ComicsImage ComicsThe first issue of Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wijngaard’s The Power Fantasy feels like an apocalyptic cross between Watchmen and SuccessionWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
ComicsImage ComicsThe first issue of Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wijngaard’s The Power Fantasy feels like an apocalyptic cross between Watchmen and SuccessionWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Image Comics)
And so here we have the first issue ofThe Power Fantasy. Set on an alternative Earth where six super-powered individuals hold an uneasy peace, it’s a complex widescreen epic that feels something likeWatchmenmeets Succession in the way it mixes family drama with a deconstruction of what it might mean to wield superpowers. We’ve read an early version of the first issue and while we can’t go into spoilers just yet – the comic isn’t out until August 7 – we can give you our first impressions.
(Image credit: Image Comics)
The Power Fantasy #1 opens with an extended prologue set in New York, 1966, and the meeting of two people who look normal enough but are very much not. This is Valentina and Etienne, and they’re discussing, quite seriously, the ethics of taking over the world for a supposed greater good. They are soon revealed to be part of a group dubbed “the Nuclear Family” – six super-powered individuals with such immense abilities, they are effectively living weapons with the strength of the US’s entire nuclear arsenal.
Caspar Wijngaard’s unlettered art from The Power Fantasy #1.(Image credit: Image Comics)
In some ways, this is familiar territory for Gillen. The dialogue is sharp and witty, the world-building skilfully conveyed through implication rather than exposition – we quickly learn that there are more people with powers than just these six, though the full details are being held back for now.
Most notably the stylish yet amoral Family members are not a million miles away from the pantheon of gods that filled the pages of The Wicked + The Divine. The premise that, as one character puts it, “The Superpowers can’t fight. No one would survive” will no doubt be fully explored as the series develops and the competing egos within the group start to clash. For now, however, the tone is very much one of détente. This is a Cold War between rival Superpowers – and you can imagine that Gillen is gonna have some fun with that pun – with all of these characters just a hairs-breadth away from committing global annihilation.
(Image credit: Image Comics)
Visually, the book finds Wijngaard in crowd-pleasing form, with the action scenes dynamic and cleanly-executed and the quieter moments – several pages of people simply talking and eating pizza – kinetic and appealing. His use of color is smart too, with most of the pages here painted in a sunny palette of pastels which contrasts with the sudden bursts of bold primary colors when things start to go badly wrong.
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