Ken Tucker on Bendis' super ''Powers''

Ken Tucker on Bendis’ super ”Powers”

After a couple of months of frustration, I figured, Why not share this with you and get it off my chest? I started this comic-book review spot on the EW.com website in the hope of offering guidance and opinions on every sort of mainstream or small-press comic book in a reasonably timely fashion — i.e., the week the book under scrutiny is published. It’s worked out fine with publishers ranging from DC to Drawn & Quarterly, with one exception: Marvel. I’ve interviewed Charlie Huston for his Moon Knight writing gig, but I’ve written only one review of a single Marvel comic so far — the debut of Secret War — and that’s only because an editor here scored a copy and loaned it to me (thanks, Nisha!). As for everything else Marvel, nada. The behemoth company doesn’t seem interested enough in being covered by a general-interest magazine like EW to send out review copies. So, just wanted to tell you, if and when I review a Marvel comic, it’ll be one that’s either on the stands at the moment, or a back issue you can find at your local comic shop. Don’t like that situation and want timely recommendations? Please bombard Marvel Comics. Thank you — and now, back to comics reviewing…

Powers # 18 (Icon)
Distributed by Marvel (see? I’m trying to cover their stuff), Powers is written by Brian Michael Bendis, the best writer of wised-up pop culture dialogue this side of Joss Whedon or Elmore Leonard. Bendis has a huge mainstream-comics career (Spider-Man — need I say more?), but this is my favorite of his books. It’s about two homicide detectives, Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim, who operate in a world where people with superpowers have to register with the government and are viewed generally with suspicion — basically, as potential criminals.

Bendis and his co-creator, artist Mike Avon Oeming, distinguish their premise from, say, the mutants of X-Men by suggesting something both obvious and novel: that powers corrupt, or can at least drive a person crazy. At the start of the series, in 2000, we were given to understand that Det. Walker used to be a ”power” himself, a good-guy who went under the moniker of Diamond, but that he’d lost his powers. Walker and Pilgrim (he’s a big muscle-mass; she’s short and lithe) encounter all sorts of superheroes gone deranged, villains trying to pass as good — in short, every sort of behavior.

It’s Bendis’ ability to create such a wide array of human personalities, combined with the sleek, dark-hued drawing of Oeming, that makes Powers a special book. In the current issue, the detective duo continue their investigation of a man who was killed when a green-costumed superhero fell on and splattered him. Turns out the man killed was a ”cosmic guardian” — and hoo boy, you can just imagine how that complicates the cops’ case.

As always, the moody-broody suspense is enhanced by marvelously bleak, clever humor. There’s a two-page spread in which we’re shown, in a sort of police-lineup manner, every green-costumed hero working around the city — the variety and invention of Oeming’s drawings of these people (or in some cases, creatures) is wondrous.

I should also mention that Powers features the most entertaining letters page in comicdom. It’s always extra-long, with Bendis permitting fans to lavishly praise or damn him, and he responds with a distinctive blend of affection, sarcasm, and commonsensical exasperation that makes him all the more likable. As far as comics superstars go, Bendis is the canniest: He seems the most approachable, even as his talent is immense and intimidating. Grade: A-