Last weekend was Free Comic Book Day and I was lucky to grab the DC All In FCBD 2025 All Special Edition #1 issue which gave a sneak peek of the upcoming Superman Unlimited book by Dan Slott and Rafael Alburquerque as well as a sort of look into the future of the Absolute Universe with a very very interesting ending.
Sometimes these FCBD books aren't such a gripping issue. But this one just worked! I was going to get Superman Unlimited regardless but Slott sprinkles in a new character and the main plot point of his first arc. But most importantly, you get a sense of his overall take on Superman which seems to be on target.
But really, the big winner is the Absolute side of things, written by Jeff Lemire with art by Giuseppe Camuncoli. While it is a quick tour of the three main books in the Universe, it is the ending with a conspiracy board hinting at future events and our first crossover with the main universe that made this sing.
Great free issue whetting my appetite for more! On to the book!
As I have said before, I very much enjoyed Slott's time on She-Hulk and Silver Surfer. So I was interested in seeing what he would do with Superman.
We start with a new character, Imani Edge, ex-wife of Morgan Edge, taking over the Planet and a number of other media sites. The plan? To brand everything as the Planet.
Hmmm ... will there be conflict? Will their be ethical debates about journalism and truth? Probably. It is hinted that the other media sites aren't as respected as the paper. Will Edge dilute the Planet's prestige? Or elevate the others?
Given the overall plot of this as an overabundance of Green K, and my theory that this will be a backdoor homage to Kryptonite Nevermore, I wonder if this is a way to get Clark back as a TV reporter.
Given the overall plot of this as an overabundance of Green K, and my theory that this will be a backdoor homage to Kryptonite Nevermore, I wonder if this is a way to get Clark back as a TV reporter.
My favorite moment was here when a captured bank robber thanks Superman for saving his aunt. Superman reaches everyone.
I love that Superman has a big and little picture viewpoint.
He is then called by the Justice League to stop a massive inertron meteor from hitting Earth. When he punches it, the intertron is just a thin shell hiding a huge (and I mean huge) Green K meteor.
Things I like here? Intertron being mentioned and Superman saying it shouldn't exist outside the Legion's time. Perhaps this is a ploy by the evil Legion we have been seeing pop up these days?
As I said, you can't have massive stores of Green K be around forever. I am putting my money down now. This arc ends with 'all the green K on Earth becoming iron' or something like that.
As I said, you can't have massive stores of Green K be around forever. I am putting my money down now. This arc ends with 'all the green K on Earth becoming iron' or something like that.
This time I'm right.
So kudos to Slott for putting this much into the FCBD! Alburquerque's art seems rougher than I am used to seeing but I haven't picked up a book of his in quite a while. I mean, it has been 16 years since he drew one of my favorite issues of all time.
We then see this Mirror Master's conspiracy board filled with what I assume are hints of things to come. Fate's helmet? Despero? White Martians? The Fourth World?
For someone who loves deciphering clues and forming theories, this was a buffet! Color me intrigued!
But wait, there's more!
This universe's Mirror Master is greeted by the main Universe's Master.
This is the first official crossover of the two universes!
Whoa!
Amazing.
Whoa!
Amazing.
Lemire spins a great tale. Camuncoli's art is slick.
I didn't think I'd get this much new and interesting content in the FCBD offering but I did! And you can't beat the price!
Overall grade: A
4 comments:
"Despair-o" is a clever bit of wordplay. His name has always suggested desperation to me rather than plain despair (although the two are related). Either that or someone misspelling "desperado" but I don't think we've ever seen him in a sombrero palling around with Terra-Man.
Slott did good but I kept thinking 'what about Clark's life'. If this is a typical day in Superman's life then he has zero time for himself.
And I've avoided the Absolute comics because I don't like severely darkened DC characters. All the story did was convince me Mirror Master was interesting, ironically by making him heroic in part, and did not make me want to read one page of the Absolute comics.
I was disappointed - no, more like not so surprised that Slott would be terrible. Maybe it is not him but the new synergy between the NewDCU and the comics, but I was not happy seeing that Cat Grant is now relegated to just working at the Planet as if CatCo never existed. Kara was slighted. No one but Superman can stop this threat and he fails. With all the technology in that universe, they couldn't have analyzed the properties of the meteor? As soon as Kal realized it was kryptonite, why not alert the League immediately? After all this time with the New52, DCYou, Rebirth, Metals and Crises, it feels like we are getting a soft reset because SLOTT. Bendis had free reign and then it was all undone. I do not like Slott, I loathe a lot of what he did with Spider-Man - and the Spider-Verse, so I was really not looking forward to this. However, the Krypton-knights may be a fun idea.
By the way, if you go to YouTube and go to UnBoxPHD, you can see Supergirl movie leaks. It's by a drone, so things are small, but you see Alcock in costume - which is comic book accurate, save the NewDCU symbol. You can see Mamoa as Lobo, and sets and so on; but again, it's from a distance.
In addition, if you buy the DC Metal Force Book 1 Tech Crash, Supergirl is a major player in it. She is a member of the Justice League and has the same amount, if not more, text and images than other members of that universe's JL. She's not part of the toys, nor the cartoon (unless they updated it since I last looked at it,) but as I say, she's definitely in the book continuity.
If you search for Trends International DC, you can get posters for DC's 90th anniversary which have Kara in her 80's costume. You can get various sizes. The poster I have is like Pokemon. "Heroes of the DC Universe: Collect Them All" and have 12 heroes. Kara's number 7.
In addition, if you
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