Warning! Spoilers ahead for Absolute Power #1!After months of waiting, DC Comics' big summer crossover event Absolute Power is finally here. Everything throughout the Dawn of DC has been building up to this and now Amanda Waller ushers in a terrifying new age for the DC Universe's heroes and villains.

Since the Dawn of DC initiative kicked off, Waller has been slowly setting the stage to rid the Earth of metahumans. She's schemed, killed, and made deal after deal to secure more power than ever. Now Waller is officially going to war in an opening chapter that's filled with pulse-pounding action as despair grips the DC Universe.

Absolute Power #1 is an Amazing Start to an Ambitious Event

In Absolute Power #1 by Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Alejandro Sánchez, and Adriana Maher, the story opens with the ominous sight of Superman being shot and plummeting to the ground. Just hours before, a flood of AI-created footage shows DC’s greatest heroes going mad and attacking people all over the world. The Bureau of Sovereignty has seized media outlets across the globe and is broadcasting these faked videos, sending the public into a frenzy. With the first phase successful, Waller gives the order to activate Task Force VII to pursue the metahumans.

The Emerald Archer informs his former teammates that no help is coming.

While Oracle, Cyborg, and other tech-savvy heroes try to pin down the source of the AI videos, everyone else hits the streets to counter Waller’s narrative. Unfortunately, this plays right into Waller’s plans. Superman, his son Jonathan Kent, and Superboy are all de-powered just as the videos stop playing. In their place, however, is a broadcast from Amanda Waller, who tells the public she’s here to end the superhuman threat for good. One by one, famous Justice League heroes and other DC icons are drained of their powers by the all-Amazo squad Task Force VII.

Justice League Dark, the Justice Society, and more are de-powered en masse, as Batman tries to rally heroes on their hidden frequency. Unfortunately, Green Arrow, now working for Amanda Waller, reveals his treachery. The Emerald Archer informs his former teammates that no help is coming. Not from the space, the multiverse, the Timestream, or the Microverse. Green Arrow also reveals that the powers stolen from DC’s heroes aren’t coming back. Elsewhere, Jon Kent wakes up to find himself in a strange lab unable to remember who he is, with strange tech grafted to his body.

Absolute Power #1 is the Dark Payoff Fans Have Been Waiting For

Those who have been keeping abreast of what’s going on in the DC Universe have known that Amanda Waller has been out to take down the metahumans once and for all. Throughout the Dawn of DC, she mostly stayed in the shadows, observing heroes like the Titans and the Doom Patrol while working towards her ultimate goal. She took a huge step during the “Beast World” crossover when Waller convinced the President of the United States to give her unquestionable power by making Amanda the head of the Bureau of Sovereignty.

Now that she led the most powerful office in the world, Waller really got to work. She formed a new Suicide Squad to seize the island nation of Gamorra so she could build a super-sized prison to hold the Earth’s metahumans. Waller also sought out Green Arrow and convinced him to join her after promising that she’d reunite his family. But these things helped, Waller still needed serious firepower on her side. Waller would later find that power in her new Trinity of Evil partners, Failsafe and the Brainiac Queen.

When Batman’s Failsafe android was possessed by Bruce Wayne’s backup personality, the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, Waller offered a chance to work together. But when Zur-En-Arrh was erased, Waller’s Bureau took possession of the Failsafe body and brought it back online as her loyal agent. Failsafe pioneered Waller’s power-stealing program, but he wasn’t able to find a way to do it safely until the Brainiac Queen crash-landed on Earth. After conditioning the Brainiac Queen to become Waller’s loyal soldier, Waller was ready to finally rid the DC Universe of metahumans.

Don't miss the set-up for DC's summer event, Absolute Power: Ground Zero (2024) !

Absolute Power #1's Creative Team Brings Their A-Game

When Absolute Power writer Mark Waid spoke with Screen Rant, he promised high-stakes drama and he delivers in this issue. From start to finish, this comic is excellently paced and gets right to the chase, giving fans the payoff they’ve been patiently waiting for since the Dawn of DC began. Waid doesn’t waste a page and gives fans all the intense action they can handle. From watching Task Force VII attack, to Green Arrow revealing his true colors, and even the book’s shocking cliffhanger, everything about Absolute Power #1 works.

Waid and Mora poured their heart into this issue and the end result is a compelling, dark story...

Enough cannot be said about Dan Mora’s work here. Fans who have appreciated Mora on Batman/Superman: World’s Finest and Shazam! are going to absolutely love the action in this first issue. Mora’s work truly shines in the scenes where the Amazos attack, showcasing their brilliant designs during Waller’s opening salvo. Alejandro Sánchez takes this art to the next level with his work, showcasing the heroes losing their powers with glitchy colors. Sánchez really helps establish the despair felt in the final pages of Absolute Power #1.

There’s no doubt some fans are probably feeling event fatigue. It was just a year ago that Knight Terrors invaded the DC Universe for two months. Not too long after that, Titans: Beast World threw the DC Universe into chaos again. But while those events have their merits, Absolute Power feels like a whole different ballgame. Waid and Mora poured their heart into this issue and the end result is a compelling, dark story that sets a high bar for the rest of the crossover event.

Absolute Power #1 is a Promising Start to the Summer

As great as Batman/Superman: World’s Finest and Shazam! are, Waid and Mora outdo their previous work together with Absolute Power. It’s still early to tell, but if the rest of the crossover is half as good as this first chapter, Absolute Power may very well be the event of the year. If DC Comics’ readers want gripping drama that doesn’t hold back, Absolute Power #1 has everything they’re looking for.

Absolute Power #1 is available now from DC Comics.