I am of the school that usually holds Ed Brubaker and Brian Azzarello as the modern comic masters of noir and crime stories. Bendis however, pulled this one off with an original subset in the Image universe. Working in law, there are admittedly a few tiny distractors in the Retro Girl story arc of what cops can't/won't do, but to focus on those would be too much, and perchance that's why Bendis only tells from the POV of the police and not the lawyers.

I sincerely thought I would have a problem with somebody who isn't Tim Sale or Darwyn Cooke producing this artistic style, but Oeming latched it into my brain, and as he says in the appendices, Oeming's art is an homage to Tim Sale and Sale's influences.

The art of a story goes a long way towards driving the arc and championing the mood and everything else of the story. Most impressive to me is Oeming's Eisner-like fascination with shadowing. It never ceases to distract when even the best artists don't pay attention to lighting.

Both stories in this collection are far above the curve. The art is an excellent companion to Bendis's writing. You also have included a short story, imagining fellow writer Warren Ellis in a ride along with Det. Walker, as well as the preview comic strips in an attached appendix.

Perhaps my one complaint is yes, this is a 400 page book, but nearly half of those pages is bonus material. I am not the kind of comic fan who lives to see how they are made, I don't care about scripts. Letters pages are usually funny, and these are, but that's my only gripe, but I still stick on 5 stars as these gripes have nothing to do with the stories.

Superhero comics have been around since the 1930's and their roots are even older. The question is then, how to keep it fresh. Many things have been tried and many things have failed. Many make the mistake that darker and edgier comics make better comics, and that is simply not the full story. Darker and edgier only make the comics better if it fits the comic. In this instance it does that spectacularly. Combining police procedurals and superhero comics is an interesting idea that is handled well. In the hands of a lesser writer and lesser artist, this would not work but Bendis and Oeming make it work and it works amazingly.

The reason I took off one star was due to gutter loss which hurt the art a bit but otherwise this is very much worth getting.

If you like this series then def check out the live action series on the Playstation network.

Recieved as a gift. Loved it.

a must read for graphic novel readers,amazing color and story worth every penny,do yourself a favor and get this book,the whole set.

I read Powers "Forever" TPB first and as i liked it very much i decided i would start from the beginning. I bought this book and altough i think its a good book, i think Powers Forever is way better. Ill continue buying next volumes and hope theyll be better... Sorry for my english, im from Argentina.

This comic it's the aproach of the normal person and how he look this super human people, it's about a detective that he is specilized in superher-superhuman crimes, the art it's interesting (like Batman The animated series from the 90's) and Bendis delivers a relly interesting desconstruction of the superhero myth. In 2012 it's going to be a TV series.

I really like Bendis' work on Ultimate Spider-Man, so I was suprised how uninteresting I found Powers. The characters are one-dimensional, the gritty-cop-feel very forced, the supers themselves uninteresting, and the crimes and criminals cliche. Most importantly, our ace detectives Walker and Deena don't actually solve any of the murders, even in the bonus Previews material; the perp or a witness literally just shows up and explains what happened. There are no suprises. The sequencing of the panels also jumps all over the place, which had me pausing to re-read pages constantly.

In the end, I opted to return this book and grab Invincible, Vol. 2 instead. A far better comic, IMO.

Ich wollte eigentlich nur mal wieder ein Comic-Band lesen, hab einfach blind eines bestellt und war wirklich sehr angenehm überrascht. Schöner Stil, gute Storys und coole Charaktere. Kann es nur weiter empfehlen!

This hardcover collects the entire excellent first year of Brian Michael Bendis' Powers, complete with all the 'DVD extras' you'd expect from a Marvel hardcover (the big highlight being the hilarious Powers based kids colouring/activity book). The premise, essentially NYPD Blue with super-heroes, is great and the story arcs are full of black humour - a wonderful gritty look at what a world filled with super-human beings might really be like.

The artwork is also excellent. By dispensing with the usual 'photo-realism' of standard super-hero fare and replacing it with wonderful stylised characters against a noir backdrop of big, blocky skyscrapers and dank, dark alleys, Powers draws you into its world beautifully.

So, why only three stars? Well, the editing on this volume is abysmal! Don't get me wrong, I know that Bendis is famous for typos in his comics, but the number in this volume is unacceptable. Words are missing or misspelled so frequently that it ruins the flow of the dialogue, which would otherwise be a real treat (the snappy banter between characters is reminiscent of a Tarantino script), and at one point, one character starts referring to someone by a completely different name without any explanation! Also, some of the double page spreads are laid out in such a way as to make reading them literally impossible without tearing pages out. It's a shame and it spoils an otherwise wonderful book. I'd recommend that people stick to the paperbacks - they still have the odd typo, but nowhere near as often as this bizarrely.

"The Definitive Hardcover Collection " präsentiert die ersten elf Heftausgaben der amerikanischen Serie "Powers" von Texter Brian Michael Bendis und Zeichner Michael Avon Oeming erstmals in der Reihenfolge ihrer ursprünglichen Erscheinung. Entsprechend des Erfolges der Reihe ist mein Buch bereits die dritte Auflage aus dem Jahr 2011. Das Originalmaterial entstand ab 1999 und wurde ab 2000 erstmals gedruckt. Ich habe mir die Sammlung zugelegt, weil ich schwer begeistert war von dem letzten erschienenen Buch "Powers: The Best Ever" (2020) und nun auch die Originalstories kennen wollte.

Natürlich sind die Frühwerke der Reihe visuell noch nicht so gut wie das letzte Buch, obwohl die serie sofort ein Hit wurde. Für mich war Michael Avon Oeming allerdings nie ein besonders spektakulärer Zeichner, dessen Qualität mit der des Coloristen steht und fällt. Während "The Best Ever" teilweise mit schön grellen Farben und netten Effekten versehen wurde, ist die Urversion von "Powers" leider nicht sonderlich atemberaubend eingefärbt. Insgesamt ist sie wenig grell, sondern eher zurücknehmend, blass und verhalten. Es herrschen viele Grautöne vor, die nur mal zaghaft mit eher dezentem grün, rot oder blau angereichert wurden. Die Zeichnungen Oemings für sich gesehen sind nicht wirklich besonders gut oder ausgereift; manchmal findet man noch anatomische Mängel oder Inkonsequenzen beim Tuschen. Aber man kann sagen, dass sie effektiv sind, den Lesefluß der Stories unterstützen und nicht großartig von ihr ablenken. Und die Stories sind nun mal unbestritten wirklich gut.

Es geht um Christian Walker und seine Kollegin Deena Pilgrim, die den Mord an "Retro Girl" und später an weiteren Superwesen aufklären müssen, also Wesen mit "Powers", Superkräften. Essentiell ist hier die Frage, wer Retro Girl überhaupt töten konnte, denn eigentlich war sie unverwundbar. Christian und Deena sind sich anfangs nicht grün, und es macht Spaß, Bendis dieses Filmklischee richtig auswälzen zu lassen.

Interessant sind natürlich die 150 Seiten Bonusmaterial, darunter das komplette Originalscript von Bendis des ersten Heftes, alle veröffentlichten und nicht verwendeten Cover, dazu Skizzen und Entwürfe sowie Leserbriefe und Antworten dazu. Das Buch ist großartig aufgemacht, (in Leder?) gebunden und mit metallicrotem Druck versehen, der sich darauf bezieht, dass unter Retro Girls Fingernägel metallic-rote Lackfarbe gefunden wurde. Natürlich gibt es auch einen Schutzumschlag dazu. Die Anfänge der Reihe sind für mich noch nicht perfekt, aber zumindest schon lesenswert und eben die Grundlage für alle Folgehefte.