There was anticipation ahead of DC’s Absolute Power panel at SDCC24, with the room packed to capacity well before the 12:45 start time. With DC’s summer Absolute Power crossover just now rolling its way through comic shops, fans of the storied comic company were eager to see what would come in the event’s wake.
Mark Waid, having returned to DC, noted that this company “has been my home since I was 6. These are my people.” His love comics have been told through his work over the last few decades, but the audience was enthusiastic as he gushed over his love for these characters.
With the original name for Absolute Power being “Powerless,” the creative teams wanted to find a way to make an engaging arc where the iconic figures had their powers stripped away. Not only have they lost their powers, but Amanda Waller has sealed their exits from space to other dimensions. However, as noted by the panel, “powers don’t make the hero, but the choices they make,” with Waid arguing that these iconic protagonists “have to make harder choices than if they had superpowers.”
Nicole Maines, who received high praise from Waid early in their conversation, who agreed that even without any formal training, she was an incredible writer. Maines said her work on Suicide Squad was fun as she “gets to write the characters I like and hurt them badly; hit them against the wall and break them.” Her Dreamer character is a key figure in some of the events of Absolute Power and beyond.
Josh Williamson wanted to do a Brainiac story that was in the inverse of Clark Kent’s experience on earth, having been raised by a loving pair of foster parents. Rather, Brainiac Queen is raised by Amanda Waller with unfortunate consequences for our DC heroes.
And, of course, a panel of this nature would not be complete without the reveal of some upcoming titles, but DC went one further, introducing their next initiative: All In. Snyder, coming back to DC after a few years of creator-owned work, said he was saddened by the conversation in the zeitgeist that superheroes were over. Along with other creators at DC, they wanted DC comics to reflect all the types of superhero storytelling, where every type of narrative could find a home. Hence, the All In is not an event but an initiative “where everyone is invited in” and is going to be more than an event but a way for DC heroes to be “constantly renewed.”
Then, we got a glimpse of the new DC books on the horizon.
First, Justice League Unlimited by Dan Mara and Mark Waid, where our heroes realize they should have had a justice league all along. These will be “big stories,” as Waid described it.
Absolute Batman is going to see a very different version of the character, where rather than acting as a source of order and stability, they will be more of a chaos agent. Alfred, who is not a butler in this iteration, acts as the POV character.
Jason Aaron will be writing Absolute Superman, wanting to make the character relevant to the world today. He noted that every aspect of the character’s design is purposeful, with everything in the supplied images having significance.
Absolute Wonder Woman is a character “raised in hell,” armed to the teeth in a way we haven’t seen before. “Lava running under rocks” was the idea for her visual interpretation.
Absolute Flash was teased, with the panel providing no information other than a single visual.
While DC’s Absolute Power panel left more questions than answers, the All In initiative clearly perked the attention of showgoers, and I’m looking forward to seeing what this vision for the DC universe develops into.
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