The Power Fantasy #8 Brilliantly Advances a Phenomenal Story (Review)

Kieron Gillen is one of the foremost voices in the comic industry. His work at Marvel made him popular, but his best works have been his indie books, like Phonogram, The Wicked + The Divine, and Once and Future. Gillen is an amazing artist, and when The Power Fantasy was announced, fans were very happy. After WicDiv‘s ending, Gillen had returned to Marvel, but fans were ready for something like The Power Fantasy, with Gillen unleashed to work in his own way on his own characters. The Power Fantasy #1 was a massive hit, and the book has been hitting ever since. The Power Fantasy #8 is yet another brilliant installment of this amazing comic.

So, right off the bat, we’re drawn into Eliza and her story from the first page, when she talks about God. It’s an interesting summation of Thomas Aquinas and tells you everything you need to know about her — she believes in God’s love more than anything else. Gillen kicks off the book with this because it sets the stage for the rest of the issue’s events. We have to see this side of Eliza to understand her actions throughout the issue. Gillen moves us forward from there, taking us to the moment of the Queen’s attack in 1989, and to witness the fate of Eliza in 1999. Gillen does a fantastic job of setting out everything a reader would need to know about the general plot of the story so far. Even if you don’t really know anything about the characters as a new reader, you get who each of them are in relation to this story. This is some seriously impressive writing, because this is a rather complicated plot. However, the writing here makes things very clear.

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Caspar Wijngaard’s art is sensational. The first four pages of the book jump to three different eras, and each one has its own visual identity — the halcyon past, the fearful future, and the golden age before the fall — and that’s completely on Wijngaard. His color choices and the palettes he uses for each scene gives each one just the right feel. You know just by looking at the art how you’re supposed to feel about the scene. Color choice can make a break a scene in a comic, and Wijngaard understands that.

The character acting and design are all stellar. There are a lot of emotions at play in each scene, and Wijngaard is able to bring that out of every character. Getting to see how Eliza has changed — from her youth in the ’70s and ’80s to what years of torment have done to her by 1999 — really allows us to understand the stakes of the events in the flashbacks. Wijngaard really knocks it out of the park when Eliza saves the day in 1989, his page layout of her ritual and what came next really capturing the horror and fear of those moments. Each page has three long panels, the claustrophobia caused by this choice really making the moments sing.

I walked into The Power Fantasy #8 completely blind. I’m a huge fan of Gillen’s work, so I knew I’d like it, but I wasn’t ready for just how good this issue was. I honestly expected to be a lot more lost than I was, but Gillen does a tremendous job of laying out everything we need to know. There’s a wonderful emotional core to the issue that is apparent from the beginning, and I was able to find and tap into it quickly. Wijngaard’s art is gorgeous. His pencils are beautifully skilled with a unique style, but his color choice is especially good. The colors in this book are outstanding. However, what makes The Power Fantasy #8 a great work and is a testament to the quality of this series overall is that this issue is one you can pick up completely cold and still enjoy immensely and still understand where the story has been even as it lays the groundwork for where it’s going to go.

Rating: 4.6 out of 5

Published by Image Comics

Released on April 23, 2025

Written by Kieron Gillen

Art by Caspar Wijngaard

Letters by Clayton Cowles

The Power Fantasy #8 is on sale now.