I like allegory books. Not always in the execution of every single instance, but in general, I’m predisposed towards a bit of “this is actually about daddy issues” (what isn’t?). But the thing is the thing is. When someone does it right, when they go all the way with it, when they say to your face what they’re doing, then do it so hard, so well, that it somehow loops round to surprise you with its sheer commitment to the bit? That shit’s magic.
And so, The Power Fantasy Volume 3: The End of History.
These (see here and here for reviews of volumes 1 and 2) have never been books to be shy about their ethical focus, their use of humans with superpowers to embody the problem of nuclear weapons and the idea of the nuclear deterrent. There’s no sneaky sneaky going on. And yet, this volume has managed to smack me in the face with that stated premise nonetheless.
As a quick recap, the premise of the story as a whole is that superheroes exist, and have done so visibly since the beginning of nuclear testing. Some of them have powers of equivalent capability (or significantly more) to nuclear weaponry, and pose a danger of concomitant level to humanity. But the people who wield them are still... predominantly... human, and prone to the emotional and interpersonal struggles that define us all. What happens when those mix with nuclear-level destructive capabilities? Well, Europe doesn't exist anymore. The story explores the interpersonal drama of a group of the strongest extant atomics, as they are called, and how they navigate their relationships with each other, their powers, their moral philosophies and the fate of the world. Whether that's Etienne trolley-probleming through increasingly horrible decisions, Valentina coming from literal heaven and trying her best to keep everyone together, Eliza with her hell-given powers and a lot of Catholicism, Masumi trying her best not to become a Tokyo-destroying kaiju, Heavy and his inclination to punch his way out of problems or Jacky and his swaggering English MLM cult trying to get in bed with the US government, there are a lot of angles through which the problems are being approached.
It helps that all of those characters, however outlandish their powers and backgrounds, remain well enough drawn, both visually but also in their behaviour, their individual voices and mannerisms, their backgrounds and morals and contexts, that they are intensely comprehensible, even as their stories take them to stranger and remoter places from our understanding. There's a lot of great work happening in grounding the outlandish in the real at just the right moments, and it forms the necessary foundation for the moments when things go to those far, strange places. They've done the work in the previous two volumes to make them believable, and it is absolutely paying off now.
It's also an intensely thoughtful story so far, with a heavy dose of utilitarian philosophy and not a small amount of theology sitting alongside the more usual approach to superpowered people. The writing leans heavily on exploring those intellectual underpinnings, using it as a scaffold to direct the wider story, as these difficult people hurtle through an increasingly fraught world.
Which all gives the story an interesting narrative progression. Volume 2 already chose to go with a character death (spoilers on that incoming, just go read the whole series first, you'll thank me for it) that felt both entirely inevitable and an absolute gut-punch, so I wasn't necessarily expecting the kind of escalation we've been given in volume 3. I am, perhaps, a bit too used to the slow and tidal pacing of long comic series, where dramatic revelations are often followed by period of downtime, to allow new events to settle into the context before stepping forward into the next drama. I had assumed The Power Fantasy would do something similar, letting us assimilate the consequences of Etienne's death and the revelation to the reader and Valentina that this... was not actually the case, and consider how the various shifting factions of the story would react to the change in the fundamental dynamic.
It... does not.
Instead, this volume, which encompasses issues 12-16 of the comic, is a steady progression of increasing crescendo's, leading to an ending that I could simply never have predicted. This upending of the typical flow of pacing feels deliberate - it's unsettling, and we should be unsettled! It all feeds back into that same commitment to the analogy. When you are handling fundamentally scary ideas, ones that think about the possibility of the deaths of millions... of course you want the reader to be uncomfortable, on edge, unsure what to expect. And also, that kind of rapid, almost uncontrolled sense of escalation feels... well, it feels exactly how the kind of world-ending scenario these books have always been about would feel. It's analogy all the way down, right to its bones. That commitment to theme just fills every single part of this story, and makes it better for it.
The art remains, as it was in the first two volumes, gorgeous, and is by no means exempt from that commitment. What I think bears extra consideration in this one is how well it is used to illustrate the moments of enormous horror - world-threatening events, city-damaging catastrophes and individual human violence - in a way that both makes an impact visually, but also keeps close the genuine sadness and violence inherent within the moment. It is incredibly necessary, in a book like this, to never let the glory of the spectacle overwhelm the image's role in conveying tone and story, and it never, ever does. Caspar Wijngaard is doing great work here.
If I sound hyperbolic, that's on purpose - I truly think the team behind The Power Fantasy are doing amazing work here, and that needs to be celebrated. It's not fun and happy, but it is challenging, committed and thoughtful, never losing sight of its goals or its core idea and feeling tight and perfectly constructed because of it.
When I reviewed volume 2, I said:
"I struggle to envisage where this goes, to have narrative closure that truly encompasses it all. But I have faith."
Having finished volume 3... there are several ironies in that conclusion. But also, however much I could not see it, however much I could not have expected where the plot would go, the faith I had has been entirely rewarded. The Power Fantasy Volume 3: The End of History is absolutely the best volume so far - and my god I hope we get more of this story, if this gets cancelled midway through I will weep - and promises that wherever they choose to continue going, there is much yet to be delivered from this world, these characters and, fundamentally, the analogy. It is an absolutely stunning (I was stunned) addition to the series, and if you like superhero stories, one I would urge you with the greatest insistence to read.
--
The Math
Highlights: absolute commitment to the analogy, gorgeous art of terrible events, believable characters with unbelievable power
Nerd Coefficient: 9/10
Reference: Kieron Gillen, Caspar Wijngaard, Clayton Cowles and Rian Hughes, The Power Fantasy Volume 3: The End of History, [Image, 2026].
POSTED BY: Roseanna Pendlebury, the humble servant of a very loud cat. @chloroformtea.bsky.social
