Coming hot off the pages of Marvel comic Timeless (2023), the god-like hero Power Man is starring in his new series written by Jackson Lanzing and Colin Kelly, with art by Bernard Chang.
By Harleen Bawa
Coming hot off the pages of Marvel comic Timeless (2023), the god-like hero Power Man is starring in his new series written by Jackson Lanzing and Colin Kelly, with art by Bernard Chang. Set in another timeline, Luke Cage is the last hero standing in his world, with the blood of the hulk, the mind of the Sentry and its Void counterpart, and the powers of the Iron Fist in his palm. Having saved his world, he has been reborn into the Prime Marvel Universe as a cosmic defender.
After taking out the hero Iron Fist (his best friend Danny Rand) that was empowered by Khonshu, the Egyptian god of the Moon, Power Man Timeless #1 (“Something New”) opens up with the older, bitter Luke Cage drifting through outer space. The story is narrated from Power Man’s Void persona that he inherited from the Sentry, and it establishes that he was quite alone and helpless in a universe that was not his own–until someone called for his aid, but a powerful being known as Aeon the Knife attacks him.
Bernard Chang’s artwork is beautiful. The composition of the drawings and the coloring, done by Marcelo Maiolo, feels visceral and out of this reality. They are dramatic and striking on their own, but they also add several layers in unique styles that add to the characterization of a Luke Cage who is older and bitter, having lost everything in his world. This Power Man is reimagined as an epic, power-packed version of himself with elements of Marvel’s cosmic lore that can easily be found in Lanzing and Kelly’s writing.
The grand scale of this series–everything Power Man has lost to gain–is established in the opening issue. When Power Man meets Aeon the Knife, both of them speak about where they came from, who they are, and what has led to this very moment. The two of them clash, and it’s expected that the fight will be long and bloody. But what readers get instead is a shocking moment of Power Man being sliced in half by Aeon’s blade. It’s a shocking scene with another set of cosmic, deep panels. As his body regenerates itself, he meets a strange girl called Eversight who cares for the heart of a Celestial. Power Man didn’t care for the Heart abducting and manipulating Eversight, nor for its demand that he kill Aeon the Knife.
“I’ve met a lot of folks who’ve been trampled on. A lot of vengeance quests have got a point. You don’t want a hero for hire. You want a hit man,” Luke says to Eversight. He refuses, but the battle becomes inevitable once Aeon discovered them and murdered the Heart…
And that is where the first issue ends and where the second one picks up.
Power Man’s sheer power is easily acknowledged in this issue, when he used the mass of powers within him to slam Aeon into Venus. After he temporarily incapacitates Aeon, he sits with Ever in the wreck of the Celestial Heart and apologizes to her. And while Power Man’s incredible strength is seen, there is also a more tender, emotional side to this issue. He tells her about life on Earth, and we see an unsettling yet moving description of what it’s like to have a family as the Void and Luke Cage wrestle inside Power Man.
“It’s something beautiful,” Power Man says. “Like a heart outside your chest. Lovers are tricky. Parets are tough. Children are tougher, ‘cuz every moment you get with them, you get only once. And when they’re gone…it just…and where they were…where all that love and care and comfort used to be…there’s just nothing.”
Every part of issues one and two come together in a very satisifting stream. All comic book fans know of the struggle that superheroes have with their powers–it’s what makes them human. Readers are also very familiar with a certain quote about responsibility given by Uncle Ben to Spider-Man. But what is done in Power Man Timeless builds on that. There is an assumption that a hero is responsible for saving people’s lives–so Power Man didn’t have a choice in fighting Aeon the Knife, saving Eversight, and stopping a planet from falling into the sun. Those weren’t choices, but obligations Power Man had. This issue doesn’t solve the debate between power and responsibility, but builds on it when it asks if a hero ever really has a choice?
From intense and cosmic artwork from Bernard Chang, to introspective character reflection, Power Man Timeless has a lot to offer readers. It does more than show us a superhero saving the day–it shows us reflecting about the bigger questions.
Power Man Timeless issues 1 and 2 are available wherever comic books are sold, and the third issue will be coming out on April 16. It will also be written by Colin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, with art by Bernard Chang and covered by Andrei Bressan and Rachelle Rosenburg. If you want to catch more of Luke Cage in the Prime Marvel Universe, you can find him in the pages of All-New Venom, the event Devil’s Reign, and Luke Cage: Gang War.
