Kieron Gillen Launching ‘The Power Fantasy’ Comic Book

In the world of comic books, the term “superpowered” individual can mean a lot of things — from the ability to fly to invisibility. But in the wrold of The Power Fantasy, it has a more specific meaning: anyone who has as much destructive power as the United States’ nuclear arsenal.

That’s the pitch for a new book from writer Kieron Gillen and artist Caspar Wijngaard, who revealed their book Friday at Emerald City Comic Con, a convention held in Seattle. In this world, six people are considered superpowered, and the world depends on them never coming into conflict.

“The Power Fantasy emerged in a similar way to The Wicked + The Divine,” said Gillen in a statement. “I was doing a book at Marvel, and became aware of exactly the sort of things I could do with the reins taken off. “As The Wicked + the Divine was to Young Avengers, this is to Immortal X-men. It’s a comic informed by superheroes, but one where a fight is the absolute lose state, for everyone. It’s set from 1945-1999, and so is a chance to really have fun with an alternate cultural history too. I think you can see it as an extension of my best work: WicDivian alternate-pop culture, a cold-war take on Uber’s realpolitik, Die’s social group drama hyper-charged by genre.”

The book is said to sit in between the aesthetics of subversive works such as The Boys and Watchmen. It will be available in August.

“Once Kieron had pitched the basic outline for The Power Fantasy I knew this was the story I felt comfortable most telling,” said Wijngaard. “We’ve been able to create some incredible characters, each with their own vibrant personalities and worlds in which they inhabit. If you are a fan of my most recent image titles Home Sick Pilots and All Against All, you’ll see a lot of its DNA here. I’m truly putting everything I’ve learned into this series, and The Power Fantasy is a large and beautiful canvas for me to operate on.”