So, this is the last issue. Let me guess, it’s a climactic fight and everything turns out all right in the end. We get some consequences that affect nothing and move on to the next event. Yep, called it. I don’t need any more preamble, let’s just get into it.
Absolute Power squandered its premise, a premise which didn’t even make sense to begin with and makes even less sense now. Waid never gave a good explanation for how Waller was able to steal the heroes’ powers. Trying to steal Superman’s powers for instance would be the equivalent of stealing a normal person’s ability to breathe. It’s not a part that can come and go. It’s biology and all these heroes should be dead if a part of their biology is “stolen.” Now, in the resolution of this issue, we find out that when the heroes got their powers back (crazy, I know) some of them got mixed up. Besides being far too similar to the fallout of Lazarus Planet, this is both impossible and tiresome. What else is new?
Want to know how the problem of the superhero-hating planet is solved? Well, Nightwing tricks Waller into saying some “bad guy things” and broadcasts it. It’s a very simplistic, almost naïve, trope that ignores the fact that many people won’t believe or see the broadcast, just like Waller’s fake news that made the world hate the heroes in the first place. Does everyone in the DC universe have the memory of a goldfish? Does persuading them of anything you can think of only require a video being dropped in front of them? It’s all so ludicrous and to think, this story started out as if it might actually be trying to tell a human story. That isn’t what this is. It’s content, pure and simple. Lowest common denominator, inoffensive, and saying absolutely nothing.
Ugh, Nightwing is so lame in this comic.Maybe this would be less damning if the event had some kind of effect on the DCU. My belief was that it would set up the Absolute Universe but it turns out that that task is entirely relegated to the All-IN Special. So, what does this comic do? It puts the Justice League back together. I’ve already talked about this plenty but this doesn’t matter. DC said they were broken up but it’s not like we could tell. Though now the group is bigger and some (mostly undefined) heroes have different or missing powers. Moving on, Red Tornado gets destroyed. What is this, like the ten thousandth time? We all know he’ll be back and if he’s not, this character isn’t popular enough for very many people to miss him. I can’t remember the last time he featured prominently in a comic. Next, Waller is taken off the table for the time being but, again, we know she’ll be free soon enough. Oh, and the random evil Green Arrow plot that had almost no page space was a nothingburger. He was just an inside man. So, in the end, a few short-term changes.
See the previous review for my opinion on the art, it hasn’t changed.
Recommend if…
- Meh
- Art
- *Sigh*
Overall
I certainly can’t recommend this comic. It has no value and, unfortunately, this seems to be the case with far too many DC books these days. Everything feels redundant, solutions come too easy, there’s no development, and there’s nothing deeper to the story than the surface-level fights you see on the page.
Score: 4/10
This is my last full-length review for Batman News. It’s unfortunate that many of the comics I’ve covered in my more than two years here have been lackluster but it was still fun and I’ve met some great people in the process. I’m just entirely burnt out by the weekly grind of reviewing. It really is a repetitive task. Despite that, I’m not yet burnt out on Batman! So, going forward I have plans for opinion pieces and various articles on the site, as well as some potential monthly features. I’m looking forward to the change!
English (US) · 