In a different universe, Luke Cage became the last hero, possessing powers of multiple of his fallen comrades. Now, he’s found himself in the mainline universe with a new foe. Your Major Spoilers review of Power Man: Timeless #1 awaits!

POWER MAN: TIMELESS #1

Writers: Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly
Artist: Bernard Chang
Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Editor: Darren Shan
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: February 5th, 2025

Previously in Power Man: Timeless: Luke Cage of another universe had the blood of The Hulk, The Iron Fist, and possessed both The Sentry and The Void. After a final fight with the avatar of Khonshu, Luke found himself transported to a new universe.

A NEW CHALLENGER

Power Man: Timeless #1 starts with Luke Cage arriving in the mainline Marvel Universe. He immediately sets out to find his friend Danny Rand, only to discover that Danny had died, so he takes to space. While there he struggles with the voice of The Void speaking to him, until another voice calls out for help. He goes to investigate but is ambushed by a being known as Aeon The Knife. The two then start fighting, but it’s over quickly, with Luke being cut in half. He then wakes up having been mended together in a facility located in the red storm of Jupiter. In there he is greeted by a woman and a giant Celestial Heart. They ask Luke to hunt down someone for them, which Luke refuses. Suddenly, Aeon The Knife returns, and Luke prepares himself for round 2.

A LOT TO TAKE IN

It’s always a tricky thing to try and pull a character that was designed for a specific storyline and spin them into their own thing, and it’s not quite clear in Power Man: Timeless #1 if they fully pulled it off or not. While it wastes no time getting into some action and setting up the scenario that Luke is going to be operating in, it also immediately separates Luke from the other Marvel 616 heroes, which brings up the question as to why this version of Luke Cage has to be in this universe. There’s also the issue of introducing this version of the character to readers who may have missed out on the event that he debuted in and on that front. This issue does okay with the introductory text at the beginning but it really doesn’t explain much about why and how this Luke ended up in this universe. Also, the introduction of The Celestial Heart and the place it resides isn’t really explained either, they both are just sort of there. What this comic does nail, though, is the characterization of Luke Cage. Even with his massive amount of power and new cosmic scale, he doesn’t lose the street-level attitude, making him still feel grounded and relatable. This personality is a nice counter to the other voices in this issue, particularly Aeon and The Eversight, who both speak with a sense of grandiose and lofty purpose that comes off as pretentious compared to Luke.

A GOOD MIXTURE OF STYLES

The art in Power Man: Timeless #1 strikes a good balance between some straightforward, solid comic book art and some moments of surrealism and unexpected design work. Emotions are captured well on the characters’ faces, and the action flows nicely with just the right amount of dramatic timing to make some of it really impactful, like waiting for the results of Aeon’s first strike. It’s when Luke is then taken to The Eversight that we get a great sequence where reality shifts a bi,t and we get some solid visual symbolism. Also, the way that The Celestial Heart’s voice is depicted is a nice touch that manages to convey its enormity in a visceral way.

BOTTOM LINE: A LITTLE SHAKY, BUT NOT BAD

Power Man: Timeless #1 does its best to give this version of Luke Cage a clean slate and spotlight to work with, but doesn’t do quite enough ground work to establish a real need for this series to exist. We do get some nice interactions between Luke and these cosmic beings that play out satisfyingly and it has some interesting things going on with the visuals. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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