Written by: Mark Waid
Art by: Dan Mora
Colors by: Alejandro Sánchez
Letters by: Ariana Maher
Cover art by: Dan Mora
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: September 4, 2024
Absolute Power #3, by DC Comics on 9/4/24, begins a frantic race to find weapons and allies, some known and others brand new, to stop Amanda Waller’s plan to take over the world.
Is Absolute Power #3 Good?
When last we left the remaining collective of Earth’s heroes in Absolute Power #2, they gathered in the Fortress of Solitude and began making plans to mount a counter-attack to Amanda Waller’s worldwide siege. Before plans could be put into action, a cybernetically-possessed Jon Kent and an Amazo robot attacked the Fortress, capturing most of the remaining heroes, sending the rest scurrying. In the climactic finish, Dreamer sacrifices herself to buy the fleeing heroes time to escape.
In Absolute Power #3, the surviving heroes find themselves on Themyscira, the only place left on Earth that’s uncharted by world governments and protected from Kryptonian sight by magic. Queen Nubia isn’t happy about the presence of outsiders, especially men, but she recognizes that Waller’s victory spells trouble for everyone.
Following on from the frantic series of events in issue #2, Mark Waid cranks up the pace and the chaos a few more notches to keep the proceedings moving. Frankly, it’s almost too much because there’s almost a different scene or conversation in every other panel, and you can’t reasonably absorb it all in one read-through.
Nightwing settles down the troops, particularly Barda, who believes Jon Kent needs to be put down. Hal Jordan divvies out the weapons he managed to steal in Green Lantern #14. Wally West and Hal Jordan are sent to the Hall of Order to steal intel. Aquaman, Yara Flor, Blue Beetle, and Red Tornado head to an aircraft carrier to retrieve John Starr, aka Time Commander. Donna Troy and Big Barda set up a defensive blockade on Themyscira in case Waller’s forces find them. And on and on and on and on.
Yeah, it gets to be a bit much. Waid keeps all the threads moving in the same direction, but the sheer volume of developments and characters to track gets overwhelming quickly. It’s pretty clear that Waid is trying to cram two or three issues worth of story into one, so the experience feels super-rushed.
Ultimately, each team completes its objective with a few losses in the exchange. More importantly, Waller and Failsafe notice some of their Amazo’s aren’t operating at peak efficiency due to the “infection” of goodness from the heroes they captured and stole powers from, prompting Failsafe to initiate a mass remote reboot.
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