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"Like that pulp hero from the '50s ... All he did for this city, and now he's a gag -- a cautionary tale. I couldn't let that happen to her. You people -- you didn't deserve her. No. No you didn't. You see? You see what I did for you? I preserved her. She's a god now. Immortal, untouchable. The city needs her just like she is -- for always. Immortal. And now they have her.

"They have her."

  -- The Killer                          

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Homicide Detective Christian Walker is having another bad day. Not only do all the criminal crackpots ask for him personally, but he also has to break in a new partner -- the hot-headed Deena Pilgrim. And then his bad day gets even worse when word comes that the city's most celebrated citizen has been murdered and he's drawn the case.

And did I mention that all these crackpots have super powers? And that the murder victim is -- make that was -- the city's champion; the allegedly invulnerable Retro-Girl?

No clues. No leads. And no forensics -- the hero's residual powers hamper the autopsy, the investigation is also hampered by a possible conflict of interest with our lead Detective. (PLOT POINT!) And with everything intensified by the surrounding media circus, Walker and Pilgrim chase down leads and the usual suspects, desperately searching for just pieces of the puzzle -- let alone trying to make the few and jumbled pieces they have fit together...

...Writer Brian Michael Bendis is a lightning-rod to most comic fanboys and girls. Some love him. Some hate him. And hate him real bad. Where do I fall? Well, I'll go on record to say I absolutely HATE what he's done to the Marvel Universe. Not the Ultimate Universe, mind you; that's his playground and he's welcome to do anything he wants there. But I weep for the disaster that was Avengers Disassembled and everything that followed. However, when he's not destroying my childhood, I actually kind of dig what he does with his own toys, like POWERS and Ultimate Spider-Man.

On the surface, POWERS is just an amped-up version of your garden variety TV police procedural like Law & Order: SVU. But in this case, it would be Law & Order: SHVU -- Super-Hero Victim's Unit.

In this universe, wearing a cape, whether you're a good guy or a bad guy, is illegal -- unless you have a registered permit. Meaning if you don't have one, and you're caught in spandex, you get arrested. But despite all the government interference there are those who would still fight the good fight for truth and justice etc. etc ... And in this universe, the "Capes" have all the same foibles and hang-ups as the "Norms." And when one of them is killed because of those foibles or hang-ups, that's when our protagonists go to work.

Now, it did take me awhile to really get into this book as I was having a hell of a time navigating the panels and word balloons. Sometimes, the action would cross the gutter instead of the normal progressive layout and I would get lost. Old habits die hard, I guess. And it wasn't until the beginning of the second chapter, when the medical examiner went schizo during Retro-Girl's autopsy, that I finally got into the right rhythm and then the whole thing gelled for me.

Oeming's art is deceptively simple, and once you get the feel of his layouts, it really grows on you as the story progresses. His noirish landscapes and character designs reminds you of Gotham from the animated Batman series. And what l really like is his use of black space. Half the dang panels are in shadow and it works wonderfully.

Bendis's plot, meanwhile, moves along methodically while Walker and Pilgrim throw out a wide net, hoping that something relevant will crop up. But despite their best efforts, most of the critical information finds its way to them or is stumbled upon by accident. It's a slow and steady process, but eventually, the pieces do finally start falling into place. 

And just like in those old TV shows, the drama is in the uncovering of the truth: meaning you've got 55 minutes of build up, two minutes of climax, and three minutes of resolution before the end credits roll. Who Killed Retro Girl is no different. After a lot of tail chasing for four and half installments, on critical piece of evidence -- in this case some distinctive graffiti -- opens the floodgates. And when the killer is revealed, his motives are quickly wrapped up before the reader even realizes what happened.

So who killed Retro Girl? I'm not going to say because that, of course, would ruin the mystery. I will say that I was a little incredulous when I first read it; but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense -- even though it was kinda out of left field.

POWERS: Who Killed Retro Girl? was a good read with interesting characters who live in a universe that deserve more exploring. There are some intriguing subplots introduced here and some history that I'm anxious to uncover. So I'm sold, and will be checking out future volumes when I hit the comic shop.