The Best Modern Superhero Comic Officially Returns In New Preview
The modern superhero saga is coming back before the end of the year. The next chapter of Image Comics’ The Power Fantasy is a month away. That might feel like forever for fans who have endured the series being on hiatus for most of 2026, but at the same time, it is plenty of time for newbies to get caught up.
The Power Fantasy is a novel reinvention of the superhero genre. Actually, “hero” is a misnomer in this case. Like it was in The Boys, except not like that at all. Meaning, both series are about superpowered characters, but while in The Boys the supposed “heroes” were brazenly villainous in their day-to-day activities, The Power Fantasy plays things a lot more close to the vest with its cast of superhumans.
The first sixteen issues of The Power Fantasy told a complete story, analogous to the first season of a TV series. Yet like any great season finale, Power Fantasy reshuffled the creative deck and set up an entirely new paradigm for its next era. That era commences with Power Fantasy , which drops in December.
The Power Fantasy Returns In December After A Major Cliffhanger Ending In February
The Power Fantasy #17, By Kieron Gillen & Casper Wijngaard
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Ahead of the release of The Power Fantasy in 2024, Image Comics teased what it was about with this synopsis: “There are six such people on Earth. The planet’s survival relies on them never coming into conflict. Come dance to the ticking of the doomsday clock…” It would be a shame to give away too much about the series in detail, but it isn’t a spoiler to say that conflict = drama, and The Power Fantasy turned out to be an extremely dramatically satisfying series through its first sixteen issues.
To continue the TV comparison from above, it wasn’t a guarantee that The Power Fantasy would be renewed after its finale, issue , arrived in February of this year. Creator Kieron Gillen had said as much during the first year of the series. Having the series back heading into 2027 is a major win for fans, and the next part of The Power Fantasy’s ongoing story promises to build on the first part in some tantalizing new ways.
Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Power Fantasy so far!
The synopsis for Power Fantasy #17 echoes the wording of the series debut, quoted above. “There were six beings of such power that, if they ever fought, the world would end.” Past tense. Readers know how that played out, and non-readers can probably pick up what that is putting down. Then the synopsis poses what is shaping up to be the central question of the series’ next arc: if avoiding conflict failed, what is the alternative? Ominously it asks, “So…is taking over the world the only ethical thing to do?”
The Power Fantasy Is A Dramatic New Kind Of Superhero Epic
Superhero stories are kind of old, but also kind of new. That is, ancient cultures all have stories of superhuman protagonists. Gilgamesh, anyone? Hercules? Odysseus? What’s new by historical standards is the superpower part of the equation. As a genre that’s only about a century old. And it has been dominated for most of that time by a specific set of tropes. The Power Fantasy expertly avoids most of those tropes, while still embracing elements of classic superhero storytelling, and the result is electric.
With its first “season” under its belt, expect The Power Fantasy to get even better from here, and also expect it to be picked up for adaptation by a major studio and turned into a major TV or movie series. There’s still time to get in on the ground floor before that, and catch up on one of the best Image Comics titles of its generation.
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