Reality Comics: Powers #12

You know, if we really lived in a world where it was a common thing for people to get super-powers, it would probably get pretty ugly. People tend to do really awful things to each other on a regular basis, so if folks had super-strength or melt-your-head vision, there would be a lot of melted heads lying around. Most super-hero comics tend to shy away from extreme violence of the melted head variety. MOST shy away, but not Powers, baby!

If you haven't been reading Powers, by Brian Bendis and Mike Oeming, I'd like to know why not. This comic consistently hits the high marks for all-around excellence. Everybody knows Bendis is currently the biggest shot on the comics writing block, and in the creator-owned Powers, he has the freedom to really cut loose and tell the kinds of stories that would never be allowed in the Marvel and DC universes.

In the simplest terms, the series is a police procedural. Homicide detectives Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim investigate murder cases involving the super-powered community. Sometimes the Powers are the killers and sometimes they are the victims, but Walker and Pilgrim almost always get their perp. Of course, Bendis is known for creating deep and involving characters and putting them through some amazingly twisty-turny plots, so there is a lot more to Powers than can be summed up in a few sentences. Oeming's art is deceptively simple and cartoony, yet dark and gritty enough for this frequently very dark book.

If you haven't been reading this great comic, now is the perfect time to start! This issue (#12 under Marvel's Icon imprint but the 49th issue overall) marks the anniversary of the 2nd series. As an anniversary treat, a huge interview with Bendis and Oeming is included in this issue along with the always informative, and very long, letter column. With all this bonus material, Powers #12 is not a book you will flip through in just 5 minutes.

So if you like your super-heroics with a big dose of real world ultra-violence, if you like police procedurals, if you like gripping drama, if you like great art, you will love Powers. Give it a try now, while Four Color Fantasies guarantees your reading pleasure! If you don't want Detective Walker knocking on your door to ask a few questions, try out this Book of the Week now. You have the right to be entertained....