Review: Absolute Power #3
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Mark Waid
Art: Dan Mora
Colors: Alejandro Sanchez
Letters: Ariana Maher
Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd
Summary
The heroes regroup on Themiscyra and are then subsequently attacked again on the island. Jon Kent and Nightwing come face to face in the melee!
Positives
Well this is an extremely difficult position to be in….
Dan Mora does a nice job with the art and we get to see a number of characters that we don’t regularly see in the DC Universe- Pieter Cross Dr. Mid-Nite and Air Wave most prominently.
And, well there’s uh…and then, uh… Yeah. So, yeah.
Negatives
Mark Waid has written a ton of great comics. A TON. Absolute Power #3 is not one of them. This series as seen in this issue is suffering greatly from being far too spread out. It barely feels like there’s a through line. Far too much is happening in ancillary titles and the tie-ins in the regular monthly books. DC Comics clearly felt this would get readers to buy EVERYTHING, but it shouldn’t be like that. One should be able to read the mini-series to enjoy the story without all the other books. Absolute Power is doing the opposite. This issue feels very disjointed and haphazard. It also recapitulates the plot of last issue– heroes are in hiding, make a plan and then get discovered and attacked.
Waid really tries to create some smaller character moments, and while he gets credit for these, this series is too short for them. It’s over next issue. This series should feel HUGE, but because it relies on so much happening in other comics it ends up feeling really small. For example, Jon Kent got turned last issue and has supposedly been trying to lead Waller to wherever the heroes are. He succeeds, but he’s saved at the end of this issue. There’s no emotional weight to this plotline at all. We should’ve seen Jon…under Waller’s control…fighting or succumbing, doing heinous things to heroes so that it’s a relief when he’s rescued by Nightwing and the others. I’ll have to assume all that happened in some other comic. If not, then it’s worse than I suspect. It makes everything seem rushed, and with only four issues, it is rushed. A series with these stakes should be longer…at least 8 issues, maybe 12. Waid doesn’t have the space to make this feel important. Perhaps, if one is reading everything it comes off differently, but this is a review of this comic alone.
Finally, since when has it been ok for men to step foot on Themiscyra? There are A LOT of men on the island in this issue. The only conflict mentioned is Tom King’s atrocious storyline in Wonder Woman about Amazons being wanted by the U.S. Government. Yes, remind readers of the worst Wonder Woman run in …forever? No mention of any special allowance for all these men. I mean, Nubia did say, “yes,” to them coming, but it’s glossed over like it’s not a problem for all these men to be on Themiscyra. The biggest problem is that it stands out right at the beginning of the issue and takes you out of what’s actually going on.
Verdict
The biggest problem with Absolute Power #3 is that you just don’t feel like you’re getting all the story. And, you’re not- it’s in the tie-ins and other mini-series. This issue really suffers for that. It’s hurried, herky-jerky, cursory and repetitive. Dan Mora’s art is not enough to get this one over the halfway mark. It feels terrible to give Waid, a writer I’ve enjoyed immensely over the years a low score like this. He’s confined to four issues. Part of the blame falls on poor planning for the publication strategy for this story, despite the overall concept being underwhelming. It may be closer to a 4.5 out of 10, but the overall feeling from the issue is … .
