Fans of Brian Michael Bendis’s groundbreaking superhero investigation cop comic “Powers” have reason to rejoice. The series, which had previously been in development hell at various networks, even going to pilot over at FX, is going to see the light of day exclusively to Playstation Network users, who will get 10 hour-long episodes starting in December. PS4 owners will all get the first episode for free, and subscribers to Sony’s Playstation Plus service will be able to stream all ten episodes as part of their subscription.
Here’s the announcement from E3:
I’m glad Sony has the balls to do this, as Fox obviously did not. And now, please allow me to blatantly plaigairize myself on what I’d previously written about Powers’ development over at FX:
So what is Powers and why is it so cool? Powers is a police procedural. . . . zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. NO!!! Don’t doze off!! Yes, another cop show, but the cops investigate superpower-related crimes.
The two partners, Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim, have their own brushes with superpowers. (minor spoilers ahead) Walker was once a power himself, and still keeps contacts in the superhero community. Pilgrim accidentally contracts powers and… has problems controlling them, leading to her accidentally killing her abusive boyfriend in self defense, which she then covers up from Internal Affairs.
Powers was always among my favorite books to pick up outside of your basic Spiderman, Superman, X-men set. Bendis is well known for his creator-owned comics as much as his work on mainstream books like. . .2/3 of everything Marvel currently releases. I kid the prolific Bendis, but he seriously writes a lot of books. Other stuff of his to check out: Alias / The Pulse and Scarlett.
It’s great to see Sony marching into this market. With Microsoft bringing a Spielberg-helmed Halo series to XBox Live subscribers, Sony is bringing out their own big guns. And with original shows making a big splash over at Hulu and Netflix, and even a live action Marvel series planned for the big red N streaming service, this makes a lot of sense.
You know what else makes a lot of sense? Sony’s other intellectual property that Bendis has some hand in. I’m not saying we should expect a cameo from your friendly neighborhood wallcrawler in “Powers,” bu if they’re smart they’ll find a way to seed some of these things in as catnip for fanboys. (And yes, I know “Powers” isn’t set in the Marvel 616 universe, but I’m just saying this makes sense from a “corporate synergy” perspective. Ugh, and now I need to go shower to wash off how dirty I feel for uttering those words.)
If you’re a Playstation owner and PSN subscriber, congratulations. “Powers” should debut in December. Everyone else? You might want to consider subscribing or getting a used PS3 just to watch this. Or one of their newly announced Playstation TVs. I have confidence it’s going to be that good.
Your move, Microsoft. Tell us you’re adapting Ed Brubaker’s and Sean Phillips’s “Incognito” or “Criminal” and we’ll talk.