Powers

my mind remains largely unblown

My overall reaction to Bendis.

I also never picked up on the Sorkinisms/Mametisms, which I see in retrospect, but for whatever reason, the similar rhythms of speech aren't as apparent to me in printed form.

I like his dialogue MUCH more than Mamet's. I think it works well partly because of how well it's written, but partly it is laid out and paced brilliantly by the artist (the fact that he gets this with all three of the different series I've tried, with different artists, makes me think it might have a lot to do with him).

1. Who Killed Retro Girl?
2. Little Deaths
3. Supergroup
4. Anarchy

Having read a synopsis of what this series is about, it sounds a little like Sleeper to me? Disenchanted heroes, superheroes living a regular life in public while NOT hiding their secret identity, etc.

Also, I'd like to take this moment to note how you guys talk about Bendis and the pacing of the story and dialogue structure. As for me, I usually just read the story and enjoy it (presumably due to good storytelling and dialogue). It's cool you guys notice those types of things, like a film fanatic noticing a certain camera angle in one scene and lighting in another, but does that mean you're not really immersed in the story and/or are reading it strictly for 'academic' purposes?

1. Retro Girl
2. Roleplay
3. Little Deaths
4. Supergroup
5. Anarchy

(not quite as sure about the last two, which I haven't read yet)

Also, I was feeling a little guilty that most of my recent comments on ILC weren't going beyond "Yeah, that book rules, I bought/plan to buy it."

But going on what Jordan sez about retrospective analysis, I and I'm sure other readers too appreciate these things -- e.g. "Hey that panel layout makes me read this sequence a lot more quickly/slowly, that's pretty cool!" It isn't like seeing the Wizard behind the curtain -- it's not distracting at all. (Though of course diffrent folx read diffrent strokes.)

Furthermore, let us all adhere to Dave R. Esq's magniloquent proposition!

That's one reason, though, why I really don't see a whole lot of Sorkin in Bendis, even though he names him as an influence: or more to the point, I don't see much uniquely Sorkin in Bendis, since the things people reduce into the "quintessential Sorkin" are just a particular style of dialogue-writing that people have used for hundreds of years. Shakespeare did it, Fitzgerald did it, etc.

I think it might stand out in a comic book largely because of the context -- there are plenty of comics writers I can think of who might be known for their dialogue (by the hoary hosts of hoggoth!), but not many (in the spandex set) who are known for their dialogue for reasons other than it being spectacularly awkward or simply unreal/bombastic.

Other than that ... hrm. I'm sure I'll think of someone as soon as I say "I can't think of anyone." I'm thinking back through my favorite writers past and present, and when I remember conversations from their comics, I'm remembering content more than whether the dialogue was good, bad, or indifferent.

Oh, but Peter David, maybe, specifically in Hulk and X-Factor. He was definitely big on the "superheroes are just folks" thing -- which stood out even more in the early 90s, especially considering the Kewl Asskicking Potential inherent in both those titles -- and making Rick Jones the real protagonist of his Hulk run was a definite step towards natural dialogue not just actually but allegorically, given the shift from the "Hulk smash!"/Banner-scientist-speak dichotomy to, you know, Rick Jones.

Claremont definitely had distinctive dialogue, and when he was at his peak, all the things we make fun of now were nice bits of stylizing. But I don't know if I'd actually single him out as a great dialogue writer, even at his best.

But Peter David - yeah, there was a fantastic issue of X-Factor where Doc Samson ( I think) had them all on the couch one-by-one that was all dialogue, brilliantly written.

Garth Ennis - a lot of the down in the pub chat in Preacher seemed like soapbox preaching to me. Warren Ellis is guilty of the same thing (especially in Transmetropolitan). When Ennis wasn't telling us his likes and dislikes, it was all very posturing.

I liked some of the dialogue in Dark Knight, but I ca't remember the dialogue in any of Miller's stuff apart from that and the two Mazzuchelli collaborations..

I liked it. Not at much as Sleeper, though. Sometimes it's hard for me to read because people's dialogue bubbles extend wicked far (into many, many panels) and sometimes you're meant to read across both pages (instead of one page, then the other).

Martin, definitely move on to "Supergroup", it's fantastic.

And, secondly, I think using the SAME image in FIVE panels, just zoomed-in or cropped a bit, is artistic cheating. I was really, really put off by this. It was happening all the time. And some of the time, I think Oeming just erased someone's mouth and drew in a new one, and called that the new panel. I mean, zooming-in to get a "close up" of someone's face? Then the lines are half an inch thick, instead of normal pencil line width. Do you know what I mean? Why can't he just draw each panel? I mean, maybe that's how it was written but I think it's lame.

... I'll check out Vols 3 and 4, though. Since Jordan said 4 was so good. But I don't have high expectations.

He also mentions that he never uses a ruler except for panel borders, which seems pretty cool to my non-drawin' ass.

Legends must, in that case, be the first Marvel one (which I think have been meh so far).

i am finding lotsa stuff after the "cosmic" bits kinda meh: when deena wakes up and powers are illegal and this is A Big Deal, why is the current storyline so seen-it-before? i think maybe i am disappointed bcz i thought powers-are-illegal was going to lead to police state moral hand-wringing storylines and instead it seems to mostly be connected to the deena-kills-somebody story.

(Though yes, 12 issues in it still feels like the same very slow arc, dragging on. Deena's sitch should be b-story, but we care too much about her and too little about the cases and the stupid power gem for that to work.)

oh lord do you think the big arc is Deena Is Actually A Serial Killer?

Dear Mr. Bendis: if you wanted to regain my faltering confidence and return to me That Feeling, four pages of stand up was not the way to go, asshole.

At least something happened this ish though. I'm giving the benefit of the doubt that the stand-up shit will pay off, cause the monkey sex did, but it would help if it could be, y'know, funny.

the gratuitous boobs on page 15 were nice though...

the standup is pretty lame, tho

However: I heart Zora.

yes argh the standup it's only four pages there are eighteen whole others

Sadly, it's not nearly as clear-cut as that. I'm just always happy to see her. Fuck Boogie Girl.

Soooo apparently this getting restarted again soon? Which is kinda awesome.

it stopped?

I think #30 was the last issue.

oh.

i wonder how much i missed.

I've now read the whole run of Powers upto v.3 #5 (current issue) minus the Icon Annual and the Powers Encylopedia. I liked it but was kind of on the fence, but the last arc of v.2 and where it is going in v.3 has been really excellent. I think over all, while a couple of arcs are better than others, Powers has generally improved quite a bit over the whole run. Oeming's artwork has definitely gained some refinement and some of the action scenes in the last couple of arcs were great.

I wonder whether I need to get back into this. I started to lose interest when the main characters got powers/were revealed to be ancient supermen, and then it started appearing very infrequently.

Dind't get past vol 1, which I found distinctly so-so.

Kinda digging the new volume.

yes, good stuff

FX has ordered a pilot.

I hope Mr. Bendis makes so much money that he never needs to write another comic book again. Mr. Oeming may continue to draw if he so desires.

[mice templar image here]

i mean, is this still going?

Yeah, in fits and starts. V.3 is supposed to wrap up sometime this year iirc.

Kyle Chandler "courted" - http://www.deadline.com/2011/03/kyle-chandler-courted-for-fxs-powers/

I try not to get excited about Ain't It Cool type rumors/possibilities/etc, but I do like the idea of Coach Taylor as Walker.

is this still still going?

Yeah -- reduced schedule since both Bendis and Oeming have so many other projects, but v3 #7 came out a couple of weeks ago.

anyone watching? is there a thread?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt2znyyXt3g

Can't see this video in the UK. Is it interesting enough to buy/steal?

I watched the first episode and thought it was kinda meh. I wouldn't mind seeing the rest of it, but not until the whole season is out so I don't have to pay for more than one month of PS+.

Feel the same here. Very expositiony. Understand some of the changes; others just seem weird. Like, I get why they did what they did with Callista and Zora, but it's going to cost something later. Biggest challenge tho is I'm just not buying Copley's Walker yet.

Credit where credit is due tho: out of nowhere Eddie Izzard is electric.

Watched the first three. It gets much better after the first ep, which simultaneously tries to cram in too much yet doesn't move the plot on nearly enough. The next two are much better paced and advance the plot by just the right amount each time. The pilot feels like a massive misstep, I can't understand why someone who wasn't already familiar with Powers would stick with it.

Copley facially is like Walker but his body type is just wrong. The dialogue is very, very Bendis though.

I just want to know how they handle the caveman issue.

watched the first six now. i'll watch the whole thing i guess, if only bc i can't look away. I know Bendis is credited and I can't blame him for wanting to see this project happen after all these years but damn it's like they tried extra-hard to systematically excise everything that makes the book worthwhile.

based on what we've seen so far it looks like they've already written the caveman stuff out :/

I thought the first episode was pretty good. By the end of the episode I was ok with this guy as Walker, even though he isn't as big and imposing as he looks in the comics. I thought the cast wasn't too bad. I like that character actor that is playing Johnny Royale and Izzard pretty much steals the scene he is in. Michelle Forbes has pretty much made a career playing in scifi and crime shows, but she is really good and was great in Battlestar Galactica.

izzard's the bright spot for sure and yeah noah taylor is fine even if his johnny royale is a mess. i understand the failures of courage in development that led us here but imma just say here we are 6 eps in and do you gaf about the "case"? is there even a case at all? plus the terrible terrible buildup of kaotic chic. it's like they are actively trying to excise anything that might lead them at all in the direction of procedural.

which is unfortunate bc giving the characters something to do is the way that we get to know them. initially the book used deena as our lens and gave us the twin mysteries of what happened to retro girl and what walker's deal was. now? deena is boring and angsty and probably won't kill <spoiler> and zora is just some random and we have no mysteries at all and argh.

oh joy this terrible insult to a great property will live to suck again

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/powers-renewed-second-season-at-793768

Thanks for reminding me that I didn't watch the last two eps. Not sure I can muster the enthusiasm.

ep9 is bendis-scripted. SPOILER it still sucks.