Customer Reviews

The Authority Vol. 4: Transfer of Power

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.....

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.

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.

Mark Millar's twelve-issue run on "The Authority" comes to a conclusion in this trade, though it is unfortunately a rather muted one compared to his previous stories (though 'muted' should not be taken to mean that Millar has eased up on his gloriously profane, gory style, but rather that it lacks a certain je ne sais quoi in comparison to "Earth Inferno"). The story had a rather troubled production history, thanks to several changes of artist, necessitating a fill-in arc by writer Tom Peyer and artist Dustin Nguyen (who would later return to the book with writer Ed Brubaker); Peyer's writing is okay, but it does not overcome the spectre of its own nature as a fill-in, an easy trap that fill-ins often fall into.

The story is the climax of Millar's overarching story, the fallout of the Authority's adoption of a more proactive role in what are traditionally not fields that superheroes act in: the political realm, which happens to be perhaps Millar's favourite of all the places to visit in comics. Jack Hawksmoor, the Authority's leader, made a point of rebuking President Clinton in the first arc for attempting to rein them in. In this arc, the New World Order's retaliation arives: in the first issue, a monstrous superhuman named Seth (a grotesque parody of a Southern redneck) is sent to take down the Authority, and this is what he does, systematically eliminating everyone in short order, to make room for a new seven-member team, one from each of the members of the G7. Much as Wolverine alone escaped the X-Men's first battle with the Hellfire Club, Midnighter, along with baby Jenny Quantum, makes his getaway. This first issue, drawn by Frank Quitely, abruptly cuts into Peyer's fill-in arc, focussing on the takeover team. This is a decent arc, but, as previously related, it's filler.

Once this arc ends (though it has the interesting effect of featuring the Authority's replacements much more than was Millar's intent had his initial four-issue story gone as planned), we return to Millar's story, with two installments drawn by Art Adams (whose slowness prompted the fill-in) and one by Gary Erskine (because even the fill-in didn't give Adams enough time). Midnighter fights back, gorily taking down the replacements. For a final arc, there really is not much of the team as a whole; this is basically all about Midnighter, while everyone else waits to be rescued. They don't even get to fight back against their usurpers, apart from Midnighter (and, to lesser extents, Apollo). Swift does get a good scene, which is rare for her.

Millar gets in some commentary about corporatism and globalization here (the Shaman's replacement opens up the Garden of Ancestral Memory to developers, and tries ot kill the gods in order to standardize belief), and his customary violent action, but it is not as enjoyable as the preceding "Earth Inferno" arc, my favourite.

The Authority are gotten rid of by a psychotically kitted out monster machine of a hillbilly and replaced with similar heroes albeit without the morals and intention of safeguarding the Earth. This new Authority ends up causing genocide and it's up to the original sole surviving Authority member - Midnighter - to get rid of this new Authority and bring back the old.

The book is pretty good with Mark Millar writing the first issue and the last 3 in the book which were the best parts of it. A different writer Tom Peyer takes over for a large part of the book and doesn't do enough to make the story interesting. Frank Quitely's art is as awe-inspiring as ever, especially his depiction of the deranged mecha-hillbilly.

It's probably from this book that gave Wildstorm the idea to give Midnighter his own series as his revenge driven part of the book is the best part of it and is probably the only reason to read this. There's also Midnighter and Apollo's wedding at the end. Ahh.

A good enough read for the most part, Millar shows why he's a name writer in the comics world and we get to see another blood-drenched Authority story.

The money that runs the world builds a killing machine superhuman out of a hillbilly and a ridiculous amount of money. This guy has more superpowers than he can even name.

Anyway, the rich and powerful cabal that is unhappy that The Authority is more powerful than they are, now, sends him out to take them down, and puts into place a puppet Authority that they can control, including a male version of Jenny Sparks who is a Beckham sendup.

Highly entertaining.

Mark Millar never disappoints.

If Warren Ellis invented the concept of widescreen comics, then Millar perfected it. This entire volume is in your face, never pulls its punches, and makes you glad you got into comics in the first place.

You have to keep in mind that when the source material was published back around 2001, the world lost its sense of humor, and in way, its tolerance for edgy work. It's no small wonder that this volume marks Millar's last work for DC, and the end of The Authority (for a little while), given the offensive content. But man, it's one hell of a fun ride.

It must be said that Millar did not write the entire volume, but it's hardly noticeable. The whole thing has the same tone, the same irreverence, throughout.

My only gripe with this work was the deus ex machina used to wrap up a hanging plot thread at the end, but since it was such a fun read, I can let it slide.

So-so. The Authority at least meant Millar could cut his teeth for The Ultimates. Read that instead.

I really enjoyed volumes 1-3 of the The Authority. I hated volume 4. To be fair, if what you like about The Authority is extremely graphic violence and sadism mixed in with a little interesting thought about whether super heroes could make the world a better place, and if you don't care about the characters in volumes 1-3 at all, then volume 4 is for you. However, if you buy a The Authority novel with the expectation that The Authority team will be on more than a few pages of the book, then skip this one. Trust me, you won't miss a thing.

I picked up this comic in the library as I was not familiar with the premise for The Authority. I gathered that it was about a bunch of superheroes storyline.
Obviously I am missing something here as I couldn't understand the book nor did I bother to finish it as it was obviously part of a running series. If these heroes are world beaters, why do they have everyday problems? Stan Lee did it best with Spiderman. But Spiderman was no world beater.
Funny how comics has evolved to the point where it is all about niche interests and on-going cataclysmic events. What is there to do for a finale?