Episodes
Saturday Nov 03, 2012
Powers vol. 14: Gods
Saturday Nov 03, 2012
Saturday Nov 03, 2012
I give this series, and its writer Brian Michael Bendis specifically, a lot of crap for its (to put it charitably) irregular release schedule. The fact that four of the issues collected in this volume shipped in the same calendar year is frankly amazing by the title’s standards. Particularly when you consider that only one issue shipped in 2011. Following this title in single-issue form seems like an exercise in patience that I prefer not to be a part of. If nothing else, this volume shows that a move to an original-graphic-novel format might do this title a world of good. That’s because for all of the waiting, this is another worthy entry in the series. The previous volume ended with two big events. One was the murder of Damocles. He was one of the “Golden Ones,” a group of powers who believed themselves to be gods (of the classical Greek kind). The second was the return of Deena Pilgrim after her (presumed) exit from the series following the culmination of her downward spiral in vol. 12. While we were led to believe that she was going to enjoy a retirement which balanced managing her personal demons while relaxing on a tropical beach, she obviously could not stay out of the game for long and is back working for the FBI. With the murder of a god dropped in her former partner Walker’s lap, and his new partner still secretly keeping tabs on him for Internal Affairs, she figures now’s the time to make her presence known and offer the full support of the federal government. Lucky for them, she actually means it as the ground this volume covers quickly goes from bad to worse. It starts off by teasing an interesting idea about superheroes in that once you’ve shown yourself to have superpowers, how much further of a step is it to call yourself a god? Then if you do, is that proof that God does not exist in the universe? That would’ve made a great subject to focus on but it only serves as the means by which we get to the core of this series: the investigations. It’s where Bendis’ dialogue and love of police procedurals get a chance to shine along with artist Michael Oeming’s impressively grounded mix of beat cops and bright spandex-clad superhumans and innovative panel layouts. (By the way, if you’re wondering why I don’t give Oeming some of the blame for the title’s erratic shipping schedule is because he has never demonstrated an ability to overextend himself in the way Bendis has. The fact that he can write four or five books a month and even consult on projects like the not-dead-yet “Powers” TV pilot is not as impressive when it leads to a year-long wait between issues on some of these projects.) The investigative aspect of this series is as good as it has ever been with the new wrinkle of these “gods” added into the mix. Up until now, the characters with powers in this series have always been human -- people who were at one time ordinary before being granted with abilities that made the much more than that. These “Golden Ones,” however, believe themselves to be actual gods right out of mythology and therefore exempt from the laws of man. That gives Walker, Pilgrim and Sunrise’s questioning of these individuals an added tension since they have to tread lightly lest they wind up with a lost appendage after asking, “What were you doing last night?” Things take a further turn once the perpetrator comes out of the woodwork and we find that the whole situation is closer to what you’d see in “The Boys” as ordinary people take it upon themselves to revenge the wrongs they’ve suffered at the hands of superhumans. This in turn leads to destruction on a national scale, the deaths of a couple supporting characters, and the setup for the newest incarnation of the series in “Powers: Bureau.” While all of this is all very interesting to read on the page, cracks start to appear in the narrative once you start to consider it as a whole. A lot of the plot’s twists and turns, particularly the killer’s explosive reveal, tend to come from right out of nowhere leaving you more bewildered than shocked. Also, this is yet another “Powers” story where the culprit turns himself in to Walker and Pilgrim. It’s not that this always happens, but it invariably feels like a letdown after the effort they put into unraveling the case. Though the title will always be Walker and Pilgrim’s story, and it’s good to see her back, but here it feels like their stories are getting jerked around at the expense of the plot. We get some good moments as they go around and interrogate some suspects and commiserate about the good old days, but that’s par for the course. By the end of the volume, it doesn’t feel like they’ve gone anywhere. The good definitely outweighs the bad here, though, and I’ll be waiting for the next volume whenever it arrives. One would hope that with Bendis scaling back his superhero work to focus on his creator-owned titles that we’ll be seeing this title on a more regular basis than we have been. However, as he’s stepping down from writing two more-than-monthly “Avengers” books to write “All-New X-Men” and a relaunch of “Uncanny X-Men” as teased today in addition to the consistently entertaining “Ultimate Spider-Man” and the also-with-Oeming-but-not-likely-long-for-this-world “Takio,” I remain skeptical. I’d prefer not to be, so Bendis here’s your chance to prove me wrong.
Comments (0)
To leave or reply to comments, please download free Podbean or
No Comments
To leave or reply to comments,
please download free Podbean App.