Supreme Power: Powers and Principalities by J. Michael Straczynski

Supreme Power (Vol. 2): Powers and Principalities by J. Michael Straczynski

In this volume, the shinola hits the fanola. Turns out alien superbeings don’t like being lied to or manipulated in the way they were raised . . . Who knew?! In Powers and Principalities, the second volume of Supreme Power, Hyperion now knows that the government sponsored fiasco that he calls his childhood was all just a scam so the U.S. of A. could have a super-weapon in its back pocket. He’s not impressed. Add to that the awakening of a possibly schizophrenic super-woman who wants to help Hyperion take over the world and the fact that the government’s only other superhero, Joe “Doc Spectrum” Ledger is MIA and given to comatose periods when some other force seems to be controlling him, and things do not look good for the Earth. Oh yeah, we also have an opportunistic speedster who wants to cash in on his powers with the biggest pay-cheque available and a psychopathic vigilante who wants to settle race relations his way.

Things aren’t looking good for a world with superheroes. Volume Two of the Supreme Power series moves on from the set-up to the beginning phases of the pay-off. Hyperion isn’t happy, but at least he hasn’t gone crazy-town-banana-pants on humanity yet . . . though that may change if the newly awakened Zarda has her way (let’s just say she’s a lady who doesn’t take kindly to her shopping sprees being interrupted by mere mortals). The Blur is doing endorsements like they’re going out of style until he’s reprimanded by millionaire Kyle Richmond (aka Nighthawk) for being a sell-out opportunist and is recruited to help the vigilante track down and contain a serial killer apparently augmented with super powers by a secret project within the secret project that was responsible for Hyperion and Doc Spectrum. Also, Amphibian keeps acting weird (but I guess that’s normal when you’re thrown into the ocean as a baby and somehow raise yourself). The interwoven threads of the stories are starting to come together, but this was very much a ‘middle issue’ in the series and thus leaves one wanting more. Maybe that’s a good thing. It all depends on when/if the pay-off occurs.