Powers

Author: Brian Michael Bendis

Deena Pilgrim is one of the greatest characters in the history of comics. The young, brash, sassy, and exceptionally Gen-X rookie detective assigned to team with veteran cop Christian Walker in a city of superheroes. Before long, Pilgrim discovers that Walker was once a hero himself, and also had a relationship with the victim of a homicide, a superhero called RetroGirl. The story goes from there, combining super-heroing with crime drama and eventually, with time and world-spanning, timeline-hopping, whack-a-doo fantastical happenings that just go above and beyond what you'd find in any other comic of that period. Writer Brian Michael Bendis provides stories that are clean, clear, without thought bubbles. Artist Mike Oeming's style is the kind of mildly abstracted yet still clean and strongly structured work that you find in the best comics. Combined, and with the two deeply tied as co-creators, the feeling is of a singular vision in two minds, and one that constantly ups the ante. Why it's on the list: Powerfully written, with concepts both light and heavy in tow, Powers is one of the truly great series.