powers: forever
1/30/2006 @ 2:08:14 PM | 1075 days ago | permanent link | posted in comics
Most excellent, so good I just ordered
Legends (Vol. 8) Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Avon Oeming (2004) -
4/5
Brilliant. It takes Bendis almost 3 issues to set things up but then it really gets going. In Forever Bendis goes back to the "dawn of time" to the first ever super-hero and super-villain to explain Christian Walker's origins, very epic scale. It's done really well, I especially liked the culmination in the scenes that explain how Walker lost his powers, permanently
That villain (shown on beautiful cover) had a wicked line on the rooftop "I came here to rub your face into it. I was going to say: Ha! Now all you have to do.. is sit in a room under a green lamp.. for.. twenty.. whole.. years, and.. then you could get back da powers"
I had issue with the coloring (especially after checking out the pencil work in the sketches, Oeming is top notch), it uses really thick brushes or whatever their equipment is, so I blame Peter Pantazis for the art not looking as sharp as it could be (it's funny, the art is real cartoony and yet the content is very mature)
The bonus material is good for once, it features gorgeous sketches by Oeming, a cover gallery and the script for the "monkey sex" first issue (which sheds light on what Bendis wanted to accomplish)
On design, I didn't think the bubbles used for the first story suggested that "vocalizing hurts", it was more like it was rough, savage-like. In the 3rd story (China), I thought the pentagon bubbles were just distracting
Forever is definitely a story than can be reread for dramatic value, you go back to it and gain more insights (replay value extolled by Steven Johnson)
Forever (Vol. 7) collects Powers issues 37-37, it is the 2nd collection of stories reprinted by Marvel's Icon imprint since the move from Image, 272 pages
Links
- reviews - Powers: Forever
