THIS WEEK: Absolute Energy #1 kicks off DC Comics large summer season occasion this week, pitting the collected power of the DCU superheroes in opposition to…synthetic intelligence. Plus, we have now our normal round-up of blurbs about different DC books hitting retailers!
Absolute Energy #1
Author: Mark Waid
Artist: Dan Mora
Colorist: Alejandro Sanchez
Letterer: Ariana Maher
After fairly a little bit of lead-in and foreshadowing, DC Comics launches this yr’s large summer season occasion with Absolute Energy #1, a narrative during which Amanda Waller deploys villains which are powered by synthetic intelligence to get rid of the superheroes of the DCU. After a sequence of occasions that date again to the Warfare For Earth-3 story, Waller has turn out to be satisfied that the Earth can be higher off with highly effective however much less human defenders. And so she’s making her transfer now to take the heroes out and put her robots in.
In final week’s roundtable on this very house, we talked about how good the lead-up to Absolute Energy #1 has been. After studying this primary concern, it’s nonetheless the factor on the entrance of my thoughts. It is a packed concern, however none of it comes out of nowhere. It’s all been seeded and seeded subtly, with this occasion bringing collectively plot threads from all through the road. Virtually all of those large superhero issues is billed as “line-wide”, however that always simply implies that characters from all through the road are all showing collectively in a single ebook.
That’s not the case with Absolute Energy. It makes use of the villain that was launched in Batman #125, virtually two full years in the past to the day. It makes use of stuff that’s been taking place in Inexperienced Arrow and Superman and Suicide Squad: Dream Group and Superman: Jonathan Kent and on and on the listing goes. If nothing else, this ebook is a powerful little bit of coordination from the great of us at DC Comics editorial.
However it’s additionally greater than that. It’s a extremely handsome ebook. Dan Mora has joined Jorge Jimenez as one in every of the artists I take into consideration once I take into consideration this period of high-production DC Comics artwork. He’s coming off some nice work with the author of this occasion, Mark Waid, with whom he additionally collaborated on a really enjoyable run of Batman/Superman – World’s Best, and he’s coloured right here Alejandro Sanchez, whose palette actually leans into the epic aspect of superhero storytelling. And the group is rounded out by letterer Ariana Maher, who has been performing some nice work on the primary Superman title as properly.
As you possibly can see from the preview pages right here, the paintings in Absolute Energy #1 is sharp and kinetic. Dan Mora’s aesthetic is simply so trendy, and on this — what I consider is his first true Huge 2 occasion comedian — he exhibits us simply how properly he can draw mainly each character from this writer, from Superman to …properly, you title them. They give the impression of being nice within the pages of this ebook. And it’s not all simply the plain heroes. We get a sequence early on that options Animal Man, for instance.
Story-wise, I loved this primary concern fairly a bit. It’s organized with an awesome set piece to open issues (see the above pages), whereby Superman confidently confronts some burglars escaping through a rooftop helicopter…solely to seek out he’s been de-powered as soon as they fireplace at him. Going out of chronology to let a flashy bit open is widespread in comics, and I’m not all the time a fan of it — however bullets bouncing off Superman is so iconic, that I loved the best way this subverts reader expectations. And, I imply, it is a visible medium and this occasion inside it’s opening salvo already serves up a really memorable splash web page.
Tonally, issues solely worsen from there for the heroes, as first public sentiment is turned in opposition to them by AI-generated misinformation, a few of which is propagated by hacking legacy information organizations (together with, after all, the Day by day Planet). Amazo robots present as much as kick ass and drain powers, backed up by the villains from the 2 most up-to-date Batman and Superman arcs — Fail Protected and the Braniac Queen — after which after a heel flip from Inexperienced Arrow (which I’m positive is extra difficult then it appears), when the mud settles on this first concern, most of Earth’s heroes are worn out.
It’s a great first concern for an over-the-top bonkers superhero occasion, one with excessive stakes, a plotline that feels natural with all its build-up, and completely top-tier superhero paintings. And it’s enhanced even additional with a pleasant back-up in Batman #150 that provides some context to what’s taking place right here.
Personally, I loved Absolute Energy #1 an awesome deal. I’m not bothered by Amanda Waller in 2024 being a barely completely different character than Amanda Waller from ~40 years in the past (on the earth of shared company superhero IP, malleable portrayals are a part of the deal), and I are likely to take pleasure in these items for what they’re — large and loud over-the-top summer season enjoyable.
Verdict: BUY
The Spherical-Up
- I hold heaping reward on The Boy Marvel, a brand new exploration of the completely different Robins by buzzy business star Juni Ba (with colours by Chris O’Halloran and letters by Aditya Bidikar. However it actually is that good. After I get carried out studying every concern of this sequence, I ask myself, what did we do to deserve one thing this well-done? This week’s The Boy Marvel #3 is all about Tim Drake, by the best way.
Are folks speaking about this Poison Ivy run? Individuals, you actually should be speaking about this Poison Ivy run. It’s simply so improbable. Now on (a really unbelievable) Poison Ivy #24, this month’s concern felt prefer it may have been a sequence finale, doing an awesome job of wrapping up loads of plot threads in a satisfying method. It’s not, there are extra points coming, however studying it made me notice simply what number of fascinating issues this run has carried out with the character and adjoining bits of the DCU, from Swamp Factor to Solomon Grundy. I’ve actually loved this run fairly a bit. This concern was written by G. Willow Wilson, with artwork by Haining, colours by Arif Prianto, and letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. - Lastly, Kneel Earlier than Zod #7 is a giant swing of a comic book. This gritty sequence will not be one I anticipated to do a full concern of majority nine-panel grids, however that’s what we get right here — and it really works. Merely put, it is a top-tier Kryptonian-in-space DC cosmic sequence, with a gritter edge to it as a result of, you understand, unhealthy man ebook. This concern was written by Joe Casey, with artwork by Dan McDaid, colours by David Baron, and letters by Troy Peteri.
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