For those of you that did not know “Powers” is an American creator-owned police procedural comic book series by Brian Michael Bendis (writer) and Michael Avon Oeming (artist). The series’ first volume was published by Image Comics (2000 to 2004). Subsequent volumes (beginning in 2004 along with David Mack’s Kabuki) have been published by Marvel Comics as a part of the Icon imprint. Powers is set in a world where superpowers are relatively common but not mundane. It follows the lives of two detectives, Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim, police officers in a Homicide department devoted to cases that involve “powers” (people with superpowers). Walker himself used to be a costumed superhero named Diamond, but became a police officer after he lost his abilities. Though stripped of his powers, he still retains his contacts within the superhero community, even becoming engaged to an ex-colleague, who is later killed.
Brian Michael Bendis’ series Powers is making the move to the small screen on the FX network, and the leads for the series have been officially cast. Film star Jason Patric, who appeared in last year’s not so well-liked comic book movie The Losers, will take on the role of Detective Christian Walker. Walker’s partner, Detective Deena Pilgrim, will be played by British actress Lucy Punch. The Powers series focuses on Walker and Pilgrim as they investigate homicide cases in a world where superheroes are common and Walker himself is a former superhero. Fans of the comic book series, which originally ran with Image Comics and then moved to Marvel’s Icon imprint, will be pleased to know that both Bendis and series artist Michael Oeming are part of the team behind the television adaptation. Also attached to the project is Charles Eglee, who also worked on Dark Angel and the critically acclaimed television adaptation of The Walking Dead.
11 years later, “Powers” is still going strong. Brian Michael Bendis: “So now the pilot has been green lit and I feel like Morgan Freeman at the end of ‘The Shawshank Redemption.’ I finally got out of jail and now I don’t know what to do,” Bendis joked. “The guys at Sony and FX and our showrunner are all amazing. One of the reasons I really wanted this show to happen was that I was really enjoying the experience of working with them. We really like each other and the conversations at FX are so smart. They make a lot of smart programs. I kept thinking, ‘I would love to continue these conversations while we make a real show.’ So that’s where we are. We’re talking to actors and budgets are being put together. Locations are being determined and we’ll be off and running very shortly.”
“At this point, details are slim save for the fact that the pilot is an adaptation of the comic’s initial story arc, “Who Killed Retro Girl?” “All the characters are there. This is the story of Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim solving cases and solving some of the big cases from the book. That’s absolutely what this series is about,” Bendis stated. “Like comics, television is episodic in nature. So there’s a lot in the comics that applies directly to television and you will see a lot of elements of the book in there,” Bendis continued. “What’s cool for everyone at Sony and FX is that these television guys have 11 years worth of graphic novels to draw from. People call me with questions about Walker and Deena, and I have an answer. I studied these characters from every which way. This won’t be like a normal pilot where you write the initial script and hope you figure out the rest. We could just follow the books and we’d be okay for three years. To me, though, they’re a jumping off point.”
If this series is done right with all the cop shows on TV it could be a really big hit. Sometimes the transition from comics to the big or small screen looses in the conversion. The readers are responsible for the adaptation to FX TV according to Bendis: “I’m so grateful to the fans of Powers, both the single issue collectors and the trades collectors. Since you’ve stuck with us through all these years, you absolutely created a support system in which we could get this show off the ground.” With that it should air sometime in 2012 we will be there for the pilot. Stay tuned comic faithful for more. 🙂 Walt