.gif)
Powers (comics)
Encyclopedia
Powers is an American creator-owned
police procedural
comic book series by writer Brian Michael Bendis
and artist Michael Avon Oeming
. The series' first volume was published by Image Comics
from 2000 to 2004. In 2004 the series moved to Marvel Comics
as a part of its Icon
imprint
.
Combining the genres of superhero fantasy, crime noir and the police procedural
, the series follows the lives of two homicide detectives, Christian Walker
and Deena Pilgrim, assigned to investigate cases involving people with superhuman abilities, who are referred to colloquially as "powers".
and Goldfish, despite his love of the genre. Concluding that Frank Miller
's The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore
and Dave Gibbons
' Watchmen
had sufficiently explored the genre, Bendis decided to work in other genres." The series' concept was derived from his love of crime fiction
and police procedural
s in general, as well as specific works such as Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
, Janis Joplin's biography, Taxi Driver
, T-Men
, Traffic
) and Visions Of Light: The Art of Cinematography
, and would take the form of a Behind the Music
-type look at superheroes. Powers, Oeming says is "a superhero universe seen through the eyes of the police... [as] observed by the media" and everyday individuals. Bendis' intention was to view the "cliches of the superhero genre through the harder eyes of the cops," but with the added layer that (echoing "Behind the Music") "every arc has some footing in a famous rock star story." Bendis' scripts are often compiled from "a list of scenes," eschewing "the big exploding ending" in favor of a "character-driven or psychological ending." Indeed, in experimenting with plots, the duo swiftly moved beyond 'mere' police precedurals (despite those being both creators' "favorite stories"), constantly pushing each other creatively in new ways. In conceiving plots for the series, Bendis emphasizes the purpose and themes in the narrative over "just being cool", and allowing the theme to dictate the direction of the story.
Bendis would collaborate with Oeming, who had already expressed interest in producing a crime/noir comic with Bendis, inspired by his attempts to get work on Batman Adventures to do a book in a style reminiscent of Bruce Timm
and Alex Toth
. Bendis cites two images produced by Oeming (one for Bendis' Jinx
, and one for David Mack's series Kabuki) as originating the then-experimental "Powers' style," and "inspir[ing] everything in [Powers]." (Indeed, Bendis and Oeming's first collaboration was "Mall Outing" in Jinz: True Crime Confessions. It is included in Little Deaths "for Powers completists and curiosity's sake.") Oeming has noted that, although seen as an overtly "cartoony" style, the artwork does not appeal to children, which helps sidestep the potential problem of the book, which contains mature content, being purchased by customers younger than its intended audience.
Despite both creators only having produced work in black and white before Powers, Bendis envisioned Powers in color, and convinced Oeming that it could work, despite the dramatically higher number of sales required to sustain a color comic. Bendis also convinced Oeming that the book should juxtapose both the superhero and crime noir genres, as Oeming initially shied away from the former. Bendis writes in the 'Sketchbook' section of the Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl? TPB that "one of the rules of film noir
is that the city itself should be considered a lead character." To this end, he made Oeming watch Visions of Light
a documentary by the American Cinematographers Institute
about the art of lighting in film, which he saw as important to the feel of comics also. According to Oeming, both he and Bendis do copious research for their projects, and that before he began the series, he would do ride-alongs with police, meet police officials, and take extensive photo reference of their equipment. (c.f. Issue #7)
, after DC inquired of Bendis and Oeming what they were hoping to create. Bendis ultimately retained ownership of his creation, which allows him complete freedom as the writer.
Bendis and Oeming were initially worried, after having produced but not solicited two issues of the series, to learn that writer Alan Moore
was preparing what was to become Top 10
for America's Best Comics. Although the creators had been confident that the idea of a book juxtaposing superheroes and the police procedural had not been done previously, the knowledge that Moore was doing something similar nearly led them to abandon the series, before discovering that Top Ten featured superhero police officers and a different enough approach that led them to feel safe in continuing.
Powers was initially previewed in a series of original strips which ran in Cliff Biggers
and Ward Batty's Comic Shop News
a comics-industry periodical available from many comic shops. The eight strips were colored and lettered by Bendis (before initial colorist/letterer Pat Garrahy became involved) and complimented the up-coming series as a companion piece in newspaper strip form. The strip was later serialized at the online comics magazine PopImage.com.
Debuting with sales of 12,500 (around the "break even" mark for a color comic, although "like ten thousand more" than Bendis' previous book, Torso), Powers was faced with an uncertain future, as sales of comics tend to dwindle over subsequent issues. However, Image Comics
publisher Jim Valentino
and head of marketing Anthony Bozzi both read and enjoyed the first three issues (lettered and laid out by Bendis himself, a hang-over from his earlier fully creator-owned works where he took on the complete roles of several individuals), with Bozzi reportedly saying, "If we can't make a book like POWERS sell we really should stop making comics." Image offered to double-ship the second issue, effectively doubling the orders for that issue as an attempt to boost sales: the gamble worked, and issue #1 was soon reprinted, while according to Bendis, "issues #3–11 saw an upswing" in sales every issue. The reported Diamond pre-order figures show sales climbing above 23,000 by issue #7, and topping 30,000 with issue #14 and stabilizing between 25,000 and 30,000 for the remainder of the titles' Image run. These strong sales allowed Oeming to quit his job as a security guard, while Bendis' launch of Ultimate Spider-Man
had a positive effect on Powers sales as readers searched out his comics.
For their anniversary issue (Volume 2, issue #12 from Icon), Bendis and Oeming had planned to swap roles – Oeming writing and Bendis drawing. Unfortunately, Bendis suffered an injury to his cornea
stopping him from drawing the full issue, although he did provide a cover for the issue. Powers Volume 3 launched with issue number one in November 2009. As of October 2011, only seven issues of volume 3 have been released.
Bendis has a "POWERS idea-list" and the two have "enough stories left in [them], and... the audience to keep the book going" for a while yet. Both have repeatedly stated that they "know the ending," not in terms of time frame or issue number, but as a final act of closure, having "promised to never write or draw Powers beyond the amount of fresh ideas" they have.
publication Draw! #5 (Winter, 2003), the Powers team produced a "behind the scenes look at the nuts and bolts creation of Powers," later collected in Powers: Supergroup. As with most comics, the issues' origins lie in the script, written for Powers by Brian Michael Bendis, a self-taught writer who explains that he learned "a lot from pop-culture osmosis," as defined by Robert McKee
's Story, and through a combination of "practice and reading." Writing in the typical full script style, Bendis says that he also revises his scripts "pick[ing] them to death... [to] find the best one-liners." Echoing Behind the Music
, Bendis has stated that each story arc or character within them has some inspiration in the biography of a famous rock musician, or broad musical themes or ideas. These include:
(maybe "listen[ing] and half watch[ing]" a DVD while he draws) to move from the layout to the full black & white artwork.
ed onto the overlay for ease of scanning by the colorist.
and Deena Pilgrim, police officers in a Homicide department devoted to cases that involve "powers" (people with superpowers). Walker himself used to be a costumed superhero named Diamond, but became a police officer after he lost his abilities. Though stripped of his powers, he still retains his contacts within the superhero community, even becoming engaged to an ex-colleague, who is later killed. In later issues, Walker is offered the chance to become the world's latest secret Guardian as part of The Millennium Guard, a secret group of intergalactic guardians, accepting the responsibility and the powers that come with it.
Deena Pilgrim, his partner, is also hiding at least one troubling secret. She contracted superpowers during a fight with an underworld thug named the Bug, an event which she kept under wraps. As a result of this, she unintentionally kills her abusive boyfriend in self-defense, and hides the evidence, although coming under investigation by Internal Affairs. However after a series of events involving Retro Girl going undercover, Triphammer cures Deena and she is no longer under the scrutiny of I.A.
's Savage Dragon
and Jim Valentino
's Shadowhawk
. Other creators who have lent their time and characters to Powers include: Angel Medina
, Dan Brereton
, Paul Jenkins
, Neil Vokes, Judd Winick
, Jim Krueger
, Mike Baron
, Phil Jimenez
, Scott Morse
, Marc Andreyko
, Ed Brubaker
, Joe Quesada
and David Mack
.
As the series has progressed, more notable cameo appearances of real individuals have to a greater or lesser extent furthered/augmented/commented on the plot. Powers issue #7 "Ride Along" introduced author Warren Ellis
into the Powers universe, as a writer of "graphic novels" who accompanies Walker on a "ride along" for research purposes. The Powers Ellis discuses the domination of the comics industry by superheroes and the medium of comics itself, before being revealed at the end of the issue, in a super-metatextual moment, as the author of the in-Powers-universe comic entitled "Powers". In issue #23, an analogue of Dark Horse Comics
editor Diana Schutz
is interviewed on the problematic nature of vigilante
superheroes who exist above the normal system of law, and why non-powered individuals might feel betrayed by, wary or resentful of them.
s, and then explains that "Mike and I decided very early on to create theme covers for each storyarc." "Roleplay" (issues #8–11)'s theme used "album cover designs
from albums you would find in a college dorm room." The covers homaged were:
Issues #12–14 (collected in Little Deaths) were drawn in the style of trashy gossip/celebrity tabloid magazines. The covers were styled after the following magazines:
Other covers are homages to a number of things, including:
Under Icon
, some of Volume 2's covers have been drawn in the style of various classic movie posters. Specifically, #7–10.
for Best New Series for 2001 and Brian Michael Bendis won the Best Writer Eisner Award in 2002 and 2003.
Greg Rucka
and Ed Brubaker
, whom Bendis and Oeming view as "amazing crime writers," created Gotham Central
, which Bendis and Oeming view as one of many Powers-like comics influenced by their work. Bendis notes that Rucka and Brubaker gave himself and Oeming a "heads up" that they were preparing a "cop book in the DC Universe," and entirely separate from the plethora of titles which seem to merely be attempting to ape Powers.
on the FX network and he will be writing the pilot for the show. In February 2011 it was announced that the show, now scripted by "Chick" Eglee, had been greenlit for a pilot. Charles S. Dutton
was cast as Captain Cross in May 2011. In June, Bendis revealed that the pilot would begin filming in "a few weeks". Days later, Lucy Punch
was cast as Deena Pilgrim. The following day, Jason Patric
was cast as Christian Walker and T-Mobile girl Carly Foulkes
was cast as Retro Girl.
Creator ownership
Creator ownership is an arrangement in which the creator or creators of a work of fiction retain full ownership of the material, regardless of whether it is self-published or by a corporate publisher. In some fields of publishing, such as fiction writing, creator ownership is a standard arrangement...
police procedural
Police procedural
The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...
comic book series by writer Brian Michael Bendis
Brian Michael Bendis
Brian Michael Bendis is an American comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim for his self-published, Image Comics and Marvel Comics work, and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics, with his books selling consistently highly for over a...
and artist Michael Avon Oeming
Michael Avon Oeming
Michael Avon Oeming is an American comic book creator, both as an artist and writer. He is known for using a stark art style to tell stories with sophisticated and mature subject matter.-Career:...
. The series' first volume was published by Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
from 2000 to 2004. In 2004 the series moved to Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
as a part of its Icon
Icon Comics
Icon Comics is an imprint of Marvel Comics for creator-owned titles, designed to keep select "A-list" creators producing for Marvel rather than seeing them take creator-owned work to other publishers.-History:...
imprint
Imprint
In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...
.
Combining the genres of superhero fantasy, crime noir and the police procedural
Police procedural
The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...
, the series follows the lives of two homicide detectives, Christian Walker
Christian Walker
Christian Walker is the main character starring in the comic book series Powers. He was created by writer Brian Michael Bendis, artist Michael Avon Oeming...
and Deena Pilgrim, assigned to investigate cases involving people with superhuman abilities, who are referred to colloquially as "powers".
Conception
Bendis and Oeming (and David Mack) became friends while all three were working on individual small press projects. Bendis says that he also began to "analyz[e] why it was that I [had] never attempted to write a superhero comic" at the time, while he was writing crime books such as JinxJinx (comics)
Jinx, in comics, can refer to:* Jinx , a supervillain and enemy of the Teen Titans* Jinx , a comic book series written and drawn by Brian Michael Bendis* Jinx , a G.I...
and Goldfish, despite his love of the genre. Concluding that Frank Miller
Frank Miller (comics)
Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300...
's The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
and Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons is an English comic book artist, writer and sometime letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries Watchmen and the Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything"...
' Watchmen
Watchmen
Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colourist John Higgins. The series was published by DC Comics during 1986 and 1987, and has been subsequently reprinted in collected form...
had sufficiently explored the genre, Bendis decided to work in other genres." The series' concept was derived from his love of crime fiction
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
and police procedural
Police procedural
The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...
s in general, as well as specific works such as Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets is a 1991 book written by Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon describing a year spent with detectives from the Baltimore Police Department homicide squad...
, Janis Joplin's biography, Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver is a 1976 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. The film is set in New York City, soon after the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, and Cybill Shepherd. The film was nominated for four Academy...
, T-Men
T-Men
T-Men is a semidocumentary style 1947 film noir shot in black-and-white. The film was directed by Anthony Mann with cinematography by noted noir cameraman John Alton....
, Traffic
Traffic (2000 film)
Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some of the...
) and Visions Of Light: The Art of Cinematography
Visions of Light
Visions of Light is a 1992 documentary film directed by Arnold Glassman, Todd McCarthy, and Stuart Samuels. The film is also known as Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography....
, and would take the form of a Behind the Music
Behind the Music
Behind the Music is a television series on VH1. It originally ran from 1997 to 2006, before it was stopped and only aired new episodes sporadically. The series places its generality on documentation of musical artists or groups who are interviewed and profiled, and discuss how their careers became...
-type look at superheroes. Powers, Oeming says is "a superhero universe seen through the eyes of the police... [as] observed by the media" and everyday individuals. Bendis' intention was to view the "cliches of the superhero genre through the harder eyes of the cops," but with the added layer that (echoing "Behind the Music") "every arc has some footing in a famous rock star story." Bendis' scripts are often compiled from "a list of scenes," eschewing "the big exploding ending" in favor of a "character-driven or psychological ending." Indeed, in experimenting with plots, the duo swiftly moved beyond 'mere' police precedurals (despite those being both creators' "favorite stories"), constantly pushing each other creatively in new ways. In conceiving plots for the series, Bendis emphasizes the purpose and themes in the narrative over "just being cool", and allowing the theme to dictate the direction of the story.
Bendis would collaborate with Oeming, who had already expressed interest in producing a crime/noir comic with Bendis, inspired by his attempts to get work on Batman Adventures to do a book in a style reminiscent of Bruce Timm
Bruce Timm
Bruce Walter Timm is an American character designer, animator and producer. He is also a writer and artist working in comics, and is known for his contributions building the modern DC Comics animated franchise, the DC animated universe.-Animation:Timm's early career in animation was varied; he...
and Alex Toth
Alex Toth
Alexander Toth was an American professional cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but is known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His work included Super Friends, Space Ghost, The...
. Bendis cites two images produced by Oeming (one for Bendis' Jinx
Jinx (comics)
Jinx, in comics, can refer to:* Jinx , a supervillain and enemy of the Teen Titans* Jinx , a comic book series written and drawn by Brian Michael Bendis* Jinx , a G.I...
, and one for David Mack's series Kabuki) as originating the then-experimental "Powers' style," and "inspir[ing] everything in [Powers]." (Indeed, Bendis and Oeming's first collaboration was "Mall Outing" in Jinz: True Crime Confessions. It is included in Little Deaths "for Powers completists and curiosity's sake.") Oeming has noted that, although seen as an overtly "cartoony" style, the artwork does not appeal to children, which helps sidestep the potential problem of the book, which contains mature content, being purchased by customers younger than its intended audience.
Despite both creators only having produced work in black and white before Powers, Bendis envisioned Powers in color, and convinced Oeming that it could work, despite the dramatically higher number of sales required to sustain a color comic. Bendis also convinced Oeming that the book should juxtapose both the superhero and crime noir genres, as Oeming initially shied away from the former. Bendis writes in the 'Sketchbook' section of the Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl? TPB that "one of the rules of film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
is that the city itself should be considered a lead character." To this end, he made Oeming watch Visions of Light
Visions of Light
Visions of Light is a 1992 documentary film directed by Arnold Glassman, Todd McCarthy, and Stuart Samuels. The film is also known as Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography....
a documentary by the American Cinematographers Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
about the art of lighting in film, which he saw as important to the feel of comics also. According to Oeming, both he and Bendis do copious research for their projects, and that before he began the series, he would do ride-alongs with police, meet police officials, and take extensive photo reference of their equipment. (c.f. Issue #7)
Launch
Powers was initially pitched to DC ComicsDC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
, after DC inquired of Bendis and Oeming what they were hoping to create. Bendis ultimately retained ownership of his creation, which allows him complete freedom as the writer.
Bendis and Oeming were initially worried, after having produced but not solicited two issues of the series, to learn that writer Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
was preparing what was to become Top 10
Top 10 (comic book)
Top 10 is a superhero comic book limited series published by the America's Best Comics imprint of Wildstorm, itself an imprint of DC Comics...
for America's Best Comics. Although the creators had been confident that the idea of a book juxtaposing superheroes and the police procedural had not been done previously, the knowledge that Moore was doing something similar nearly led them to abandon the series, before discovering that Top Ten featured superhero police officers and a different enough approach that led them to feel safe in continuing.
Powers was initially previewed in a series of original strips which ran in Cliff Biggers
Cliff Biggers
Cliff Biggers is a comic book writer and journalist. His first published writing appeared in fanzines in the mid-1960s. He was a founding member of the amateur press alliance Myriad and was active in the Southern Fandom Press Alliance, a southeastern-based science fiction apa...
and Ward Batty's Comic Shop News
Comic Shop News
Comic Shop News is a free weekly newspaper distributed throughout comic book specialty stores. It was launched in 1987 by Cliff Biggers and Ward Batty, both of whom continue to edit it today.- History :...
a comics-industry periodical available from many comic shops. The eight strips were colored and lettered by Bendis (before initial colorist/letterer Pat Garrahy became involved) and complimented the up-coming series as a companion piece in newspaper strip form. The strip was later serialized at the online comics magazine PopImage.com.
Debuting with sales of 12,500 (around the "break even" mark for a color comic, although "like ten thousand more" than Bendis' previous book, Torso), Powers was faced with an uncertain future, as sales of comics tend to dwindle over subsequent issues. However, Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
publisher Jim Valentino
Jim Valentino
Jim Valentino is an American writer, penciler, editor and publisher of comic books.-1970s - 1992:Valentino began his career in the late 1970s creating small press and mostly autobiographical comics. The early-mid 1980s saw normalman which first appeared as a back-up story in Aardvark-Vanaheim's...
and head of marketing Anthony Bozzi both read and enjoyed the first three issues (lettered and laid out by Bendis himself, a hang-over from his earlier fully creator-owned works where he took on the complete roles of several individuals), with Bozzi reportedly saying, "If we can't make a book like POWERS sell we really should stop making comics." Image offered to double-ship the second issue, effectively doubling the orders for that issue as an attempt to boost sales: the gamble worked, and issue #1 was soon reprinted, while according to Bendis, "issues #3–11 saw an upswing" in sales every issue. The reported Diamond pre-order figures show sales climbing above 23,000 by issue #7, and topping 30,000 with issue #14 and stabilizing between 25,000 and 30,000 for the remainder of the titles' Image run. These strong sales allowed Oeming to quit his job as a security guard, while Bendis' launch of Ultimate Spider-Man
Ultimate Spider-Man
Ultimate Spider-Man was a superhero comic book series that was published by Marvel Comics from 2000 to 2009. The series is a modernized re-imagining of Marvel's long-running Spider-Man comic book franchise as part of its Ultimate Marvel imprint...
had a positive effect on Powers sales as readers searched out his comics.
Move to Icon
In 2004, Marvel launched a new imprint for creator-owned material, open by invitation only to Marvel creators. Powers was (with Kabuki) the first series to debut under this new line, in large part due to Bendis' preeminent role as a Marvel author. The move worked well for the comic, "gain[ing] new readers" in the move from Image to Icon, with the initial issue garnering pre-orders of over 40,000 (and settling around the 30,000 mark with issues #7–8). In part, the move was precipitated by Jim Valentino stepping down as publisher of Image Comics, after having been driving force in the launch of Powers (as well as publishing Bendis' earlier works Jinx and Torso). Bendis notes that his"relationships with publishers "are always with people, not with logos."For their anniversary issue (Volume 2, issue #12 from Icon), Bendis and Oeming had planned to swap roles – Oeming writing and Bendis drawing. Unfortunately, Bendis suffered an injury to his cornea
Cornea
The cornea is the transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber. Together with the lens, the cornea refracts light, with the cornea accounting for approximately two-thirds of the eye's total optical power. In humans, the refractive power of the cornea is...
stopping him from drawing the full issue, although he did provide a cover for the issue. Powers Volume 3 launched with issue number one in November 2009. As of October 2011, only seven issues of volume 3 have been released.
Bendis has a "POWERS idea-list" and the two have "enough stories left in [them], and... the audience to keep the book going" for a while yet. Both have repeatedly stated that they "know the ending," not in terms of time frame or issue number, but as a final act of closure, having "promised to never write or draw Powers beyond the amount of fresh ideas" they have.
Script
For the TwoMorrowsTwoMorrows Publishing
TwoMorrows Publishing is a publisher of magazines about comic books, founded in 1994 by John and Pam Morrow out of their small advertising agency in Raleigh, North Carolina...
publication Draw! #5 (Winter, 2003), the Powers team produced a "behind the scenes look at the nuts and bolts creation of Powers," later collected in Powers: Supergroup. As with most comics, the issues' origins lie in the script, written for Powers by Brian Michael Bendis, a self-taught writer who explains that he learned "a lot from pop-culture osmosis," as defined by Robert McKee
Robert McKee
Robert McKee, born 1941, is a creative writing instructor who is widely known for his popular "Story Seminar", which he developed when he was a professor at the University of Southern California. McKee is the author of a "screenwriters' bible" called Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the...
's Story, and through a combination of "practice and reading." Writing in the typical full script style, Bendis says that he also revises his scripts "pick[ing] them to death... [to] find the best one-liners." Echoing Behind the Music
Behind the Music
Behind the Music is a television series on VH1. It originally ran from 1997 to 2006, before it was stopped and only aired new episodes sporadically. The series places its generality on documentation of musical artists or groups who are interviewed and profiled, and discuss how their careers became...
, Bendis has stated that each story arc or character within them has some inspiration in the biography of a famous rock musician, or broad musical themes or ideas. These include:
- Retro Girl – Inspired by Pearl: The Obsessions and Passions of Janis Joplin. The first incarnation of Retro Girl's name is Janis.
- Olympia – Based on Pamela Des BarresPamela Des BarresPamela Des Barres aka Miss Pamela is a former rock 'n' roll groupie, author, and magazine writer.- Early life :...
' memoris, I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie, in which she detailed her many liaisons with musicians. - FG-3 – Inspired by The FugeesThe FugeesFugees were a Haitian American hip hop group who rose to fame in the mid-1990s. Their repertoire included elements of Hip hop, soul and Caribbean music, particularly reggae. The members of the group were rapper/singer/producer Wyclef Jean, rapper/singer/producer Lauryn Hill, and rapper Pras Michel...
, of which Bendis is an ardent fan, and whose breakup greatly upset him. - "Roleplay" – Inspired by tribute bands and what Bendis calls "the whole wannabe aspect of life", coupled with the lifestyle of Role-playing gameRole-playing gameA role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
rs. - "Anarchy" – Inspired by Punk subculturePunk subcultureThe punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
and the anarchy mindset. - "Sellouts" – Inspired by Bendis' favorite episodes of Behind the Music, which focus on bands characterized by strife and conflict among its members, who feel like "outsiders in their own bands."
Art
Michael Avon Oeming writes that, on receipt of the script, he tends to "scribble a very small panel layout" making sure to leave space for the (copious) dialogue. He then draws (in pen) a tighter breakdown/layout, indicating "repeating panels" (for photocopying purposes) with "all [the] thought process happen[ing] in the layout" stage. By contrast, the actual "finished" artwork is then more straightforward, Oeming working with a lightboxLightbox
Lightbox may refer to:* Various backlit viewing devices:** A container with several lightbulbs and a pane of frosted glass on the top. It is used by photography professionals viewing translucent films, such as slides. This device was originally used to sort photographic plates with ease. It is also...
(maybe "listen[ing] and half watch[ing]" a DVD while he draws) to move from the layout to the full black & white artwork.
Letters
Ken Bruzenak (letterer from issue #13) writes that "Brian emails the script... a month or two early" but he doesn't look at it until receiving artwork from Oeming. Interestingly, he notes that "most of the double-page spreads are drawn smaller" than the single pages, "at printed size" rather than the standard oversized artboards used for single pages. These he photo-enlarges before lettering. Using a clear overlay, he lays out the balloons before lettering the dialogue, sometimes needing to revise the position or size of the balloons, as well as attempting to fit the balloons behind the artwork as much as possible. "Sound effects are computer generated" for uniform sounds, printed and "rubber cementRubber cement
Rubber cement is an adhesive made from elastic polymers mixed in a solvent such as acetone, hexane, heptane or toluene to keep them fluid enough to be used. Water-based formulas, often stabilised by ammonia, are also available...
ed onto the overlay for ease of scanning by the colorist.
Colors
Peter Pantazis (colorist from issue #13) also receives a copy of Bendis' script prior to the artwork, which arrives with the letter-overlays. Scanning artwork and overlays separately, the two are united in Photoshop, and the first step is adding any large black areas highlighted by Oeming on the initial artwork. Next, Pantazis sets up layers/channels before starting to add color to each, referring to Bendis' script for pointers on mood, "lighting and shadows". On another layer, he creates the "special effects" and then adds in the letters-layer and e-mails both Bendis and Oeming for comments before correcting/revising any issues (including spelling mistakes) and sending the finished artwork to the printer.Synopsis
Powers is set in a world where superpowers are relatively common but not mundane. It follows the lives of two detectives, Christian WalkerChristian Walker
Christian Walker is the main character starring in the comic book series Powers. He was created by writer Brian Michael Bendis, artist Michael Avon Oeming...
and Deena Pilgrim, police officers in a Homicide department devoted to cases that involve "powers" (people with superpowers). Walker himself used to be a costumed superhero named Diamond, but became a police officer after he lost his abilities. Though stripped of his powers, he still retains his contacts within the superhero community, even becoming engaged to an ex-colleague, who is later killed. In later issues, Walker is offered the chance to become the world's latest secret Guardian as part of The Millennium Guard, a secret group of intergalactic guardians, accepting the responsibility and the powers that come with it.
Deena Pilgrim, his partner, is also hiding at least one troubling secret. She contracted superpowers during a fight with an underworld thug named the Bug, an event which she kept under wraps. As a result of this, she unintentionally kills her abusive boyfriend in self-defense, and hides the evidence, although coming under investigation by Internal Affairs. However after a series of events involving Retro Girl going undercover, Triphammer cures Deena and she is no longer under the scrutiny of I.A.
Characters
Despite the high mortality rate, there are several recurrent characters in Powers beyond the main two. Oeming has praised Bendis' writing in giving a "real depth" to even minor figures, writing that he particularly enjoys Bendis writing "a character as an asshole and then we [the reader] learn they are more valiant than most of the [other] characters."Main characters
- Christian WalkerChristian WalkerChristian Walker is the main character starring in the comic book series Powers. He was created by writer Brian Michael Bendis, artist Michael Avon Oeming...
– Homicide Detective for the Powers division. Veteran cop Walker was previously a power before losing his abilities. There are many things about him that are still coming to light (such as his extreme longevity and immortality – "a history that may stretch back to the beginning of humankind"). His contacts with the "Powers" can be both a help and a hindrance to his investigations. Despite his longevity, he "still doesn't know how to communicate", being "locked up in his own brain" in the words of Oeming.
- Deena Pilgrim – Beginning as a rookieRookieRookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of their sport or has little or no professional experience. The term also has the more general meaning of anyone new to a profession, training or activity Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of...
, Pilgrim started off as a lowly police officer on the streets of the Powers city. Pilgrim started out as the partner of the corrupt Captain Adlard (who worked for Mama Joon, a powerful crime boss). Adlard was murdered seven years prior, timing this just before Deena's transfer request to work with Walker as part of the Powers Homicide department. Not much else is known of her past, and she harbors a number of secrets. Deena's character is based in part on Bendis' wife, and partly on Oeming's, who are "both kind of rambunctious, funny, and constantly say[ing] stuff that is shocking." She was rated as the 24th best comic book character by Empire Magazine.
Supporting characters
- Retro Girl – The first arc details the death of Retro Girl (first name Janis, last name unrevealed), a popular and powerful super-heroine. Retro Girl is in fact a legacy of women – with or without powers – who are continuously reincarnated. Walker has met several incarnations in his lifetime, but he has only vague recollections of them. The latest incarnation is Calista, a young girl he saved.
- Captain Cross – Head of the Department, he has known Walker since the 80's during and after his stint as the super-hero Diamond. They met when Diamond helped him with a case, the exact nature of which has still to be revealed. It has been noted that Walker's job might be a gift from him.
- Detective Kutter – Deceased. Bendis once explained that at least one of his characters had to be an idId, ego, and super-egoId, ego and super-ego are the three parts of the psychic apparatus defined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche; they are the three theoretical constructs in terms of whose activity and interaction mental life is described...
. Kutter is it, rude, crude and at times interfering, but despite his coarse personality he was a good detective, who merely was "constantly saying inappropriate things." He was killed during the "Legends" arc when an apparently dead "power" decapitated him.
- Triphammer – Real name Harley Cohen, an Iron ManIron ManIron Man is a fictional character, a superhero in the . The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, first appearing in Tales of Suspense #39 .A billionaire playboy, industrialist and ingenious engineer,...
-like character, he chose to disappear after the events of "Who Killed Retro Girl", in which he kills the man who has been targeting powers and was responsible for the death of Retro Girl. He briefly reappears in "Supergroup" after having had extensive plastic surgery, and in "The 25 Coolest Dead Superheroes of All Time" he develops a cure for the Powers virus. It is also revealed in this story arc that he has three daughters; one of which was murdered in this arc. He is the inventor of the "power drainer", a device capable of temporarily neutralizing the abilities of super-powered individuals.
- Calista – Her character traits are allegedly "based on Mike Oeming."
- Zora – Deceased. A power, like Christian Walker she appeared to have immortality, but unlike him, she possessed a greater capacity for memory. She and Walker knew each other for years but according to her, for much longer since the time of Ancient China. They were shortly engaged before she was killed by a government-created power known as Boogie Girl who went insane. Zora claimed that her abilities came from her complete lack of belief in all things spiritual and her acceptance that she was her own God.
Cameos
One of the series' recurring motifs, which begins in issue #4, is the liberal use of cameos. Investigating their first major crime, Walker and Pilgrim question 32 superheroes (and five pages later, 32 supervillains) for leads. Described by Bendis as both "one of [his and Oeming's] best ideas" and a "'logistical nightmare'," many of these cameo-characters were lent by "well-known comic book creator friends" of Bendis and Oeming to add a level of metatextuality and flesh out the wider Powers universe. In addition to the "brand new super hero and villain creations" solicited, some creators allowed the appearance of their well-established (creator-owned) characters – such as Mike Allred's Madman, Erik LarsenErik Larsen
Erik J. Larsen is an American comic book writer, artist and publisher. He is best known for his work on Savage Dragon, as one of the founders of Image Comics, and for his work on Spider-Man for Marvel Comics.-Early life:...
's Savage Dragon
Savage Dragon
Savage Dragon is an ongoing American comic book series created by Erik Larsen, published by Image Comics and taking place in the Image Universe. The comic features the adventures of a superheroic police officer named the Dragon...
and Jim Valentino
Jim Valentino
Jim Valentino is an American writer, penciler, editor and publisher of comic books.-1970s - 1992:Valentino began his career in the late 1970s creating small press and mostly autobiographical comics. The early-mid 1980s saw normalman which first appeared as a back-up story in Aardvark-Vanaheim's...
's Shadowhawk
Shadowhawk
ShadowHawk is a fictional comic book vigilante anti-hero created by Jim Valentino.He was first introduced in the Malibu Sun free promotional magazine in May of 1992...
. Other creators who have lent their time and characters to Powers include: Angel Medina
Angel Medina (artist)
Angel Medina is a comic book artist known for his work for various comic book companies, including Megaton Comics, First Comics, Marvel Comics, and Image Comics.-Career:...
, Dan Brereton
Dan Brereton
Dan Brereton is an American professional writer and illustrator who has produced notable work in the comic book field.-Biography:...
, Paul Jenkins
Paul Jenkins (writer)
Paul Jenkins is a British comic book writer and Gary Gygax's stepson. He has had much success crossing over into the American comic book market. Primarily working for Marvel Comics, he has had a big part shaping the characters of the company over the past decade.-Life and career:Paul Jenkins...
, Neil Vokes, Judd Winick
Judd Winick
Judd Winick is an American comic book, comic strip and television writer/artist and former reality television personality...
, Jim Krueger
Jim Krueger
Jim Krueger is an American comic book writer, novelist, and filmmaker.- Filmmaking :Kreuger's first short film, They Might Be Dragons, which he wrote, directed, and produced, won "Best In Class" at New York University , a "Best Short Film" award from the New York Independent Film Festival, and a...
, Mike Baron
Mike Baron
Mike Baron is the creator of comic books Badger and Nexus. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.-Biography:Mike Baron broke into comics with an illustrated text piece in the 1974 debut issue of Marvel Comics's Comix Book...
, Phil Jimenez
Phil Jimenez
Phil Jimenez is an American comic book writer, artist and penciller, known for his work as writer/artist on Wonder Woman from 2000 to 2003, as one of the five pencilers of the 2005-2006 miniseries Infinite Crisis, and his collaborations with writer Grant Morrison on New X-Men and The...
, Scott Morse
Scott Morse
Scott Morse is an American animator, filmmaker, and comic book artist/writer.Much of Morse's published work consists of stand-alone graphic novels, although he is perhaps best known for his epic series Soulwind, a story serialised in a sequence of graphic novels, which was nominated for both the...
, Marc Andreyko
Marc Andreyko
Marc Andreyko is a comic book and screenplay writer, known for writing the 2000s ongoing series Manhunter for DC Comics...
, Ed Brubaker
Ed Brubaker
Ed Brubaker is an Eisner Award-winning comic book writer and cartoonist. Brubaker first early comics work was primarily in the crime fiction genre with works such as Lowlife, The Fall, Sandman Presents: Dead Boy Detectives and Scene of the Crime...
, Joe Quesada
Joe Quesada
Joseph "Joe" Quesada is an American comic book editor, writer and artist. He became known in the 1990s for his work on various Valiant Comics books, such as Ninjak and Solar, Man of the Atom...
and David Mack
David W. Mack
David W. Mack is an American comic book artist and writer, best known for his creator-owned series Kabuki. Mack is known for his unique painted and collage-like work...
.
As the series has progressed, more notable cameo appearances of real individuals have to a greater or lesser extent furthered/augmented/commented on the plot. Powers issue #7 "Ride Along" introduced author Warren Ellis
Warren Ellis
Warren Girard Ellis is an English author of comics, novels, and television, who is well-known for sociocultural commentary, both through his online presence and through his writing, which covers transhumanist themes...
into the Powers universe, as a writer of "graphic novels" who accompanies Walker on a "ride along" for research purposes. The Powers Ellis discuses the domination of the comics industry by superheroes and the medium of comics itself, before being revealed at the end of the issue, in a super-metatextual moment, as the author of the in-Powers-universe comic entitled "Powers". In issue #23, an analogue of Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
editor Diana Schutz
Diana Schutz
Diana Schutz is a comic book editor, most notable as editor in chief of Comico during its peak years and for her continuing tenure at Dark Horse Comics, for whom she has worked since 1990...
is interviewed on the problematic nature of vigilante
Vigilante
A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....
superheroes who exist above the normal system of law, and why non-powered individuals might feel betrayed by, wary or resentful of them.
Covers
In his introduction to the bonus materials section of Powers: Roleplay, Bendis highlights five Superhero comic cover clichéCliché
A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning,...
s, and then explains that "Mike and I decided very early on to create theme covers for each storyarc." "Roleplay" (issues #8–11)'s theme used "album cover designs
Album cover
An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
from albums you would find in a college dorm room." The covers homaged were:
- Issue #8 – Janis JoplinJanis JoplinJanis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
and Big Brother and the Holding CompanyBig Brother and the Holding CompanyBig Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane. They are best known as the band that featured Janis Joplin as their...
's "Cheap Thrills" Original drawn by Robert CrumbRobert CrumbRobert Dennis Crumb —known as Robert Crumb and R. Crumb—is an American artist, illustrator, and musician recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded... - Issue #9 – The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "A Hard Day's NightA Hard Day's Night (album)A Hard Day's Night is the third studio album by The Beatles, released on 10 July 1964 as the soundtrack to their film A Hard Day's Night. The American version of the album was released two weeks earlier, on 26 June 1964 by United Artists Records, with a different track listing...
" (UK release) - Issue #10 – Sinéad O'ConnorSinéad O'ConnorSinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
's "I Do Not Want What I Haven't GotI Do Not Want What I Haven't GotI Do Not Want What I Haven't Got is the second album by Sinéad O'Connor. It was released in 1990 on Chrysalis Records.-Description:The critically acclaimed album contains her most famous single, "Nothing Compares 2 U", and was one of the best selling records in the world in 1990, topping the charts...
" - Issue #11 – The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "The Beatles/'The White Album'The Beatles (album)The Beatles is the ninth official album by the English rock group The Beatles, a double album released in 1968. It is also commonly known as "The White Album" as it has no graphics or text other than the band's name embossed on its plain white sleeve.The album was written and recorded during a...
"
Issues #12–14 (collected in Little Deaths) were drawn in the style of trashy gossip/celebrity tabloid magazines. The covers were styled after the following magazines:
- Issue #12 – PeoplePeople (magazine)In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
- Issue #13 – Hello!Hello!Hello is a weekly magazine specializing in celebrity news and human-interest stories, published in the United Kingdom since 1988. Hello is sister magazine to ¡Hola!, the Spanish weekly magazine launched in Spain in 1944...
- Issue #14 – GlobeThe Globe (tabloid)Globe is a supermarket tabloid first published North America on November 10, 1954 in Montreal, Canada as Midnight by Joe Azaria and John Vader and became the chief competitor to the National Enquirer during the 1960s. In 1978 it changed its name to the Midnight Globe after its publisher, Globe...
- The Powers website – P! Online – is modelled after Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
's "E! Online".
- The Powers website – P! Online – is modelled after Entertainment Weekly
Other covers are homages to a number of things, including:
- Issue #26 – Alex TothAlex TothAlexander Toth was an American professional cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but is known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His work included Super Friends, Space Ghost, The...
's rendition of DC ComicsDC ComicsDC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
' Superfriends
Under Icon
Icon Comics
Icon Comics is an imprint of Marvel Comics for creator-owned titles, designed to keep select "A-list" creators producing for Marvel rather than seeing them take creator-owned work to other publishers.-History:...
, some of Volume 2's covers have been drawn in the style of various classic movie posters. Specifically, #7–10.
Daily strip
The first through fourth story arcs, "Who Killed Retro Girl?", "Roleplay", "Little Deaths" and "Supergroup", were published online in a daily page-per-day format, and the fifth arc, "Anarchy", was being released but has since ceased it's release days. also the story "little deaths" is incomplete.- "Who Killed Retro Girl?"
- "Roleplay"
- "Little Deaths"
- "Supergroup"
- "Anarchy"
Recognition and influence
The series won the Eisner AwardEisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
for Best New Series for 2001 and Brian Michael Bendis won the Best Writer Eisner Award in 2002 and 2003.
Greg Rucka
Greg Rucka
Gregory "Greg" Rucka is an American comic book writer and novelist, known for his work on such comics as Action Comics, Batwoman: Detective Comics, and the miniseries Superman: World of New Krypton for DC Comics, and for novels such as his Queen & Country series.-Career:Rucka's writing career...
and Ed Brubaker
Ed Brubaker
Ed Brubaker is an Eisner Award-winning comic book writer and cartoonist. Brubaker first early comics work was primarily in the crime fiction genre with works such as Lowlife, The Fall, Sandman Presents: Dead Boy Detectives and Scene of the Crime...
, whom Bendis and Oeming view as "amazing crime writers," created Gotham Central
Gotham Central
Gotham Central is a police procedural comic book series that was published by DC Comics. It was written by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka, with pencils initially by Michael Lark....
, which Bendis and Oeming view as one of many Powers-like comics influenced by their work. Bendis notes that Rucka and Brubaker gave himself and Oeming a "heads up" that they were preparing a "cop book in the DC Universe," and entirely separate from the plethora of titles which seem to merely be attempting to ape Powers.
Television
Bendis has confirmed that there will be a Powers TV showPowers (FX TV series)
Powers is an FX Network American television adaptation of the Powers comic book series that has finished shooting and is expected to begin airing in 2012.-Cast:* Jason Patric as Christian Walker* Lucy Punch as Deena Pilgrim* Charles S...
on the FX network and he will be writing the pilot for the show. In February 2011 it was announced that the show, now scripted by "Chick" Eglee, had been greenlit for a pilot. Charles S. Dutton
Charles S. Dutton
Charles Stanley Dutton is an American stage, film, and television actor and director. He is perhaps best known for his roles as "Fortune" in the film Rudy and "Dillon" in Alien 3...
was cast as Captain Cross in May 2011. In June, Bendis revealed that the pilot would begin filming in "a few weeks". Days later, Lucy Punch
Lucy Punch
Lucy Punch is an English actress. Her credits include the television shows Doc Martin and The Class, and the films Hot Fuzz and Bad Teacher.-Life and career:...
was cast as Deena Pilgrim. The following day, Jason Patric
Jason Patric
Jason Patric is an American film, television and stage actor. He may be best-known for his roles in the films The Lost Boys, Sleepers, Your Friends & Neighbors, Narc, The Losers and Speed 2: Cruise Control. His father was actor/playwright Jason Miller...
was cast as Christian Walker and T-Mobile girl Carly Foulkes
Carly Foulkes
Carly Foulkes , also known colloquially as The T-Mobile Girl, The T-Mobile 4G Girl, or The T-Mobile myTouch Girl, is a Canadian-born model and actress best known for appearing in a series of 2010 and 2011 T-Mobile myTouch 4G television commercials, in which she often wears pink/magenta and white...
was cast as Retro Girl.
TPB Collections
Others
- Powers Vol. 1 hardcover (collects Vol. 1 #1–11, Powers Activity And Coloring Book; ISBN 0-7851-1805-5)
- Powers Vol. 2 hardcover (collects Vol. 1 #12–24; Annual 1 ISBN 0-7851-2440-3)
- Powers Vol. 3 hardcover (collects Vol. 1 #25–37; ISBN 0-7851-3309-7)
- Powers Vol. 4 hardcover (collects Vol. 2 #1–18; ISBN 0-7851-5316-0)
- Powers: Script Book (reprints original scripts for Vol. 1 #1–11; ISBN 1-58240-233-7)