DC hopes to build on this solid foundation by adding more characters and taking bigger swings with the line. On March 19, Absolute Flash races onto shelves, from Jeff Lemire and Nick Robles. Absolute Flash features Wally West as the one and only fastest man alive, without a family or other Flashes and without even a Speed Force. One week later, Deniz Camp and Javier Rodríguez make Absolute Martian Manhunter into one of the line’s strangest heroes, introducing John Jones (not a misspelling) as an FBI agent afflicted with a virus called “the Martian.” Finally, Al Ewing and Jahnoy Lindsay introduce the line’s first team book on April 2 with Absolute Green Lantern, featuring Jo Mullein, Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner.
We Are Yesterday
As much fun as the Absolute comics have been, the mainline DC universe has been no slouch either, thanks to the great All In initiative. The company hopes to keep that rolling with the recently announced We Are Yesterday crossover, spearheaded by the legendary Mark Waid. We Are Yesterday sees Superman, Batman, and the Justice League stymied by Gorilla Grodd, who has somehow gained knowledge of the future.
Waid has been great for decades, but he’s really hit a new stride at DC recently, combining political commentary with old-school superheroics in Absolute Power, infusing new fun into Shazam! and Batman and Robin, and finally giving us a mainline Justice League Unlimited comic. We Are Yesterday promises to continue that vein, which makes it far more compelling than the standard summer crossover. The festivities begin in this June’s Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #38 by Waid and Dan Mora, and will continue into Justice League Unlimited.
The Return of Vertigo
Even six years later, it’s hard to understand why DC thought it wise to shutter Vertigo Comics, the imprint launched in 1993 that gave us some of the best Mature Readers comics of all time, masterpieces such as Neil Gaiman‘s The Sandman, Rachel Pollack’s continuation of Grant Morrison‘s Doom Patrol, Garth Ennis and Peter Milligan runs on Hellblazer, and more. DC’s Vertigo-like Black Label imprint has certainly had some compelling entries, but there’s something special about that Vertigo name.
So it’s nice to see DC reinstating the imprint and moving the currently-publishing horror series The Nice House By The Sea by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno under the Vertigo banner. More Vertigo announcements are coming, but editor Chris Conroy has also assured readers that Black Label will stick around, mostly for Mature Readers takes on established heroes, such as Batman: Damned and Peacemaker Tries Hard.
Tom King on Wonder Woman and Black Canary: The Best of the Best
Tom King remains one of the most divisive writers in comics, especially when he’s working on mainline ongoing books. While everyone (mostly) agrees that his limited series Vision and Mister Miracle are brilliant, people still gripe about his Batman ongoing and the event miniseries Heroes in Crisis. Yet, the Wonder Woman ongoing that King began in 2023 has been largely well received, even as it heads into a new year. King and artist Daniel Sampere’s latest storyline, “The Battle of Wonder,” kicked off with Wonder Woman #17 on Jan. 22, in which Diana and the Wonder Girls of the past and present face off against big bad the Sovereign, the secret King of America.