Follow the series that made Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming comic-book superstars! Detectives Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim work special homicide cases that involve Powers. Superheroes have "groupies" like anyone in the spotlight - but when a famous superhero dies, could the culprit be one of them? Plus: Warren Ellis goes on a ride-along with our favorite detectives! This completely redesigned, reformatted and reworked hardcover is perfect for both new readers and old! This collection also includes the Powers Coloring and Activity Book! "Bendis is the funny-pages descendant of Sam Fuller, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino..." - Entertainment Weekly "Bendis has rapidly become a true master of comic-book creation!" - Comic Buyer's Guide "It's one of the best collaborations ever seen in a comic book." - Ain't It Cool News
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Comics about comics continue to multiply with varying degrees of success. Here, the Eisner Award-winning Powers series cleverly adds noirish suspense and pathos to its own postmodern wink in the genre's mirror. In an unnamed city where superheroes not only save lives but end up in photo shoots and car commercials, police detective Christian Walker, a former superhero who has mysteriously lost his powers, and his hipster-chick partner, Deena Pilgrim, investigate crimes related to those with "powers" (superpowers, that is). This volume centers on the death of Olympia, a Superman stand-in, found dead of a heart attack, in flagrante delicto. In this series, superheroes have groupies and are lonely and misunderstood. Bendis offers fake newspaper articles, advertisements and a People magazine-like scandal sheet called Powers to create a satirical world of superheroes much like his obvious inspiration, Alan Moore's The Watchmen. Bendis has a knack for snappy pulp dialogue and takes pleasure in presenting the gritty, seedy underbelly of a city where superheroes have all the visibility and nasty problems of Hollywood stars. Bendis combines a literary naturalism with cop-show suspense to generate a genuine interest in his characters. Oeming offers a deco and animation-influenced style with clean panels and cinematic storytelling. The book also includes "Ride Along," a short story featuring comics writer Warren Ellis as himself, babbling about the death of superhero comics while accompanying Walker in order to research his own graphic novels. It's all very inside-comics, meant to add a sense of reality to Bendis's world and it makes for a fun, engaging read.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Powers Story That Suffers From TPB Format,
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This review is from: Powers Volume 3: Little Deaths (Powers (Graphic Novels)) (Paperback)
I am liking Bendis' Powers more and more with each subsequent volume. The series tells the story of a world where superheroes are very common. Known as powers, these people try to protect the city from more sinister powers, though there is a good amount of corruption and ineptitude throughout the ranks of the powers. That is why there are people like Det. Christian Walker and Det. Deena Pilgrim, who work in the powers-related crimes department of the police precint. If a powers is killed, commits homocide, or is involved in any other type of crime, Walker and Pilgrim are on the scene to investigate.
The main story in Little Deaths has to do with the death of Olympia, a powers who was admired by many women for his good looks and strong build. When he is found dead in a ratty apartment building without any marks or blood, Walker and Pilgrim begin an investigation that for a long time leads absolutely nowhere aside from the fact that Olympia apparently had a redhead fetish. Ridealong is a brilliant one-shot story with guest star Warren Ellis as himself! Bendis writes his colleague into the story to serve as a shadow to Walker. Ellis is writing a new crime comic and wants to make it as realistic as possible. What ensues are a bunch of awkward moments between Ellis and Walker, who is none too pleased to have some random guy tagging along on an assignment. One small problem with Ridealong is that it is issue 7, but it is put after issue 15 in the TPB format, and there are references to the Who Killed Retro Girl? arc that may seem weird and outdated if the reader didn't know that the issue was supposed to take place before the second trade paperback. Other material includes the special Issue 1/2, the annual, and the Powers coloring book, which is absolutely hilarious (it makes fun of superhero genre cliches). The biggest problem with this collection is not the story but the binding. Bendis uses a lot of 2-page spreads, and some of the art and dialogue gets lost in the binding, which is extremely annoying. However, if you can get over this, the art and dialogue that you can see is great.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not As Good As Other,
By
This review is from: Powers Volume 3: Little Deaths (Powers (Graphic Novels)) (Paperback)
This book is not a single storyline, like the other books in the series, but rather three different stories--the death of a popular super hero, a fun annual featuring Warren Ellis as himself, and a has-been hero involved in a (semi) mysterious plot.While not exactly fitting into the ongoing continuity of the series, this collection offers another unique look at Bendis' and Oeming's super hero world. Included in this odd compilation is a People-esque "Powers" magazine, an entire script from an unseen court case, and a humorous section of a coloring book. Some notables in this collection are Oeming's stylish noir style, the good coloring work, and, of course, Bendis' fantastic dialogue and writing. Even though this volume doesn't really fit into the continuity of the series, and is not as strong as other books in the series, it is definitely worth checking out by "Powers" fans. NOTE: this book is recommended for older readers due to strong language and violence/gore (a comic book equivalent to an R-rated movie).
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The pothole in the Powers road.,
By
This review is from: Powers Volume 3: Little Deaths (Powers (Graphic Novels)) (Paperback)
Brian Michael Bendis, Powers: Little Deaths (Image, 2001)
I'm still not quite sure what to make of Little Deaths, the third book in Brian Michael Bendis' Powers series. For one thing, there's a story arc to it-- kind of-- but that takes up very little time. For another, the things we've come to care about in the series-- the characters-- also take second stage. This is a book that feels like Bendis had wanted to do projects like this while working on some other lines, and since he now had his own, he was capable of doing them, so he sat down and did them. A coloring book? I mean, come on. The stories, when they're there, are up to the usual standard. Warren Ellis takes center stage in the second story as a ride-along on one of Walker's calls, a scandal surrounds superhero Olympia when he dies while having an affair, and an outcast superhero and his old nemesis meet for a final time. There's some setting up of the next volume-- specifically, the ubiquitousness and power of the tabloid press in Bendis' dysfunctional metropolis-- but, really, this volume simply isn't integral to the series, and can safely be skipped. ** ½
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