7 Reasons DC All In Has Been a Success

DC Comics is having its best year in ages. DC has long been the number two publisher of superhero comics. There are multiple reasons for this; DC can be pretty confusing with its tangled continuity for new readers and the publisher has been known to fall back on Batman comics way too often. Many of DC’s greatest franchises have fallen to the wayside in the 21st century and DC bet too much on the Caped Crusader’s sales dominance which ran away a lot of readers. Add in the failures of the New 52 and DC Rebirth, and it was a recipe for disaster for DC. Marvel was able to grab readers’ attention and keep it, and the success of Marvel Cinematic Universe helped bring in fans from outside of comics. Marvel’s constant small scale reboots and number one comics were much bigger business than whatever Batman miniseries was the flavor of the week for DC. However, in the last few years, a lot has changed for the publisher, and the latest publishing initiative — DC All In — has been a huge success with readers and critics.

It all started with Dawn of DC, a publishing intiative that used the event comic Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths as a starting point for what felt like a new DC Multiverse, one that combined the best portions of all DC’s eras. Dawn of DC re-established many of the DC franchises that had been left in the gutter for more Batman, and was able to hype fans enough that when DC All-In #1 hit, it set the comic industry on fire, with the Absolute books taking the top of the sales charts from Marvel for the first time in years. DC All-In has been a huge success and these seven factors are the reason why.

7) The Return of Justice

The Justice League has been a problem for DC since the ’00s. The mid ’90s saw JLA bring the team back to prominence, with Grant Morrison taking the team back to basics and giving readers some fantastic stories. Runs by Mark Waid and Joe Kelly kept this up but the book soon fell from the esteem of fans. There were still some good stories, and we got the excellent Brad Meltzer run in 2007, but the time of the Justice League was apparently past. The New 52 tried to build itself around Justice League, but the book couldn’t keep fans interested. DC Rebirth’s Justice League petered out, although Scott Snyder’s run was something of a return to form. The Bendis run was divisive, and Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths ended the League. Absolute Power and DC All-In #1 brought the Justice League back, taking a page from the animated series Justice League Unlimited and making the team into a group that every DC hero was a member of. The Justice League can get pretty wild, and the new Justice League Unlimited comic captures that perfectly. DC All In is repairing the damage to the Justice League and that’s before we even get to the possibility of the Absolute Justice League in the future. The Justice League is cool again.

6) Superman Has Retaken His Place Atop the Mountain

Superman is the first superhero, but DC spent years pushing him down the card because of Batman. Superman in the 21st century has had some great runs and some mediocre ones, but the character was nowhere near as important as he should have been. Superman comics have been pretty great since 2021, though, regaining a lot of the hype that Superman lost over the years. DC All In has begun to push Superman again, with him getting a third title, Superman Unlimited, from superstars Dan Slott and Rafael Albuquerque. Superman and Action Comics have some amazing talent as well, with Josh Williamson, Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Clayton Henry, Eddie Barrows, and Skylar Patridge wowing readers every month. Superman is the epicenter of the main plot of DC All In, Action Comics is doing an excellent Superboy story, and Superman Unlimited is changing the role of Kryptonite in the DC Universe. Add to that books like Superman Treasury 2025: Hero for All #1, and readers have finally seen Superman rise back to where he belongs — the top of the DC Universe.

5) JSA‘s Shows Why DC’s Golden Age Legacy Is the Best

If you like superhero teams, then you have the Justice Society of America to thank for them. The Justice Society has had some ups and downs over the decades; The Silver and Bronze Age was great for the team, but they fell from grace after Crisis on Infinite Earths and wouldn’t recover until the ’90s, thanks to books like Starman and JSA, the latter of which belonging among the greatest team books of all time. The New 52 tried to take the Justice Society back to Earth-2, but the book wasn’t what fans wanted from the team. After the end of the New 52, DC took ages to bring the team back, starting with Doomsday Clock. The New Golden Age publishing initiative bringing back the legendary team in books like Justice Society of America, Wesley Dodd: The Sandman, Jay Garrick: The Flash, and Alan Scott: Green Lantern. DC All-In kept this up, with JSA dropping from comics wunderkind Jeff Lemire and Jay Garrick: The Flash artist Diego Olortegui. The book combines the old-school Justice Society with their legacy heroes from the old Infinity Inc., and does a brilliant job of capturing the character soap opera that teams books need to connect with audience, as well as awesome action-packed storytelling with some great shocks. This book is honestly one of the team books on the market, and it’s one of the best parts of DC All-In.

4) The Return of the Best B-List In Comics

DC Comics has the best B and C-list characters in comics, but recent years have seen it suffer. A big reason for that, in my opinion, is the New 52. DC tried to show off the length and breadth of the DC Multiverse with the New 52, but the publisher made so many mistakes “modernizing” the characters that it turned fans off, especially the ones who were giving DC a try for the first time thanks to the clean slate. DC Rebirth started strong with the lower-tier DC heroes as well, but it also let readers down. The Infinite Frontier publishing initiative dropped nearly all of them, instead hedging their bets with multiple Batman comics. Dawn of DC was the beginning of the publisher bringing their B-list back. All In has gone even further in that direction with miniseries for characters like Fire and Ice, the Challengers of the Unknown, the Question, and Mister Terrific. The New Gods have their first series in ages from the superstar team of Ram V and Evan Cagle. Supergirl has her own book and it’s a mixture of everything great from every era of the Maid of Might, and the Green Lantern Corps has gotten their own book again. Justice League Unlimited is bringing B and C-list characters in every issue, with Terrific, Black Lightning, and others playing a huge role in the proceedings. This is the way that DC should be, and longtime fans are excited for what’s coming down the pipe.

3) It’s Giving Readers the Most Unique Darkseid Story Ever

DC All In #1 saw Darkseid return for the first time since Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths prequel Justice League Incarnate, sacrificing his elites in a bid to steal the power of the Spectre. He attacks the Justice League Watchtower with a hidden agenda, and the resulting battle ends with what seems to be Darkseid’s death. However, this wasn’t Darkseid’s plan at all, and he’s able to take over the Alpha Earth, created in Dark Knights: Death Metal, and creates the Absolute Earth. Darkseid hasn’t been seen since (although what we assume is his voice has been heard in the current “Darkseid Legion” story), but his fingerprints on everything that’s been going on in DC ever since. There have been many types of Darkseid stories over the years, but one of the biggest problems with the villain has been overexposure as he got more popular. However, DC All In is playing with the less is more approach with Darkseid. We all know that he’s out there, playing his games with the universe, and it works so well because we know nothing about his plans and how different his newest scheme seems — the Anti-Life Equation has been nowhere to be seen yet, which is honestly refreshing — we just know he’s somewhere out there, preparing for a doomsday strike against his foes. DC is playing the right game with Darkseid right now, and this newest chapter in the story of the God of Evil could go down as the best Darkseid story ever if DC can stick the landing.

2) Absolute Martian Manhunter Is the Best Thing the Big Two Has Done in Years

We’re finally getting to the portion of the list that talks about the Absolute line, and what better way to start than talking about the simply amazing Absolute Martian Manhunter. Be honest — even with the fantastic creative team of Deniz Camp, Javier Rodriguez, and Hassan Otsame-Elhaou, no one expected this book to be what it is. The first issue was mind-blowing, and the book has kept that up in every issue. This is the kind of comic you’d expect to get from Image Comics, and it blows every other mainstream superhero book out of the water. It’s a perfect fusion of art and words, the kind of book that you can constantly re-read because every page is packed with meaning. It does a fantastic job with the the main plot — John Jones and the Martian trying to stop the White Martian from destroying Middleton and the rest of the world — and also builds up the familial crisis that all of this work is having on the Jones family. It’s an exciting book that thinks outside of the box, and captures emotion in a way that isn’t often possible in superhero comics. Critics use the word “perfect” a lot, but this is actually a legitimately perfect book. Everything about it is amazing, and it proves that with the right creative team any comic can be high art. It was so popular right away that DC extended its six-issue run to twelve-issues after the first issue came out. If you aren’t reading this comic, you should be. Of course, that is easier said than done — it sells out at every store every time it comes out — but you owe it to yourself to get the collected edition when it hits stores (also, the Black Label book Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma, from Ram V and Anand Rk, is nearly as good as Absolute Martian Manhunter and you should hunt that down as well).

1) The Absolute Universe Is the Most Exciting DC Has Been in Years

The Absolute Universe has done more for DC than anything else has in, honestly, decades. At first, fans were afraid that it was just going to be a bargain basement copy of Marvel’s new Ultimate Universe, down to it being a world created by a villain. However, the Absolute Universe impressed immediately. Absolute Batman, Absolute Superman, and the amazing Absolute Wonder Woman (all three books are sensational, but Absolute Wonder Woman is easily the best) sold out immediately, all because of how different Absolute DC is. Darkseid creating this new Earth has led to massive changes, and it’s made DC’s Trinity more popular than ever, giving readers something they haven’t often got — all-new stories starring characters who are closer to a 100 years old than 50. They were joined by Absolute Flash, Absolute Flash, and the aforementioned Absolute Martian Manhunter, books that took the Absolute DC Universe to all new places. The Absolute books, much like Marvel’s new Ultimate books, have an overarching storyline but they feel like they’ll be able to survive and keep their heat in a way that the Ultimate Universe won’t once that main plot ends. These six books are peak DC and fans want more and more, which DC is going to give them with upcoming books like Absolute Green Arrow. Absolute DC is everything you could want from superhero comics and then some.

Why do you think that DC All In has been so successful? Sound off in the comments below.

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