Warning: this review contains spoilers

The next chapter in the almost 100 year old history of superhero comics is here, and it’s The Power Fantasy #1 by Kieron Gillen, Caspar Wijingaard, and Clayton Cowles. The basic premise of the series is that there are six beings in the world known as “superpowers” because they have the strength of a nuclear arsenal of a world power. A battle between two superpowers doesn’t lead to billing Damage Control or Wayne Enterprises, but an actual effect on the geopolitical order. So, it’s fitting that this first issue is structured around two conversations featuring Etienne Lux, the world’s most powerful psychic, and Valentina, an angelic pop music lover in 1966 and Tonya, a reporter who can make her fingers light up in 1999. Etienne sets up the theory of the world, the praxis immediately knocks it down, and readers get one of the most innovative, forward thinking superhero comics since Miracleman. But it features contemporary pacing and slick visuals plus Cowles’ colored word balloons make Etienne’s psychic chats even more engaging.

Although there are six superpowers in The Power Fantasy plus folks with lower level abilities like Tonya, Gillen and Wijingaard wisely focus on Etienne Lux in the first issue. Etienne is a public intellectual, who tries and fails to come across as humble. He also has a hyperfixation with ethics, which makes sense because his power set means he can make anyone do anything. Like Professor X in some iterations of X-Men, Etienne is quite well-read and gets a boost from skimming the minds of other people. He name drops Bertrand Russell, Kant, and the Beach Boys as he tries figure out what role he and the superpowers play in the world. In conversation, he flirts with authoritarianism, genocide, and seems really into benevolent dictatorships. Etienne tries to live in the grey areas and keep a Cold War detente, but with some of the other superpowers that pop up in this issue, this isn’t going to cut it.

Caspar Wijingaard brings mood and a feeling of time and place to The Power Fantasy #1 and punches up the talkier, early bits of the comics. (But with these characters, a conversation is basically a fight scene.) His color palette for the 1966 evokes the warmth of listening to Pet Sounds for the first time, the needle crackling on your parents’ turntable with faded tie dye t-shirts and peace beads in the attic. However, he immediately leaves this nostalgic ambience for more direct, flat background colors as Etienne and Valentina debate the role they’re going to play in the world. Finally, Wijingaard’s colors reach a new level when the superpowers actually use their abilities. The double page compositions almost sneak up on you as Etienne droning to a reporter about past events turns into something a little more summer blockbuster. In addition to his and Gillen’s storytelling chops shown through Etienne and his 1999 rival Heavy having different panel layouts when they talk, Caspar Wijingaard’s character designs are striking and adds to the richness of the world even though we only get the tiniest glimpses of superpowers like Eliza and Masumi.

From the genre’s earliest days, writers, artists, directors, and showrunners have pondered the question, “What if superheroes were real?”, but even something interesting like The Boys TV show (I haven’t seen the latest season.) devolves into heroes vs villains as part of a neverending soap opera. This is why Watchmen having a finite end served it so well even as Warner Brothers/DC Comics continues to exhume its corpse. The Power Fantasy goes a step forward and shows how status quo shifting even six Superman/Dr. Manhattan/Omega mutant type individuals would have on the world. Let’s just say Etienne is one scary guy.

The Power Fantasy #1 is a smart, fresh, and thought-provoking take on the superhero genre. Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wijingaard craft a world that is pure catnip for folks who did all the history reading in school, but also like pop music and fashion.

Story: Kieron Gillen Art: Caspar Wijingaard Letters: Clayton Cowles
Story: 9.6 Art: 9.4 Overall: 9.5 Verdict: Buy

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

---

Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle