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America's Got Powers (single issues) #1-7
America's Got Powers
Welcome to AMERICA'S GOT POWERS! It's the biggest TV show on Earth, where the chance to win fame, fortune and get laid are dangled in front of a generation of super-powered teens. All they have to do is WIN. Who is the fastest, the strongest or the greatest? Who survives?
18 years ago, a strange crystal touched down in San Francisco and every pregnant woman in the area gave birth. These were no ordinary children, though, as each but one was gifted an extraordinary power. Used by society for entertainment, these special children live in a form of slavery with no rights, except the ability to compete in the Games. Growing up powerless, Tommy Watts is the only one of these children not to have any special gifts, but when he accidentally steps into the arena it might just fall to him to save the world.
18 years ago, a strange crystal touched down in San Francisco and every pregnant woman in the area gave birth. These were no ordinary children, though, as each but one was gifted an extraordinary power. Used by society for entertainment, these special children live in a form of slavery with no rights, except the ability to compete in the Games. Growing up powerless, Tommy Watts is the only one of these children not to have any special gifts, but when he accidentally steps into the arena it might just fall to him to save the world.
184 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2012
3 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
August 10, 2019
Basically a different take on Rising Stars. It's the same basic premise except here the government is exerting more control over the powered kids, making them perform on an American Idol type show for superheroes.
November 20, 2022
Yes, written by that Jonathan Ross! An innovative super powered humans story. A generation of San Francisco residents get powers from birth, which has implications throughout the American justice, political and military communities. Good read. 8 out of 12, Four Star read :)
2014 read
2014 read
July 10, 2015
Stupid.
DNF.
A bunch of women in San Fran give birth to superpowered kids all at the same time after a crystal lands on Earth.
They turn it into the hunger games, keep the rest in mutant camps.
Cliches abound. Evil military, government (senator looks just like Sarah Palin) and mystery man.
Also a scientist who is a tweener.
One kid has brother who dies, but he has no powers. They manifest as very powerful when he saves a kid.
Cue the race for him between the underground, the military industrial complex, and the team of super kids who have to decide what to do.
Yawn. Lame. Art by Bryan Hitch, so I was expecting Mark Millar....that would have been better than this drivel.
So rehashed from every other dystopian mutant future reality shows are evil USA bad stuff with no originality.
Avoid. Now I know why none of the SCR have read this crap.
DNF.
A bunch of women in San Fran give birth to superpowered kids all at the same time after a crystal lands on Earth.
They turn it into the hunger games, keep the rest in mutant camps.
Cliches abound. Evil military, government (senator looks just like Sarah Palin) and mystery man.
Also a scientist who is a tweener.
One kid has brother who dies, but he has no powers. They manifest as very powerful when he saves a kid.
Cue the race for him between the underground, the military industrial complex, and the team of super kids who have to decide what to do.
Yawn. Lame. Art by Bryan Hitch, so I was expecting Mark Millar....that would have been better than this drivel.
So rehashed from every other dystopian mutant future reality shows are evil USA bad stuff with no originality.
Avoid. Now I know why none of the SCR have read this crap.
May 29, 2023
Blimey, this story was so unsubtle with bad guys so outrageous it was embarrassing. I’d have quit after issue two if not for Brian Hitch’s excellent art as always. But even taking that into account there’s no way in hell I’m gonna give this piece of trash more than 1*. There’s limits to what good art can salvage in a comic book.
March 22, 2019
Eu não vi acontecer o mesmo buzz que aconteceu lá fora com esse quadrinho acontecer aqui no Brasil. Não vi nenhum site ou youtube de quadrinhos comentando sobre essa história em quadrinhos, ou ainda, dos leitores elogiarem essa obra. E isso que ela é feita por dois caras que são muito bem quistos tanto lá fora quanto aqui dentro, Jonathan Ross da série Turf e Bryan Hitch de Authority e Os Supremos. Possivelmente o que tenha afastado os brasileiros seja o título americanófilo. Por mais que nós consumamos os super-heróis dos Estados Unidos, nem sempre gostamos quando as capas deles apresentam elementos tão ufanistas e patrióticos. No bem da verdade, o quadrinho nem é tão patriótico assim, já que tem uma personagem maligna calcada na Senadora Republicana do Alaska, Sarah Palin. America's Got Power é uma conspiração sobre poder e sobre ganância e uma disputa sobre quem tem a razão, quando um jovem, o único da sua geração que não tem poderes, acaba tendo o poder -han, han - de mudar toda a situação do país. Eu adorei esse quadrinho, tanto o roteiro quanto o desenhos são muito envolventes e ele deveria ser mais elogiado, lido e pensado com cuidado do que os efeitos que acabou (não) causando em terra tupiniquins. Se você está em dúvida sobre esse quadrinho, recomendo que dê uma chance.
March 11, 2015
Weak clone of Rising Stars.
August 28, 2017
I liked this better when it was "The 4400".
June 10, 2020
Intriguing premise that would've been better if kept to a small scale. I lost interest as it grew from something personal (family) to local (San Francisco) to national and planetary scope. Artwork was good.
July 4, 2018
What it's about: A mysterious, giant crystal appears in San Francisco that causes hundreds of babies to be born, each with a "power." Years later, those children have grown up and are being tested and pitted against each other in gladiatorial contests. But one kid, Tommy Watts, is the only one who seems to have no powers; he's the only "zero"-rated kid to come from the experience. Then he accidentally finds out that's not the case.
What I thought: Meh. The message seems to be that violence begets violence, but there's not much evidence that another path would work better, so the message falls a bit flat. Also, the characters are pretty sparsely fleshed out, so it's tough to get too worked up about any of them; and their personalities seem to shift from page to page.
Why I rated it as I did: I love a super-powers story, and I appreciate when a story arc wraps up in a reasonable number of issues. But this was a story that would have benefited from being slowed down and giving the characters some background and emotional stakes, instead of everything being a reaction to a physical threat.
What I thought: Meh. The message seems to be that violence begets violence, but there's not much evidence that another path would work better, so the message falls a bit flat. Also, the characters are pretty sparsely fleshed out, so it's tough to get too worked up about any of them; and their personalities seem to shift from page to page.
Why I rated it as I did: I love a super-powers story, and I appreciate when a story arc wraps up in a reasonable number of issues. But this was a story that would have benefited from being slowed down and giving the characters some background and emotional stakes, instead of everything being a reaction to a physical threat.
August 10, 2019
Jealousy. Greed. A hunger for a power that is not understood - and fear of the unknown.
America's Hot Powers by Jonathan Ross and Bryan Hitch is a brutal exploration of the baser and unpleasant human reactions to things and people that are different. It paints a picture of crass commercialisation of the mistreatment of a generation who have been mysteriously gifted strange and powerful abilities.
Internment camps, special privileges granted to some in exchange for violent gladatorial battles for the entertainment of the masses - and the weaponisation of media against a pliable and fearful populace to stoke and further control power.
This graphic novel came out in 2014 - but if anything it is even MORE relevant now in 2019.
As brutal as this story is, it is entertaining - the art is very good, and it has tight storyline.
I'm glad I read it.
America's Hot Powers by Jonathan Ross and Bryan Hitch is a brutal exploration of the baser and unpleasant human reactions to things and people that are different. It paints a picture of crass commercialisation of the mistreatment of a generation who have been mysteriously gifted strange and powerful abilities.
Internment camps, special privileges granted to some in exchange for violent gladatorial battles for the entertainment of the masses - and the weaponisation of media against a pliable and fearful populace to stoke and further control power.
This graphic novel came out in 2014 - but if anything it is even MORE relevant now in 2019.
As brutal as this story is, it is entertaining - the art is very good, and it has tight storyline.
I'm glad I read it.
June 20, 2016
Durante todo el cómic se mantiene la acción, el argumento está bastante chulo y bueno, puede que no sea original (mucho x-men y género distópico he visto por aquí) pero aún así me estaba gustando bastante. El problema es que el final se desinfla mucho... no creo que sea el final apropiado para toda la acción que estábamos teniendo... Aún así, lo veo en el cine, tiene potencial.
November 25, 2015
Fun read. Not groundbreaking, but well done for about the first two thirds. However, as it approached the end it felt really rushed. I think this would have benefited from a few more issues to expand on some ideas and explore the world more.
January 30, 2016
This is a solid piece of work. Good art. Good writing. Good characters. They threw a lot of ideas at the wall and not all of them stuck, but enough to let the book rise to the level of average. I don't think the Sarah Palin satire really added anything, though Hitch captured the likeness well.
June 21, 2017
After picking up #1 on a whim, I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed this mini series! The art was cool, it has great writing and the story is an original take on the superhero genre. Pick it up, it's super!!
February 28, 2019
A very routine young superheroes story. Starts out with an interesting game show idea but gradually degrades into the trope of an unknown and misunderstood power that saves the day for little real reason.
September 3, 2014
9/3/14 I waffled between a 4 and a 5, but dat ending. Review tk.
December 21, 2014
It's got some interesting ideas, but felt somewhat rushed and the 'powers' aspect not quite fully explored. The type of ending used also could have gone differently, but it's typical sci-fi.
March 6, 2015
A good premise and promising first couple of issues. Then goes all over the place and completely peiters out by the ending
February 1, 2016
A fun and promising premise, but a single volume felt like not enough for the ambitious world-building, and everything was a little crammed in.
March 20, 2016
Enjoyed this, a bit cliched but good anyway. Works on the old adage ' with extreme power comes extreme responsibility' but is a little too reminiscent of other stories I've read.
April 29, 2016
Some very interesting ideas, but ultimately a little shaky on the execution. Also, I was unnerved by the uncanny resemblance two character had to David Tennant and Sarah Palin.
January 16, 2018
Interesting idea and some fun story concepts but the pacing was off and the plot got wobbly near the end.
May 20, 2019
Sevdim :) Keyifli hikaye. Bir Rising Stars değil tabii ki, yine de okunur. Bryan Hitch'in çizimleri her zamanki gibi mükemmel.
March 8, 2020
Band 1: 4*
Band 2: 3*
Band 2: 3*
July 4, 2023
Sometimes the roll call of superheroes in Marvel/DC can get a bit tiresome, silly even. There are SO MANY and you have to remember each one?
If you don't, like here, then the fights blur together. Especially when the main character's powers, crucial as they are to the plot, seem to ebb and flow at conveniently dramatic moments.
There is a bit, a little bit, of human politics, which gives this a little identity, but do people realize that senators and governors don't actually do everything. Sometimes, they don't even realize what's going on. I'm looking at you, Sarah Palin lookalike.
If you don't, like here, then the fights blur together. Especially when the main character's powers, crucial as they are to the plot, seem to ebb and flow at conveniently dramatic moments.
There is a bit, a little bit, of human politics, which gives this a little identity, but do people realize that senators and governors don't actually do everything. Sometimes, they don't even realize what's going on. I'm looking at you, Sarah Palin lookalike.
May 13, 2021
It kind of not makes any sense, even by comic book standards
May 24, 2016
Ross (pero no Alex) y Hitch (sí Bryan) juntan su mala leche y buenas plumas en este realityshowesco comic que revisita los dilemas de grandes poderes que supuestamente conllevan grandes responsabilidades y los circos mediáticos que se pueden armar enrededor.
December 8, 2023
This book was needlessly cynical...also, whose idea was it to ape the title from "America's Got Talent?" Did they think there would be some massive brand recognition and think it might be like the show? Ri-diculous.
July 1, 2025
Wow, I didn’t care for this at all.
April 3, 2017
A very strong opening issue, but the series rambled on without much of a point. A shallow exploration of the ideas in Rising Stars and Irredeemable.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews