One of the things that often presented a challenge to our “review a day” format at Comics Daily was the sheer inconsistency of comics shipping – the fact that, although there should really ostensibly be a fairly even spread of comics worth reviewing (whether a book we’re buying anyway, or one we wouldn’t if we weren’t reviewing but considered worth trying to say something about) over the four (or sometimes five) shipping weeks of each month. But that often wouldn’t tend to be the case, and we were frequently left scrabbling over B- or C-list main superhero universe titles that – and no disrespect to the creators involved – aren’t always the easiest thing to find an angle on if you’re not a fan.

Conversely, we’d often find ourselves with a week where there were lots of books we fancied covering, but simply didn’t have the time between us. Often, a lot of my favourite books – from Phonogram to Batman and Robin, Captain Britain to Ultimate Spider-Man – end up coming out in the same week, which makes for a fun visit to Forbidden Planet, but a difficult quandary when working out what to write about. Our “Sunday Pages” capsule review posts would help with this, obviously – and both James and I have also tended to find of late that these shorter reviews are quite enjoyable to put together. With that scheduled series of posts temporarily on hold, however (I, or we, may revisit it at some point – but for the moment one of the things we’re exploring with the new format is not having a specific schedule to stick to beyond “something every day”), there won’t be a regular set of capsules each week, but every so often a week may come along in which I feel the urge to ramble on about a handful of books. This is just such a week, so read on for brief reviews of Powers, Ex Machina, S.W.O.R.D. and more…

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There’s a tendency to feel immediately cynical at the prospect of yet another Powers relaunch. It’s beginning to feel like every time Bendis reaches a point where it’s a bit difficult to continue, he stops for a breather and the convenience of a relaunch some time later. Volume one ended with an arc so phenomenally good, not to mention status quo-shattering, that there was a genuine feeling of “Where the hell can we go from here?” Volume two, meanwhile, promised much to begin with, but never really seemed to get a handle on where it was going (and never adequately dealt with the most interesting potential subplot, that of Christian’s newfound status as a Green L… sorry, “Guardian”) and was severely hampered by delays. What with Deena Pilgrim seemingly out of the picture at the close of play too, even the most ardent Powers fan of old could be forgiven for wondering if there was any point ever bringing it back at all.

But dammit, never mind even that it’s a new #1 – the fact that it’s a new issue of Powers is still enough to bring me crawling back: I loved this book too damned much in its heyday to give up on it now. And the year-long break in publication at least offers the chance to step back and start to look at the book’s world from a new perspective, and more effectively take the story in new directions. Not least due to the new partnership that makes up the book’s lead pairing (although Bendis assures readers as early as this first issue’s letters page that Deena has most decidely not gone for good, which is encouraging) – although on early evidence, the dynamic needs a bit of work to be both compelling, and also distinguishable from the way Christian and Deena were in the book’s very early issues; I can’t help but wonder if it might have been better to have his new partner distrusting of him, rather than retreading it being the other way round.

Where this manages to interest, though, is in taking us back to the realm of flashbacks to Walker’s earlier life. Throughout Forever, the running theme was of him as the implacable good guy – so it’s genuinely a jarring moment to see him as part of a Rat Pack-esque gang of ’50s powers, bullying and… well, gangstering their way through life. The suggestion that he’s clearly not “all there” at the time – as evidenced by constant references to his drinking – would seem to offer an explanation, but I’m fully intrigued as to how he got into that state in the first place. But it’s only the flashbacks (and the points at which they tie to the story in the present) that really drive the issue along – and they can’t shake off the feeling that Powers‘ current setup feels a bit lifeless without you-know-who around.

Still, it’s effortless in its craft – from the characteristic flair with dialogue, to a pretty funny opening scene featuring a useless powered hoodlum with an uncanny resemblence to Joss Whedon (no, seriously), and of course the artwork of Oeming – although a gratuitous sex scene almost feels like it’s in there purely because… well, because it’s Powers. But I’ve got to admit – as suspicious as I might want to get about the motivations behind taking such a long break, it may just have worked. I was looking forward to this a lot more than I would have been had there only been three months rather than a year since the end of volume two; and while it may not be setting the world on fire just yet, you can forgive a lot when you’re just glad to have an old friend back.

So… is anyone actually reading Powers any more? It may sound like a stupid question, but it appears to have become a series that nobody really talks about. I closed this issue feeling like I’d just read the absolute end of the series – but surely if that were the case, it would have made news somewhere? And with solicitation evidence in the letterpages contradicting me, I hopped online to try and clear things up – only to find barely any mention anywhere that this ish even existed (Comics Daily might, for the first time, be about to hold the distinction of being the only site to review a particular comic – and one, lest we forget, released under the Marvel umbrella).

So is this the end? A recent interview with Bendis suggests not – although the series is due to take a break before apparently relaunching with volume three, next year so that “#31″ solititation would appear to be out of date after all. But to be perfectly frank, even if this issue isn’t the end, its contents suggest that it really should be. Because if the series is to carry on from here, it’s going to have to do so without Deena Pilgrim.

Yes, closure is the order of the day here – while nothing terminal happens to her, this really is the end of Deena’s story. She’s cured of the powers virus, she’s out of the force for good, she’s out of the country. We’re finally given an answer to the long-standing question of whether she really did murder Johnny Royale – and we even see the resolution of some long-standing sexual tension as she and Walker “break an unwritten rule” and share an affectionate, firmly platonic hug. Unless Bendis is planning a major, major fakeout – and even if he were, it’d be hard to see exactly where he could go with the character – then that’s it.

And it’s no surprise that the end of Deena’s story feels like the end of the book as a whole. Despite Bendis’ attempts to lay focus on the background of Christian, she’s always been the real heart of the story. The last time she was out of the book, it suffered – not that “Forever” wasn’t an intriguing tale, but it didn’t really feel like Powers. And neither will any other series without her. But then, you could argue that Powers hasn’t felt like Powers for some time. It’s painful to say it, because every arc up to and including the shocking “The Sell-Outs” was better than the one before (and it started off as one of the best books out there), and as such it’s been a book I’ve been rigidly loyal to. But despite the odd good moment or issue, it hasn’t really felt right ever since the first hiatus and relaunch. Scheduling problems haven’t helped, of course – especially in a book where each arc reads better in one go – but the series has felt increasingly like an afterthought rather than the important, vibrant comic it used to be (for another example of this, see Ex Machina).

Still. It’s perhaps premature to write Powers‘ obituary just yet, so let’s hang fire until Bendis gives a clearer idea of just what he plans to do with it. Instead, I should at least spend a bit of time talking about the issue itself. And as it happens, it’s one of the better ones for some time. With the main plot details of this latest arc all but wrapped up, it’s simply a case of dealing with, and reflecting on, the aftermath. And this is the sort of thing that Bendis does well. The character beats are strong – if subtle, and meaningful only to long-time readers – and there’s tonnes of dialogue (a reader coming to the series for the first time would probably laugh out loud at the layout of one double-page spread in particular – but sod it, it’s Powers, it’s always been like this). Tonally, it does feel like you always imagined Deena’s departure should.

If there’s a disappointing aspect of the issue in isolation, though, then it comes on the art front. It’s not that there’s anything particularly wrong with Oeming’s storytelling, his style or anything else (I mean, I’m sure there are people out there who don’t really like his style – but they’re not going to be reading Powers. Me, I’ve liked his work since day one of this book) – in fact, the issue as a whole is deeply atmospheric, the visual tone suiting that of the story. It’s just… well, maybe it’s the lengthy gaps that occur between issues nowadays, but he seems to be losing his handle on the characters – Christian in particular. Indeed, Walker looks so different nowadays to his “classic” look that I wonder if it’s a deliberate stylistic choice – gone is the chunky, grizzled, square-jawed cop of days gone by, replaced with someone taller (ludicrously tall, in fact), skinnier and, even, younger-looking. The double-page I mentioned earlier actually features perhaps the worst example of this – I know Oeming employs a cartoony style, but like all good cartoonists, he’s still usually spot on with consistency in his figures even as he’s exaggerating them. Here, though, Walker just looks wrong. And if I’ve dwelt on that a bit too much, perhaps it’s just that it’s symptomatic of how different the book feels to the days of “Who Killed Retro Girl?” and “Supergroup”. Deena herself, meanwhile, even looks inconsistent from page to page at times – but then, there are chunks of the issue that do feel like they were drawn a fair amount of time apart, with even the inking weights looking variable.

It’s not as if there’s no hope for Powers. Bendis is still, after all, one of the industry’s strongest talents – the fact that he’s kept Ultimate Spider-Man so consistently good is evidence of that – and this is his baby (it used to be one of two – ahh, remember the glory days of a new Powers AND a new Alias every month?). It’s not inconceivable that he’s had this relaunch idea up his sleeve all along, to give the series new life at a previously-undetermined point of steam loss. But the question remains – without Deena, is there any kind of point? Whatever happens, this certainly feels like the end of the book as we previously knew it – and a surprisingly low-key one, at that.