Powers Volume 12: The 25 Coolest Dead Superheroes of All Time TPB
Written by: Brian Michael Bendis
Art by: Michael Avon Oeming
Published by Icon/Marvel
With the release of this trade, Powers catches up with the monthly comics, with all published comics now collected in paperback format. From what I gather, the new story arc (intriguingly tilted simply “Z”) will see Powers re-launched as volume 3 (volume 1 published by Image Comics, volume 2 published by Marvel under its’ Icon imprint). So what does this story bring us?
For those unfamiliar with Powers, a quick recap. Powers is set in a comic universe superficially similar to the main Marvel or DC universes – superpowers and costumed heroics are part of everyday life. However, the focus for some time has been on two Detectives; Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim. They are assigned to a “Powers” Unit that investigates crimes with a superhuman element. This generally involves taking them into dark and sordid places, and tending to focus on Police procedure. That said my favourite Powers trades (Forever, Cosmic and Secret Identity) have been pretty radical departures from that.
More recently, Deena has become infected with a Powers virus (granting her abilities – outlawed in the Powers universe), and has been keeping this secret from those around her. Her troubles have increased as she has become subject to Internal Affairs investigation concerning her possible involvement in the death of a mob boss, and she has gone AWOL.
This story picks things up from there, as Walker is assigned a new partner with an agenda of her own and the latest crime spree hits the city. Young girls are being abducted, murdered and their bodies found dressed in superheroes costumes. Obviously, there is a public demand for swift justice and Walker is assigned to case, returning to more familiar Powers territory. Walker quickly runs into his former MIA partner who is involved in this in some way. To say much more on the plot will give too much away, but this arc does bring together a number of plot stands that have been left open for some time, including some back as far as the very first story published under Image.
Like all Powers stories, the plot moves along at a nice swift pace, and features the trademark foul language, graphic violence and sexual content. Oeming has developed a consistent Powers style at this point, reminding me somewhat of the Bruce Timm influenced Batman cartoon, with very nice use of dark and shadow, emphasizing the underworld tones of the story.
However, as this story ties up a number of issues that have been outstanding for some time, I did find myself reaching for the old TPB’s to cross reference the events in this trade. From that perspective, I wouldn’t recommend this trade as being the best place for new readers to start. It did somewhat slow the read down, as I was struggling to remember details from years ago. However, on reflection, you often get out of things what you put into them, and I did find this a more satisfying read as a result.
What is a bit of an oddity is the reprint of 2008’s Powers Annual, detailing a (very) old Walker tale. Nice that it’s there, but it’s slotted in right between two parts of the main story arc, when it doesn’t seem to fit there. It’s easy enough to flip past and read later, but I’m not sure why it isn’t put in the back of the main story…
If you have been following Powers on a casual or regular basis, pick it up, as it probably is an essential read to understanding the Powers Universe, as well as tying up old loose ends. There is also something of an “end of an era” feel to it. To the new reader, looking for a different take on capes and tights, this one will best be saved until you’ve read a few of the other trades - start with Volume 1 “Who Killed Retro Girl?”. _________________
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1910
Written by Alan Moore
Art by Kevin O’Neill
Published by Top Shelf/Knockabout Comics
On the last occasion new League material was available, due to some copyright snafu, it wasn’t officially available outside the US. As a result everyone who wanted it (and wasn’t American) had to get it unofficially, which quite frankly wasn’t too hard. Nonetheless it did mean an extra wait on something that fans had already been anticipating for some time.
It’s therefore with a certain amount of glee that I’ve been able to get hold of an advance copy of the latest offering, as a comic shop in London had a batch flown over a couple of weeks ahead of the general release, and even got Messrs Moore and O’Neill to sign them for those that turned up, myself included.
2007’s Black Dossier proved somewhat divisive amongst readers, focusing on League stalwarts Mina Murray and Allan Quartermain in an espionage themed tale set in the 1950’s. The Dossier also featured a lot of prose interwoven with the comic story, giving a history of the League. Part One of Century returns to the slightly more familiar times and narrative structure of the first two volumes.
Twelve years after the failed Martian Invasion, the revised League now consists of Allan and Mina, accompanied by Viginia Woolf’s immortal, gender changing, Orlando, E W Honung’s gentlemen thief A J Raffles and William Hodgson’s occult detective, Thomas Carnacki. At the time of the coronation of the new King, Carnacki has a prophetic dream of a cult seeking to bring about a “Moonchild” and an era of chaos and destruction (thanks for that guys), so the League sets off to investigate. Meanwhile, estranged former League member Captain Nemo argues with his daughter, and she subsequently flees to London. Of course, paths start to cross and those pesky prophecies never quite mean what you think they do …
The return to a more familiar setting and form of storytelling is something that those who didn’t like the Dossier will probably welcome, but don’t get too comfortable as Part Two will leap forward to 1968, and Part Three to contemporary London.
Although it’s been structured in such a way that this is a complete story in itself, we all know that it’s a three-parter, and thus there is a sense at the end of the book that things are really only just beginning. The plot is satisfyingly complicated, more so than Volumes 1 and 2, as a lot of time is devoted to setting up the remaining two issues. Although I read the whole thing in the queue for the signing, it took a second, proper sit down, read at home to grasp fully what was going on.
The curiosity in this issue is that a couple of the characters comment on the action in the form of song, with Moore apparently influenced by “Threepenny Opera”. This isn’t something I’m familiar with, and according to the always reliable Wikipedia, these are re-workings of the lyrics of existing songs. I’ll need to do a bit of research, and being familiar with the rhythms of the songs probably would have made for easier reading.
A criticism many had of the Dossier was the copious amounts of nudity and sexual content, not so much in the comic narrative, rather in the prose and accompanying illustrations. That’s been reigned in considerably for 1910, though the turning point of the issue is a repellant sex act, but we’re spared actually witnessing it, and the consequences are devastating for all concerned.
O’Niell’s style on these books is well established, crammed with detail and littered with bizarre buildings, technology, obscure and not so obscure fictional references. I particularly liked the sequence of the bizarre arrival and departure of “The Prisoner of London”, but I was a bit disappointed that there weren’t any sequences akin to the descent into the Martian valley, or Hyde brooding, both from Volume 2.
As ever the book ends with a narrative section, this time entitled “Minions of the Moon”. From reading in advance, I had thought that this would be similar to Volumes 2’s Traveller’s Almanac (an account of the League’s fictional world) but instead it seems to be both an account of what happens after the end of this book and gets the reader ready for Part Two. I found this to be somewhat more reader friendly than some of the prose in previous Leagues and we even catch up with an old fiend from Volume 1.
All in all, this seemed a logical continuation of the Nineteenth Century League, instantly more enjoyable than the Dossier and, I suspect, will be less divisive amongst readers. Although I’ve drawn a lot of comparisons with previous Leagues, and this part is superficially similar to the first two volumes, I rather suspect that when all three parts are finally in our hands, the whole experience will be very different to what has gone before. I certainly hope so!
Existing League fans won’t need me to tell them to get this, and I do think it represents good value for money in these tight economic times, coming at a nice price and crammed with story, art and in a nice bound format. I do wonder if, unlike Volume 2 and the Dossier if this is something that readers new to the League could use as a “jumping on” point, with no prior knowledge (although you’d get lost reading Minions of the Moon). But frankly, why would you want to do that, as all the other books are ready obtainable at good prices?
Like a bad penny, they're back again, with another Alan Moore review.
From Hell
Written by Alan Moore
Art by Eddie Campbell
Published by Top Shelf
If you are only interested in comics about brightly clad, buff bodied superhumans, stop reading now, as this book won’t interest you.
Seriously. It’s over 500 pages long and all in black and white. The key characters are old and out of shape.
Still here?
OK then. Between 1991 and 1996 (1998 if you count an appendix) his dark imperial majesty Alan Moore teamed up with Australian based artist Eddie Campbell to produce From Hell. This was a limited 10 part series looking at the crimes and motives of the infamous unsolved “Jack the Ripper” murders.
In case you’ve been living in a cave all your life, in the autumn of 1888 in the Whitechapel area of the east End of London, five prostitutes were brutally murdered and subject to varying degrees of mutilation. The horrendous murders, all deemed to be the work of one killer, were never solved. Consequently, this has sparked a considerable amount of interest from professional and amateur detectives alike, endless conspiracy theorists and of course, writers of fiction.
Jack has ripped his way through all manner of comics, books, TV shows and movies. He’s met Sherlock Holmes, H G Wells and even Captain Kirk!
So given that Jack the Ripper has been done to death (sorry) what’s different about From Hell?
For starters, in From Hell there is no mystery of who the Ripper is. Every other Ripper story I’ve seen a whodunit, with varying degrees of effectiveness. Here, taking his culprit from Stephen Knight’s The Final Solution Ripper theory, Moore introduces the Ripper as Royal Doctor, Sir William Gull in the second chapter. The book then follows Gull from his conception of the crimes, to their planning, their commission, and the impact out of their completion, both to Gull’s mind (in increasingly odd ways) and society.
Moore weaves a number of Ripper theories, historic records and (by his own admission) his invention into his own theory. This theory probably holds as much water as my colander, but it’s no better or worse than anyone else’s theory, and it is all presented in a gripping, believable fashion. The amount of research carried out is very impressive given there is 50 odd pages of notes at the back of the volume, and even Moore says he has left things out from those notes.
Making Gull the central character must have been ideal for Moore. Gull was a Freemason, and Moore is a well know dabbler in magic. Gull is attributed an obsession for symbol and ritual, providing Moore when plenty of opportunity to show off and expand on these and the meanings that lie within. Or maybe just make it up. Who knows? Nonetheless, it provides a suitably bizarre motive for crimes that (hopefully) most people will be will be unable to fathom.
The story is filled out with a variety of supporting characters, Gull’s unwilling accomplice, coachman Netley, workmanlike police inspector Abberline, and the unfortunate five victims. There are also a few visits to Queen Victoria and John Merrick, the Elephant Man. We get to meet the whole spectrum of Victorian society, and a sense of how vast the divide between rich and poor was. Indeed, one lengthy sequence contrasts Gull and the prostitutes going about their day to day existence, Gull shown in soft pencils, the prostitutes in a much harsher technique, underlining this vast social gulf.
Campbell provides dark, dirty scratchy pencils. Don’t be put off by a quick flick through the pages in your LCS – you get used to them. They capture the underbelly of society where the Ripper carries out his work, be it courtyards or the squalid rooms where the prostitutes ply their trade. A number of sequences pass wordlessly and to great effect, in particular the ninth chapter (showing the final and most horrific of the Ripper crimes) is told almost exclusively through pictures alone.
In 2001 the story was turned into a movie starring Johnny Depp’s facial hair and Heather Graham’s cleavage. Despite taking the name, central theory and a number of the scenes from the comic, it shifted the emphasis away from Gull and onto Abberline’s detection efforts. Thus, immediately losing what made the comic so unique in the first place. Still, Moore’s original vision was something that would never have made it into a mainstream Hollywood movie anyway …
It’s not for everyone. Be warned, it’s extremely graphic, both in terms of the violence, details of dismemberment, but also sexually. Adults only. However, if you want to read a skillful collage of historical fact, conspiracy theory, social commentary, magic, time travel and pure fiction check it out.
The current edition from Knockabout has been somewhat “cleaned up” and printed on better quality paper than my old movie tie in edition, considerably improving the appearance of the artwork. I have a nifty hardback version, which is a limited edition release. At the time of writing, I haven’t been able to establish if this is still available. _________________
Black Widow: Sting of the Widow
Written by Stan Lee, N Korok, Gary Fredrich, Mimi Gold, Roy Thomas & Gerry Conway
Art by Don Heck, John Romita, John Buscema & Gene Colan
Published by Marvel
With Scarlett Johanson squeezing her curves into a catsuit to play the Black Widow in the upcoming Iron Man sequel, Marvel is taking this opportunity to promote its leading ex Soviet super spy. With not one, but two limited series in the offing, this hard cover takes a retrospective look at some of the key moments in the Widow’s history.
It kicks off with Tales of Suspense #52, Natasha’s (or Lady Natasha, as she seem to go by in this book) first appearance. She is recruited by those dastardly Reds to help recover a Soviet defector now working for Tony Stark. Frankly, a first appearance is all this, as the Widow is team up with a Russian strongman, who frankly hogs all the action going toe to toe with Iron Man. Still, a first appearance is a first appearance.
Things then leap forward to Amazing Spider-Man #86. At this point the Widow has been about in the Marvel Universe for some time. The key Widow moment in this issue is the ditching of the original costume for the more familiar simple black catsuit. A considerable character design improvement in my view, seeming more striking and deadly than the somewhat silly fishnet tights, mini cape and mask she had up until this point.
With a new costume, the Widow decides to go square up to Spidey (who’s not feeling too good) to, apparently, “discover the secret of his powers”. Whatever. They fight, it’s nothing special, but there is always the fun of Stan Lee’s verbose narration, and John Romita Sr on art duties.
Amazing Adventures #1 to 8 is the real curiosity of this book. For once, it’s the Widow on her own, and not crashing someone else’s title. In the first four issues a group of kids who force local hoods out of a building, which they then illegally occupy, but to help feed disadvantaged locals. The roughs they took the building from want it back, and the legal authorities want to evict them. Nat gets involved to help the kids out, putting her between the law and the criminals. Obviously it’s an attempt at social commentary, but the kids we are meant to be sympathetic with, erm, aren’t.
In the next three issues, Natasha altruistically helps an attempted suicide, discovering the criminal life he has fallen into. She becomes again involved and begins to develop a notion that she is cursed and everyone around her will die. It seems to be another social commentary, which again falls a bit flat.
Amazing Adventures #8 has Natasha fighting a superpowered serial killer with a grudge against Russians, and that’s about all there is to say.
Daredevil #81 is the first meeting of Daredevil and the Widow, with the Widow later becoming a frequent player in the DD universe. Widow saves DD’s bacon at the start of the issue, then she teams up with DD to foil a bank raid by the Owl. Similar to the issue of ASM, it’s nothing special.
Lastly, there’s a couple of excerpts from OHOTMU. Strangely, the picture of the Black Widow is from her even later, short hair era.
All in all, it’s something of an oddity. Perhaps a good illustration that what might be a key moments in a character’s history, might not necessarily make great story telling.
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