Dark Horse Comics announced this week that it would be publishing Michael Avon Oeming‘s post-modern superhero tale The Victories this August.

Oeming, long-time collaborator with Brian Michael Bendis (Powers, Takio), will be taking his skills to perform both writing and art duties on his brand new mature comic The Victories. The Victories is being described as a post-modern superhero story for mature readers in the vein of Watchmen and Powers. And while those are completely different comics, the themes of turning the idea of a superhero narrative on its head is still present. We’ve seen a lot of comics attempt this brand of storytelling recently with books like Irredeemable, Kick-Ass, Empowered and many, many more to the point of near saturation, but some books still stand out, and with Oeming’s phenomenal artwork, I have no doubt that this comic will rise to the top. And if you doubt that, check out the cover image here below.

Set in the near future, The Victories tells the tale of a superpowered team dedicated to saving the lives of humanity against evil foes. One of these heroes, however, gets struck with painful memories that could lead to his downfall. Sounds cool to me!

Again, I’m naturally going to be hesitant when a book is touted as being a mature book. Personally, I’ve been burned by too many books that did interesting things, but the quality just wasn’t there to justify the over-the-top violence and mature content that was within the pages solely for the purpose of having mature content in a comic book. Do I think Oeming will fall victim to this increasingly standard of mature comics? No, not really. Oeming has done nothing to prove that he’s not insanely gifted, and with him having complete creative control of this story, it’s got me interested. In fact, if I had not heard of him, I’d probably not want to check it out, but since I am aware of him, I definitely will. And if you haven’t seen his work, I strongly suggest you check out Powers, as his work in that book is outstanding. Seriously, check it out, it’ll make you want to read The Victories. So, considering who’s writing and drawing this book, I remain cautiously optimistic.

The Victories is set for a release from Dark Horse Comics on August 14, 2012.

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