This is the third volume of Brian Michael Bendis’s hugely successful Powers title, and collects issues number 7, 12-14, and the first annual. It also contains various other bits and pieces that have been previously uncollected, and as such is deeply satisfying to Bendis completists, among whose number I will gladly count myself.

Bendis is perhaps my favourite of the recent crop of independent writers who have become the darlings of the comics mainstream. One major difference between Bendis and most of the rest of his contemporaries is that he actually delivers the work. You could set your watch by the arrival of his various comics on the shelves, and he says in an interview reprinted in the back of this collection that he is six months ahead on his work. Somehow I believe him. Despite seeming to be writing virtually all the major titles over at Marvel Comics, he manages to keep up a very high standard of work (with the possible exception of Daredevil: Ninja...), and, considering that his work is always very heavily dialogue driven, this is well nigh unheard of in the industry.

This collection has one longish storyline, called "Groupies", which starts the comic's two main protagonists, Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim, looking at the dead body of a Powers (as the superpowered people in this comic are called) called Olympia. "That is what my mom used to call "very naked,'" says Pilgrim. It turns out that the room Olympia is found in is one he used for sexual encounters with various women, one of which lead to his death.

The three issues of this storyline are partially presented in a sort of National Enquirer or Hello magazine format, with text pieces and supposed exposes of the gossip-worthy goings on of various superheroes, as well as some excellent fake ads. Besides being a superb piece of police procedural storytelling, Bendis is also spot on in his estimation of how Powers would be treated by the media, which is exactly as they now treat singers, footballers, and various other alleged celebrities.

The rest of the collection has one short piece about a writer going on ride-along with the cops, for research, supposedly; and a story called "The Shark", which deals with the arrest and subsequent trial of a Powers of that name. Two-thirds of this story is told as a text transcript of the trial, with occasional full-page pencil illustrations, in the style of a court artist.

Bendis seems to be quite happy to play around with the traditional elements of comic-book storytelling, and succeeds, which so many others fail to do. Again, I cannot fault his writing, and really enjoyed rereading all of these pieces after having originally read them when they came out. The writer who goes for a ride-along in the one-off story, incidentally, is Warren Ellis, one of Bendis’s contemporaries. I leave it to you to find out for yourself how that works out.

The last forty-odd pages of the book contain the aforementioned interview, the contents of the "Powers Coloring and Activity Book", another very short story, which is the first collaboration between Bendis and Oeming, and the various covers, along with various sketches. Bendis believes in giving value for money in his collections, which is more than some do.

And there you have it. Another volume of a wonderfully enjoyable series. Bendis is a genius at what he does, and Powers is probably the best thing he’s doing at the moment. You’ll thank me for recommending it to you.

Publisher: Image
Date: October 2002
Format: 192pp, Colour/BW TPb
Price: $19.95


Review originally on The Alien Online