America’s Got Powers #1, by Marc Alan Fishman – Snarky Synopsis | @MDWorld

July 1, 2012 Marc Fishman 0 Comments

Written by Jonathan Ross
Art by Bryan Hitch

I love me some Bryan Hitch. I really do. But somewhere within the pages of this first issue, I grew weary. Like a kid who contends with the entire sleeve of double-stuff Oreos, America’s Got Powers is saccharine-sweet with Hitch’s wares. Too much so. Combined with a plot you’ve read elsewhere, AGP #1 comes across as style over substance. That’s rough to say, truly, because the book isn’t bad. It’s just not as amazing as it’d have you believe. Game on, kiddos.

America’s Got Powers is a ‘Glee’ styled mash-up of concepts. One part ‘Rising Stars’, one part ‘Sky High’, and one part ‘Roller Ball’ (or just about ANY other future-sport movie/TV show). In short? A mysterious crystal lands in San Francisco Bay, and all babies bathed in it’s glorious Photoshoppery glow come out with super-powers. Cut to 17 years later, and we are introduced to the titular games. Super-powered kids compete for a shot to be a part of the world’s only “official” super-team. I assume there must be roving gangs of “unofficial” ones. Well, not really. It’s made clear that the political/military machine is on top of things. That is to say they are now… because there’s some vague details about a former crisis of the super-powered kids. But let’s assume there’s more of that later.

Back to the plot-by-numbers. We’re introduced to the brother of what we’ll assume is the quinticential super-teen, who himself is without powers. He is, in fact the only teen of his generation (that is, of the aforementioned super-babies) with nothing special about him except his amazing heart. By the end of the book, no surprise, he displays a never-knew-he-had-it super blast of glowy-doom. He did this, of course, to save an innocent little boy. Meanwhile, we also get a bit of intrigue and suspense as funding is ostensibly pulled from the program. This leads to the Professor Utonium of the series looking off to the middle-distance as he make muttered threats for them doing such a heinous thing. Two guesses where that plot thread is going? But I digress.

Suffice to say, the issue suffers from “First-Issue-Itis”. Too much information crammed in as many pages necessary to set us up for the rest of what is to come. In the double-sized issue, we have to meet the main cast, get backstory, amidst page after page of giant robots punching super-powered teens. Credit where it’s due: Jonathan Ross can write up a decent page of dialogue. Not as wordy as a Bendis, not as slick as a Millar… he is a perfectly adequate storyteller. His characters are plucky, and individualistic—as much as can be gleaned from their handful of shared moments. When the plot goes widescreen though, Ross is quick to use the TV announcer’s narration to do what I hate the most: exclamatory passages describing exactly what’s being shown on panel. I get the reasoning behind the trope, but it doesn’t make it any less banal. Ross is successful in selling the drama in the books’ climax. At the end of the day, I think the concept here drove Ross to a plot-by-numbers. But he shows enough talent himself in his pacing and dialogue to prove that there’s plenty of reason to stick around for the series… so long as we’re done with the standard beats.

Art wise, the book is probably drawing it’s considerable clout (in the blogosphere, don’t cha know) directly from The Ultimate’s own Bryan Hitch. Hitch, who is master of the uber-detail spares little visual expense within America’s Got Powers. Page after page utilizes his “widescreen” panel layout convention. Let it be known few other artists can command a page as well as Hitch. His pages ooze kinetic action—sometimes to a fault. A few too many times in the book, I was just pelted with so many hyper-detailed action shots that I had to push to the next page to catch a breather. Bryan also gets a bit too on-the-nose with his female senator. If he wasn’t watching Sarah Palin’s “I Can See Russia From My House” when he drew her, than I’ll shave my beard. Hitch also suffers from a bit of “same-face”. Too many times, it’s too hard to determine who is who, if not for some well-guided coloring choices. His microcosmic love of minute detail is both a blessing and a curse. When he’s delivering big action? It’s never better. But when you’re knee deep in a crowd with every individual attendee rendered in near perfection? It’s overkill. Beautiful, insane overkill.

Ultimately (heh), America’s Got Powers is a series I’ll stick with for at least 6 issues. For all my crying and moaning about predictability… I can’t deny that Ross and Hitch interjected enough mystery for me to want to see things move forward. When Hitch gets down to the smaller moments, he is as good as he is in the biggest ones. When Ross gets us to these quiet moments, I have the sneaking suspicion the series will be well worth the investment of time. There’s a groundswell of larger machinations within the gutters of the book. Now that I’ve suffered through the standard beats? It’s time for this book to graduate to the big leagues—in all it’s double-page super splashy glory.