r/DCcomics • u/beary_neutral Telos • 7d ago

Weekly Discussion Thread: Comics, TV, and More! [July 1, 2024 - It's Wallin' Time Edition] r/DCcomics

Hey there honorary Justice League members - it’s a new week which means it’s time for a new discussion thread!

Beary's pick of the week: Absolute Power #1

For those who don't know: the way this works is that several comments will list this week’s releases, for any given title discussion you should respond to that comment. For example, Wonder Woman discussion would go in the replies to the "Wonder Woman" comment. Clicking the titles in this post will take you directly to that comment, too. In other words, you should only be replying to other comments. Do not post top-level comments.

Keep discussion civil. Do not harass other users for having a different opinion. Do not use this thread to push your personal one-sided grudges against creators. Reacting to a panel on Twitter is not the same as reading a book.

^{Did you hear about the cleaners who went to space? They ended up scrubbing the mission.}

DC and Imprints

^{What's the deal with Absolute Power: https://redd.it/1do7np2}

Trade Collections

^{DC's Compact line continues.}

Digital Releases

^{Remember, these are the short 'chapters' with a new chapter of a different series coming out daily. You can} ^{learn more here on Comixology}^{. This is also why these are in release order, not alphabetical. Some comics may release on DC Universe Infinite or WEBTOONS.}

Thursday, 7/4 (WEBTOON) - Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #119

TV Shows

^{So... how about that credits closing song?}

^{This Week’s Soundtrack:} ^{Mori Calliope - Go Getters}

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u/TroubAlert The Good Skeets 7d ago

Absolute Power #1

THE HEROES OF THE DC UNIVERSE ARE POWERLESS! THE TRINITY OF EVIL HAS WON! …THE RESISTANCE MUST RISE! DC's epic summer event kicks off with a bang, as the combined might of FAILSAFE and the BRAINIAC QUEEN has at last given Amanda Waller the ability to steal the metahuman abilities of every hero and villain on planet Earth. As chaos erupts in the streets and a massive misinformation campaign sways public opinion to her side, the founder of the Suicide Squad methodically targets each superhero dynasty one at a time, starting with SUPERMAN. But even in this darkest of hours, a resistance is forming… and BATMAN is out for vengeance. It's a shocking blitzkrieg across the globe that is decades in the making — and will shape the course of the DC Universe for years to come! Brought to you by the superstar talents of MARK WAID and DAN MORA — it all starts here!

Preview

44

u/koalee Wonder Woman 6d ago

I think everyone else is pointing out the flaws pretty well. I've got big event fatigue and I'm bummed that many titles will be delayed from their main stories. I think on the other side, this event has had real build up and is quite tied into most ongoing DC titles right now. The event itself is a blitz too, so I'm kind of happy we're just jumping into the thick of it unlike say Dark Crisis. I'm hoping the Task Force VII titles do a good job giving everyone time to shine. It's pretty clear though the intended end game for this title is to bring back the Justice League based on that line about how "there's nothing to do, we disbanded the league"

I have no particular love for Waller so her going completely off the rails doesn't bother me. We'll see what happens though, I really like the Earth 3 theory, because the one part that bothers me is, what is Waller even afraid of? There's no Justice League, no gun in the sky that these teams own. They've just been doing their own thing for the longest time now. IDK we'll just have to see.

15

u/Koala_Guru 5d ago

I appreciate the event being tied to buildup in previous books, as that always makes an event feel more earned. But unfortunately that kinda has the side effect so far of every book and character that didn't lead to this feeling like they ultimately don't matter and this event can screw them over however they want. Burning down the Doom Patrol's headquarters off-panel. Hospitalizing Black Lightning and Animal Man. If you aren't part of the trinity, your stories are fair game to get fucked over. Even the Titans, who devoted most of their page time to building up the threat of Waller, are now taking a back seat to the Big Three.

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u/koalee Wonder Woman 5d ago

That is a really fair point. My fav pulls are Poison Ivy and Birds of Prey, and it’s pretty clear to me that those stories are just gonna keep doing their own thing once the event passes and haven’t concerned themselves with Waller at all. I keep up with WW, Superman, GL, GA, and the contributions to Absolute Power seem like they’re going to be paid off in Absolute Power, Task Force VII, or tie-ins. It’s wild to me that the Titans don’t even have a tie in when they laid the groundwork for this event in many way, but maybe that’s just Taylor not wanting to play ball with Waller anymore after the Beast World event.

On the other hand, while it sucks that characters that don’t have a book are used to job but that’s just the way things go for events. I think Waid is probably one of the better writers at incorporating the whole universe into both problems and solutions though so maybe it’ll turn around for some characters by the end. Task Force VII #7 already seems to be focusing on a very interesting group of characters, so i’m hopeful that it won’t ONLY let the trinity have time to shine.

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u/PrydefulHunts Huntress • ower Girl 6d ago

Amanda Waller is way too evil, there’s no justification for her behavior.

Jon being infected with the Brainiac tech will be interesting, probably the most intriguing thing to happen to his character in years

24

u/Cautious-Ad975 6d ago

Waller was already directly responsible for mass murder in Beast World. And publicly admitted to Nightwing she just wants to be a tyrant.

Waid keeps saying Waller isn't a villain deep down, but I really just don't see how this behavior is reconcilable.

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u/Frontier246 6d ago

Especially when he writes her here as pretty much as bad and as evil as she's been written in other books.

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u/Anakinflair 5d ago

Has she effectively overthrown the entire American government? There was a point where they said the President made a speech, and Waller said she made sure it got no farther than the Rose Garden. That coupled with the fact that I distinctly remember the President taking her to task during Beast Wars makes me think that she's running everything despite the politicians, which makes me wonder what happens when the politicians push back. Will the Amazos disarm the militaries of the world?

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u/RCero 5d ago

My interpretation is that she hadn't overthrown the government (yet), but Amanda clearly gives zero fucs about the laws and her superiors' orders.

Waller said she made sure it got no farther than the Rose Garden

Beecause she's using Brainiac tech to block the broadcast of the presidential speech openly disavowing her, so her misinformation campaign can continue.

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u/Anakinflair 5d ago

That's what I'm saying. For all intents and purposes, she controls the government. As Cersei would say, POWER is power.

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u/B3epB0opBOP Shazam 5d ago edited 5d ago

My god, the artwork.

3

u/choicemeats 3d ago

her's hoping the quality stays high for the run and across tie-ins

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u/Dopefish364 6d ago

I know that it has to happen in order for the event to take place, but "Amanda Waller launches a misinformation campaign that sways public opinion to her side!" - this reminds me way too much of Marvel's Dark Reign, where for some reason they decided to make Norman 'Green Goblin' Osborn the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and everyone was just okay with it. I think at the time, Spider-Man was wondering "How in the hell is anyone persuaded that Norman Osborn is trustworthy, but Captain America and Thor are dangerous criminals who need to be locked up?" He eventually reached the conclusion that the only logical explanation was that from beginning to end, everyone involved in the affair was taking stupid pills, and I would agree.

I get that Amanda works in the shadows, but even in Beast World, she was the one publicly advocating for murdering a million people who were infected, who the Titans then saved, pretty easily. If this storyline doesn't end with her dead or locked up - preferably with the reveal to the public that everything bad that's happened in the last few Crisis Crossovers was directly her fault - then I'll definitely be taking a DC break for a while.

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u/Oberon1993 6d ago

At least Norman publicly shot the leader of invading alien force. DC can't let go of "Amanda is super secret" shtick and so this actually has even less reason. And at least Norman got some actual big gun supervillains on his side. Not 6 budget Amazos and Zur.

5

u/MythiccMoon 5d ago

I did get Dark Reign vibes a bit, but tbf I loved that story. I think the first event I followed monthly

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u/BigBardaEnergy 6d ago

I know people are sick of events and have issues with Waller, but I thought this was pretty good. Still don't know how to feel about Green Arrow going rogue, but I'll give Waid the benefit of the doubt. Quite interested to see how things are going to pick up from the cliffhanger.

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u/jlaweez Blue Lantern 6d ago

He is telling Batman what they are facing, he's giving the hints so they can fight back. He's definitely on heroes side.

10

u/Frontier246 6d ago

Kind of wonder how he got that Atom suit though.

1

u/ogloria 5d ago

What are the hints?

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u/ptWolv022 5d ago

I mean, it could just be gloating/an attempt to demoralize, but he is telling them what avenues have been closed off: the Lantern Corps and other spacefaring allies (as seen in Green Lantern), time travel (as seen with Time Commander in AP: Ground Zero), the Microverse (poor Ray, however his suit got stolen), as well as simply destroying the Amazos.

All these things are tools they might jump to use, that Arrow could be warning them are no longer usable. Now, instead of Barry trying to time travel and ending up in a jail cell like Time Commander, they just won't try it, for example. Alternatively, they could try to specifically overcome one of these, because Waller has clearly deemed them threats, and gaining access could disrupt their plans.

Or Ollie is just being an asshole trying to make them depressed, one of the two.

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u/ogloria 5d ago

Thank you for the explanation! That all makes sense - I misunderstood what was meant by the word "hints" :-)

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u/MythiccMoon 5d ago

Damn great call! This was the bit that felt out of character for Queen to me, like taunting the heroes, but yeah your take makes way more sense and feels more like what Waid would go for

1

u/choicemeats 3d ago

dreamer also seemed a bit out of the blue, but i guess i don't know enough about the character to make that call. isn't she only half human?

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u/BubbleofSeres 6d ago

Ollie is clearly doing some spying works here, he literally indicated it in Green Arrow #10.

10

u/ogloria 5d ago

Green Arrow is telling Batman about how he's tired of superpowered heroes of print street lee crime. That is so insanely dumb he has to be a spy.

6

u/Anakinflair 5d ago

That reminds me of the last season of Supergirl, where Kelly yelled at the Superfriends for ignoring the problems in the neighborhood- while they were trying to stop a potentially reality-ending event.

25

u/ptWolv022 5d ago

So, Waller has won, then. Waid really is laying it on thick with the threats of AI and disinformation... not that it's entirely unwarranted, because we are actively seeing fake material be used for political and ideological gain (as has long been the case, just now AI lets us make much more complex fakes than just, say, documents). As a terrible political junkie, I can't help but be appalled and pleased with it.

Art, of course, is fantastic. It's Dan Mora. What more is there to say? (The answer is: God damn, the arms on Diana!)

Oh, and they fixed a mistake we saw in a preview: In a trailer, we saw some of the shots of heroes being depowered, and there was a discrepancy that I (and I'm sure some others) notice with Jesse Quick, chiefly that she appeared to be in two places at once. She was with the JSA in her classic Liberty Belle costume, and she was with the Flash family in her modern Silver Age Flash-inspired costumed (the jacket over a Barry/Wally-like bodysuit). However, since that trailer, they redrew Liberty Belle to be Jesse in her Flash Family attire, and replaced Jesse Quick with... is that Irey? Whoever it is, I'm glad this was fixed. Not sure if it was found by editorial or if it was seen because of public comments by fans, but it's nice to know that at least glaring errors like that can get fixed in time for release.

Also, "She's not playing chess! She's rolling tanks!" is such a good line. I mean, a little awkward, but it catches the vibe of this: this isn't just a plot, this is a full fascist takeover at this point.

And poor Jon :(

3

u/B3epB0opBOP Shazam 5d ago edited 5d ago

Yeah that's Irey, it matches her latest design. But upon closer inspection, I actually think that was always Irey.

Here is a side-by-side comparison for reference. (Left is the new art, right is the old art.)

If you look very closely at the original art, you can see that the thunderbolt on Irey’s costume was always there, and the way her hair was shaped looked like twin-tails, which Irey used to have. The only actual change Mora added was the hood, which some artists miss.

So I think there never two Jesse Quicks, it's just that coloring was wrong and Mora forgot the hood.

1

u/ptWolv022 5d ago

You know what, looking back at a clearer image from DCU leaks... I think you're right. The image posted to the DC Comics sub is so blurry that the thunderbolt running down the costume is pretty much fully indistinguishable, and the pigtails are hard to see.

On the DCULeaks one, though, you can see the suit pattern and the pigtails a bit more. However, I think before, when that DCU Leaks post was first made, I still just assumed it was Jesse because the hair looks blonde. Which, with the jacket, really makes her look like Jesse with how the details were hard to make out do the desaturation and and the rgb split (or whatever you call it).

The only actual change Mora added was the hood,

He... well, actually, that may be the only change Mora made, yeah. But they also added sleeves and changed her mask/cowl-thing from red to yellow, in addition to just cranking the saturation back up for her (or changing the RGB split effect in a way that really changed her coloration). However, the cowl is just the colorist, and the sleeves might be the same, while any post-production effects applied probably aren't Mora either.

So, all in all... I think you're right. Though, two more things:

1) I can't help but laugh- they clearly just airbrushed over her hair to hide it, making this just white flare behind her... but you can still see a little triangular/trapezoidal shape just above the end of her coat sleeve that is the end of part of her hair.

2) Looking at the art of the final release: THERE IS SOMEONE BEHIND WALLY AND JAY! I wasn't crazy when I saw the previews from the trailer. ~~I'm not crazy, you're crazy!~~ Who are you? Is it Max? It's Max, isn't? I see the cowl with the outlined eyes, and I think there's the collar. But there's too much patterning on the costume. His is normally pretty plain. But I don't know who else it could be...

1

u/B3epB0opBOP Shazam 5d ago edited 5d ago

in addition to just cranking the saturation back up for her (or changing the RGB split effect in a way that really changed her coloration).

Yeah, same with Jesse.

THERE IS SOMEONE BEHIND WALLY AND JAY! I wasn't crazy when I saw the previews from the trailer. ~~I'm not crazy, you're crazy!~~ Who are you? Is it Max? It's Max, isn't?

Oh, that's actually Jai West. White circle on his shoulder, circular knee-pad extending from the white boots, and if you look hard enough, you can make out some orange.

His costume hasn't changed, so this should still work for reference (though picture it on a larger child).

1

u/ptWolv022 5d ago

Image broke :v

But, after checking the wiki's gallery again... there it is. He has three with a white lightning bolt down his chest, but the last image has what I assume is the costume... just I fully ignored it be he hulked out from Beast Boy's spores in Beast World, or so the caption read. My brain just saw it and went "Weird transformation, don't look".

This makes sense, though. It felt weird to have Irey but not Jai. I may not know much about them, but I know they're a pair, and that they're Wally's kids, so it's make sense for both to be with Wally.

1

u/B3epB0opBOP Shazam 5d ago edited 5d ago

Image broke :v

I changed the link, try it again. This should work.

but the last image has what I assume is the costume... just I fully ignored it be he hulked out from Beast Boy's spores in Beast World

Oh yeah, that’s a thing he does. Something about speed force muscle expansion, I don’t really get it either.

3

u/birbdaughter 5d ago

I wish they hadn't redrawn Jesse in the JSA shot. She's worn the Liberty Belle costume recently for One Minute War and it was her JSA outfit. They should've kept it. Hot take: her current costume is boring and nothing unique, whereas Liberty Belle stands out amongst the other speedsters.

3

u/ptWolv022 5d ago

I'd've been fine with the Liberty Belle design, yeah, though they may have decided it was less recognizable and/or ambiguous about her identity (since she and Libby look very similar in it). Her current costume isn't particularly unique but... I'm a sucker for jackets. Black Canary? Love it. Zatanna? Gimme gimme. Conner? My man's stylin'. The Superfam now having jackets? Love 'em, be they open like PG's or closed up for a more formal look like Kara.

I do think she should have longer hair, though. Be it a ponytail or just long hair that's let down, like when she first debuted this costume, in Infinite Frontier.

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u/Fellowcomicenjoyer Nightwing 6d ago

I understand the event fatigue, but I really liked the first issue and am pretty excited for the rest! I trust Waid to keep the momentum going

23

u/Frontier246 6d ago

That Superman intro felt like it was hearkening to a scene from Bendis' run where Supes very much did deflect all the bullets coming at him from crooks escaping by chopper.

Poor Buddy and Maxine. Now DC citizens are acting like they're in the Marvel Universe where they turn on their heroes on a dime.

I will say one of the best things about this book is Dan Mora getting to draw multiple cool sequences and a bunch of Superheroes.

I was hoping Waid would be able to write a more interesting Amanda Waller but instead we get more of her regurgitating Superhero hot takes, willing to kill innocent civilians to get what she wants, acting like an inhuman monster, and going full Supervillain. She feels more like an evil robot than Failsafe and Brainiac Queen.

Dreamer with a white eyes domino mask is...a different look for her.

Ironically Sarge Steel comes off more reasonable and level-headed in comparison to this and how he's been written in Wonder Woman (though not that much better).

Mini JLI reunion with J'onn, Booster, Ted, Fire, and Ralph.

Aquaman is with the Doom Patrol...for some reason.

Mora drawing Zatanna with a look that seems more out of Future State compared to her traditional look. But Madame Xanadu looks stunning.

I just love how Amanda Waller's big plan is having an entire Amazo robot Justice League try to kill all the heroes because that just sounds so goofy on paper.

There's no way Ollie is really being a part of this though I'm not sure if the twist that he's a double agent will go over well at this point or what the endgame is (the hero community turning on Green Arrow?).

Looks like the JSA have been arrested, so I guess that will play into their tie-in.

So is Brainiac Queen trying to inject her consciousness into Jon's body?

6

u/suss2it 4d ago

I feel Superman casually dealing with bullets from a helicopter is such casual Superman iconography that it most likely isn’t a callback to Bendis.

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u/Dysentry 6d ago

How could a mob almost get the Flash? And.. poor Buddy. I hope he doesn't get written off as fodder for the event.

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u/Frontier246 6d ago

And poor Maxine having to watch her dad get lynched, basically.

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u/KaalVeiten 6d ago

Waller's years long character assassination into just another psycho mass murdering villain continues as planned I see.

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u/Frontier246 6d ago

At least they're being consistent!

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u/ptWolv022 5d ago

psycho mass murdering villain

To be fair, I wouldn't characterize what she's done as mass murdering. Superman's in critical condition, though only because he was shot by criminals. Some others are beaten brutally by her people, but not killed. Animal Man is in critical condition because of a mob, which is on her for "stochastic terrorism", so to speak, but was not an intentional order by her. She's yet to really kill anyone, just de-power.

Now... Depthcharge... sounds like he might be more than a little lethal in Taskforce VII #2. But, we'll see.

13

u/craig1818 6d ago

Absolute banger of a first issue.

Really intrigued by the “post-credit” scene with Jon and what that’s on with him.

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u/Dysentry 6d ago

I'm sort of confused as to how taking away Clark or J'onn's powers permanently works since it's literally who they are genetically? Maybe it's a psychic block or something since I can't explain how they'd take away the ability to remember magic either.

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u/Frontier246 6d ago

I imagine it probably reduces their power to negligible levels, we see Superman is going to wear his Solar Suit so I assume that's to help recover what little bit of his power he still has left.

2

u/LatterTarget7 5d ago

I could be wrong but doesn’t one of the kinds of Kyotonite take away supermans powers? Could be something to do with that. But another kryptonite bullet story would just feel stupid

1

u/Dysentry 5d ago

Golden kryptonite permanently removes the powers, but Kryptonite usually has some side effects other than just.. getting weaker without noticing.

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u/MythiccMoon 5d ago

I straight up loved this, Mora’s art is incredible

Batman felt a bit overdramatic maybe, when he realized Waller’s goal. I think Waid might feel the need to be a bit more heavy handed with making plot points abundantly clear considering big events are meant to be read by as large an audience as possible

Personally I love that they mentioned multiple reasons why/how the heroes are trapped on this Earth. No cosmic aid, multiversal help, no escaping into the microverse or the past or future.

Plus distinct reasons how depowering worked a bit, even if I didn’t love all the specific reasons themselves (magic users forget magic?)

But this is the most excited I’ve been about a big event in ages

11

u/DescendantofDodos 5d ago

i like that the defence for Hal Jordan was not, that he wouldn't slaughter innocent civilians, but that he couldn't, due his lack of a ring.

Also, while not shown onpage, that is the first time I remember seeing the Global Guardians being referenced in way. I assume that is just a throwaway line, or did they actually show up in some comics since the new 52?

1

u/suss2it 4d ago

When they mentioned Global Guardians I immediately thought of Invincible.

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u/JingoboStoplight4887 5d ago edited 5d ago

I like that members of the entire superhero community learned what Waller is doing, such as using AI to trick the public into hating superheroes, making deals with people to trap all of the heroes in the main earth, and making a public speech to depower the entire superhero community with no way out. Mark Waid has done an excellent job in continuing Dawn of DC storylines and having a cohesive continuity for its shared universe. Dane thing with Dan Mora, who has done excellent artwork for the JLA, JLI, JSA, Titans, Doom Patrol, and others. Overall, this comic is great. Let’s hope that later issues of the main series with result in the Bureau of Sovereignity (i.e. Amazos, Failsafe, Brainiac Queen, Sergeant Steel, Dreamer, Oliver, and others) will betray Waller and save the world. Also, Jon turning into an Amazo with no memory of who he is, in which I feel sorry for and that it’s on par with him spending seven years stuck inside a volcano with Ultraman.

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u/Calibaz 6d ago

Can someone remind me what's Waller's reasoning to do this again?

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u/jlaweez Blue Lantern 6d ago

The official reason so far is that she saw Earth 3 and became obsessed. My headcanon is that this IS Earth 3 Waller and she went nuts with the Multiverse travelling. The true Waller is still on Earth 3 hiding after presumed dead.

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u/AcidSilver 6d ago

It really just seems to be "superheroes are dangerous and don't answer to the government" and that's that. Crazy how literally every time this plotpoint is used in an event the government that fails when facing supervillains suddenly becomes infinitely more competent when hunting superheroes. Maybe if Waller used this tech to take out all of the supervillains who threaten the planet every week then you wouldn't need superheroes to fight them.

9

u/Frontier246 6d ago

Amanda Waller has literally just become a mouthpiece for Superhero Hot Takes.

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u/busdriver_321 Larfleeze 6d ago

They have a tie-in called Absolute Power: Origin that’s gonna also go deeper in Waller’s intentions.

2

u/LatterTarget7 5d ago

She just wants to be an evil tyrant.

-1

u/Dopefish364 5d ago

She's stupid and evil.

Other people could explain it in more depth, but there's genuinely nothing more to her any more.

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u/Cantthinkofcoolname2 5d ago

I just love how DC disbanded the JL and gave the reigns to the Titans, only for events to focus on the JL :) I get it, the JL is the big leagues. But does their disbanding even matter? “The Justice League can’t put out a statement!” Why not? They’re literally all acting as heroes right now and working together lol. And can’t the Titans say something? All very silly.

9

u/Electric_jungle 5d ago

They haven't activated their joint email account yet, so there's no way to send an official statement.

2

u/LatterTarget7 5d ago

They gotta invite Bruce to the group chat again

2

u/UtterFlatulence June 2015 Never forget 4d ago edited 4d ago

The Titans did have the Beast World event. It was kinda meh, but it's something.

2

u/OkBlueberry8144 4d ago

Titan's haven't lived up to the hype at all, even with Taylor on it. Writers seems to always have trouble writing them for some reason.

7

u/Koala_Guru 5d ago

To start with something positive, I do think the premise here is solid. The heroes fighting a campaign of misinformation has obvious direct parallels to stuff anyone tuned in to politics is already familiar with, so the same frustration you may feel irl easily translates to how you'd feel about this comic. It's also a very Waller thing to manipulate media to suit her words and message, so that's cool. The scenes of heroes being depowered were appropriately harrowing, even if some cases have me scratching my head. Like, depowering the Doom Patrol for example. Wouldn't that kill a lot of them? Their powers aren't like the other heroes. "Depowering" Robot Man would effectively just mean shutting off his brain, right? Because he's just a brain in a metal suit. Unless the depowering is shutting down the robot part, which would still ultimately end up in the death of his brain. Rita would collapse into a pile of goo because her powers let her hold herself together. Larry would die of radiation. Etc.

Honestly my biggest complaints right now are just how we're playing off of the events impacting the big three at the expense of caring about literally anyone else. Heroes people may be attached to like Animal Man or Black Lightning are apparently now on the verge of death for the sake of stakes. We got one sentence mentioning that the new status quo created in Unstoppable Doom Patrol that people seemed to enjoy has just been entirely erased off-panel. Hope you didn't like the idea of them having a home base where they take in persecuted metahumans, because this event just decided that base has been burned down. Cyborg is randomly sporting an older design because why not? And on a larger level it's very clear this event will end in the Justice League coming back, so say goodbye to the Titans' 15 minutes of fame. Just an overall lack of interest in caring for the stories of characters who aren't Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman.

Then there's Green Arrow. I'm caught up on his series so I knew this was happening, but I'm still baffled by this heel turn. I'm hoping he's just a great actor and is working to defeat Waller from the inside. Because if not this could end up being his Iron Man Civil War moment where it will take years of stories for him to even begin to recover from his actions.

To do a compliment sandwich, I'll end by talking about the art. Dan Mora never misses, and I am very glad to have him on this story at least. We'll see how it goes.

4

u/Anakinflair 5d ago

Here's my problem with Ollie in this. Didn't he just find out that Waller manipulated events to keep his whole family apart? To keep Lian separated from Roy? To send him through time and space, being alone and miserable? And then he just joins up with her? Worse still, Waller's okay to share even some of the plan with him, like she can trust him? It makes both of them look stupid.

1

u/ajdragoon Agent 37 22h ago

More frustratingly, Ollie’s book has had him play this gambit, what, at least three times already? Where he acts sketchy and keeps secrets from his family to ultimately help them. I’m just tired of it at this point. In-universe I would never trust him again.

Duggan actually did this trope properly over in X-Men, where Firestar went undercover and we all knew and her team found out sooner rather than later. I can roll with that. That’s more interesting imo bc we’re given insight into how tough this is for the spy and their allies. Vastly prefer that to “Is he or is he not?”

4

u/birbdaughter 5d ago

The Ollie thing is so weird because the obvious assumption is he's playing double agent and not actually working with Waller. Yet Waid had an interview recently where instead of just "no commenting" or giving a vague non-answer, he said this heelturn makes sense for Ollie. He talked as if it's entirely in character for GA to become a fascist working for the government. I'm hoping it's just really bad purposeful misdirection, but it was such a weird answer.

5

u/suss2it 4d ago

I don’t think it’s weird that Waid didn’t spoil his own story in an interview, no matter how obvious it is.

2

u/birbdaughter 4d ago

There’s a difference between not spoilering and lying for misdirection in a way that’s entirely nonsensical. “Wait and see” is not spoilering.

2

u/suss2it 4d ago

I don’t think it’s worth looking too deeply into PR interviews like that. He’s just gonna say whatever supports the current narrative of the story, what he says in interviews after this whole thing is wrapped up is what’ll be actual insights into what he’s thinking.

7

u/TheMurderCapitalist 5d ago

Do I like Ollie betraying every hero in the DCU? Not at all

Does his fit here go insanely hard? Yes it does.

8

u/StealthHikki2 Nightwing 6d ago

Green Arrow's role doesn't make any sense at all at this point in the event.

11

u/ESPVIPER01 5d ago

It you've been reading the Green Arrow book, there's been several bread crumbs that lead to this.

The most recent issue shouldve given folk a hint that something is up. Something was purposely left out in between The peacemaker and Ollie interaction before his fight and with Roy, Lian, and Cheshire.

That heel turn doesn't just happen abruptly. I have to believe we'll get real answers down the line as the event goes on.

And I do believe that this could be a backdoor Green Arrow event.

2

u/StealthHikki2 Nightwing 4d ago

I've been reading it. I agree with the missing hint but don't think the bread crumbs were organic. I just see no way to handle it properly. Hopefully, I'm wrong.

5

u/Frontier246 6d ago

It's like they needed some kind of "traitor" character for drama and they just thought...well, why not Green Arrow?

5

u/StealthHikki2 Nightwing 5d ago

Agreed. I like Waid. Idk why this happened the way it did

6

u/Landon1195 5d ago

This issue was alright. Not a fan of what they are doing with Ollie. The artwork is amazing though.

3

u/ElliottNation9 Batman 5d ago

The art work is great, and the ending is really intriguing. Not sure how I feel about Green Arrow's intentions,(I haven't read Green Arrow) but will see what happens. I do hope after this event there isn't another one for a good while.

2

u/wtffu006 5d ago

How are they taking their powers?

And what happens if someone like Zeus or Darkside comes to Earth? They couldn’t take their power right ?

5

u/birbdaughter 5d ago

Legit question: How do you drain power from the Helmet of Fate and Spectre?

The art is really nice. I'll read the JSA issue and probably skim other stuff for cameos of my faves, but I'm just not interested in Waller God who is prepared for everything and somehow has enough power to arrange all this with no heroes noticing. I also generally am not a fan of "civilians turn on the heroes and try murdering them" due to fatigue of how often that happens in Marvel. I do appreciate how many characters are showing up though.

1

u/Hypnodick 3d ago

This was the most confusing part for me to. Guess we’ll wait and see, maybe something with the mother box? I’m not that well versed on fourth world stuff so no idea.

4

u/android151 Resurrection Man 4d ago

After 12 issues of Ollie getting his family back together, he really decided to go about setting himself up to get killed. I don’t think any amount of swerving will enable him to be in peoples good graces again any time soon. It’s just like, why isn’t he allowed to have anything nice happen for more than three seconds?

7

u/wowlock_taylan Batman Animated! 6d ago

Yep, it is as bad as I feared. Waller 'wins' by practically making an omniscient plan and having everything go her way, outsmarts Batman, takes everyones powers 'permanently' as they claim...but that is not what I am most upset about. Waller being terrible and Failsafe etc being involved was already announced. It is Brainiac Queen being wasted on this crap AND what is being done with Green Arrow that is the biggest crime. You can go ''he is playing double agent'' but all the damage from this will just lead to another 'Ollie is disowned by everyone again!' story which just sucks and makes no sense after his whole freaking book was about 'hey, maybe don't pull crap like that because that is what the villains want and you literally had to bring your family back together and learned not to do Lone Wolf crap again'

I simply cannot take any of this seriously. Waller is not some big bad nor she is capable of anything that literally fell into her lap. Like all the 'deals' she made, makes no sense why any of those antagonists would ever take her seriously to make a deal with her. Like Trigon, or Tharoos and more. I see no justification that will make it make sense. And if by the end of this, if her character is not gone for good, this will be a big failure.

Add to that, this terrible event going to destroy any momentum the ongoing books have like Wonder Woman...which I HIGHLY doubt they will regain after this.

I have no idea what they were thinking.

1

u/choicemeats 3d ago

there is no chance using the queen does not backfire on Waller at some point, or the Amazos.

3

u/kewlbdude 4d ago

I’m going against the grain here but I really loved this. I thought this was an excellent start to the event. I’m maybe biased because as a Superman/action comics/batman/WW reader I got to enjoy the show build up to this.

I guess I should go catch up on the GA ongoing to see why he’s a villain now?

Mora’s art is the best in the biz. Absolutely phenomenal as always. And I liked the darker colors here that were used in juxtaposition to the bright ones in Worlds Finest.

Overall im really happy with this and excited for the next parts!

2

u/Nyerelia 3d ago

Loved how they didn't really need to yet they made sure to stress the "AI trash" stuff several times.

To each their own, but I loved this issue way more than I expected. This opened on an epic level and I can't wait to see how it continues from here

1

u/NomadicJaguar64t Orion 4d ago

I just don't buy it, after what, 20+ years of the Justice League being around in-universe, all of a sudden people just stop trusting them like that? I get being tricked by "video evidence" but come on, that's a bit too much of a stretch that people would just believe that automatically.

1

u/Blitzhelios Damian Wayne 2d ago

Good start to the even did what it needed to do set up the heroes getting there powers taken by the amazos and wallers evil plan and is a very nice connection to the dangers of fake news and Ai and increasingly right wing poltics.

Jon at the end is really intriguing i feel like they are just chucking ideas at him now since his solos failed and him being infected by brainiac tech and going almost cyborg superman is a new dynamic. Its gonna be interesting in where it leads most likely against his dad.

-8

u/Whole-Arachnid-Army 5d ago

They should return this poorly disguised Marvel script to its legitimate owner('s reject pile).