Long in the making, Mark Waid and Dan Mora’s Absolute Power promises to shake up everything you thought you knew about the DC Universe. In this series of features, Jules Chin Greene unpacks each new chapter of the core comic book event and helps us come to grips about just what it might mean.
I’m not picky when it comes to Justice League lineups, but I think there should always be a bit of green on the team—specifically in the form of Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter. Absolute Power #4 from Mark Waid and Dan Mora vindicates this thought I’ve had in the back of my mind, as we finally get to see the story behind Green Arrow’s work as a double agent under the nose of Amanda Waller. I like Green Arrow best when he gets to be a bit of a troublemaker, and Mark Waid lets this part of his character shine in this issue.
I think part of the reason why we all love reading superhero comics so much is that it can be amusing to watch characters cause problems on purpose. There’s so much drama and suspense created when we’re left wondering when or if we’ll be able to see these characters face the consequences of their actions. In Absolute Power, Amanda Waller has been utterly ruthless and unapologetic for taking such extreme measures to keep the world’s superheroes in check. And for someone like Amanda Waller, it’s tough to even imagine someone like her being held accountable.
And yet, even the sturdiest of walls can come crumbling down, and this time it’s Green Arrow who delivers the final blow. After Batman drops the implant meant to return the heroes’ superpowers back from the Amazos who took them, it’s Ollie who shoots the implant into the neck of one of the androids.
There’s something to be said about an unpowered character like Green Arrow giving everyone else their superpowers back. Despite being a dude running around with a bow and arrow in the presence of aliens, magic-users and gods beyond space and time, Green Arrow isn’t insecure about his own abilities. Instead, he’s like David fighting Goliath with a slingshot. And who doesn’t love it when an underdog pulls off an upset?
Usually, we would expect this type of victory to be pulled off by Batman, because, well, he’s Batman. But I think Green Arrow playing the long game with the help of Martian Manhunter points to a big difference between him and the Dark Knight. Unlike Batman, Oliver Queen doesn’t have an ego that he’s particularly protective of. This is why he agreed to become a “Manchurian rat” inside Waller’s machine: he’s willing to suffer the consequences of being seen as a traitor by his former Justice League teammates for the greater good. On top of that, Green Arrow is also aware that in the eyes of someone like Amanda Waller, he’s never going to be seen as a worrisome threat. He’s more than happy to take on a role that plays into people’s misconceptions about him. And Batman certainly doesn’t seem all that pleased to have been beat at his own game.
Switching gears a little, Absolute Power has shown us how Amanda Waller sees knowledge as power. For her, as an ordinary, unpowered human being, her way of getting ahead in the world has been through gathering intelligence. When Dreamer greets Waller when she wakes up behind bars at Belle Reve, Waller is incensed to discover that she can’t remember all of the receipts that she had on Earth’s superheroes: Green Lantern’s civilian name, the Batcave’s location, Booster Gold’s origin, etcetera.
As a longtime fan of Waller, despite all of her glaring flaws, it’s funny to see a character be so oblivious about what their true power is. While Waller has spent years (presumably) gathering all this information on the Justice Leaguers and their comrades, she never realized that her true power isn’t the intelligence she collects from her bureaucratic machine, but rather the lengths she is willing to go to obtain it. I wonder if she will ever come to this realization, but this certainly isn’t the last we’ll see of Amanda Waller.
And speaking of which, Absolute Power leaves the DC Universe in such a compelling state. Fire and Ice have got their powers swapped? Plastic Man is buff now? The Flashes can no longer access the multiverse? What a note to end the series and the Dawn of DC era on. I was already excited for DC All In and the new Absolute Universe, but now I’m even more invested in seeing how this will all shake out. Fortunately, we don’t have long to wait!
Absolute Power #4 by Mark Waid, Dan Mora and Alejandro Sánchez is now available in print and as a digital comic book.
Jules Chin Greene writes about comics, TV, games and film for DC.com, and his work can also be found at Nerdist, Popverse and Multiverse of Color. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @JulesChinGreene.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Jules Chin Greene and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
[[{“value”:”Long in the making, Mark Waid and Dan Mora’s Absolute Power promises to shake up everything you thought you knew about the DC Universe. In this series of features, Jules Chin Greene unpacks each new chapter of the core comic book event and helps us come to grips about just what it might mean.
I’m not picky when it comes to Justice League lineups, but I think there should always be a bit of green on the team—specifically in the form of Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter. Absolute Power #4 from Mark Waid and Dan Mora vindicates this thought I’ve had in the back of my mind, as we finally get to see the story behind Green Arrow’s work as a double agent under the nose of Amanda Waller. I like Green Arrow best when he gets to be a bit of a troublemaker, and Mark Waid lets this part of his character shine in this issue.
I think part of the reason why we all love reading superhero comics so much is that it can be amusing to watch characters cause problems on purpose. There’s so much drama and suspense created when we’re left wondering when or if we’ll be able to see these characters face the consequences of their actions. In Absolute Power, Amanda Waller has been utterly ruthless and unapologetic for taking such extreme measures to keep the world’s superheroes in check. And for someone like Amanda Waller, it’s tough to even imagine someone like her being held accountable.
And yet, even the sturdiest of walls can come crumbling down, and this time it’s Green Arrow who delivers the final blow. After Batman drops the implant meant to return the heroes’ superpowers back from the Amazos who took them, it’s Ollie who shoots the implant into the neck of one of the androids.
There’s something to be said about an unpowered character like Green Arrow giving everyone else their superpowers back. Despite being a dude running around with a bow and arrow in the presence of aliens, magic-users and gods beyond space and time, Green Arrow isn’t insecure about his own abilities. Instead, he’s like David fighting Goliath with a slingshot. And who doesn’t love it when an underdog pulls off an upset?
Usually, we would expect this type of victory to be pulled off by Batman, because, well, he’s Batman. But I think Green Arrow playing the long game with the help of Martian Manhunter points to a big difference between him and the Dark Knight. Unlike Batman, Oliver Queen doesn’t have an ego that he’s particularly protective of. This is why he agreed to become a “Manchurian rat” inside Waller’s machine: he’s willing to suffer the consequences of being seen as a traitor by his former Justice League teammates for the greater good. On top of that, Green Arrow is also aware that in the eyes of someone like Amanda Waller, he’s never going to be seen as a worrisome threat. He’s more than happy to take on a role that plays into people’s misconceptions about him. And Batman certainly doesn’t seem all that pleased to have been beat at his own game.
Switching gears a little, Absolute Power has shown us how Amanda Waller sees knowledge as power. For her, as an ordinary, unpowered human being, her way of getting ahead in the world has been through gathering intelligence. When Dreamer greets Waller when she wakes up behind bars at Belle Reve, Waller is incensed to discover that she can’t remember all of the receipts that she had on Earth’s superheroes: Green Lantern’s civilian name, the Batcave’s location, Booster Gold’s origin, etcetera.
As a longtime fan of Waller, despite all of her glaring flaws, it’s funny to see a character be so oblivious about what their true power is. While Waller has spent years (presumably) gathering all this information on the Justice Leaguers and their comrades, she never realized that her true power isn’t the intelligence she collects from her bureaucratic machine, but rather the lengths she is willing to go to obtain it. I wonder if she will ever come to this realization, but this certainly isn’t the last we’ll see of Amanda Waller.
And speaking of which, Absolute Power leaves the DC Universe in such a compelling state. Fire and Ice have got their powers swapped? Plastic Man is buff now? The Flashes can no longer access the multiverse? What a note to end the series and the Dawn of DC era on. I was already excited for DC All In and the new Absolute Universe, but now I’m even more invested in seeing how this will all shake out. Fortunately, we don’t have long to wait!
Absolute Power #4 by Mark Waid, Dan Mora and Alejandro Sánchez is now available in print and as a digital comic book.
Jules Chin Greene writes about comics, TV, games and film for DC.com, and his work can also be found at Nerdist, Popverse and Multiverse of Color. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @JulesChinGreene.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Jules Chin Greene and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.”}]]
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