#the Power fantasy

[idonttakethislightly]

So- my first reaction to this panel was just, "I recognize that car!" Old Fiat 500s are one of the few cars I can reliably recognize because my dad is absolutely obsessed with them. (Modern cars are a blur to me- they all look alike and I don't even know the car brand logos.) It took a moment to sink in how an iconically Italian car would be significant to Isabella. Without some very specific cultural knowledge, this would just be a quirky-looking car- but, basically by coincidence, I understand how it's a thoughtful visual reference.

But it gets better! I texted this photo to my dad, along with some plot context, and he told me it makes sense that a Fiat 500 imported to Japan pre-1989 would be yellow. There's an anime/manga franchise called Lupin III where the protagonist frequently drives a yellow Fiat, starting in 1979 with the Hayao Miyazaki-directed movie The Castle of Cagliostro. Dad's take is that this would have been a particularly popular car model and color for Japanese people to import, because it's a pop-cultural icon there, and so it would be a relatively easy artifact of Italy for Masumi to find and buy.

...and without knowing the exact right person (dad being a Miyazaki fan as well as a classic Fiat fan) I would have no idea of any of this. It makes me wonder- for every little brilliant detail I find out about, how much am I missing?

[kierongillen]

We've made a thing

This is The Power Fantasy Primer, a living document describing what the book is, why folks like it and giving you ways to how and get it. Lots of art, lots of everything. It's fun. It's also a living document, so we'll be updating it as things change - I just added a new preview page for 6 and 7 at the back, for example.

Basically, if you want to tell someone about TPF? Just send them the link.

Which is... https://bit.ly/thepowerfantasy

[artbyblastweave]

Uniquely for superhero deconstructions, The Power Fantasy is largely in conversation first-and-foremost with X-Men rather than bog-standard targets of critique such as Superman and Batman; this is apparent both in the centrality of a millions-strong demographic of post-atomic-bomb superhumans as well as the interpersonal and ideological conflict between Ray "Heavy" Harris (analogous to Magneto) and Etienne Lux (analogous to Professor X.)

One underdiscussed element of how The Power Fantasy approaches the X-Men canon is that in addition to the mutant analogues of The Atomics and The Nuclear Family, the setting's worldbuilding also incorporates religious cosmology and functional magic; three of the six Superpowers in the main cast derive their power from divine intervention or accrued wizardly power, rather than whatever capepunk-standard unified power schema governs the Atomics. This reflects a truth of the X-men canon largely suppressed within the Fox Film canon- namely the absurd amount of time that the X-Men spend having to sideline the mutant metaphor in order to slap down Dracula or space aliens or wizards or Literal Demons from Hell or some such similar out of pocket bullshit

[templephoenix]

The Power Fantasy is SO good, y'all. It's one of the few *actual* superhero deconstructions out there, rather than just "what if they were evil though?" (which isn't really a deconstruction of anything, it's just a different story)

If there were six people on the planet who each possessed vast destructive powers, how would you deal with them? How far would you go to keep them happy? What would constitute moral behavior for them? And most importantly... how could you ensure that they never, EVER fought each other?

All this and a nonlinear story that spans 1945-1999 and some freaking GORGEOUS art. We're only three issues in, so check it out!

[jkparkin]

The Power Fantasy #6 (Image Comics, February 2025) cover by Abigail Jill Harding

[satisfraction]

Atomic Powers, and the lack thereof

One of the really interesting things about TPF is how even though it's in a setting where people have powers, we only know like four abilities. There's the three Atomics, who get sweet covers that tell you what their power is and how many people they could theoretically kill in an hour. We know nothing about anyone in-between, not even the "Sub-Superpowers" such as "The Major", or "The Devil" and it's incredible.

If TPF were any other comic book, The Major would've probably been written as some kind of threat who'd first demonstrate how impressive his powers are and scare all the other characters, setting the plot on a collision course towards an inevitable confrontation.

Instead his only scene ends with him dying before he can react. Readers never know what his actual power was. You could theorize all you want, but in the end his power was simply irrelevant.

"The Devil" is a similar story. He exists only to show how easily he went down because he couldn't anticipate Etienne Lux.

So what is the fourth ability we know of? Tonya's glowing fingernails, and that seems pretty intentional.

There are a few million Atomics on the planet. There's even a giant floating fortress full of Atomics, but in the context of the Superpowers of TPF everyone else might as well all have glowing fingernails.

[thepowercut]

THE POWER CUT

A fanzine about THE POWER FANTASY

Issue #1: "The Balancing Act" coming February 14, 2025!

The Power Cut is a collection of meta essays, illustrations, and jokes. The Power Cut contains mature content and spoilers for The Power Fantasy #1-5. The Power Cut will be available free online. The Power Cut is so excited to meet you!

Contributors:

@artbyblastweave

@idonttakethislightly

@jkjones21

@khepris-worst-soldier

@meserach

@rei-ismyname

@tazmuth

@the-joju-experience

Cover art by @tazmuth

[certifiedpurpledumbass]

heavy power fantasy is so cool i wish i could crush my enemies into meat orbs

[absencesrepetees]

cover art by caspar wijngaard for the power fantasy (kieron gillen, 2024)

[khepris-worst-soldier]

Its just a background detail at the moment, but it’s interesting how the superpowers have undergone a quasi-evolutionary process, in that a new superpower can only emerge and remain around if they are more-or-less immune to the various powers of the existing superpowers, or have some other reason for the existing superpowers not to kill them.

Anyone without psychic shielding would be instantly neutered by Lux (see The Devil). Anyone one not physically resilient enough to survive a first strike from Heavy and whom Heavy dislikes enough to kill will likely be killed by Heavy. Etc

The Major only survived as long as he did because Magnus didn’t tell Heavy about how weak he was because letting America believe that it was still powerful was worth the concessions they were asking for until, suddenly, they no longer were.

Lux, Masumi, and possibly Magnus, are only alive, despite physical squishiness, because they have (in Masumi’s case, unintentionally) created dead-man’s switches.

And so by 1999 all you’re left with are Superpowers that have psychic shielding and which are either incredibly physically resilient or have truly terrifying dead-man’s switches

[idonttakethislightly]

In issue #1 of The Power Fantasy, we get at least a glimpse of most of the Superpowers' living or working spaces- the exception is Etienne. For four of them- Valentina, Eliza, Masumi, Magus- the color palettes of their spaces are very similar to how they usually dress, and I also think their spaces are on-point symbolism for who they are. Let's look at the places we see, one by one.

Valentina lives in a small, cozy house on a scrapped-together space station- she loves the small details of human culture, but will always have to take an outsider role. The interior is designed with warm neutrals, similar to the golden yellows she often wears.

Eliza's space is cloaked in shadow, with candelabras and high windows that barely illuminate anything- she's eerie and mysterious, with religious motifs. It's high-contrast black and red, like the colors of her dramatic, costume-like outfits.

Masumi works in a huge warehouse- suited to the large-scale ambitions of her art, but also an industrial space that feels sterile and empty. The pastel paints she uses are all over her outfit, and when she dresses up for her gallery opening, it's in similar pastels.

And Magus works in a dimly-lit pyramid full of strange technomagic- the angles of the walls feel alien and menacing, as do the unfamiliar gadgets. His space includes Pyramid members, not just himself, so its design reflects the messaging he sends them about uncanny power. He dresses in eerie greens that make him almost blend into his environment.

Later we see Valentina's 1962 apartment and Magus's 1978 flat, which tell us more about how those two have changed or stayed the same. But I want to talk about how issue #1 dedicates one page each to those four characters and their spaces- a very obvious parallelism that leaves out Etienne and Heavy.

Etienne's traveling, so of course he can't be depicted within that pattern. He also comments to Tonya that he likes travel, and in issue #3 he implies that he flies transatlantic pretty regularly, so it's possible that he feels just as comfortable traveling the world than staying home.

But Heavy… he's at home, taking Etienne's psychic call just like everyone else. But he's outside the pattern because his relationship to his space is different.

Haven is beautiful. It's all pastels, it's full of flourishing houseplants, it's built with swooping curves rather than workaday right angles. There's enough charming little details that if I tried to make a comprehensive list you'd get bored reading it. The oveall aesthetic effect is peaceful, luxurious, idealistic, and gentle.

Basically, Heavy is completely at odds with the city he built. It's his place, for his people… but notice how the forty-something guy in pajamas stands out among all the beautiful young people with impeccable fashion sense. Four of the Superpowers seem to have designed their signature space to represent the way they live their lives. So why does Heavy live in a space that doesn't look or feel anything like him?

I see a couple possible takes on that. You could think of the discrepancy as straightforward hypocrisy- he founded his city on ideals he consistently fails to live up to. But… well, I have an alternate take that's kind of personal. I'm saving the details for another post, but basically: I think Heavy knows that Haven is the opposite of the face he presents to the world, and that's exactly the point.

[kierongillen]

We're back in February - the week after the trade is available everywhere, so an ideal place to tell your retailer you want to jump aboard.

[artbyblastweave]

The Power Fantasy is a comic where the protagonist can, on credible utilitarian grounds, threaten a man who's holding him up at the airport that he'll psychically force his wife and children to kill themselves by gnawing through their own wrists, because if anything makes him late to this cocktail party he's trying to get to the hostess will snap and kill millions

[jkparkin]

The Power Fantasy #8 (Image Comics, April 2025) cover by Caspar Wijngaard

[crowns-of-violets-and-roses]

So far The Power Fantasy has largely been an excellent execution of exactly what you would have expected from the previews which does mute the effect a little.

Then Issue #4 dropped and it's as at least as heavily telegraphed as anything that came before but this time that doesn't stop it hitting as hard as possible at all.

It's one of the most horrible scenarios imaginable. Your powers go out of control when your emotions get too negative and when that happens millions die.

Nobody can ever be too honest when it would risk that happening. You can't trust anything someone says to you. You can't develop any type of meaningful relationship with someone. Your emotional, artistic and moral development is stunted because nobody can ever confront you with upsetting truths. You can't even blame anyone because it's completely correct for them to instrumentalise you and to turn every interaction they have with you into managing you.

10/10 I've been screaming internally whenever I think about Masumi since her issue dropped.