The Power Fantasy Volume 1: The Superpowers by Kiron Gillen and Caspar Wijngaard. Image, 2025. 9781534328884. Contains #1 – 5. Publisher’s Rating: M (Mature).
I love deciding to pick up a graphic novel in a comic store and then, when I take it to the counter, the clerk is even more excited than I am that I’m buying it. The woman at Seattle’s Phoenix Comics said this is one of their top-selling graphic novels, and that it’s full of ideas Gillen had (but couldn’t use, or wasn’t allowed to use) when he was writing X-men stories for Marvel. Wijngaard’s art and the design of the book (credit to Rian Hughes) had already sold me on buying it, but after hearing that I was all in.
People with superpowers appeared after mankind entered the atomic age. There are six superpowered individuals who could each destroy the planet; there are also a few folks with minor gifts. The book opens in 1966 in New York with two of the superpowers, Valentina and Etienne, wandering the streets, talking and eating pizza. Etienne discusses why it would be ethical to take over the world. He sees their existence as immoral. And he needs Valentina to agree on a plan for the world — she doesn’t want to take it over — so they don’t come into conflict. Etienne’s ethics are, for me, the highlight of the book, though they lead him to do some horrifying things with his powers. But it all makes sense to him (and a few of the others) given the threats they face; the rest go along for other reasons…
Gillen is always great at writing multi-book story arcs, and after this first volume I can’t wait to see where the series goes.
