Powers #5 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Michael Avon Oeming (art), Nick Filardi (colors), and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story: Christian hits rock bottom as his relationship with Heather suddenly falls apart but unbeknownst to him, Heather has two very big secrets.

What’s Good: Oeming’s artwork is absolutely superb this month, but it’s really unique in that its greatest strength isn’t jaw-dropping visuals or stunning splash pages.  In fact, this is arguably a pretty restrained issue as far as Powers goes.  What makes the art stunning is how Oeming emphasizes the “sequential” in “sequential art” and what exactly that means.  The panel-to-panel transitions are incredibly smooth and both physical actions and mental processes are incredibly well plotted out.  There’s a great sense of logic and movement from panel to panel that leads to a really organic feel.  Honestly, it’s the sort of work that  makes most other comics feel stilted by comparison.  It’s been a while since I’ve encountered a comic with such a natural flow to it.

Plot-wise, quite a bit happens this month.  As the opening issue to a new story-arc, this issue certainly fulfills its function, offering tantalizing bits of some very major things to come.  When a first issue is giving you visions of an apocalyptic future, you know you’re going to be in for on heck of a ride.

It was also a very good month for Enki Sunrise, who Bendis is clearly trying to build up as a character.  He, more than ever, shows a softer, more human side to the character, letting us see a more sympathetic, even maternal Enki which really stands in juxtaposition to the hard-nosed Enki we’ve mostly seen these far.  Bendis is quickly adding texture to Enki and is making her a fully realized character and I like what I’m seeing.

Speaking of vulnerability, it’s hard not to feel for Christian when he’s down in the dumps.  Bendis has always done a great job of writing his leading man’s heavy burden(s) and that’s no different here.  It’s just always so easy to feel bad for Christian.

Uncanny X-Men #498 – Review

By Ed Brubaker (Writer), Mike Choi (Artist), and Sonia Oback (Colors)

All by itself, this issue isn’t too bad. But when one looks at the issues preceding this one, they will see it is more of the same. Given we learn the identity of the “Goddess” in this issue, the story of how she changed San Francisco into “Hippieville” isn’t really a story – she just did it! We also see Scott and Emma as they confront familiar faces in their quest to stop the Goddess. As I’ve mentioned before, the whole hippie storyline hasn’t been that entertaining. Sure, I wouldn’t want to be part of an entire town that was transformed, but surely Ed Brubaker could have thought of something more interesting and threatening than a bunch of “social non-conformists.” Perhaps to add to the annoyance level, we get cheesy new “Hippie Name” boxes for the aforementioned renamed familiar faces. Thankfully, there’s only one more issue until this mediocre storyline is resolved.

What should have been the saving grace of the story, the continuing plot thread of Logan, Kurt, and Piotr in Russia, is once again more retreading. Last time we saw them captured by the Russian Mutant Department’s “Red Room,” and this time we see yet another fight scene as they attempt to escape. However, this issue remains (barely) more satisfying for three reasons: One, while fight scenes are always more fun than “talking heads,” Mike Choi’s depictions of fights are both beautiful and entertaining. The action he brings never feels tired. Two, we finally get an interesting twist at the end as an old nemesis comes back to haunt these three characters. And three, there is a complete lack of hippies. ‘Nuff said.

So while this issue may be nothing spectacular, if you have picked up the rest of this arc you might want to get this one just to keep the story complete. I’ve got a good feeling Brubaker will give us a satisfying conclusion next month. Also, I’m quite interested to see what he does with the baddie that has returned. (Grade: C+)

-M. Staples