DC Comics has been firmly in second place for a long time. Marvel’s dominance of pop culture has extended to the comic book sales charts – and beyond Batman – DC rarely hits the top ten. However, all of that has changed in the last few months. Absolute Power and its follow-up DC All-In Special #1 have taken the comic industry by storm. The new Absolute Universe books – Absolute Batman, Absolute Superman, and Absolute Wonder Woman – are huge successes, and there’s a buzz about the mainline of DC books that the publisher hasn’t had in a long time. DC’s new “All-In” publishing initiative has legs, and it may be just what brand has been looking for.
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DC has attempted for years to reboot itself into success – much like they did decades ago with Crisis On Infinite Earths. None of these attempts have succeeded in anything but the short term, with 2011’s “New 52” reboot being the most successful. All of these reboots have hurt DC more than help, taking an already complicated superhero universe and making it even more so. However, “All-In” is finding a way to sidestep all of that, bringing new eyes to the publisher by embracing what has made DC so unique over the decades.
All-In Is Taking DC Back To Its Roots While Also Moving Beyond Them
DC All-In Special #1 showcased the juxtaposition of Superman and Darkseid – the clash of hope as represented by Superman, and despair as represented by Darkseid. This is the core of the DC Multiverse, and All-In is embracing that. For years, DC has walked away from characters and concepts that set it apart from its marvelous competition; All-In sees many of those coming back. Aquaman, JSA, Metamorpho: The Element Man, New Gods, Green Lantern Corps, Justice League: The Atom Project, Zatanna: Bringing Down The House, Black Canary, and Justice League Unlimited are all bringing back that classic DC flavor, giving new spotlights to characters like the Atom, Metamorpho, Black Canary, and Zatanna, who haven’t gotten a chance at major books in ages.
The New Gods haven’t been showcased in any serious way since 2017-2018’s Mister Miracle, and even that was more about the titular character and his wife than the entire group. Justice League Unlimited is yet another attempt to bring the League back to the Satellite Era heyday, but this time with powerhouse creators like Mark Waid (who’s written stellar Justice League comics in the past) and Dan Mora, the best artist working at DC. These titles, combined with the current publishing slate of books like Superman, Wonder Woman, Detective Comics, Action Comics, Titans, Nightwing, Power Girl, The Flash, Green Lantern, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and the others, shows off the best of DC without holding anything back, embracing the weirder corners of the publisher’s oeuvre.
DC’s Absolute Universe Is Making Iconic Lore New Again
Meanwhile, the Absolute Universe of titles has buzz behind it that no one could have guessed. The Absolute line is obviously an answer to Marvel’s new Ultimate line, but it works so well because it’s giving readers something they can’t get in the mainline DC books. These books are showing off a unique view of the DC Universe. DC has given readers new versions of its universe before, but those “new” versions weren’t actually very new. The Absolute Universe takes the familiar characters of DC, and looks at them in different ways. Bruce Wayne is poor and grew up with his foes in the worst parts of Gotham; Superman wasn’t raised by the Kents, but instead spent his formative years with his biological parents, struggling against a version of Krypton dominated by a caste system. Wonder Woman was raised in Hell by her longtime foe, the sorceress Circe – and that’s just the start. More DC Absolute books are coming down the pipeline (Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter), each one promising tweaks to the familiar formula – a promise of alternate universe storytelling that beautifully contrasts with the main line of DC books.
DC All-In Is Showing Off The Depth Of DC Like Never Before
DC All-In has made the publisher exciting again. There hasn’t been this much excitement for DC since DC Rebirth back in the 2016, but even that pales in comparison to what’s happening right now. DC Rebirth set out to fix a problem – a reboot of the New 52 reboot – while DC All-In feels like a natural outgrowth of multiple failed reboots. Instead of just embracing DC’s past, or following the trends of the modern comic industry, DC is doing both. The main line of books feels like its trying to be more like the DC of old, working to recapture old fans who have been turned away by the creative approaches of last few years. Meanwhile, the DC Absolute line of books takes the tried-and-true DC continuity reboot and breaks it away from the strictures of the past, giving readers a truly all-new DC Universe for the first time in years.
DC All-In may be able to do something that no other DC reboot has ever done. Most DC reboots start out well, but lose steam as time goes on. All-In has done well with initial sales – but that’s largely due to the Absolute books. DC looks to be going for a long-play, building lines of books that stand the test of time, giving readers stories that will hook them for months and years to come. All-In and Absolute therefore represent two different strategies that of creating hype for DC characters and books, with the same ultimate goal in mind – total DC dominance.
You can jump into the launch of the All-In and/or Absolute Universe lines over at DC.
