Powers (2000) #6, pps.14-15

Death from above! Chaos abounds as the armored Triphammer enacts the revenge-fueled murder of his former teammate’s killer. Some beautiful artwork that melds a sudden burst of funny book bombast onto the exacting and steady noir pacing and design sensibility present in this tale up to this point. Gone are the lush shadows of the interrogation room from mere pages before, burned away by the white-hot strobe effect of the first three panels, as the killer’s meaty bits are melted from his bones.

Shifting gears so completely - going from 5 1/2 issues of moody police investigation to mech-suit death rays at the literal turn of a page - can be a challenge for both readers and the creative team alike, but Bendis and Oeming have created a sturdy, battle-ready vehicle for it with ‘Powers’. You never knew what was coming in ‘Powers’, and things went sideways (in the best possible way) all over the place. Oeming’s beautiful “noirtwork” could absorb a radical tone shift and insulate the reader from any unpleasant “grinding of gears” other artists might have struggled with.

This is the middle board (pages 3 and 4) of a five page sequence I’m posting today. Please check out the others to get a bead on the high-octane execution (um, literally) of the scene.