Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #355098 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Transfer of Power is the fourth and final collection of volume one of The Authority, the book that arguably changed the superhero genre forever. Not content with merely stopping supervillains from robbing banks, the six members of the Authority (Jack Hawksmoor, the Engineer, the Doctor, Swift, Apollo and the Midnighter) use their remarkable powers in a proactive rather than reactive way. They're out to change the world, and they don't care who gets in their way.

Unfortunately for the Authority, this attitude doesn't endear them to most world leaders, who fear the implications of a few powerful individuals threatening the status quo. So, the seven richest countries dispatch Seth, the "genetically modified hillbilly" with more than 1,000 super powers, to dispose of the Authority. Once the original Authority are out of the way, a brand new Authority are installed by the establishment--the Colonel, Rush, the Machine, Street, the Professor, Teuton and Last Call. As the new Authority get used to their new-found glory as the world's greatest superheroes, only one question remains: where is the Midnighter?

When half of the stories collected in Transfer of Power were originally produced, the Authority had become as controversial in the real world as they were in their fictional world. Apollo and the Midnighter are rather thinly-veiled archetypes of Superman and Batman, with one fundamental difference: they're also a gay couple. DC Comics, publishers of The Authority (under its Wildstorm imprint), bristled at some of the more overt artwork and dialogue, and while the mess was being sorted out, a temporary team of Tom Peyer (writer) and Dustin Nguyen (artist) were brought in for the four-part "Transfer of Power" story line. Though they do an admirable job, it appears rushed and its flippant tone jars with the rest of the book. As expected, it is writer Mark Millar's story line ("Brave New World")--which bookends Transfer of Power--that does real justice to the characters and team he was instrumental in defining. His story, and the detail-rich artwork of Frank Quitely and Arthur Adams in particular, provide a fitting finale to the superteam and book that, in Millar's own words (as spoken by Jack Hawksmoor), "completely changed the landscape". --Robert Burrow

Customer Reviews

One wedding , one transfer and many deaths
Let's face it - The Authority never went in for common-or-garden superhero sized problems. Or even held average superhero-sized egos. They were Jung's superego given claws and teeth, they acted like the wrathful Jahweh when he pored his wrath over Sodom nad Gomorrah and asked Job where he was when the foundations of the world were laid.

Too clever and powerful by half - and that rarely augurs well. They put politicl correctness into action when it was to be reserved for lip-service. The pessimist in me thought they would get their - albeit temporary - comeupance sooner or later. The cynic in me rejoiced that here they finally do.

Well - industrial and economic owers combine wealth to create a super-cyborg called Seth who beats the Authority to pieces. They disappear and a new Authority takes over. You can guess the rest so I won't bother to divulge it. Buy and read the thing anyway. It's good.

And letting your imagination run over the details makes for fun in drawing mythical parallels. The new Authority is, predictably, at the beck and call of the establihment. What is interesting is that the new onesadopt the same costumes and have the same powers as the originals. Except that Jenny Sparks is now a bald englishman and the Midnighter and Apollo are volubly NOT gay.

And the first thing this new group does is an act of genocide.

Not nice people. Same arrogance, different victims. Or to keep to the religio-mythical-messianic theme they are Anti-Authority.

Like I said,this one has potential. And a marriage.

But also flaws. The story is divided intwo parts. The first chapter and the last three written by Mark Millar whist the other four by Tom Peyer. The first handles the old Authority and the second the antics of the new.

Now Peyer is not bad as a writer but he lacks wit and his plot includes a foray into a parallel dimension which merely confuses.
Millar is up to his usual good standards, thankfully, and the various artists are competent and generally do a good job.