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powers: legends
2/3/2006 @ 10:32:52 AM | 1071 days ago | permanent link | posted in comics
Spent a nice evening reading this, was a delight from start to finish
 
Got my copy from Amazon for $12.21 - Update: interesting, 2 years later, price is up Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Avon Oeming (2005) - 4/5 We're back in full detective mode since last story detracted from the Powers norm. Kutter's death comes as a pretty big surprise. He won't be missed much since he was a real dick in general. I'm a bit loss I have to say because I don't follow the series as close as I should (I had thought for the first pages that this was a story I have read before, out of a sequence). From what I can remember, a powers freaked out at the end of "The Sellouts" and now all powers are outlawed. And like other experiments in banning weapons (Washington DC gun ban issue), the problem is that hero powers obeyed the law and left but the villains really didn't care for it. The city is a mess, 3 low level criminal powers are vying for turf and dropping bodies. A big event is the return of Retro Girl (or someone who dressed up like her). Deena Pilgrim who was on leave (from injuries) rejoins the force and is immediately challenged by the commissioner, something that really gets at her.. it leads her to try to prove herself, even without her partner Walker's backup
Bendis proves himself to me yet again as a master craftsman in crime and the moder super-hero genre, the story has a few moments where with intricate panel work, he guides us through a surprising conclusion (this is done in film as well when the director shoots two parallel scenes but then we find out the two places are separate locations). The ending is breathtaking as Bendis is able to flip the script on the basic relationship of our the detective team. Kick ass
 On art, my feeling on Oeming remains the same. It's some good stuff but the coloring (Pantazis) dilutes how sharp this guy is. Or maybe Oeming's own blunt inking is to blame because the computer effects when Pilgrim has a freakout are awesome. In fact the way color is used to set the mood is actually very well done: grayish for the grittiness of the city, the green hues to indicate that dampeners are on, the change to colorful palette when we look at the relocated heroes in suburbia.  A highlight is the rooftop scene where Walker talks some sense to Calista
A couple of winks at the fan for the use of tv panels (that I can't stand really, maybe too much boring dialogue but I suppose it sets the mood) and the interrogation panels (dating back to the first Powers story)
Now for some complaints. The binding on comics paperback makes it so that you can barely see the work on the edge of a page (right of left page, left of right page), this makes it hard to read certain bubbles. The problem gets worse because Bendis is a fan of non conventional page layout, he likes to bleed his panels over 2 pages, one he uses often is the 3-stripe layout over 2 pages. To give visual cues to the reader, Oeming would overlap a panel across two pages to guide your eyes but the binding work makes it confusing, all too often. Oh yeah I hate when they reuse panels in modern era comics (since 2000?), it's kinda whack, especially on zoom jobs. Storywise there were some panels from 2 trades ago when Deena was gettign zapped and I have to go back to those to see what is goin on. Finally I have no idea why this story was titled "Legends". Seriously wtf
I'm not sure if this is a printing issue but some of the dialogue bubbles got all shaky and scratchy and that was annoying. I'm pretty sure if the letterer Ken Bruzenak (credited for "typography") is responsible for the horrendous work to give each powers its own logo/font. I guess that's a lot of work but it's ludicrous for me
Like Vol 7, the bonus material is nice, a lot of sketches, the original covers and they make me appreciate Oeming's fine pencil work (cover 4 is sick and cover 6 with the badge is damn impressive, this image does it no justice)
Courtesy of Midtown Comics and Mile High Comics
     
This is the first story done for Marvel's Icon, it collects Powers Vol. 2 issues 1-6, 208 pages
Links
- reviews - Powers: Legends
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