The last few days have seen a flurry of activity surrounding the pilot for FX’s upcoming series Powers, based on the comic book by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming. Three of the main cast members were announced in the last week by a variety of sources.

Jason Patric (Lost Boys, Speed 2) has been cast as lead character Detective Christian Walker. Joining him will be Lucy Punch (Bad Teacher, Dinner for Schmucks) as Walker’s new partner, Deena Pilgrim. Finally, it was announced yesterday that Carly Foulkes (the girl from those T-Mobile commercials) has been cast as Retro Girl, one of the superheroes in the Powers universe, and also the victim in the series’ first investigation.

Brian Michael Bendis is easily one of the most talented writers in the comics industry these days. His dialogue for Spider-Man in New Avengers is the best web head in comics currently. Sure, some of you like what happened to Spider-Man post Straczynski, but that’s another discussion. Bendis is also one of the most spread thin in the industry and as good as he is, his stories often suffer from bloat and padding in order to allow him to keep up his projects. Some of that padding may be due to the work he’s been quietly doing with artist Michael Avon Oeming on his first all-ages graphic novel titled Takio.

The graphic novel follows the multiracial sisters in an adoptive family who are set on driving each other to the brink of insanity. After a “once in a lifetime accident” the two sisters develop super powers bringing them together as the world’s first super heroes.

Check out a preview of Takio here below.

Mighty Avengers #5
Woo, it’s finally out. And I’d say it was worth the wait. Frank Cho draws a tremendous beat down between femme-Ultron and the Sentry, while the rest of the team works on a plan to stop her, and she works to launch the United States nuclear weapons. Brian Michael Bendis does a great job with the characters in this issue. Ares in particular gets his issue to shine. I also think the Bendis reached a good amount of the thought bubbles, as I’ve found them too numerous to the point of distraction in previous issues, but he made good use of them here. I only hope that issue 6 doesn’t take as long to come out. But I’m not holding my breath. —4 out of 5

PULL LIST 10-17-07 Mighty Avengers #5 Fables #66 Marvel Comics Presents #2 Wasteland #12 Maintenance #5 Powers #26 Scalped Vol. 1: Indian Country

Fables #66
Woo, again, as the storyline makes some forward progress. Flycatcher begins to create his new kingdom in the heart, and proves that he can be a tough ruler as he banishes Bluebeard and Shere Khan, which is all part of his plan. This puts into motion a bigger plan to attract the attention of the Adversary, and what do you know, there should be a good showdown next issue. I’ve complained a bit recently that the story has taken it’s time to get to some action, and it looks like my request has been answered. This is another great issue in a continually great series. —5 out of 5