Powers #7 – Review

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

The Story: Christian and Enki question members of the Golden Ones while dealing with Deena Pilgrim’s surprise return.

The Review: It has been five months since the last issue of Powers came out.  Five months.  It wasn’t the end of a story-arc.  It wasn’t an official hiatus.  There was never  a stop to the solicitations.  That’s really the biggest, and truly the only, knock I have on this issue.  I absolutely hate the fact that Bendis and Oeming took a five-month break to work on Takio between issues during a story-arc.  As a result, some of the details here are a bit murky without going back to re-read issue 6.  For instance, I struggled to remember much at all about the murdered Damocles.

But it is an excellent comic, one that shows that Brian Bendis can still write a really smart book when he wants to.  He espouses some interesting ideas on religion, particularly conventional religion in a world populated filled with superpowers, and how that phenomenon challenges faith.  It’s thought-provoking and elegantly, honestly written stuff.

More than that though, this whole arc with the Golden Ones is fulfilling the promise I saw in the first issue.  Bendis begins to really mine the concept of mythological gods in a superhero-populated universe here.  Indeed, there always has been something a bit ambiguous and problematic about Thor, Hercules, and such running about in such a world.  There are so many interesting questions that arise, and Bendis scratches the surface here.  For instance, there’s the fact that in the world with superpowers, there’s no black and white distinction between man and god; there’s now a weird gray area of superhumans between the two.

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Amazing Spider-Man #655 – A few people were pointing out how this story of loss and Peter resolving to do a better job has “been done before”, but I don’t think it has ever been done as well.  Slott and Martin do a masterful job telling a silent story of loss that combines with a fever dream sequence that cuts to the core of who Peter Parker is.  Runners-up: Fantastic Four #588 & Morning Glories #7.

Most Anticipated: Incognito: Bad Influences #4 – By the end of issue #3, the Brubaker/Phillips/Staples team had all of their game pieces out of the box, so I fully expect this issue to begin accelerating towards what should be a great conclusion to this series.

Other Picks: Sweet Tooth #19, Carbon Grey #1, Intrepids #1, Annihilators #1, Thunderbolts #154

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Amazing Spider-Man #655 – This was a hugely difficult week to pick from, as there was just so, so much to like…even if I seem to be the only person  high on Iron Man 2.0 right now.  But there was so much goodness, between Action and Detective Comics and Fantastic Four among others.  Ultimately though, I’ve got to give it to ASM, with its mix of a silent, mourning component and a surreal dream sequence.  If anything, Marcos Martin tips the scales with his awesome artwork.

Most Anticipated: Secret Six #31 – This is the story I’ve been waiting for ever since the Six’s brilliant first story-arc.  Better still, it’s a three-parter, which means things’ll be compact and not at all dragged out.  I can’t wait to see where this goes.  As a side note, I’m also pretty happy that we get a thinner weak after the insanity of last week.

Other Picks: Powers #7, Sweet Tooth #19, Secret Warriors #25, Brightest Day #21, Green Lantern #63