Josiah Power has returned to the forefront of the DCU to combat a new wave of anti-metahuman sentiment. Your Major Spoilers review of The Power Company: Recharged #1 from DC Comics awaits!

THE POWER COMPANY: RECHARGED #1

Writer: Bryan Edward Hill
Artist: Khary Randolph/Alitha Martinez/Norm Rapmund/Ray Anthony Height/Studio Skye Tiger
Colorist: Emilio Lopez and Alex Guimaraes
Letterer: Andworld Design
Editor: Marquis Draper
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $5.99
Release Date: April 30, 2025

Previously in The Power Company: Recharged: Josiah Power and Jefferson Pierce lead the newest iteration of the Power Company with a new purpose of rebuilding humanity’s faith in heroes and fighting back against the rising anti-metahuman movement. For their first mission, the Company dispatches Jace Fox Batman, The Signal, and Vixen to investigate a serial killer.

A NEW ERA OF POWER

The Power Company: Recharged #1 opens in Atlanta, with the brutal murder of a young family whose son has metahuman powers. After that horrifying scene, we jump to New York City, where Batman Jace Fox is engaged with Gepetto, a villain obsessed with puppets and raising the dead. After brutally dealing with the villain, Batman is contacted by The Signal, who requests his help investigating the introductory murder, as the young man was one of his friends. When Batman arrives in Atlanta, he finds more than just The Signal, as Vixen, Josiah Power, and Black Lightning are all present to pitch him on joining the new incarnation of The Power Company. Power wants him onboard, as a new wave of anti-metahuman activities is on the rise, and a group called The Sons of Liberty is behind a lot of it in the Atlanta area. Batman roughly turns them down, insisting that they’ll all just get in his way, but agrees to scan the crime scene… only to realize, too late, that the place has been mined with explosives!

ALL BATMANS ARE JERKS

My most memorable complaint about this issue is actually a pretty minor sin, overall, in that Batman actually makes fun of Josiah Power’s name and the team’s (which, by extension, means the name of the book). It’s a common modern device, especially after the DC/CW TV shows spent a decade making fun of the source material in various ways. Still, that’s just part of the issue’s focus on Jace Fox above all the other characters. If the next few issues get us in-depth looks at Mari McCabe, Duke Thomas, and Jefferson Pierce, it might help to soften the blow in hindsight, but there’s just TOO much Batman here. The issue also has an artistic consistency problem, with four artists and a studio credited as handling the visuals, and while there aren’t any big mismatches or jarring transitions, the characters’ faces and body structures are noticeably different between art teams.

BOTTOM LINE: A BIT OF HEAVY LIFTING

With the events of Absolute Power, the last Black Lightning miniseries, and the February one-shot behind it, The Power Company: Recharged #1 isn’t actually a number one in the traditional sense, but it still needs a little more grounding than this one gives us, rounding out to 3 out of 5 stars overall. Having a team book that starts with an obvious non-team-player mocking the title, insisting that he doesn’t need or want a team, and openly scorning the other heroes is an interesting approach, and I hope it doesn’t turn off potential readers.

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