I only read the first ICON arc, and didn't care for it...
The first ICON arc was only enjoyable if you read the entire Image run, 60% of which was complete drivel.
I have no idea why people think
Powers is where Bendis is never crap. It's full of infantile conversational gags, annoying cop-out endings that keep detectives from detecting, loads of typographical errors.
Also, inserting 'Easter eggs' in the form of civilians and streets named after buddies and comic book creator names stopped being cute after the first arc. Now it's just detracting and annoying and even if you were a person who wouldn't recognize those names, it doesn't add anything to the book so why not just attempt to create a real sense of urban space to this unnamed city? Oh wait, that'd involve EFFORT.
Look, I'll defend Bendis a lot to a lot of people. He's the creator that got me back into comics through
Sam & Twitch. I love
Fortune & Glory for its cheap laughs. I totally loved
Jinx and
Goldfish. I still think that up until issue 50, USM wasn't half as bad as people make it out to be. But Powers is easily the worst written book he's ever done in spite of some of the brilliant ideas present in stuff like "The Sellouts" and "Forever". But 'ideas' do not excuse bad writing.
Oh, and I like Oeming.