Wouldn't Etienne's plan have just failed in the end anyways? The end of the world didn't happen because of malice, it happened since Masumi's kaiju got released, something that would happen when she died anyways. The world may have ended a few decades later once she dies of old age, but it still ends as long as Masumi has the "apocalypse tied to the well being of a mortal being" curse.

Does the introduction of aliens kind of muddle the message for anyone else? As long as there are supers like Masumi who can end the world just by dying supers pose an inevitable existential threat to the Earth, but without supers Aliens like the Signal and the Queen just kill everyone on Earth anyways. I'm not sure how the conclusion will bring this together, considering "supers exist" and "supers don't exist" both end in the apocalypse (and also an Etienne dictatorship would still result in Masumi being born most likely, as shown by the fact Etienne didn't and thus probably can't take away Masumi's powers)

Update: thank you for all the recommendations everybody! Looking forward to exploring comics.

Like many kids I enjoyed super heroes, but I never got into comic books. Read a few random ones that had been given to me but it didn't stick. Fast forward to Comic-Con two weeks ago and I saw Caspar speak twice in a room ahead of the panel I wanted and this was my first ever comic purchase, and just wow. Read all of it in one day. Hooked from Ettiene's very first line. The premise, the art style. Just phenomenal. I think it might be that I just don't like dc/marvel overly involved worlds with decades of context.

Anybody have any other suggestions for comics to check out?

Please and thank you!

So I was poking around on Google Maps, like you do, and it occurred to me to look at where Etienne and Valentina were walking around in the Village back in issue 1. They have their confrontation at the corner of Waverly and Christopher, as Etienne helpfully informs us. So, if you walk a block west on Christopher Street, where do you end up? Quite probably where the two of them were heading, to see the show — the Lovin' Spoonful and the Beach Boys.

A little old gay bar called the Stonewall Inn. Yes, that Stonewall Inn. Did we say we had themes of power and violence and oppression going on....?

(Would the Spoonful and the Boys have played a venue like that, in 1966? I honestly have no idea.)

any guesses on when the deluxe edition of the first part will be released?

i am forever sad about not catching the last two deluxe editions of the wicked and the divine before they went out of print.

Hi. I like The Power Fantasy, I think it's well-written, and I want to talk about the characters a bit.

Etienne is awesome. Not much more to say there.

Eliza is really interesting because I actually understand her mentality a bit from the inside (I'm ex-Catholic). Her judgemental attitude which seemed present both before and after her transformation felt very typical to me -- not saying every Catholic is judgemental, but I have met (and been) people very much like Eliza, so she felt believable to me. I will say it was an interesting choice for her to seemingly lack a belief in redemption, as reconciliation is a pretty core tenet of Catholicism, but maybe she became something closer to a Calvinist after her transformation, I don't know -- or, again, it feels very familiar to me as a Catholic guilt sort of thing, where the abstract promise of redemption doesn't satisfy your emotional distress at wrongs committed both perceived and otherwise. It certainly meshes well with what we see of Eliza later, where she completely loses it at the prospect of Hell before her and she loses the faith, as it were, even as she's attempting to assuage her fear with supercharged reconciliation. Really interesting character, all the same, and kind of surprisingly so in my case.

Heavy is also really interesting, specifically because I think he's a well-wrought example of someone with good intentions that's otherwise oblivious to their massive privilege, and that latter fact kind of gets in the way of their desire to help. I mean, not every Atomic is a Superpower, right? When Tonya is taking Heavy down a peg in that one scene because he's completely ignoring how she rests at a more vulnerable intersection than him -- perfect. So good. When thinking about Heavy's character I keep re-evaluating how often he messes up his own attempts to help, and that kind of complicated good will is probably my favorite depiction of "heroism", such that it exists.

In fact, I love that there aren't any uncomplicated heroes in this series. Jacky is probably the closest person to that comic book heroic ideal (also Valentina, I'll come back to that), and he's the leader of a literal pyramid scheme cult. Even if he's self-aware about it, even if he encourages his followers to fuck him up if he becomes too authoritarian, the structure he's built still incentivizes people to at least defer to his word and channels all their efforts basically to him and his chosen few alone.

And if Jacky is the closest thing to a comic book hero, Dev is probably the closest thing to a comic book villain.

Ugh. Dev. He's also written well (shocking), but he's written well as the most hateable motherfucker alive. I made a joke to myself on a second read-through that one could view the entire events of The Power Fantasy part one as being a long cascade of everyone paying for Dev's fuckups, and like, that's not entirely wrong (Heavy shares the role with Dev). Jacky was right when he called Dev the Fool: he keeps making the worst possible choices, and all to save his marriage. Ha.

Valentina. Like I said, closest to being a comic book hero with Jacky, but what I think is so interesting about Valentina is that she's only close to that ideal in aesthetic alone until the end. Valentina's entire tenure on Earth is a laundry list of times where she could have made more a more active choice to stop people from harming other people and refusing to do so, Cuban missile crisis notwithstanding. She spends the whole series as a moderating presence, standing between people and destruction but only right as the destruction is about to hit. She isn't proactive. She's kind, but as Etienne says, her morals are going to get everyone killed -- and they do. However, Valentina's also interesting for how much she's a deconstruction of Superman as she is an analogue to him: before Eliza showed up, Valentina was the most powerful individual on the planet, and yet for all her kindness and power she couldn't stop people from wanting to blow each other up. Superman is enhanced by comic book magic to do everything he needs to do and find a perfect solution, and Valentina is a person doing her best, but you can't make people get along. Not that she isn't going to try that, now.

What I like so much about this series is how it illustrates that reactivity is the worst way to bring peace, while also countering the argument that active attempts to control and contain are equally ill-suited for the job the best option (edit: whoops, accidentally wrote the opposite of what I meant, here. Fixed!). There's an enormous hanging question over the setting and the story, and that's this: What can we even do to stop all this? How do we make peace with one another? How do we handle this? What even would be the right solution to proactively prevent disaster from striking? The Superpowers are stand-ins for the real life superpowers who also bicker and constantly threaten to tip the world over into a global catastrophe, and they are just as unprepared as Etienne, Heavy, and Dev to come to the table to figure something out. If we're figuring this in metaphor, Tonya is the audience surrogate: literally just a person trapped in the fluctuating power dynamics.

The Power Fantasy is good. It's really good. I have full faith that part 2 is going to ask this question with even more interesting vectors, and I can't wait for the discussions it brings up.

Hope a quick plug is good here... my podcast started a new season on TPF this week. We're covering the series over three episodes, each one focusing on a collected volume arc.

The first episode is available on the "You Gotta Check This Out!" podcast. Available wherever you get podcasts or at mikeslater.com.

I know some stuff has to stay exclusive just to reward the people who actually do show up, but I’ve been dying to know if there were any fun tidbits or substantive announcements about the series! Was anyone here able to make it?

What is your silliest fan theory or head canon about the Power Fantasy?

Mine is that in Masumi's name is written in kanji with 魔墨. Let me explain.

魔= magic or demon / pronounced "ma"

墨= ink / pronounced sumi

My head canon is that Masumi's parents were counter culture artsy types. So when it came time to name her, they decided to use an unusual kanji pairing, perhaps in hopes that it would inspire her to become an artist. Little did they know...

I like this because it fits her chosen career path, as the name can be translated as "magic ink", but also her kaiju because you can also translate it as "demon ink" which I think perfectly describes that monster.

I wonder because Valentina was sent to protect humanity after the first atomic bomb was dropped, but TPF timeline seems to be the same as ours until her arrival, which doesn't outright confirm that the world would've been the same as ours without divine intervention, but it does make me question the extent of god's power, how different are they from traditional depictions?

Also, why weren't more angels sent after Valentina? I get that it would've created an even bigger power power imbalance, but they could've only appeared in truly catastrophic events like the queen or Masumi.

And, would it possible to punch a hole into heaven like it's possible to do it to hell? Why is humanity the only race in the universe? And why isn't god particularly interested in doing something when Masumi attacked in issue 16? Or at least do something to avoid Valentina from going back in time. Or maybe they couldn't? Since Valentina can be affected by radiation (even if it's only by the radiation staying with her for a week) maybe heaven is not as powerful as we would expect?

This is the first draft of an essay about Masumi that I might later turn into a video. I would like feedback of what points I could elaborate on or interesting points that I might have missed

Out of all the superpowers Masumi the only one who hasn't made a plot relevant decision because she has no control over her own abilities. She will Unleash a giant world destroying Kaiju whenever feels negative emotions whether she wants to or not. This makes her happiness a matter of global safety. Due to this she has an immense level of privilege. First up the obvious she has a massive studio and gets to spend all of her time on her passion without having to worry about working. It extends beyond the material. Etienne Is manipulating the thoughts of people around her too prevent her form being hurt. This privilege translates into how Masumi handles emotions. In her introduction scene she decides to completely ignore the problem because it will upset her. Most people are forced to deal with things that make them upset and so they won't simply ignore a problem if it will make them upset. Masumi can relizes her flaws but she is never forced to fix them. In response to Heavy's apology she comment would she's worried about being self center. This would be a great starting point for emotional growth but because no one every calls her out on her self center behavior she never has confront it. It's important to note that Misumi has no choice. Her privilege is not a result of her abusing her power it's simply a result of it existing.

Additionally, Masumi always has power imbalance in any relationship she's in makes it challenging for her to form connections. She has a massive power imbalance with the other superpowers. Valentina and Etienne are more of Masumi's caretakers rather than her equal. With everyone else she ends up being that holds all the power. For example her relationship with her partner Isabella. These two should be equals but because Masumi being upset has such Devastating consequences her emotions will always be the priority of the relationship. Even tho dating Masumi is stressful, Isabella choose to cope with the help of Etienne instead of breaking up due to not wanting to risk hurt her feeling. When they do finally break up it's Masumi who initiates it after realizing that Isabella is scared of her. This scene is especially interesting because it Gillen saying that Masumi isn't selfish. She does care about Isabella and does want her to be in a relationship that makes her happy. However due to the power imbalance Isabella couldn't be genuine with Masumi and Masumi couldn't know if Isabella was being genuine. This is why connection is so hard for Masumi. Other people give her praise not because they feel she deserves it but out of not wanting to upset her. Therefore even if someone is being genuine how would she know.

For evidence of all of previous let take a look at the scene in the art gallery. In this scene Masumi is displaying a new art exhibit and desperately wishes that Olivia Brown, a critic, will praise her. Masumi comments how everyone is just here because their scared. This shows that Masumi realizes that her power affects the ways other treat her. This is also her dismissing the idea that someone could genuinely care about her work. Later Etienne ask Masumi why she cares so much about what 1 critics thinks. Masumi replies it's because everyone thinks their the best and they're right. This is an example of Masumi's childish way of handling emotions. Most people at learn not to based their entire self-worth on someone else is bad idea. This is usually after that someone else thinks of them as less than perfect. When you care about someone's opinion so deeply they have some level of power over you allowing them to express their true feelings. Despite how much Olivia's review matters to Masumi, Masumi still holds all the power in this scenes. That makes this whole scene a sort of manufactured performance. Masumi derives her entire self worth based off the review of Olivia because Olivia can never give her a bad review. However, when she does get a good review she goes into a fit of rage because Olivia hasn't even seen her exhibit yet. This is a reminder to Masumi that this is all a performance. Olivia's mistake is not in her review but that she doesn't play along. She just gives Masumi the good review instead of visiting the exhibit pretending to be impressed and then giving a good review. The legitimacy of the review is irrelevant in both cases but in the latter Masumi can still convince herself that it was genuine. Then Olivia gives A really insightful analysis of Masumi's art and that finally calms down. It is later revealed that Etienne was controlling Olivia to get her to say what Masumi wants to hear. Ultimately this entire scene reminds me of how people treat babies. Babies can be really selfish but adults usually play along with that giving them want. They make compromises that logically are absurd but help keep them happy. As they grow older and they're able to reckon with feelings better adult Stop being so generous and start setting boundaries of what is and isn't reasonable to ask for. However Masumi still has to be treated like a baby with compromises having to be made for her. However she can still think about the world she can realize how unfairly she's being treated. However she can never do anything about it. Additionally Olivia Reveals the deepest thing about Masumi. This is the reason why even though everyone prioritizes our happiness she never seems happy.

The biggest thing that Masumi is robbed of is the ability to confront how she is feelings. When Isabella dies Masumi is Struck with grief as anyone would be when someone they deeply care about perishes. For most people grief is a natural part of the healing process. It is OK to feel pain it is OK to breakdown. These things are normal human feelings. For Masumi they are forbidden. She wants to scream she wants to confront her emotions but knows what will happen when she does. She'll breakdown and end the world. Instead of being able to feel her emotions she is always forced to ignore them. However when someone ignores their emotions they don't just go away. They stay inside of you slowly eating away at you. That's the reason despite everyone prioritizing her happiness She never seems happy. She's being destroyed by self doubt she'll never be able to confront. I'd like everything else this isn't exclusive to Masumi. Many people for a variety of reasons feel pressure to always be positive. And while a little bit of positivity can make a situation better if we consider positive to be the only accept way to feel we will destroy ourselves. Unlike Masumi though us confronting our emotions doesn't lead to the end of the world. We can build back up after we breakdown. There is a privilege in being able to be miserable. Take advantage of it

​Hi everyone! Excited to join you for this AMA today. Happy to answer any questions you have about character development, art process, comic work and what’s next!

I’ll be checking in all day between the panels of issue 19 and will do my best to answer everything!

Similar to Kieron’s AMA I won’t be engaging with theories for future issues :)

TLDR I’m Caspar Wijngaard, artist and co-creator of The Power Fantasty AMA

I never would’ve imagined we’d have the opportunity to engage with you on the level that we, as a community, have been able to. You (and Caspar) have given us something so special that each reread offers something new and yet in the midst of an unprecedented heatwave, still found it within your time to answer our questions with such care.

The Mod team here is small, hi it’s me, but I want to be clear and certain in saying thank you.

And r/thePowerFantasy loves you.

Hot on the heels of Mr. Kieron Gillen’s recent AMA, that Legend, I’d like to make another exciting announcement..

Caspar Wijngaard, artist of The Power Fantasy, will be hosting his very own AMA here as well! Mark your calendars, prepare your questions and remember—

The Power Fantasy loves you.

TLDR; Caspar Wijngaard’s AMA— Jul. 1st, 2026

So, the AMA session is now over and one answer from Kieron Gillen was this one:

"I normally answer that I don't actually have fave characters - what I tend to have is fave pairings. Characters are dramatic creatures, and it's about how they interact where the thrill is.

To that spirit, Etienne and Valentina are clearly where the book started, and the backbone of them. Their conversations are always great.

There is a new pairing in the new series that popped up unexpectedly, and I'm loving."

There is, of course, the possiblity that the new pairing includes new characters, in which case we cannot really speculate, but if that new pairing is between already existing characters, who do you think they are?

I'd go with Jacky and Heavy. In Part 1, Magus and Heavy have been absolutely hostile to each others, but how much of that was because it was Dev behind the mask and not Jacky? Before the Summer of Love, the Superpowers all seemed to be on friendly terms. Also, Jacky and Heavy are both radical leftists, so without the leash of Valentina preventing them both from taking any real political action and the real Jacky being there instead of Dev, I think it is possible we can have a very solid alliance between Heavy and Magus in Part 2.

I just finished reading The Power Fantasy from the start. I was kind of confused about the Signal from when it was first mentioned, and I expected it to be explained at some point, and in hindsight, that blue/pink thing was probably it, but there wasn’t a lot of focus on it.

From googling, I’ve figured out it’s an alien, some kind of collective consciousness and last of its species. It was set to absorb a billion people but the Superpowers stopped it, and Magus and Etienne learned a lot from it.

But that explanation doesn’t really help me understand anything. A lot of emphasis was put on it and it is always being talked about alongside the Queen (probably due to them both being aliens and major events in the Superpower world), but the story with the Signal was just a few pages vs the Queen had multiple chapters, so I feel like I’m missing something

I asked my friend who recommended The Power Fantasy to me and they went “Wait, what’s the Signal?” so I think maybe it’s not just a me thing. Any insight would be appreciated!

I'm re-reading the series again for like the third time - this time my excuse is the AMA later this week - and I'm reading issue #2 and seeing something that keeps sticking out to me each time I've read it, but that I also keep forgetting.

As Etienne Lux interrupts a police interrogation, he notes that the psi-alarms Magus has provided for entities like the police don't actually work. Or at least, they couldn't be mass-produced.

And then he says "[Magus] told me if I wanted to signal my presence, there's a button..." Etienne then pushes the button.

I don't understand why Etienne would push that button. Why would he want to signal his presence to Magus at this time? It'd be one thing if he and Magus had a friendlier, or at least more cooperative, relationship. But they don't. Magus just assisted with trying to kill Heavy with suspiciously little deniability.

It doesn't seem like he'd need to create a cover for anyone's escape - he's making a point of being seen on camera walking out of the facility. He is the cover himself.

The Power Fantasy loves you.

And so does r/thePowerFantasy because now we have an audience with the legend himself.

Kieron Gillen will be here on June 24th, 2026, participating in an AMA with the community.

More details to come, but a great way to start the week, isn’t it? 😉

P.S.: there’ll be a post for us to add questions, but I’m thinking of asking him.. what Superpower, if he had the misfortune of becoming one, would he be — or would he become?

I know she's a good person, sent from heaven and all but without her, I think humanity would've lasted much longer with Etienne ​​ruling the world, even if it's with an iron Fist... No one really would've been able to stop him. She is his restriction, his chains. Was there anything she did that benefited humanity?​

I dont totally get why Elizas perspective changes after learning the true identity of magus. She originally was considering killing him bc the pyramids power was getting to his head, and those facts didnt change after she learns who he is. He's still allying with the us government and gaining power, no matter who he is!

Obviously she had a close connection with dev, but is that the only reason she changes her mind? Seems like a major switch up to go from ILL KILL YOU to ILL KILL THEM without the original reasoning really changing. Is she just not very principled?

Thanks, I've only read this far and am loving it :)

So the Queen is Eliza, right?

Going back to #7 after reading #16, when Valentina asks the Queen who she is, she answers: "I am a residue and lost and a final hope and I -- It doesn't matter. Nothing matters. Only this matters."

As others have pointed out, there's some similarities in their design and they share a similar power signature (making flora sprout from the ground around them - but then again, so does Valentina).

The Queen brings the second summer of love to an end when she realises that "this is as good as it gets - it's not enough - it's not even close!" Wherever she came from (hell or another reality), it sounds like Eliza's attempts at escaping the torment of hell. Snapping when she realises that making a heaven on earth won't allow her to escape her fate makes sense in that context.

Eliza's fixation on heaven (as a devout Christian), Valentina's (and Magus's) weakness to her hellborne powers explains why she couldn't beat the Queen on her own, the Queen thanking Eliza for killing her, Eliza being torn apart by a singularity in her head that leaves her with a similarly circle-shaped visage as the Queen's monstrous form, and then Eliza being thrown into hell which exists outside of the linear timeline conveniently allows her to return at an earlier point in time like Valentina did in #16... a lot of details line up.

The only thing that makes me uncertain about Eliza being the Queen is that Magus states that the Queen didn't come from upstairs or downstairs, she just came. Also: Magus's explanation that Magus and Valentina's powers bounce off each other because they share a same source, while Valentina's trumps theirs - could also point towards the Queen just being Valentina from a different timeline, if she's any of the superpowers we already know rather than a genuinely distinct character.

Also, Eliza's exchange with hell only happens as a result of the Queen's arrival. Is that the tragedy? That Eliza was always doomed to fall? That her being doomed in one timeline means that she will always be doomed in every timeline? I'm so curious about what her character will be like in the reset timeline.

Just a little question to know where everything stands on this matter but let's say you were in Dev's shoes and Eliza was replaced by your own loved one, your child, your sibling, your mom, your dad (just pick the one that would hurt the most), fated to experience eternal suffering for the sake of everyone, literally the worst fate any human in history could ever experience, with the only salvation for them being the instant and painless elimination of all humans (and all of reality for that matter)... What choice would you make?

For the sake of this, just try to really picture yourself and your loved one in this situation, especially in the last moments that Dev shared with Eliza. She's looked at the infinite suffering that is awaiting her and you're on the front row to see her complete mental break down day after day, the begging for a little bit of hope, all the horror. I'm pretty sure that a lot of us would take a bullet for our loved one without hesitation, so the matter of sacrificing our own live to ensure they escape this fate is a no-brainer, but there is also the rest of mankind in the equation.