Dex's Comic Awareness

Powers #12 (Icon)
written by Brian Michael Bendis
pencils by Mike Avon Oeming
cover by Brian Michael Bendis

It says 64 pages but half of it is the letters and ads pages. The actual story is almost completely self-contained. The gem of the Blackguard is lost and recovered in the issue and a lot of bad guys die as the cop who stole it goes on a killing spree. We get some great characterization about Deena though as we learn about her first days on the force.

The art in Powers is as great as it always is. Oeming's style is similar to Mignolas but its different enough to definitely stand as something different. The color choices however are incredible. The vast arrays of gray really make the few colors allowed to show really pop on the page. It's beautiful to see.

This issue really seemed kind of unimportant for an Anniversary Special. It just didn't really advance the story or reveal any big news about the characters. That doesn't mean it wasn't a great read. It just doesn't live up to its title.

Bendis does more experimental panel layouts here as the interrogation of the Evidence Room Officer is done in a manner to make you feel like she's cornered and surrounded. It comes off very well. Powers should be picked up by everyone for the art alone though. Go pick this up. Even the many pages of ads and letters are pretty funny. And lastly, Bendis LOVES to slip in creators names whenever he can. Others do it too, Brubaker dropping Kirkman, as in Robert Kirkman. But Bendis does it the most and here he drops, McNiven, Lark, and Kirkman. All friends of his and all doing a comic I review somewhere else on this site.

Rating - Good