POWERS is a cool series. It's written by a cool writer. It's coolly drawn. It's about cool things: superheroes and crime. It's got cool hype. And all the early issues sold out. Cool!

So why did parts of it leave me cold?

Well, let's start at the beginning....

POWERS, the comic equivalent of the TV series "Homicide" (which I loved), is about two detectives - Walker and Pilgrim - solving crimes in a world of superheroes. Their first big case: solving the mystery of "Who Killed Retro Girl?" - one of the most beloved and endearing icons in their world.

The book falls somewhere within the post-modern superhero niche of ASTRO CITY and TOP 10 - where the super-powered populace is used as metaphor for the underlying story. Where it takes a left turn is in the heavy dose of Crime Noir, which Bendis excels at.

The dialogue is killer. The story is interesting. The art is professional in an animated Batman style - cartoony but with a very heavy noir feel. The coloring is dark, but engrossing. Character-wise, I liked Walker and Pilgrim. Particularly Pilgrim. It's really her story - as Walker remained tight-lipped and mysterious. (Walker is the "hurt" figure with a past- noble, cold and passive - leaving Pilgrim the job of always taking the lead, causing trouble, hitting people.) The packaging of the collection alone - with the original script, sketches and information on "borrowed" characters - is almost worth the price of admission.

Unfortunately, I had a few problems with it.

First off, while there are several interesting characters here, Bendis' strength is clearly more with real characters than with the heroes themselves. As superheroes, I thought Diamond, Triphammer and Retro Girl all infinitely weaker, conceptually, than any of their secret identities. More interesting to me, were the twists and turns the detective work itself took on. (One of the most innovative and believable moments was when Walker and Pilgrim, left with no recourse, were forced to go to the public for help.)

While I generally liked the animated Batman-styled artwork, the repetition of certain panels over and over annoyed me, tremendously. Yes, this is more a talking heads comic than slam-bang. But it walked that fine line between "cool device" and "easy way for the artist to avoid drawing". And the fine line was giving me a headache.

I thought the wrap-up to the story quite well-done with one exception: the actual "look" of the killer of Retro Girl. While I believed his motivation, I thought the character's design way too much on the wrong side of satire. (Okay, this is just my opinion here. But note to Bendis and Oeming: I was there the first time.)

And finally, the hype surrounding this book was just insurmountable. Certainly, Bendis, Oeming and Garrahy are talented. But by issue #2 - POWERS was getting as much press as "The Blair Witch Project". While the story and art were solid - nothing - nothing could have lived up to the hype. Certainly, it's helped sales (and sales of the film rights) - which I would wish on all good creators. But I can't help but wonder if this isn't a series that wouldn't improve with a little fermentation.

Certainly, it's vitally important in today's market for creators (and more for publishers) to hit a homer coming out of the dugout. Okay, there are a few series where that happened. But most didn't. FANTASTIC FOUR, JLA, SPIDERMAN (and from TV - "Seinfeld", "The X-Files", "Mash") all developed over time. None were "perfect" coming out of the box. And why should they be? Why is there a need to peak at the beginning? How can a series possibly develop - successfully with that kind of pressure? Or is developing irrelevant?

Bottom line: given time to mature, POWERS could easily be one of the strongest and most compelling books on the market. I just wish the creators would stop trying to be "cool" and start exploring the hearts and minds of their cast.

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[Editor's Note: The POWERS: WHO KILLED RETRO GIRL? TPB has recently gone out of print. Image Comics has announced that it will be coming back into print under two names and formats. The first, WHO KILLED RETRO GIRL? Definitive Edition will run the same price and pagecount as the original (including all of the bonuses, sporting a new cover by Bendis and Oeming. The new POWERS: WHO KILLED RETRO GIRL? Readers Edition will retail at $15.95, and only reprint the story material from POWERS #1-6 and run 152 pages. Both versions will be availible to retailers and consumers shortly.]