Powers is a creator-owned comic book series written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Michael Avon Oeming. The series' first volume was published by Image Comics from 2000 to 2004, the latter moving to Marvel Comics as a part of its Icon imprint. In 2018 it moved to DC Comics as part of its Jinxworld imprint. The Jinxworld imprint moved in 2021 to Dark Horse Comics. The characters and its creators appear in Crossover by Image Comics.

Combining the genres of superhero fiction, 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".

Publication history

Conception

Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Avon Oeming and David W. 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 Jinx 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 procedurals in general, as well as specific works such as Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets,

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 The Batman Adventures to do a book in a style reminiscent of Bruce Timm and Alex Toth. Bendis also convinced Oeming that the book should juxtapose both the superhero and crime noir genres, as Oeming initially shied away from the former.

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. Image Comics publisher Jim Valentino and head of marketing Anthony Bozzi, however, 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. 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. After a year-long hiatus, Powers resumed circulation with Volume 3 #8 on February 8, 2012.

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.

Inspirations

  • Retro Girl – inspired by Pearl: The Obsessions and Passions of Janis Joplin. 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".

Supporting characters

  • Retro Girl: The first arc details the death of Retro Girl (first name Janis, last name unrevealed), who is 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 Secor, a young girl he saved.
  • Captain Cross is the head of the department, and 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: Bendis once explained that at least one of his characters had to be an id. Kutter is rude, crude and at times interfering, but despite his coarse personality he was a good detective, who merely was "constantly saying inappropriate things". The Powers Ellis discusses 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. "Roleplay" (issues #8–11)'s theme used "album cover designs from albums, in Bendis's words, "you would find in a college dorm room".
  • "Roleplay"
  • "Little Deaths"
  • "Supergroup"
  • "Anarchy"

Recognition and influence

The series won the Eisner Award 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. Two seasons were produced.

In March 2026, an adult animated television series is in development at Netflix. Co-creators Bendis and Oeming are heavily involved in the show's development.