Amanda Waller uses everybody. But no one in the DC Universe is ready for her latest move. Your Major Spoilers review of Absolute Power: Ground Zero #1 from DC Comics awaits!

ABSOLUTE POWER: GROUND ZERO #1

Writer: Nicole Maines/Mark Waid/Chip Zdarsky/Joshua Williamson
Artist: Skylar Patridge/Ken Marion/Gleb Melnikov
Colorist: Patricio Delpeche/Gleb Melnikov
Letterer: Steve Wands
Editor: Paul Kaminski
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: June 25, 2024

Previously in Absolute Power: As the DC Universe braces for the Absolute Power blitzkrieg, the key to capturing metahuman powers on planet Earth will at last be unlocked!

METICULOUS PLANNING

Amanda Waller has taken over the island nation of Gamorra. To do so, she had to depose the duly-elected President, Sara Nakamura, whose son, Jay, is dating Jon “Superman” Kent. As Absolute Power: Ground Zero #1 opens, Jay is on the run from Deadeye, one of Waller’s Suicide Squad flunkies, but bumps into Dreamer, who he considers a friend. That’s a problem for him, because she has been sent to take him into custody, and Amanda is holding her parents hostage to ensure her loyalty. Elsewhere, Waller has enlisted the technical expertise of Justice League villain The Time Commander, whose ability to move through time allows him to unravel the most complex devices, and then scoot right back to day one to fix them. It’s a good thing, too, because the project she has him working on is one of the most complex A.I. ever created: Failsafe. Speaking of artificial beings, though the House of Brainiac has fallen, there are still a few of his android creations left standing, including one incomplete entity whose A.I. mind is completely unprogrammed. There’s no telling what someone might do with that kind of blank slate.

NO TURNING BACK NOW

The events of this issue cement Amanda’s new status as the central big bad of the DC Universe, as she’s mobilizing against Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and the biggest of big guns, specifically tailoring her newest squad to counter their powers and abilities. Judging from the shocking preview at the end of this issue, her first strike is going to be pure shock and awe for the superheroes. That’s the bad news. The good news is that there’s a serpent in Amanda’s little Eden in the form of a tormented Dreamer, which hopefully will slow things down a bit. Despite this issue having multiple art teams, there’s a visual consistency between chapters of the story, making the storytelling feel coherent. It does feel a bit bland, though, almost like the early days of Valiant Comics, when house style overrode all other concerns. The use of Waller is a problem for me as a reader, requiring a complete reboot of her story and a new origin, but it may not be a problem for readers who don’t have 40 years worth of affection for the character.

BOTTOM LINE: I HATE THE PREMISE, BUT GOOD EXECUTION

All in all, though, Absolute Power: Ground Zero #1 puts together a number of ongoing Amanda Waller gambits into a coherent whole for the first time, building of of events in several ongoing titles and tying them near-seamlessly into one, earning 3 out of 5 stars overall. Recent years have given us a number of big crossovers that just erupted out of nowhere, so it’s fun to see that this one is spinning out of events in Batman, Superman, Suicide Squad, and other books, and even if I wish it weren’t Amanda as the primary villain, her place in Earth-0 continuity helps it all to make sense.

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