Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Image | Tagged: caspar wijngaard, kieron gillen, Power Fantasy
Kieron Gillen And Caspar Wijngaard Have A Power Fantasy To Share
Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wijngaard have a Power Fantasy to share, announced at ECCC and coming from Image Comics in August.
Article Summary
- Kieron Gillen & Caspar Wijngaard announce "The Power Fantasy", debuting in August.
- "The Power Fantasy" explores a world where superpowers rival nuclear arsenals.
- The series delves into alternate cultural history from 1945-1999 with a superhero twist.
- Wijngaard brings experience from "Home Sick Pilots" to create vibrant characters.
I have often written about the concept of the power fantasy in superhero comic books, how for decades it was stuck in the purely male adolescent fantasy, ope of powerlessness against a parental or school figure, with an "if only they knew who I really was" behind the secret identity. In recent years there has been some blossoming of that in everything from Watchmen to Astro City to Tom Strong to The Wicked And The Divine, with Extraordinary back for a a second TV series any day now. And so trust TWATD co-creator Kieron Gillen to go and put it right on the nose with his new Image Comics series with Caspar Wijngaard being announced at ECCC. The Power Fantasy, from Image Comics in August 2024, about a world in which superpowered beings have the destructive capabilities of America's nuclear arsenal.
The Hollywood Reporter quotes Gillen saying "The Power Fantasy emerged in a similar way to The Wicked + The Divine. I was doing a book at Marvel, and became aware of exactly the sort of things I could do with the reins taken off. As The Wicked + the Divine was to Young Avengers, this is to Immortal X-men. It's a comic informed by superheroes, but one where a fight is the absolute lose state, for everyone. It's set from 1945-1999, and so is a chance to really have fun with an alternate cultural history too. I think you can see it as an extension of my best work: WicDivian alternate-pop culture, a cold-war take on Uber's realpolitik, Die's social group drama hyper-charged by genre."
"Once Kieron had pitched the basic outline for The Power Fantasy I knew this was the story I felt comfortable most telling," said Wijngaard. "We've been able to create some incredible characters, each with their own vibrant personalities and worlds in which they inhabit. If you are a fan of my most recent image titles Home Sick Pilots and All Against All, you'll see a lot of its DNA here. I'm truly putting everything I've learned into this series, and The Power Fantasy is a large and beautiful canvas for me to operate on."