C2E2: Marvel Announces Powers: FBI

The planned television adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming's creator-owned smash hit Powers might be on life support, but that doesn't mean that they can't shake up the status quo in the comics a bit. The series, which follows the exploits of a couple of police officers working the homicide beat in a world where superheroes and supervillains are fairly commonplace; they've investigated people with powers both as victims and suspects along the way, always in more or less the same capacity. It now appears as though Deena Pilgrim and her partner Christiam Walker will be taking their skills to the  federal level, as a the title Powers: FBI was announced this weekend at the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo. Marvel characterized the move as "retitling," although it will start with a new #1, coming in July. The relaunch is both a break with and a tie to the series' tradition; while Powers has had three separate #1 issues, it has never changed its title (or, as here, added to it). The most recent relaunch was in early 2009 and has published somewhat sporadically, with its ninth issue hitting the stands last month. Many fans and reporters have attributed the delays in publishing to Bendis' punishing workload, which just increased with the recent announcement that he would pen a book about breaking into comics.