Review by Frank Plowright
Absolute Power was DC’s 2024 summer epic, an unusually self-contained event with the core story here, and two further graphic novels supplying the trimmings. The groundwork was laid in Tom Taylor’s Titans series, establishing Amanda Waller’s remorseless scheming in service of a belief that only her methods can keep humanity safe, and far from being protectors, superheroes are part of the problem and need to be restrained. She’s found new allies in Brainiac Queen and Failsafe, and is ready for another power grab, which begins with fake footage of DC’s most prominent superheroes committing atrocities going viral.
Taylor may have laid the groundwork, but it’s Mark Waid who takes matters forward with a fantastic application of ancient DC technology. There was once a robot called Amazo who possessed the powers of the entire Justice League, yet failed on several occasions when set against the team. Waid’s neutered the flaw in that plan by placing an squad of Amazos under Waller’s control, who first drain super powers, then use them.
The prime weapon under Waid’s control is the formidable artistic skills of Dan Mora, who makes every page a delight to view. There’s power, there’s grace and there’s phenomenal detail when it comes to mechanical devices or such devices combined with people. Mora always seems to work with colourists who bring out the best in his work, and Alejandro Sanchez joins that list.
Waid’s plot prioritises the desperation of solutions constantly being closed off, but one element isn’t going to fool regular superhero readers at all, and the suspicion is that he knows and doesn’t greatly care. He has so much else going on that the obvious identity of someone anonymously helping out the heroes is a quibble to be overlooked. It’s also worth noting the eventual victory relies too greatly on the jiggery-pokery of an obscure character not greatly explained, but set that against a well developed and logical role for Nightwing, the clever removal of major players, and the surprises and all is well. There are tie-ins (see recommendations), but Waid ensures this is coherent without them.
After it’s all over there’s a flashback to before it began with three short stories by assorted creators explaining why people are working with Waller. Waid collaborates with both Nicole Mains and Chip Zdarsky, while Joshua Williamson’s fine on his own. All are clever in filling in background, but while it would be expected that Mora on the main feature is the star artistic turn, the art on these back-ups isn’t anywhere near the same standard. The best is provided by Gleb Melnikov, although mixing cartooning with a more realistic style is a mistake.
The title Absolute Power is taken from 19th century British politician Lord Acton’s quote that power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, certainly exemplified by Waller. However, Absolute Power is also a triumphant rebuttal of artificial intelligence having greater value than humanity, not least underlining AI requires a power source, but that’s over and above a plan that’s fallen into place providing a very satisfying superhero team-up.
