The Authority Vol. 4: Transfer of Power [Paperback]

Mark Millar (Author), Tom Peyer (Author)

Book Description

Series: Authority | Publication Date: October 1, 2002

Trade paperback.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Wildstorm (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401200206
• ISBN-13: 978-1401200206
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 6.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #651,418 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Along with Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar has been one of the key writers for Marvel Comics in the 21st century. After proving himself in the '90s as a talent to watch while writing for DC Comics and the UK comic 2000AD, his arrival to Marvel came at a time when Ultimate Spider-Man had just shot up the sales charts. It was in this environment that Millar made his first major contribution to Marvel with Ultimate X-Men, as Millar integrated forty years' worth of X-Men history, characters and lore into a solid two-year run, making the companion title to Ultimate Spider-Man every bit the creative and commercial success. Next up was The Ultimates, a new rendering of the Avengers that was to continue building on the success of the Ultimate line. He and artist Bryan Hitch pulled it all off in spades: The Ultimates and its sequel, Ultimates 2, were ensconced at the top of the sales charts every month; what's more, they were critical successes, as well. Meanwhile, Millar was invited to enter the regular Marvel Universe to take a stab at two of its most iconic characters: Spider-Man and Wolverine. Paired with industry heavyweights to draw his stories -- Terry Dodson on Marvel Knights Spider-Man and John Romita Jr. on Wolverine -- Millar brought the same fast-paced and cleverly constructed plots with which his Ultimate fans were already familiar. Amid building a small library of Millarworld indie comic books -- including the titles Chosen and Wanted, the latter of which was turned into a Hollywood blockbuster starring Angelina Jolie -- he managed to write Civil War, the epic seven-issue miniseries that definitively reshaped the landscape of Marvel's heroes. Kick-A**, a Marvel Icon project done in tandem with John Romita Jr., made an impressive impact on the sales chart before also being adapted for a major motion picture. In addition, Millar has reunited with Civil War artist Steve McNiven in both the pages of Wolverine and their creator-owned book Nemesis.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Spotty Send-Off For The World's Meanest Super-Team., January 13, 2003

By 

Daniel V. Reilly (Upstate New York, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Authority Vol. 4: Transfer of Power (Paperback)

In it's original incarnation as a monthly comic, the "Transfer of Power" story arc was one of the most troubled comics in recent history. In it's collected edition, it's a spotty mess, with a few glimpses of brilliance.

Writer Mark Millar had already decided Transfer of Power would be his last story arc, but after completing one issue, Artist Frank Quitely jumped ship to illustrate Marvel's New X-Men. (I consider Quitely's abrupt departure from the book that made him famous at best unprofessional. At worst, downright $h!tty...) This left DC/Wildstorm with a big problem: Since the artist they tapped to finish off the story, Art Adams, is notoriously slow, how could they keep the book coming out in a relatively timely fashion? Answer: Since The Authority are killed and replaced by an even MORE vicious team in the first chapter, Tom Peyer and Dustin Nguyen would create a 4-issue fill-in that would detail the new team's adventures. Adams STILL wasn't able to get his three issues done, so Gary Erskine needed to do the art chores on the final issue. And in the midst of all of this, September 11th made the suits at DC rethink their stance on publishing such a violent book....So this simple 4-issue story became an 8-issue mess that dragged on for almost two years, and also became the swan-song for The Authority. (After all the hubbub, DC is quietly getting ready to lauch a new version of The Authority, with an unknown creative team....yay.)

The story starts off strong, as a Government sanctioned Hillbilly/Billion Dollar Cyborg is sent to kill The Authority, and seemingly succeeds. The team is replaced with a bunch of brutal look-alikes, who waste no time in putting the entire Universe in deadly peril. Only The Midnighter (with little Jenny Quantum in tow) has any hope of putting things right. The DRASTIC differences in artistic styles really make the book seem schizophrenic; Nguyen's style just doesn't mesh with Quitely & Adams' cartoony artistry, and the realistic renderings of Gary Erskine aren't a good fit to follow two chapters of Art Adams. All of the artists involved are very talented, but read as a whole, the book has no artistic flow. Peyer's fill-in arc is okay, but nothing special. It could have easily been skipped entirely, and nothing would have been lost, story-wise. I did enjoy the hillbilly killer, Seth, but the final fate he suffers is taken whole cloth from Garth Ennis' excellent Preacher. I was hoping for something a little worse. I also enjoyed the realistic relationship between The Authority's Batman/Superman duo, The Midnighter & Apollo. Maybe one of the best romantic relationships in comics today.

While FAR from the best Authority tale (See Warren Ellis' issues for those), Transfer of Power has it's share of powerful moments, and is worth a look for fans of the team. I just wish they could have gotten a better send-off.....

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Over a year to complete the series...., October 7, 2003

By 

N. Chodoba "arrbogast" (Torrington, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Authority Vol. 4: Transfer of Power (Paperback)

It is true that the ups and downs of the last 8 issues of the authority were tumultuous, both in context and in waiting to see the stories get published. Those of us who loved The Authority in its initial run definitely remember waiting months, even half a year, for the next installment, but I think overall it was worth the wait. The story is so bleak at points that you feel the characters will never recover. For anyone who has read The Authority, you know what you are in for: Life or Death struggles to the unfathomable power. Unbeatable odds. Authority taking on Authority. A genetically altered mountain man called Seth with 2,012 powers!!! Politics with attitude. At times the violence is outrageous, and the plot twists even more so, but that is all part of the fun. This book reprints the last 8 issues of the series from #22 - 29, and it is a hell of a ride. Join Jack Hawksmoor, Apollo, The Midnighter, The Engineer, Swift, and The Doctor for the battle of their lifetimes! It is to comics what the Dead Kennedys were to punk.
Seriously.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unfortunate and Disappointing, September 15, 2007

By 

CB - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Authority Vol. 4: Transfer of Power (Paperback)

The Authority was a brilliant concept and, indeed, the first two collected volumes of this groundbreaking comic are quite good - although, perhaps, they don't live up to the hype the series has received. Things have only gotten worse from there. The third volume, Earth Inferno, seemed concent to concentrate simply on cruelty and outrageous violence. His fourth installment, I'm sad to say, is even worse. While it has a promising beginning, its set-up and execution are quite poor: Essentially, the Authority's penchant for earth-changing superpolitics has earned them the ire and enmity of the Powers That Be on earth, a cabal of industrialists who control world politics. Each of the members is captured by a superpowered mutant named Seth, while a new and more complacent Authority takes over and immediately makes a muddle of things.

The writers of this volume squander some promising opportunities with this storyline by wasting time - most of this volume is concentrated on showing the audience what a rotten group of human beings the replacement Authority is, as thus cuts out plot in favor of excess and attempts to shock the audience, which fail utterly. Additionally, the art is quite poor in this volume - Frank Quitely, whose art lent a disquieting shadow to the comic, only pencils about two issues, and the rest is in a sort of cartoony style that doesn't fit. A bright spot is that two of the chapters are penciled by the iminitable Art Adams, whose style works amazingly well with this book. Overall, however, a very disappointing installment that does little to develop the characters of the Authority or advance the (originally) high-concept philosophy of the comic.