The Power Fantasy #1-5 (part two)

Santa Valentina was at her most inhuman when she was first born. Since then, she got more relatable, and in many ways more vulnerable. Social life, let alone the kind of love a family can provide, wasn't something she could get as an unnerving semi-alien adult personality in a child's body. She travelled the world, doing good deeds, avoiding governments who wanted to weaponize her, and searching for an end to her loneliness, until she met young Etienne.

For a good decade and change, all was well. Etienne's near-omniscience and Valentina's invincibility allowed them to solve many crises, including those caused by some other atomics who were powerful enough to cause trouble but still nowhere near "superpower" level. The early nineteen sixties saw Brother Heavy joining their nascent superteam. He was a little more violent than either of them, but they acted as moderating influences, and he was still ultimately on the side of good. Their high point was probably in 1962, when Valentina ended the Cuban Missile Crisis by (bloodlessly, or at least near-bloodlessly) destroying the Soviet launch facilities in Cuba and the American ones in Turkey that they'd been meant to counter.

It was in the wake of this deed, and after observing the angry responses by some of the governments in question, that the first note of discord sounded between Etienne and Valentina. Etienne asked Valentina a question that greatly disturbed her. Specifically: what's the point of democracy when they have a literal angel on hand?

I mean, really, why not? Santa Valentina is omnibenevolent and incorruptible. She's better than a human leader could ever be. Etienne would serve her loyally, using his ever-growing psychic powers to consolidate her reign and give her the information she needs to act unfailingly. If they decided to do it, they couldn't possibly fail, and the end results couldn't possibly be anything but an improvement for human life and wellbeing. So, could she please rule as a god-empress?

She's appalled that he would even propose that. Those morals of hers that Etienne is so impressed by say that she is not to be a tyrant. That the existence of dictators is inherently immoral, with benevolent ones just somewhat tempering their inherent immorality. When he tries to argue, she momentarily fears that she's going to have to kill him, before they talk each other down. He's the truest, oldest, and maybe only friend that she has, but he's also so powerful that it's hard to justify taking chances with him after he's made a proposal like this. Still, the same moral resolution that made her refuse his suggestion also stays her hand.

Well. That's part of what stayed her hand. Probably the greater part of it. But there's also, well...

I mean, he probably wouldn't have done that. I don't think he'd have done that, at least at this point in time. But...in the unlikely-but-still-possible event that he's planning world domination even without her approval, then he probably also would have set up such a dead-man's switch. So, if he really has become a person who needs killing, then killing him really would trigger a psi-plague. So, regardless of whether or not he has, killing him is the wrong thing to do.

This is as friendly as people - good people - can possibly be with one another when they both have this kind of power.

...

By the way, this 1966 dialogue between Etienne and Santa Valentina is the opening scene of the entire comic. This conversation is what contextualizes everything else, from the start.

...

The next major event in the timeline is a far sadder one, and one that may have actually made Valentina wonder - if only for a moment - if perhaps she should have listened to Etienne. The United States never forgave her for ending its nuclear supremacy, and in 1969 they decided to do something about it. The fact that the only time they were able to get a bead on Valentina was when she was in the middle of a desert festival surrounded by several thousand drunk naked hippies was probably just icing on the cake for the Nixon administration.

After this incident, Santa Valentina decided to build a new home for herself in upper orbit, and only ever come down to the surface for serious business.

She also, perhaps, showed that she isn't completely incorruptible after all. Acting against the American leadership was the correct thing to do, sure. But the decision to zip into the oval office and keep everyone there from leaving while she slowly, patiently gave them a long lecture about how hard they're making things for her, while she was still literally glowing from the irradiation? That was done in anger and hate.

The Nixon presidency ended up being a very short one, as the president and many of his top staff members spent the next few weeks feeling their skins slough off and tumors eat them from the inside out.

...

Being on Earth changed her. And, perhaps, she's been quietly rethinking Etienne's proposal ever since this event. Not that she ever says it.

...

Jacky Magus joined the superteam shortly after this incident, and was a destabilizing element in an already increasingly tense group. That doesn't mean he didn't pull his weight. He was absolutely worth keeping around, don't get me wrong. After all, he was the one who dug up the fact that the "American superpower" that the USA tried to cow them with in the 70's was actually just a medium-powered atomic with psi immunity. And, he and the newly superpowered Eliza played critical roles in defending humanity from some outside threats that came through the reopened spiritual dimensions throughout the seventies and eighties. They were also a big help pacifying Deconstructa when her powers first manifested in 1982.

Their real moment of glory came in 1988, but its psychological fallout finally broke up the team. The details have been vague so far, but the gist of it is that an extradimensional entity (angel? demon? something else?) appeared in Europe and tried to destroy the world. It was immune to telepathy and it didn't care about G-forces, so Ettiene and Brother Heavy couldn't hurt it at all. Valentina couldn't outpunch it. Jacky Magus and Eliza Hellbound were the best able to fight back...but landing a killing blow still required Jackie to expend the life force of every single one of his cultists (Eliza wasn't exactly one of them, anymore). The men and women who put their lives in his hands. Who he'd told himself he'd be a good steward and benevolent king over. His self-perception died along with his followers.

Also, the invader still destroyed Europe before they were able to put it down.

Over a billion casualties, all things considered. God only knows what it did to global weather patterns and supply chains, and how many second order deaths are still happening in the longer term.

This experience traumatized the already paranoid and controlling Jacky. Rather than learning to accept his limitations, he became obsessed with growing beyond them. If only he'd had several billion cultists in his pyramid instead of a paltry few hundred thousand, surely he'd have had the power to win that battle without those sacrifices. This made him obsessed with building his personal power at all costs, and also got him addicted to cocaine.

...

Okay, this might be starting to seem grimdark now that I'm putting all the major timeline events together like this. But believe me, the tone and ethos of the comic are not at all that. Bad stuff happens in it, but it isn't *about* the badness.

...

So, that brings us up to the story's present of 1999. The next major incident is not as disastrous as some of the previous ones, but far more predictable and preventable, and also the first case of the old superteam members objectively becoming the problem rather than the solution. After its repeated humiliations by the superpowers, the USA has started to get really spiteful toward the easily scapegoated low-powered atomics. Atomic nationalist Brother Heavy decides to fly his weird airship-thing over New York City to make them feel the pressure. The white house panics, and uses a magitech laser satellite loaned to them by Jacky Magus to try and assassinate him as soon as he steps out onto his balcony. Using psi-shields also provided by Jacky Magus to prevent Etienne from seeing it coming.

Unfortunately for them, Brother Heavy is able to stick himself back together as fast as the laser can vaporize him. Jacky Magus actually knew that beam wouldn't be able to kill him; he just gave it to the USA as a gesture of goodwill in exchange for helping him rebuild his cult, under the impression that they would never actually try to use it. Lmao.

Brother Heavy wants to destroy the sitting president's entire home state of Texas. It does make sense that the two drug-addled white boys among the superpowers would be the ones to threaten MAD, I suppose. To prevent this, Etienne appeals to the enraged Brother Heavy and offers to get a more moderated, more surgical revenge for him if he'll allow it.

Brother Heavy's initial demand is the lives of everyone in the federal government involved in planning and carrying out the strike, as well as their families. Etienne tells him that if he wants the innocent families dead too, then Etienne will do it...but only on the condition that he can also kill all the atomics aboard his airship. Heavy's own family. The singularity core interferes with Etienne's powers, but he can still make "blind" psi-attacks at the people inside of it that are likely to kill at least many of them, so it's not an empty threat.

In the end, Brother Heavy relents and tells Etienne to just kill the complicit individuals. And also tells him that, after threatening his crew like this, he can no longer consider Etienne a friend or even a neutral acquaintance. But, the MAD status quo is maintained. The psi-shields that Johnny Magus gave the Americans aren't nearly as good as the ones he uses for himself and his own top personnel (he's not as powerful as he used to be), and with effort Ettiene is able to find weaknesses.

So, after consulting and receiving the grudging approval of Valentina, Eliza, and Masumi, Etienne does it.

The second sitting US president to have died at a superpower's hand.

Etienne did it to prevent the worse outcomes. But Brother Heavy did it to punish mortalkind for daring to lift a hand against the gods. And, despite Etienne's best efforts, the latter message is the one the world hears.

The fallout from this incident is what carries the "present day" plotline going forward.

The political shakeup this causes in the US federal government gives Jacky Magus an opening to exploit. And also, this display of how much stronger Ettiene's telepathy is still getting has scared Jacky even more than he's scared by default; Jackie himself didn't expect Ettiene to be able to penetrate his lower-powered defensive gadgets this easily.

...

It's also established here that for MOST atomics, powers first manifest during childhood or young adulthood and spend a little while getting stronger before eventually stabilizing. Brother Heavy started out as a normal atomic who could move small objects, but his power kept on growing for a much longer period of time than usual before eventually stopping at his current superpower level.

Ettiene's powers never stopped growing. They're still gradually increasing, even with him now in his fifties. They might still stabilize someday, but they haven't yet. This has everyone kinda nervous at the very least. Especially Jackie with his general paranoia, and Brother Heavy with his newfound grudge against Ettiene.

...

The failure of his devices do cost him some credibility with Uncle Sam, but the fact that he'd always told them that they should avoid having to put them to the test at all costs helps him win some points with the former Speaker of the House. And he also is able to point to this incident as proof of how much America really needs a superpower in its own corner if it wants to stay relevant on the global stage.

Say, turning the entire US military into pyramid cultists? That would satisfy him AND empower him enough to actually do a better job protecting them going forward. And the soldiers will even be able to use a little magic on their own too! Also, he wants to be allowed to run for president next election cycle; it's not like England exists anymore, so he's not technically a foreigner, right?

...

This comic is set in an alternate 1999, but it was written in 2024, and just...he's a slightly-more-sympathetic Elon Musk. It's not subtle lol.

...

Meanwhile, by unhappy coincidence, Ettiene happened to have been in NYC, in the middle of being interviewed by a glowing-fingernailed atomic reporter while they watch the airship fly overhead, when the shitstorm went down.

Said reporter, Tonya, gets arrested for questioning after he's made himself scarce, and it's pretty clear that the feds are going to lynch her for want of anyone else they can avenge the president on. Ettiene detects what's being done to her, and comes back to mount a rescue. The safest place for her, of course, is aboard stupid asshole Brother Heavy's stupid asshole skypalace. She's a persecuted atomic, he's happy to take her even if he hates Etienne now.

Tonya kinda hates Etienne too, after what just happened. She was already horrified to learn that he'd killed the president and dozens of other people without so much as a change in facial expression while chatting with her in a coffee shop. After ending up scapegoated for him, and then essentially banished to Not!Magneto's cult commune indefinitely on account of that, she starts hating him. Unfair? Yes, but also extremely hard even for a very rational and self-aware person to avoid in her circumstances.

Granted, this also positions Tonya to give Brother Heavy a scolding that Etienne wasn't able to manage. Asking him what the fuck he was even thinking, flying his doom fortress over a major city unannounced like that. And, let me tell you, Tonya's balls are bigger than Brother Heavy's entire skyship.

She's got nothing to lose at this point, true. But still. Balls. Tonya is very difficult to not like.

Brother Heavy admits that it was stupid. And also hints that the only reason he demanded blood in recompense is because he was in a lot of physical pain at the moment and not thinking rationally. Because of THAT, many are dead and the world's stability and security are reeling.

Once again, it's the drug-addled white boys.

That said, Brother Heavy shows other sides to himself as well, now that we're seeing him from the perspective of a person under his care. And, despite the everything, he's kinda hard not to like.

If he only didn't have power that he's not responsible enough for, this guy would be a riot.

The twist here is that it wasn't purely - or even primarily - remorse for having gotten her into trouble that motivated Etienne when he rescued Tonya. He also wanted to be in close proximity with an atomic who Brother Heavy is about to recruit, and who him being in contact with wouldn't make Brother Heavy suspicious. Etienne implanted one of his contingent subconscious compulsions in Tonya, making her send info to him via text message about what's going on inside the singularity's psi blindspot without knowing she's doing it.

Etienne suspected that Brother Heavy was hiding something really dangerous in that blind spot. And it turns out he was right.

Atomic status isn't normally heritable at all. But, for some reason, Brother Heavy's son has manifested not only his father's atomic status, but also superpower-levelled abilities. There's another, secret superpower in the world, and it's utterly in Heavy's corner.

Etienne is informed. And is obligated to inform Valentina and the others. Perhaps this intel is what Jacky Magus was actually trying to get at in the first place when he gave the Americans something that could rattle (but not kill) Brother Heavy. Perhaps it wasn't, and it all just happened to turn out this way.


There's a lot that I'm skipping over by necessity. A whole subplot about Masumi's baseline human girlfriend, the pressure she's under as the lover of someone who could destroy the world if she gets too upset, and the bittersweet help in dealing with it she's given by the other superpowers. A whole personal drama between Jack and Eliza in the early days of the Pyramid organization, before she became her own thing. More stuff about how the destruction of Europe changed the world and the superpowers.

There's a book's worth of material in these five issues, and the story is still just getting started. And it's almost all really, really good. Well drawn, well written, well conceived, and *mostly* well paced.

I've read (and reviewed) a lot of works that interrogate the nature of power, but I think this is one of the bests at doing that. I think Valentina is the character most to thank for this. There's no way to paint her as anything but a good guy, or her intentions as anything but good ones. The fact that she's required to do - or even CONSIDER doing - some of these things is an extremely biting comment on what power really means. Power being defined, as always, as ability to enact violence. It's not just because of bad circumstances that she's forced to make unpleasant decisions; it's because of the nature of power, in and of itself, that she must.

Etienne is an amazing protagonist too. In large part because of how well he complements and contrasts her, being all too aware of his own moral failings and needing to actively suppress his own emotions pretty much at all times in order to do what he's calculated is (hopefully) right. The fact that he really, genuinely did not choose to have these powers and can't do anything about it is a critical aspect of his character. And a critical aspect of keeping him such a sympathetic one, even at his slimiest and most manipulative.

I'm honestly dying to find out what happens next.


As a final thought, this might just be the most anti-American superhero comic I've ever read. The fact that it was written and published IN the United States is...well, it's very, very much of the times we live in.