THIS WEEK: It’s another Week Five for DC Comics, as we take a look through DC Power 2024, as well as quick hits on the Batman/Superman World’s Finest 2024 Annual and the end of Titans: Beast World.
Note: the review below contains spoilers. If you want a quick, spoiler-free buy/pass recommendation on the comics in question, check out the bottom of the article for our final verdict.
DC Power 2024
Introduction by Morgan Hampton
Writers: N.K. Jemisin, Cheryl Lynn Eaton, Lamar Giles, John Ridley, Deron Bennett, Shawn Martinbrough, Alitha Martinez, Jarrett Willians, Greg Burnham, and Brandon Thomas
Artists: Jamal Campbell, Asiah Fulmore, Sean Damien Hill, Anthony Fowler Jr., Edwin Galmon, Deny Cowan, John Stanisci, Tony Akins & Mortitat, Alitha Martinez, Mark Morales, Dominike “Domo” Stanton, Jahnoy Lindsay, and Khary Randolph & Serg Acuña
Colorists: Ruth Redmond, DJ Chavis, Christopher Sotomayor, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Andrew Dalhouse
Letterer: Andworld Design
Cover Artist: Chase Conley
Another year, and we’ve got another superb DC Power anthology to look forward to. This year’s lineup is killer, with ten stories to showcase the excellence of these characters and the creators that define them.
N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell deliver a fun epilogue to Far Sector, with a surprise party for Green Lantern Jo Mullen and a first encounter with John Stewart to boot. The short works well to bookend the original story, as well as act as a great showcase for these characters and the City Enduring.
Bloodwynd stars in what begins as a bleak tale about his personal hell, but ends focusing on his autonomy and family history with Hell. Lamar Giles writes this story about Raphael Arce coming to terms with the curse that rules his family and the burden he chooses to bear in order to protect the ones he loves. The art here is by Sean Damien Hill, Anthony Fowler Jr., and DJ Chavis, and is perfectly chaotic in its rendering of Hell.
Edwin Galmon paints a piece featuring Earth-2’s Superman, Val Zod, and it’s stunning. The colors are gorgeous and depict this bright, fluid world that I hope we’re able to return to at some point. John Ridley scripts the story with letters from Justin Birch, and it’s a great dive into Val’s headspace and what motivates him to keep at it everyday.
The whole issue is solid, with glimpses into all sorts of great stories: we see the world of Thunder and Lightning from Cheryl Lynn Eaton, Asiah Fulmore, Ruth Redmond, and Jame; we revisit another era with the Spectre and the Question in a story by Shawn Martinbrough, Tony Akins and Moritat, and Buddy Beaudoin; and Kid Flash hoops from Jarrett Williams, Dominike “Domo” Stanton, Andrew Dalhouse, and Justin Birch.
The down-to-earth feel of the majority of these stories keeps this engaging and fresh. While there are a ton of shorts here, they’re given plenty of space to breathe, and stick closer to character studies than big, plotty teases for another story. It’s always fun to see superheroes doing more day-to-day activities, rather than stopping the end of the world all the time.
Working hand in hand with this approach is the accessibility of the issue. You don’t have to know absolutely everything about these characters in order to understand who they are and what they do. This issue nails that aspect, making it a must read for fans of these characters and creators.
Final Verdict: BUY. While these anthologies cost a little more, the quality and variety of stories more than makes up for it.
Round-Up
- Batman/Superman: World’s Finest 2024 Annual: This is another anthology, though it puts the focus on supporting characters from the World’s Finest world. The opening story from Mark Waid, Cullen Bunn, and Lee Loughridge tease a dangerous new threat to the Imps of the Fifth Dimension, one that looks to be coming for the main book soon. Christopher Cantwell and Jorge Fornes deliver the highlight of the issue, with a Challengers of the Unknown short that delivers stunning action and a bit of a devastating ending. There’s a great short about Bumblebee’s origin by Stephanie Williams and Rosi Kämpe that does a great job of modernizing her backstory as well, in this all-around solid issue.
- Titans: Beast World #6: After the reveal of Doctor Hate’s identity at the end of the last issue, Tom Taylor ties the story up in a bow, with our characters in only slightly different places than where the event started. Sure, there’s the threat of Amanda Waller still looming, but the ending made the event feel more like a bigger arc of Titans than a shift in the DC Universe. Ivan Reis, Lucas Meyer, and Eduardo Pansica deliver stellar artwork, but it would have nice to have some consistency across this final issue. The creative team is rounded out by Danny Miki, Júlio Ferreira, Brad Anderson, Romulo Rajardo Jr., and Wes Abbott.
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I really loved the anthology style of both DC Power and the World’s Finest Annual. We got some really nice character studies. I agree that it is nice to see these as opposed to just insistent teases of “The Next Big Thing.”
In WF, I really dug the Metamorpho intro of his father. Seeing an origin for Bumblebee was nice: While I’m not super-familiar with her Silver Age origins, I always got the feeling it was the typical, “Sees injustice. Rights it. Likes the feeling, so keeps at it.” Seeing it stem from a specific problem that is tied to real life inequity was a really good move. I am again not 100% on my Challengers of the Unknown Silver Age history, but wasn’t Ultivac an enemy?
Over in Power, of course the Far Sector story shines. How could it not? It was also fun to see Mr. Mxyzptlk out of his element and contrasted against a hero besides Superman. And of course, any time we get Who’s Who pages, I’m ecstatic (though I do wish they commissioned new art and used the surprint style like the original series).
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