The big DC Universe event, Absolute Power is here! From Lazarus Planet to Beast World, this is a culmination of everything we have seen go down since the end of Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths. All the roads taken has had some form of contribution to get us to this point where Amanda Waller is ready to take over with her Trinity of Evil leading the campaign against the DCU’s heroes. The stakes will certainly be high as we’ve already seen heroes like Green Arrow siding in Amanda Waller. How will things begin? Let’s find out with Absolute Power #1.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Dan Mora
Colorist: Alejandro Sánchez
Letterer: Ariana Maher
ABSOLUTE POWER #1 SOLICITATION
“THE HEROES OF THE DC UNIVERSE ARE POWERLESS! THE TRINITY OF EVIL HAS WON! …THE RESISTANCE MUST RISE!
DC’s epic summer event kicks off with a bang, as the combined might of FAILSAFE and the BRAINIAC QUEEN has at last given Amanda Waller the ability to steal the metahuman abilities of every hero and villain on planet Earth. As chaos erupts in the streets and a massive misinformation campaign sways public opinion to her side, the founder of the Suicide Squad methodically targets each superhero dynasty one at a time, starting with SUPERMAN. But even in this darkest of hours, a resistance is forming… and BATMAN is out for vengeance.
It’s a shocking blitzkrieg across the globe that is decades in the making — and will shape the course of the DC Universe for years to come! Brought to you by the superstar talents of MARK WAID and DAN MORA — it all starts here!” – DC Comics
REVIEW
Mark Waid and Dan Mora kick off the DC Universe’s latest big event with a banger. The tone is immediately set by the opening of Superman getting mortally wounded by a shot from a regular gun. From there Absolute Power #1 is cranked up to 200mph and never lets up no matter how sharp of a corner the story takes.
The tone that is set with the Superman opening scene speaks to how Waid and Mora truly capture this feeling like a culmination of years of storytelling. Absolute Power isn’t simply an event in the works for a few months or happening just to have a summer big event. The seeds of this event were planted at the epilogue to Dark Crisis On Infinite Earth #7. Amanda Waller’s meeting with the Council of Light planted seeds that have been slowly blooming for over a year and a half.
All the work Amanda Waller has done to use the DC Universe as her personal garden fully blooms to create a world that has this anti-superhero sentiment. Utilizing the things going on in the real world with Waller taking over the worlds media and disseminating A.I. manufactured anti-superhero propaganda footage works. It specifically works because Waller’s plan heavily relies on her fellow Trinity of Evil partners, Failsafe and Brainiac Queen, to perfectly accomplish her goal.
To the credit of the storytelling, Waid makes sure that Trinity of Evil’s propaganda is something that leaves the world confused. While we do see how the people that fully believe the A.I. created footage there is a point made that most are confused if they should believe the footage is real or not. That makes the people who take the footage as gospel standout even more.
Between Cyborg and Oracle trying to counter Failsafe and Brainiac Queen’s actions to heroes being even more active about showing they are there to protect people, it all worked into the Trinity of Evil’s plan. They were placed in a spot they had nothing else that providing the footage was fake had to be their 100% focus, that includes Batman. It created a logical reason to explain why the heroes were all left open to be positioned to fall into the Trinity of Evil’s true plan of depowering all of them.
Every development in Absolute Power #1 having logical pacing is what made this start so special. As Waller told Sergeant Steel, all the manufactured fake footage created by Failsafe and Brainiac is her translating how she views the superhero community to the world. She has now made the reality in her mind the reality of the world, that includes being the most powerful government official.
Along with this Waid does a great job at setting up Green Arrow to be key players within Waller’s forces. Green Arrow siding with Waller is presented as part of his entire character history. His conversation with Batman highlights how while they have both always been the “normal” guys surrounded by Gods their view on being heroes and vigilantes has been different. This plays in well into how in the lead up Green Arrow has made it his mission to protect the superhero community from the shadows. Doing that by working as an agent of Waller’s Task Force VII makes Green Arrow one of the characters to watch for what his actions factors into how Absolute Power concludes.
With everything that happens Dan Mora delivers a masterclass with how artwork for a big event should look. The wonderful detail, with help from Alejandro Sánchez’s great coloring, was on point in every panel and splash page. Mora’s artwork elevated the storytelling to another level as every big moment hit its maximum intended intensity. When everything breaks down with Failsafe’s Amazo Justice League depowering every hero on Earth was something you felt as a reader.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Absolute Power #1 is a grand slam of a start for the DC Universe’s latest big event. Mark Waid and Dan Mora nailed making this start work as a culmination of all the storytelling with Amanda Waller since Dark Crisis On Infinite Earth #7’s epilogue. This is a must-read comic book for fans of the DC Universe.
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 10 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 9.5 Night Girls out of 10
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