Anarchy In The UK: Reviewing ‘The Power Fantasy’ #5 Reviewed

In The Power Fantasy, the year 1999 may well be the fixed point that draws all the separate Atomics together anchoring them all to this one time and place, but there is still plenty of room for manoeuvring through the judicial use of time shifts that can’t help but continue to draw parallels with Watchmen. Watchmen has Doctor Manhattan while Power Fantasy has Etienne. A man very much in step with Manhattan’s own disconnection with humanity. But, will Etienne find his humanity, like Manhattan, or are we facing a future far different? After all, as we witness again in this issue, the Atomics may shy away from violence, but when they do act it is with an off-handed casualness that is very disturbing.

In The Power Fantasy #5 we cast our eyes on Atomic, Jacky Magus, and learn about his life story through a series of flashbacks dating back to Brixton, UK in 1978. Magus is figure who has stood somewhat on the sidelines until now. A contrarian and cynical cult leader cynic who, we learn, set up the one thing he detests, a cult, as some form of anarchic experiment. All cult members are arseholes, making him the king of the arseholes. And as we lurch forward through time and up to the present day of this series’ continuity, we learn he really is an arsehole and a sell-out of the highest magnitude. It would seem, as we are fast learning, that power really does corrupt.

The sharp, clever, disorientating scripts of Kieron Gillen are stunningly realised by artist Caspar Wijngaard, who creates the perfect style for whichever era he is illustrating. A prime example being the scenes set in Brixton in 1978 at the height of the UK punk movement. Adapting a style akin to the punk fanzines of the day is the most aesthetically perfect way to capture the moment, the spirit of the era and the cut-and-paste DIY ethics of this movement and the moment. The apocalyptic scenes of 1989 and the Second Summer of Love are equally pitch-perfect, with a sea of crimson reds dominating the tragic scene that is played out.

By the end of this issue Magus really does prove what a huge arsehole he is, and leaves readers on a knife edge as the series goes on hiatus. Gillen and Wijngaard certainly know how to keep this idiot in suspense. 

The Power Fantasy #5 is out now from Image Comics.