COMICS: Thurs. 7/8/04

I was going to do my comics post a day late this week, since they were released a day late due to the Monday holiday, but looks like I can squeeze this post in tonight. Four new comics this week; may contain spoilers for readers slower than I am.

Supreme Power: I've been borderline on this series for a while. The concept itself is, of course, a revision of an old rip-off of the JLA, and I've seen plenty enough of those as it is. And the story has been moving verrrry slowly. Almost Bendis slow. But things happened in this one that I liked: Mark Milton learns his secret origin! Several different versions, in fact, from the very unreliable and possibly insane Zarda (the Wonder Woman rip-off). Mark appears to doubt her assertion that she's from the same place he is -- but she's hot, naked (this comic has more boobs than Cinemax After Dark), and he's probably still a virgin, so looks like he's gonna let that slide for now. The dog. Also, the Batman and Flash rip-offs team up to find that there's yet another superpowered being out there -- a serial killing one. It was a good issue, so guess I'll be sticking around a while longer.

Powers: Speaking of Bendis... First issue of the reboot, now at new Marvel imprint Icon, rather than Image. Only thing that's changed is the little box on the cover; inside is still the same old badass Powers. Starts off with quite a shocker: Kutter, who could probably be described as the #3 character, gets killed in the traditional sudden and graphic Powers style. Walker and Deena are back together as partners, which is nice to see. Bendis' dialogue is as long-winded but hilarious as ever ("How'd he die?" "Dunno." "Don't be so technical."), but, unlike certain Bendis projects, stuff happens here. He basically reinvents the entire world within the comic in this one issue, plus has time for a nifty action scene, plenty of great dialogue and character moments, and a great reveal on the final page. Bendis' best series (out of, like, 87), and one of my top ten, if not top five.

Fantastic Four: Another of my favorites. I had never been much of an FF fan, outside of the Stan Lee originals, so I'm not really familiar with the "Frightful Four." But I get the feeling Mark Waid portrays them about as well as they can be -- after all, the Wizard, the Trapster, Salamandra, and Hydro are C-list villains at best. The way in which they defeat the FF is believable, and the reason why the Wizard doesn't kill them outright, which is always a stupid, Bond villain thing to do -- the reason he doesn't is kind of plausible, the way the character is portrayed. Waid's writing is funny and sharp, and I love the art. The only Marvels I buy are for the writers -- Marvel has great characters, but the writers have to know how to use them -- and Waid is now up there in that category with Peter David, Garth Ennis, J. Michael Straczynski, Brian Bendis, and a select few others.

Y: The Last Man: Another of my faves. Only bought four comics this week, and three of them are in my personal top ten. This one is in my top three, actually. Best thing about this issue: the slam against those dopey, non-"born again" bashing, crappily written, inexplicably popular religious screeds disguised as fantasy, the Left Behind series. Yorick is a great character, and he goes through a great deal of development this issue, dealing with his remorse over the woman he had to kill the previous issue, and allowing himself to finally let go of -- or at least, forget for a little while -- his girlfriend half a world away, whom he may never see again. It's just a great book.

I also picked up a Hopeless Savages collection (a funny book about a punk rock family), and the Three Strikes TPB (gritty crime drama), because of good Free Comic Book Day issues. The Three Strikes book I got because it's by the same team behind the Skinwalkers series, one issue of which I picked up as a leftover from last year's FCBD (come to think of it, the Hopeless Savages was a leftover, too), as well as on recommendation from Dorian, who's a fan of the creators. And I got the newest Ultimate Spider-Man trade, too -- for some reason, that's the one ongoing series that I only buy in trades. Bendis' habit of padding storylines in US-M is less annoying when you get the whole story at once, I guess.