hazy "Xena the Warrior Princess" era on ripped clothing, shaggy hair, and "tribal" tattoos. A fight over a woman ensues again, but it's not the redheaded horny inn-keeper with whom "tribal!" Walker shares a porno scene (you have to give the artist some perverse credit for the fact he can render erect nipples clearly through any fold of clothing-- it almost distracts from the fact the woman's rather gentle sexual advance is met with a rough and not-that-consensual-looking ((at one point, she cries "STOP IT!"-- towards his roughness or the sex itself we're not exactly made sure)) fuck).
No, this war consists of a princess (who may or may not be an early incarnation of Retro Girl) who apparently had a relationship with Walker and they were to be married but Walker (known in this incarnation as "Gora") decides to up and leave since the pressure of knowing he's a superhero (or... something) gets to be too much and we also find out that the princess's father is an early incarnation of Walker's friend and one of his later partners, Triphammer. We learn this through a series of heated (hokey) exchanges between Wolfe (who suddenly appears) and Walker/Gora. Their fight is not unsimilar to the ape battle, (however more aware-- Wolfe willfully kills Walker's girl this time) and a vow to meet again is promised.
The next chapter takes place in late nineteenth century China. Walker seeks out a temple headed by a Kung-Fu master to try to understand his immortal superhero qualities (which apparently he forgets every few decades or so). There, he meets other superheroes (including a Zora, who, despite the fact this is 1880s China, is dressed in a mod-mini and go-go boots, her usual costume-- but wait! There's a slight "Asian influence" to her collar!). Here, Walker learns more about his powers, his identity, and how to work with a team and for justice (and some sick Kung-Fu moves along the way, apparently). No Wolfe, no girl; this is easily the best of the chapters for its purpose so far.
Chicago, 1936! Christian Walker, at the advice of his wife, seeks out Albert Einstein (in a "cameo" that has his accent kinda inconsistent, to say the least) since apparently he's forgotten again that he's a superhero and immortal (in his recollections of his extraordinary feats, we see what's probably an homage to the first Superman cover, particularly the make of the car). Einstein throws down some words of wisdom and Walker returns home to find his wife disembowled by, you guessed it, Wolfe. Aside from the Tarantino-esque gore stretched out before us, most troubling is the fact the artist needed to include the fact Walker's wife (who was apparently sleeping stark naked at the time of her attack) had a pert and impressive pair of breasts, one of which lies down the bed alarmingly intact and is actually included in a panel close-up of Walker's horror. Unfortunately for Wolfe who planned this to be an epic battle once again, Walker has forgotten who Wolfe is while he was forgetting who he is. Wolfe once again swears revenge and it's off to the next chapter while Walker sits in the now-rubble of his apartment building, cradling his wife's remains (I shit you not, in a body that was clearly disenboweled, one pert Barbie breast is visible nudging against Walker's body-- and this is from a long shot).
1986 greets us with Walker after a threeway with Retro Girl and Zora (bits of their costumes helpfully greeting us in the corners of the bed for identification purposes), stretched out and arranged so you can appreciate both tits (Retro Girl) and ass (Zora) both of whom boast waists half the size of their thighs (even by cartoony standards this is troubling). Walker, the only one covered, lies dazed in the morning light. We sweep into what we get is Walker's everyday business as superhero Diamond. On a visit to Triphammer after a blow-out (where he is of course victorious), his friend reveals a new invention that can "freeze" superpowers and create a power-free zone, perfect for imprisoning super-villians! He demonstrates it on Walker and gets the chilling response that Walker finds it almost freeing. For (presumably) the first time, he and Walker discuss Walker/Diamond leaving superhero life for good (Triphammer is aghast that Diamond would even consider it) but are interrupted by Retro Girl summoning them to help fight an epic Powers battle. Shit goes down and Wolfe and Walker reunite, yet again, this time with Walker in full consicousness of his identity. They battle hard, and Walker in a burst of inspiration, drags Wolfe to Triphammer's lair and the powers-removing device which cleanly swipes Wolfe of his powers (and thus his ability to be hurt). Walker, still fully concious of their history (and Wolfe disemboweling his wife in the 1930s) proceeds to beat Wolfe viciously, now that he can feel it. In Walker's rage, Wolfe manages to leap for the control panel, and many explosions and monochromatic panels later, the invention is revealed to have gone out with a bang, stripping both of their powers. Wolfe sits in jail, now mortal. Walker must decide what to do with his life.
In a nice turn-about in a decent origins story, Walker calls on the favor promised to him by one Detective Cross (whose ass Walker happened to save two years prior during that bout of everyday superhero business before he got a look at Triphammer's invention) and Captain Cross grants the favor, and helps Walker become a cop.
The final chapter is the "present day", or at least the first volume, to which it harkens back. Turns out the scary villian Walker and his partner went to interrogate about the death of Retro Girl in Volume I is none other than... well, you get the idea. For "twenty years", Wolfe has sat in prison sans powers only-- he suddenly gets them back. And breaks free. The twenty years Wolfe's sat powerless apparently has given him a lot of time to think, since although the first thing he does is trash Walker's apartment, he's still pretty disatisfied with his life's accompliments, and appears to be ready to commit suicide and hopefully take Walker with him. As you may have imagined, since this is occuring appoximately during Volume I, it doesn't work and it is only Wolfe who is dead. This is a particularly clumsy bit of storytelling, since although this is clearly an integral part of the plot, Wolfe's death has never appeared to come up in the series.
ONI PRESS COLOR SPECIAL 2001! WHO KILLED MADMAN?
There is sometimes a good reason why things aren't reprinted. Sometimes that reason is that the material simply doesn't warrant reprinting. That is the case with this. It's not a story, it's a string of nudge-nudge comic insider (and by insider, I mean the people that actually work in the industry) jokes. The art, while interesting, particularly as they flit in and out of series, is simply not enough to warrant the fact that this exists. While completeists may be glad to have it, particularly since it contains presumably rare mentions of obscure characters, it's done in such an obnoxious, inside-joke-that-isn't-that-funny-anyway manner as to only be annoying.
Notable: In the 1930s chapter of Powers, Vol. 7: Forever, a newspaper opens the scene. In carefully lettered "of the period" inks, the newspaper lists the date as "Tuesday, August 28th, 1928". However, under that in what looks like a last minute edit, is type-face (rather than drawn and/or "aged") text that reads "Sunday, August 30, 1936."