Absolute Power: Task Force VII #1 – Leah Williams, Writer; Caitlin Yarsky, Artist; Alex Guimaraes, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Now that the first shot has been fired and Amanda Waller has declared war on superheroes, it’s time for the tie-ins – and the core threat is going to be an army of Amazos, each equipped with the ability to permanently strip heroes of their powers and incorporate them, as designed by the evil duo of Failsafe and Brainiac Queen. This miniseries is an anthology of sorts, with each issue focusing on one of the Amazos as they go after one of the DCU’s core hero communities – starting with the Shazam crew this issue. The group is already a skeleton crew, due to only Billy and Mary having powers, and their powers are on the fritz as well due to a past encounter with the robots. That’s sent them to the Rock of Eternity in search of a magical cure, where they encounter a dinosaur with a very keen interest in paperwork – as well as one of the robots seeking to drain them clean.
The creative team of Williams and Yarsky do a great job with the characters, although I’m a little surprised that someone like Campbell who regularly writes this universe wasn’t chosen. The biggest surprise here is the presence of Black Adam, a regular visitor to the Rock of Eternity, as he finds himself on the same side as his kid arch-enemies. This issue nicely shows how Waller’s rise is bad for everyone – heroes and villains alike, like Parasite, who put a lot of work into reforming and now finds his hunger weaponized for Waller’s pleasure. The betrayals even extend to Steve Trevor, who guest-stars and discovers that he’s been assigned to Sarge Steel’s bureau and will have his closeness to Diana used against him. So far, this event is almost claustrophobic in its intensity, which is a great way to set the scales and establish why Waller might be a bigger threat than the last alien invasion.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
Ray Goldfield
Ray Goldfield is a comics superfan going back almost thirty years. When he's not reading way too many comics a week, he is working on his own writing. The first installment in his young adult fantasy-adventure, "Alex Actonn, Son of Two Seas", is available in Amazon now.
