I've gotta say, I really liked the Absolute Power Ground Zero Special. I decided to buy this, and the main Absolute Power series (minus the sub-series and the tie-ins) on paper, waiting for the secondary stuff to show up on DCUI. And so far, I'm a fan.
This book is broken into three stories, each co-written by Mark Waid. The first shows the Suicide Squad tracking and capturing Jon Kent's boyfriend, Jai Nakamura, the son of the recent president of the island nation of Gamorra. The next shows Amanda Waller coercing D-list time-travel villain Time Commander into helping her with her plans. The third shows Waller enlisting and securing the help of the Brainiac Queen, who first appeared in the recent crossover in the Superman books.
As I've probably written, I've moved away a bit from the anti-Waller bandwagon; I feel like her time on Earth 3 is sufficient motivation for a heel turn for someone who was already skeptical of superheroes, and while not every writer will play her on what I feel his her new moral line--I think there are some things she still won't do, as she still has protection of regular (American) humans as one of her core motivations--I can blame that on the creators, not the character. I think Waid and Dan Mora (and this series) will do right by her, in general.
And Dreamer! I honestly love what's being done with her, because it's so surprising to me. She's DC's flagship trans character, and you'd think they'd be wanting to keep her untarnished, always choosing the right thing. That's what I'd expected from DC, and also from writer Natalie Maines, who obviously has a very personal stake in the matter. But she's a much more daring writer than I'd expected (as seen in Suicide Squad: Dream Team, which this follows up on), and is taking some pretty huge risks with Nia. And having such a conflict between her and Jai is honestly the best thing ever for both characters, as well as Jon (who hasn't had a lot of great character moments since he aged up during the Bendis run on the Super-titles). I think this facet of the story will have great benefits.
The Time Commander story was fun, and made me want to go back and read his last appearance, in Batman: Urban Legend. I hope to do that soon.
As for Brainiac Queen, my only regret is that I spoiled the end of the Superman books for myself for reading this. But I like Waller's devotion to raising/indoctrinating her, and it was presented well. Ultimately, these stories give Waller very different relationships with all of her main allies: Dreamer, Failsafe, Brainiac Queen, and Green Arrow. (Who knows what his deal is? But as has been pointed out elsewhere, he's expressed distrust for superheroes for longer than Waller's been around, so there's certainly precedent...though I'm hoping for better from him eventually.)
So bring on Absolute Power! I think this will be exciting as hell.
Replies
Just as an FYI, the Time Commander most recently appeared in "The Murder Club," a Batman story running in Batman: Urban Legends 20-23. I still haven't had a chance to read it, but it's available on DCUI (an invaluable resource for things like this).
Today, DC's next big initiative was announced for October: DC All-In. Part of it seems to be stemming from a realization Darkseid has in Absolute Power. I didn't even realize Darkseid would be in Absolute Power!
In any event, it appears this event is, at least somewhat, also a way to gear up for the Next Big Thing. Same as it ever was, I suppose.
ABSOLUTE POWER: TASK FORCE VII #1
The Superman-analog Amazo — "Last Son” — is sent to find Billy Batson, Mary Bromfield and Black Adam. It’s confirmed that Wonder Woman lost her powers in Absolute Power #1, as did The Captain and Mary Marvel, mostly. Waller assumes, correctly, that they’ll retreat to the Rock of Eternity to try to power back up, and sends Last Son there (led by Parasite). Upon arrival, Last Son no longer needs Parasite and kills him (or appears to).
As you’d expect, Super-Amazo takes down Black Adam and easily captures (mostly) non-powered Billy and Mary. Last Son seems to be having some cognitive problems, and also displays the semi-Victorian speech pattern of Paradise Lost. (He calls them "ne'er-do-wells".) Black Adam speculates that the Amazos are absorbing more than powers, and are also absorbing morals and conscience.
Steve Trevor arrives at Gamorra Base, the prison. We see Billy, Mary, Black Adam and Power Girl in cells. It turns out that he’s assigned to the base under Sarge Steel, which does not make him happy.
Comments:
GREEN LANTERN #13
My LCS failed to pull a copy for me and it sold out. It’s on re-order.
SUPERMAN #16
Mr. Terrific and Doc Mid-Nite are working to save Superman’s life as he flashes back to an early interest in stage magic. (News to me!) They put him in his black healing suit.
Zatanna is de-powered and on the run. She flashes back to when Batman taught her some fighting tricks that didn’t involve magic, but she’s about to be overwhelmed when she’s saved by Mercy Graves. Mercy takes her to the Fortress of Solitude, where we see:
Conner and Jon are confirmed as captured. Bruce and Diana are at the fortress (off panel). Mercy goes back to searching for others, “even if my new powers make me a target.”
In a coda, Lois Lane rescues Jimmy Olsen, a de-powered Silver Banshee, Lena Luthor and an amnesiac Lex Luthor from Peacemaker and Peacewrecker (and some henchmen).
COMMENTS
WONDER WOMAN #11
The opening scene is of what I assume to be the latest incarnation of Justice League Dark (Wonder Woman, The Captain, Mary Marvel, Detective Chimp, Spectre, John Constantine, Madame Xanadu) playing Go Fish. They are holing up indoors (at the Watergate Hotel) while Waller’s disinformation videos are making everyone afraid of superheroes.
Paradise Lost attacks, spouting Dickens. (I found “Great Expectations,” “Oliver Twist” and “Pickwick Papers” before I stopped looking up the quotes.)
There’s nothing here we didn’t know from Absolute Power #1: Paradise Lost depowers the entire team. Likely all of them were captured except for Diana.
COMMENTS:
"Do you presume my ignorance in order tacitly to demonstrate your own... or do you flaunt your ignorance in hopes of blatantly provoking mine?"
I'm going to have to remember that.
I'm going to have to remember that.
I'm not sure I understand it!
I've been thinking some more about how the Amazos work, because it just seems like plot magic. Has Red Tornado just avoided the Amazos, or does android-on-android absorption not work somehow? Why does Detective Chimp lose his smarts? Isn't that endemic to who he is, like walking and breathing and eating bananas? Or does the Amazo absorption power have some sort of internal baseline for all species that it takes all it meets back to? Which means he might could make an Albert Einstein stupid, too. Or turn Muhammad Ali into an average boxer. And if so, it's acting like the Thanagarian equalizing disease, and absorbing not only every superhero's powers, but anything above average. All the victims should therefore have IQs of 100. But that clearly isn't happening ... except for Detective Chimp. Unless something else is going on that I'm not catching.
In Wonder Woman #11, Mary and Billy don't lose all their magic to Amazo, it is said. They have a tiny bit left, it is said. I don't know why that would be, except for plot reasons: They would need it to get back to the Rock of Eternity. (And the mechanism isn't shown. Did they go to the wizard's subway station and use their tiny bit of magic to summon the magic subway train? OK, I talked myself into that.) But, again, this raises the question of how Last Son got to the Rock of Eternity. He absorbed Kryptonian powers, not magic ones. And Parasite doesn't have magic powers. How did they get there? Frankly, they shouldn't be able to, and in a perfect world the Rock would make a better sanctuary than the Fortress, since you can only find it if you're magic or if you're invited.
I'm also a little amazed (heh) that an Amazo could take down The Spectre. Twice in Wonder Woman #11 he is referred to as a divine entity. How could an Amazo affect him? Could an Amazo absorb the power of angels? God?
Now, some would say that -- if I'm reading the book right -- Paradise Lost didn't absorb The Spectre's powers, but instead absorbed Jim Corrigan's memory of how to activate the Ghostly Guardian. But Jim Corrigan is not a normal man. Jim Corrigan is dead. He's up and walking around and looking lots better than dead thanks to the divine power that fuels Spectre. So, to my mind, Paradise Lost is absorbing something from Spectre, or at least from the same divine source as Spectre. Amazo is snatching some of God's power. What th-?!
My head canon says Spectre isn't really the Vengeance of God, because if God exists in the DC Universe and takes an active hand in fighting crime, that opens up all kinds of cans of theological worms. I prefer to think that Spectre is empowered by a Lord of Order or something similar, and either doesn't know it or does know it and uses the "vengeance of God" schtick to terrify his opponents.
But that isn't how DC plays it. (And they've used angels a'plenty, such as Zauriel, and didn't shy away from Heaven and Hell in Vertigo titles.) So now I'm back to wondering exactly what the God of the DC Universe is playing at, and why he's so incompetent that he creates an all-powerful agent who can be defeated in two panels by a robot.
Speaking of Biblical stuff, Amanda's secret prison is on the island of Gamorra. I know I've said this a thousand times, but nobody should name their home Gamorra or Poison Wells or Hell's Gate or the all the terrible names you see in comics, or they should well expect that a terrible story is going to happen there! Because in comics, it always does! Name your town "Sunshine & Roses" or "Happy Valley" or "Superman Always Saves Us" or something. You'll be glad you did.
Also, prisons without due process are in Trump's Project 2025. So don't think that Waller's plans are sheer fantasy, because they're not that far from reality.
I'm not sure I understand it!
I take it to mean, "Do you say ignorant things because you don't know any better and assume that I don't, either; or do you knowingly say ignorant things assuming that I, too, am as ignorant as you pretend to be in an effort to provoke me?" I could quote some specific examples, but having read your previous comments, I'm sure you don't need me to. I think it's "politely" calling the other person ignorant, but questioning whether they are being so purposefully or if it just comes to them naturally. In any case, it should shut the speaker up... at least temporarily while they think about it (assuming they do).
I take it to mean...
...or, more succinctly, "Are you really that stupid or are you just pretending to be in order to piss me off because you think I am?"
Captain Comics said:
I know I've said this a thousand times, but nobody should name their home Gamorra or Poison Wells or Hell's Gate or the all the terrible names you see in comics, or they should well expect that a terrible story is going to happen there! Because in comics, it always does! Name your town "Sunshine & Roses" or "Happy Valley" or "Superman Always Saves Us" or something. You'll be glad you did.
The Hellmouth in Buffy the Vampire Slayer was named Sunnydale, which didn’t seem to help much.
The Hellmouth in Buffy the Vampire Slayer was named Sunnydale, which didn’t seem to help much.
Good point. Of course, I could argue that the Hellmouth being in Sunnydale is irony, whereas the Hellmouth appearing in Poison Wells should be expected.
But you know all that. I guess my point really is: How believable is it to name your town something awful? Maybe one person had a bad experience, but the whole town agreeing to "Hope's End" or "Devil's Plaything" or something seems a stretch. The only real town I can think of with a name like that is Tombstone, and I'm sure there's a reason for it. If I was living in a town that decided to name itself "We're All Going to Die a Horrible Death" or something, I'd move.
Just pointing out that according to the recent Netflix series at least, Wednesday Adams is named after the verse of the nursery rhyme that says that "Wednesday's Child is full of woe".
Of course, that is not unexpected given the situation.
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