Written by Fred Van Lente
Pencils (and cover!) by Mahmud Asrar
All of us comic fans have our own little quirks and rules. “I never read books written by ____” or “I never read books drawn by _____” or “_____ is my least favorite character and I won’t read anything they’re in” etc, etc. One of the rules I have myself as a comic reader is that I always try not to get attached to new characters, it never works out well (RIP Ryan Choi) but I found myself breaking this rule today when I dug into the new issue of Shadowland: Power Man.
But before I get into all that, quick recap of events in the first issue (and really, the second as well.)
In issue one we’re introduced to Vic Alvarez, a young teen who discovered his ability to channel and absorb chi (which is as of yet unexplained) after Bullseye blew up his apartment building, an incident which killed his father. Since then, he’s taken the name Power Man and begun offering his services as a “hero For hire” so that he can support his family as well as benefit his community (which is currently being torn apart by a gang of criminals known as the rivals – a gang Luke Cage was once a member of) and the Hand, who are ever-so-slowly expanding the reaches of Matt Murdock’s newly constructed Shadowland.
Not much of note happens in the issue, it’s mostly what you’d expect from the first issue of a mini (a mini tying into a larger event, at that,) we met Vic, we learn a little about his family situation, we seem his get all glowly and fight some ninjas and then encounter Luke Cage and Iron Fist, who have recently learned about his existence. The issue ends on a cliff-hanger (as it must) which seems to imply Vic has some sort of vendetta against Cage.
Just your average run of the mill comic, 5/10 really, maybe a 4/10 if the half-page of untranslated Spanish really bugged you.
Issue #2, however, is not only where things start to pick up, but where Shadowland: Power Man, elevates itself over a bunch of the crap I’ve been reading lately.
The second part of our story opens with a little more of the origin we saw in issue one, showing us the last interaction Vic had with his father before he was killed. Our boy’s got a bit of a mouth on him so he said some things he regretted to his father (who was in the process of leaving his mother) and is now struggling with the fact that his last words to his dad weren’t nice ones. Part of the reason he’s Power Man is because he wants to continue the battle for his neighborhood his father fought as an activist.
And the reason he’s taken the name Power Man is a bit of a “Screw you” to Luke Cage, who was in the Rivals with his father and seemingly left him behind in the ‘hood when he got his powers.
There’s an extended fight between Power Man and the former Heroes for Hire, where the new Power Man pops off at the mouth a little too much.
Never insult a dude’s girl, that’s just not a good look.
Anyway, we get a little more insight into how Vic’s powers work during the fight (he’s able to learn Danny’s techniques by absorbing the chi of his Iron Fist, which sounds like some straight up anime bull!@#$ but I’m allow it) and proceeds to whoop both Luke and Danny’s asses pretty badly.
Then these cats show up.
And my reaction was much like Luke & Danny’s
Then I saw this and I could stop laughing.
The heroes do away with the villains and with Power Man going un-glowly, Cage gets a good look at him and realizes who his father was. Then we see some of the nonsense going over on over at Shadowland, Vic sneaking back into his house (and successfully maintaining his secret ID) and then finally, the big bad villain of the piece plotting her move against him.
Sorry if it seems like I rushed through all those details, but damn it, this is a comic I want all of you to go out and read. You know? Because I honestly can’t remember the least time I had so much fun reading a comic (yeah I can, Invincible Iron Man #30, from last week, but I enjoy every issue of that book.) There was just the right level of action, just the right level of plot building and just the right level of camp to make this a comic worth reading.
And it’s also probably the only Shadowland tie-in worth reading. Take my word. Go ahead and read the Ghost Rider one for some cheap laughs if you want (and you will laugh at how terribly it ends) but I’m just putting it out there, Shadowland: Power Man is worth your time.
Final Score: 8/10
