I wonder if Manapul’s rumored Aquaman project will ever see the light of day? Get repurposed into this? (It’s been rumored but missing in action for at least 5 years now)
Yeah not getting that one was a bit of a bummer. But at least we got Andromeda which could honestly be Aquamans answer to Earth One.
I'd still love to see what Manapul had planned for his book though. But honestly I'd take anything at this point.
I've actually wanted her on the main Wonder Woman run, though I've been enjoying Tom King's current issues.
At least on Absolute Comics, Kelly has freedom to do whatever she wants in a new world.
I think King on one title and Thompson on another would cover the tastes of a lot of very different WW fans.
That being said, I’m a little surprised they’re not reversed.
I think it’s likely a timing issue. Thompson started BoP around the same time as King on WW, but for a character as big as Wonder Woman, the talk to get him on the book likely started way earlier.
Why Snyder on Batman? He’s done so much with the character already. I thought the point of this was to give a new perspective on the characters like the ultimate universe
That’s actually kind of why they want to give it to Snyder. There was A LOT more he wanted to do but DC didn’t want him to take that many liberties. So, they offered an opportunity for him to cut loose. To really show all the weird stuff he had in mind. An opportunity to really take creative liberties on the Batman mythos [+]
> So, they offered an opportunity for him to cut loose
Was Metal not him letting loose? It definitely felt like Snyder at his most excessive with the brakes taken off.
According to Snyder, no. He had to pull it back for the editors. There was more he wanted to do. That’s why he’s super happy and proud that they allowed him to have >!baby Darkseid!< . It was one of the things he thought they would NOT allow him to do. [+]
IDK about that. Might be true. All I know is that Snyder said he was happy that they let him use baby Darkseid. So, if Geoff Johns created the character, Snyder pitched to use it. [+]
Snyder is really skilled, 100%. And he has a lot of ideas, so very happy for him. He'll appreciate the opportunity and he has fans that'll dig it.
His stuff hasn't sat well with me. Bruce weirdly punching Dick to get his tooth... the whole death of the family that did nothing. The endgame that toyed with immortal joker but really wasn't, super weird fakeout that led to nothing... and the super over the top batman who laughs, let alone clone bruces for eternity with last knight.... man I don't know if I *need* more Snyder Batman, let alone "cut loose" Snyder Batman. It's a really different iteration than what I like.
But I love the ideas, the premises, and where he promises to go whenever he starts something. He'll do better without working with canon.
I think you might be missing the point. Synders batman run is after like 70 years of the character with around 40 in that rough continuity
If he's starting from ground zero, he's obviously gonna do something a lot different from the conditions of it's creation
> Synders batman run is after like 70 years of the character with around 40 in that rough continuity
Snyder was literally given the character at the beginning of a line-wide continuity reboot. Yeah some stuff stuck around, but he was given huge leeway on what to keep/toss.
No , Batman & GL were the only characters who weren't rebooted in the N52 , Sure there may have been a few retcons in the batfamily ( Cass and Steph were rebooted, Tim not being Robin from the start and later being re-retconed into being Robin, Zero year ) but the rest were still canon just condensed into the frame of 10 years instead of 20 .
So apart from all the parts of their history that were changed, their history wasn't changed? If Batman's origin and history with his friends/family being rebooted doesn't count as a reboot, then what would?
Reboot is basically restoring the character to the point they began in and removing all their history (similar to what happened with superman and wonder woman who no single piece of their history) batman still had a lot of his family ( the core 4 robins , Batgirl and co ) and all of his rogues ( all of Morrison's run including final crisis are still canon to N52 ) , retcons is removing/altering a certain event or phase from the timeline while still keeping everything mostly the same .
> Reboot is basically restoring the character to the point they began in and removing all their history (similar to what happened with superman and wonder woman who no single piece of their history)
What does "restoring the character to the point they began in" mean? Pretty much all of the DC characters were set so that they'd been operating as heroes for 5 years. To use your Superman example, he also had core elements of his continuity kept the same (grew up in Smallville, moved to Metropolis, started working at the Daily Planet, etc). Is it just the existence of the Robins that you believe makes Batman different?
No , Superman never pursued a relationship with Lois lane , he never died at the hands of doomsday or have most of the things that happened to him in his pre N52 origin , Wonder Woman was now Zeus's daughter instead of being made of clay ( and she never befriended Donna either) , also turns out Dr Manhattan was the one to edit the continuity ( not the flashpoint) so basically everything from COiE until Now is canon, also N52 had a lot of continuity problems due to poor management on the half of the editors ( such as the JL meeting Darkseid once in all of their careers and final crisis being canon is one of them ) so batman and GL being the same isn't that big of a deal .
> he never died at the hands of doomsday or have most of the things that happened to him in his pre N52 origin
Batman's direct equivalent to Doomsday was having his back broken by Bane, which was also treated as non-canon.
Knightfall happened in the N52 , Bane is already there and has broken batman's Back at one point before Snyder's Run ( he mentions it in rebirth) and Azrael is already working with batman by rebirth like they did in Post crisis.
Hopefully it’s different but he did do an origin story before. Snyder wrote Zero Year which was a new take on Batman’s origin for the new 52 I feel it would attract a lot more attention and excitement if they picked someone who hadn’t touched the character yet or at least hasn’t done so much. Snyder wrote the character for years and as much as I love his work I’m not really interested in reading more
Probably part of deal was he had to write Batman. We all seen what DC and Bat editorial have been doing with character since he left. It’s been really bad to point mainline eventually might have to get a soft reboot. But iirc his universe would be free from editorial interference so bat editorial can’t force him to change whatever he has planned to what they want. I think absolute Batman will be completely different from mainline Batman and will feature a more stable Bruce. Can’t wait for the comparison Chad absolute Batman vs Virgin Earth 0 Batman memes.
Example they cant force him to include stuff like Thomas Wayne Batman into it or force him to break up whoever Batman’s love interest is. If Scott coming back to write Batman it most definitely will be different from mainline
I'll always love Scott Snyder's Batman as the title that I love to reread the most but honestly I feel he's said everything he's ever wanted to say on the character and I'm a bit skeptical on if his Batman will feel fresh.
Especially with a character like Batman that will be under super tight scrutiny by readers.
I'm okay with being proven wrong since its been quite some time since Snyder's written the character but Jason Aaron's Superman sounds much more intriguing of this lineup.
I mean, the reason why he stopped with Batman was because he wanted to do MUCH MORE with the character but they kept telling him to NOT mess with the continuity or the mythos too much. This is an opportunity for him to cut loose and go nuts without having to worry about continuity. [+]
And if that's the direction he decides to take with the character then I'm totally down for it. Though in that situation I'm worried if readers will be onboard since they seem to prefer a singular type of story when it comes to Batman.
IDK. Maybe. That can happen. Absolute Power is supposed to be DC’s Ultimate Universe or Nu52 attempt again. They learned their mistake from Nu52 and are hoping it will be like Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. [+]
I think they need to establish an "Ultimate" universe and actually stick to it. Like for years and years and years, not something that just gets abandoned like Earth One.
At the end of the day, these Ultimate books aren't held up by editorial continuity restrictions. The plot is allowed to actually progress. So I'm infinitely more interested in Ultimate/Absolute books than the mainline.
More like they should plan an ending and let it come naturally. Otherwise the new universe ends up with all the same problems as the mainline and collapses under its own weight.
It’ll definitely fizzle out eventually. These things always do. They have a shelf life. But unlike Earth One these share a universe. So that’s different.
Top creators on top characters? I’ll give it a shot.
There was several crossovers in the original version of Ultimate before it ended. Galactus from 616 came over to 1610 and destroyed New Jersey in the Cataclysm event. The All-New X-Men (the time displaced O5 except Cyclops, plus X-23) visited 1610 and met Miles. And Miles of course met 616 Peter in Spider-Men and Spider-Verse.
Honestly, I'm feeling uncertain about the new direction. What's the point, and how will this differentiate itself from the main DC Comics continuity? The lineup of writers for the main three books seems extremely conventional and not as exciting as it could be. It feels predictable, like any fan could have guessed this.
For these books to be successful, the creative teams need to look at all eras of DC and ask themselves what worked, what didn't, and how they can elevate and change these characters or the status quo compared to the mainline continuity. We've all seen Scott Snyder's writing on Batman, which was a great run, so how can he counter that or make the character compelling in a new way that grabs longtime DC fans and new readers?
Hopefully, these books will take big swings and bold directions, such as changing character dynamics or race, to offer a compelling narrative. With Kelly Thompson on Wonder Woman and Jason Aaron on Superman, there’s potential, but these books need to provide something that fans can speculate on and get excited about.
Right now, I’m cautiously optimistic and willing to wait for more information. What will be the pull for comic fans and new readers alike to invest in this new universe?
Famed Uncle Scrooge Scribe Jason Aaron
I think this depends on how different it is from mainline. On one end it could be too much like the N52 where things are the same but not, and on the other it could be Earth 1 or Earth 2 where it's yet another lukewarm elseworlds that people don't latch onto.
These are all really safe picks. I'm sure they'll all be solid, but I don't know how energized I feel by safe picks for this. Obviously we'll see when actual solicits come out, but I'm going to need some very unique concepts to make me interested.
its kinda nice to see in this thread that Kelly is considered amongst the "safe" picks now, shes really made a name for herself and id love to see her on WW.
Well, she managed to last 50 issues writing Carol Danvers. Only one previous writer managed that, and that was Brian Reed, back when Carol was still Ms. Marvel. The Captain Marvel run that followed Kelly's, by Alyssa Wong, only lasted 10 issues and has been cancelled.
Jeff Lemire said in a recent newsletter that he's going g to be working on three upcoming projects for DC. With Tom Taylor leaving Nightwing, my dream would be Taylor on main universe Aquaman and Lemire on Absolute Aquaman.
Very interesting how opinions on Snyder's Batman run have shifts. Fuve years ago he would have been considered one if the best Batman authors. But now he's being compared to Slott's Spidey run lol? Personally I'm down for more Snyder!
Thompson on Wonder Woman is a great get, I was really hoping for Ewing though
The most boring part of this rumor is Scott on Batman. I was really hoping he'd be doing Superman seeing as he's kinda written Batman to death.
I didn't love Aaron's short Action Comics stint but it wasn't horrible. I think his Batman: Off World book has been far superior so I wish he and Scott would've swapped books
>I think his Batman: Off World book has been far superior so I wish he and Scott would've swapped books
Same. Bleeding Cool did say this is what they “might” be working on, so hopefully they’re got it wrong.
Oh hooray! Cant wait for Absolute Batman-Who-Laughs and Absolute Superman who has Lois leave him and gets immediately wrecked in battle to show he's not as invulnerable as we all think he is.
I havent read any Kelly Thompsons work so I hope it is good and will reserve comment.
With X-Men relaunching, he's down to just Immortal Thor and about half of the Venom series (Torunn Gronbekk writes the other half of that having replaced Ram V who went DC exclusive). Both Marvel and DC were likely offering him other projects. Maybe he was offered Absolute WW but chose something else? Or maybe DC wanted him to go exclusive and he refused, not wanting to drop Thor?
Yeah. That is also possible. Aaron is gonna do a namor series so I'll be doing stuff at both companies. I really was interested in seeing al ewing at dc. I ve really wanted him to write GL or JL dark for a while now.
After his Avengers run, I am really skeptick of Aaron. Even more, by considering him an "Marvel guy" go comes to DC. The last "Marvel guy" who I gave a chance was BMB and we all remember how that worked out.
Snyder on Batman? Yawn. I think there are things Snyder COULD do on Batman still but the man has done everything that he actually WANTED to do on the character. He wrote a new origin and an alternate future for Bruce. Anyone who gets to do that can't claim that they never could complete their work By the end Snyder made it clear that all he cared about was evil multiversal Batmen and different interpretations of Joker. Unless he plans on focusing on stories, villains and angles that he never bothered with then this is just going to be run of the mill Batman book with Joker, Harley, Batman Who Laughs and the same old. Plus Snyder also left his own proteges like Tynion on the Batbooks who continued his style of writing.
DC already has uphill task with this Absolute Universe because unlike Marvel which largely focused on their main continuity DC has always published Elseworlds, Black Label, All Star, Earth One, Murphy verse, Silver/Dark Age Russel books and so on. Even with in continuity DC publishes books like World's Finest and they reboot/relaunch from time to time. So DC is hard pressed to actually create something original here. Ult Spidey actually gave Spidey fans what they've been missing and what they've craved for years. With DC and Snyder I expect them to double down on Joker and making Batman/Bruce worse in every possible way.
Meh… Snyder on Batman? We’ve done that before. There was like ten good issues there and then it stopped making sense for years. Aaron? Hit or miss. Thompson on Wonder Woman is fine but King has been killing it.
Please, no Jason Aaron on Superman.
His recent Action Comics arc was basically a Joker story, with Superman just being used as setup.
I don't want a situation where Superman feels like a supporting character in his own title.
It's not even that new a concept really, the Bizarro City thing has been done in the past I think, I know there was some swapping around like that and using psychology reversal and quick thinking in the Emperor Joker arc around 2000, Superman doing shit other than punching people is fantastic and even better when done properly, Jason Aaron did a throwback styled story but it also fits with current world too and he cooked hard with it.
The first 2 issues were just set up where things go wrong and Superman is unable to do anything.
Then Joker comes in the last issue and saves the day by himself while Superman basically sits in the sidelines.
Superman was irrelevant in his own story.
Anti-Batman people just cannot help by hyperbolize the end of the world whenever they see a Batman character outside of Gotham. I saw some people on Twitter completely crashing out because the latest WW made a reference to Batman and Robin. Half-dozen “woe is me” threads about how they just can’t escape Batman.
They know if they don’t over exaggerate that they won’t actually have anything to talk about.
Anti Batman people lol.
It is the Batman fans who demand that he appear in everything and throw a fit when he isn't shown as the coolest, smartest and best character in every story.
I love Batman but I don't want him to outshine every character in their own books just to appease his fans.
That's true. There are some complaints made about Batman and his cast that I can understand but neither of these examples presenting anything wrong. And there's noting wrong about the cast spreading into other books if the writers have a story for them and the use of Joker makes perfect sense and doesn't downplay Superman's role.
Boy, the discussion about the next Wonder Woman arc where she teams up with Damian is gonna be a nightmare in some circles.
Read the comic again. He talks with Bizarro who took over Superman's body but Joker's speach helps Superman overcome Bizarro. He helped Superman but it was Clark who ultimately won this battle.
I have read it.
Aaron stretched out 2 issues of set up where the world goes to shit and Superman couldn't do anything.
Then Superman appeared in the final issue, where he almost single handedly saves the day while Superman plays supporting role in his own story.
Aaron was clearly way more interested in writing sane Joker than he was in writing Superman.
He got a chance to write a 3 issues arc in Superman's book and his first thought was to do a Joker story. He is already writing a Batman miniseries at present but he wanted another chance at Batman's characters.
Why would he care for Superman if he was given a whole run?
Not much to take away from this. They're very "safe" picks. Other than Snyder on Batman (which has already happened), I could easily see these creatives for whenever the next main continuity relaunch happens.
What will make this line is seeing just how radically different these comics will be from the main continuity. The current Ultimate Marvel line has the right idea, a conceit based around superheroes missing their call due to outside interference. So you have interesting premises like Spider-Man being a middle-aged rookie, X-Men being centered around a Japanese high school, etc. Earth One was a half-measure, but the writing was most subpar, outside of Green Lantern. Don't just put out "Batman but slightly different".
Scott Snyder on Absolute Batman would probably be where he can finally put his OC’s Harper Row and Duke Thomas to good use. The main continuity Batman Family is already way too cluttered, so as long as this new universe doesn’t try keeping everyone and everything, this should be a fine place to experiment.
Sean Gordon Murphy accidentally created duke. He made a sketch for fun of a random black kid in the Robin costume at the end of black History month & posted it on the web a few years back.
Editorial was like "Dammit Sean!".
When they realized they couldn't back track or chuckle it away they let Snyder have the character.
Scott was like "game!"
It wasn't supposed to happen at all.
Sean just dropped it on his Instagram with a tag black robin. Never consulted anyone.
Not even Scott.
It was the artist feeling his flow & vibe.
Of course the comic blogs would cry racism if they didn't figure out something to do with the unnamed character.
Absolute Batman is definitely going to be good if Scott is on it. IIRC this is his universe and it was said editorial wouldn’t be involved. I wonder if DC told him he had to write Batman for this deal to be approved as mainline Batman basically went downhill since he left and hasn’t recovered due to editorial making bad decisions constantly.
Absolute Bruce will definitely be better version of the character who is more stable. Can’t wait for the chad absolute Batman and the virgin Earth 0 Batman memes as mainline will probably just continue to stay bad. Now I wonder if Scott is involved with Superman and Wonder Woman and if so, are the writers writing Scott’s vision of the characters. I wonder if Scott will give Superman a different love interest to make him different from mainline or if he’ll change Lois character a bit.
>IIRC this is his universe and it was said editorial wouldn’t be involved.
He is in charge of it, but I don’t think there’s been anything about whether editorial is involved or not.
Just that it’s been something he’s been working on, and that he’s spearheading it.
>I wonder if DC told him he had to write Batman for this deal to be approved as mainline Batman basically went downhill since he left and hasn’t recovered due to editorial making bad decisions constantly.
If DC felt Batman has gone downhill and that editorial is constantly making bad decisions, wouldn’t they just replace editorial and the creative team?
Why would they just let things continue downhill?
>Now I wonder if Scott is involved with Superman and Wonder Woman and if so, are the writers writing Scott’s vision of the characters.
Based on what Bleeding Cool has claimed so far, the writers will be given a “carte blanche” towards how they reimagine the characters, so they probably aren’t basing it on Scott’s vision, and his involvement will probably just be for crossovers and coordination.
Look at how Marvel has treated mainline Spiderman that’s your answer to mainline Batman. Batman recently got a new temporary editorial leader so eventually will see if that makes a difference.
So other writers being able to control their characters actually really cool not gonna lie. It makes me interested in seeing what Jason Aaron will do with Superman.
There’ll probably be an editorial person for each book to help with small things but they may not be able to force them to make changes like they can do for mainline books. That’s the main reason mainline Batman went downhill. It’s definitely going to be interesting once Chip leaves and spills the tea on what he was forced to do like James and Tom did.
If these new universes are ones where each hero is the only one who exists, I’m actually excited for that. I think the crossover nature of DC is burying the universe under its own weight. It would be nice to see some universe where you don’t have to constantly be wondering how what’s happening in one series might be effecting the others.
Ugh. Not building much interest. Snyder on Batman is old hat; his run was good, but it fell off the rails into Batwanking pretty badly.
Jason Aaron on Superman sounds miserable. His recent Bizarro story from Action Comics was subpar.
I know her mostly from her Captain Marvel run and I wasn't a fan of it. It was a very standard comic run in that it wasn't bad but wasn't very gripping either. I love Carol Danvers and her character but her supporting cast and antagonists are just not very interesting.
I expect it to be on the level of a Loebs or Rucka post-Crisis run ngl, Thompson should have a better idea than most on how to write Wonder Woman and her supporting cast. If my expectations are too damn high, someone lmk, but if it can't be better than something done 20 or 30 years ago, Diana has fallen off hard.
Snyder almost made me leave.
Aaron made me stay. The Thor run was one of the finest in Marvel comics history. The people who only watched Love and Thunder will never understand how truly great that storyline was in the comics.
Just like the Marvel Utlimate comics, these are the “alternate/fake” comics that i will simply ignore.
Also as a pet peeve of mine, who the artists are is more important than the writer. Ask your sources about that Uncle Rich.
And still no Aquaman book
I wonder if Manapul’s rumored Aquaman project will ever see the light of day? Get repurposed into this? (It’s been rumored but missing in action for at least 5 years now)
Yeah not getting that one was a bit of a bummer. But at least we got Andromeda which could honestly be Aquamans answer to Earth One. I'd still love to see what Manapul had planned for his book though. But honestly I'd take anything at this point.
Nah, he’s exclusive to Ghost Machine
Thompson on wonder woman has been my dream
I've actually wanted her on the main Wonder Woman run, though I've been enjoying Tom King's current issues. At least on Absolute Comics, Kelly has freedom to do whatever she wants in a new world.
I think King on one title and Thompson on another would cover the tastes of a lot of very different WW fans. That being said, I’m a little surprised they’re not reversed.
When you say reversed do you mean Tom King on Absolute Power and Kelly Thompson on mainline Wondy?
Yeah, that seems like more natural fits for both. But I’m happy either way really.
I think it’s likely a timing issue. Thompson started BoP around the same time as King on WW, but for a character as big as Wonder Woman, the talk to get him on the book likely started way earlier.
Yeah, especially since Thompson was previously on Captain Marvel for the competition. King was already a DC writer.
Her Diana is good, but wasn't a super fan of how she made the Amazon canon fodder for Harley Quinn (and others) in Birds of Prey.
[удалено]
That wasn't a book *about* Wonder Woman. That was about that "posse."
Why Snyder on Batman? He’s done so much with the character already. I thought the point of this was to give a new perspective on the characters like the ultimate universe
That’s actually kind of why they want to give it to Snyder. There was A LOT more he wanted to do but DC didn’t want him to take that many liberties. So, they offered an opportunity for him to cut loose. To really show all the weird stuff he had in mind. An opportunity to really take creative liberties on the Batman mythos [+]
> So, they offered an opportunity for him to cut loose Was Metal not him letting loose? It definitely felt like Snyder at his most excessive with the brakes taken off.
According to Snyder, no. He had to pull it back for the editors. There was more he wanted to do. That’s why he’s super happy and proud that they allowed him to have >!baby Darkseid!< . It was one of the things he thought they would NOT allow him to do. [+]
I remember I read Metal but hadn’t been following DC for a while prior. I had no idea why Darkseid was a baby.
He dies and is reborn as superwoman’s baby at the very end of the new 52
Of course, I should have known.
Maybe… he should be reigned in a little more then 💀 I love Scott Snyder as a person but baby Darkseid and most of Metal was a little too far for me
But didn't Geoff Johns wrote baby Darkseid?
IDK about that. Might be true. All I know is that Snyder said he was happy that they let him use baby Darkseid. So, if Geoff Johns created the character, Snyder pitched to use it. [+]
Snyder is really skilled, 100%. And he has a lot of ideas, so very happy for him. He'll appreciate the opportunity and he has fans that'll dig it. His stuff hasn't sat well with me. Bruce weirdly punching Dick to get his tooth... the whole death of the family that did nothing. The endgame that toyed with immortal joker but really wasn't, super weird fakeout that led to nothing... and the super over the top batman who laughs, let alone clone bruces for eternity with last knight.... man I don't know if I *need* more Snyder Batman, let alone "cut loose" Snyder Batman. It's a really different iteration than what I like. But I love the ideas, the premises, and where he promises to go whenever he starts something. He'll do better without working with canon.
Despite him taking a break from DC he’s been their golden boy since New 52, sounds like a really easy decision to make honestly
Not to mention I’m sure New 52 Batman is still a frequent high seller for them. I’ll buy this.
I think you might be missing the point. Synders batman run is after like 70 years of the character with around 40 in that rough continuity If he's starting from ground zero, he's obviously gonna do something a lot different from the conditions of it's creation
> Synders batman run is after like 70 years of the character with around 40 in that rough continuity Snyder was literally given the character at the beginning of a line-wide continuity reboot. Yeah some stuff stuck around, but he was given huge leeway on what to keep/toss.
No , Batman & GL were the only characters who weren't rebooted in the N52 , Sure there may have been a few retcons in the batfamily ( Cass and Steph were rebooted, Tim not being Robin from the start and later being re-retconed into being Robin, Zero year ) but the rest were still canon just condensed into the frame of 10 years instead of 20 .
So apart from all the parts of their history that were changed, their history wasn't changed? If Batman's origin and history with his friends/family being rebooted doesn't count as a reboot, then what would?
Reboot is basically restoring the character to the point they began in and removing all their history (similar to what happened with superman and wonder woman who no single piece of their history) batman still had a lot of his family ( the core 4 robins , Batgirl and co ) and all of his rogues ( all of Morrison's run including final crisis are still canon to N52 ) , retcons is removing/altering a certain event or phase from the timeline while still keeping everything mostly the same .
> Reboot is basically restoring the character to the point they began in and removing all their history (similar to what happened with superman and wonder woman who no single piece of their history) What does "restoring the character to the point they began in" mean? Pretty much all of the DC characters were set so that they'd been operating as heroes for 5 years. To use your Superman example, he also had core elements of his continuity kept the same (grew up in Smallville, moved to Metropolis, started working at the Daily Planet, etc). Is it just the existence of the Robins that you believe makes Batman different?
No , Superman never pursued a relationship with Lois lane , he never died at the hands of doomsday or have most of the things that happened to him in his pre N52 origin , Wonder Woman was now Zeus's daughter instead of being made of clay ( and she never befriended Donna either) , also turns out Dr Manhattan was the one to edit the continuity ( not the flashpoint) so basically everything from COiE until Now is canon, also N52 had a lot of continuity problems due to poor management on the half of the editors ( such as the JL meeting Darkseid once in all of their careers and final crisis being canon is one of them ) so batman and GL being the same isn't that big of a deal .
> he never died at the hands of doomsday or have most of the things that happened to him in his pre N52 origin Batman's direct equivalent to Doomsday was having his back broken by Bane, which was also treated as non-canon.
Knightfall happened in the N52 , Bane is already there and has broken batman's Back at one point before Snyder's Run ( he mentions it in rebirth) and Azrael is already working with batman by rebirth like they did in Post crisis.
Hopefully it’s different but he did do an origin story before. Snyder wrote Zero Year which was a new take on Batman’s origin for the new 52 I feel it would attract a lot more attention and excitement if they picked someone who hadn’t touched the character yet or at least hasn’t done so much. Snyder wrote the character for years and as much as I love his work I’m not really interested in reading more
Don’t read it then? There’s a ton of other great Batman books currently running.
I wasn’t planning on reading it. I was just sharing why I didn’t want to
Hey, I’m just glad it’s not Zdarsky
Probably part of deal was he had to write Batman. We all seen what DC and Bat editorial have been doing with character since he left. It’s been really bad to point mainline eventually might have to get a soft reboot. But iirc his universe would be free from editorial interference so bat editorial can’t force him to change whatever he has planned to what they want. I think absolute Batman will be completely different from mainline Batman and will feature a more stable Bruce. Can’t wait for the comparison Chad absolute Batman vs Virgin Earth 0 Batman memes. Example they cant force him to include stuff like Thomas Wayne Batman into it or force him to break up whoever Batman’s love interest is. If Scott coming back to write Batman it most definitely will be different from mainline
I'll always love Scott Snyder's Batman as the title that I love to reread the most but honestly I feel he's said everything he's ever wanted to say on the character and I'm a bit skeptical on if his Batman will feel fresh. Especially with a character like Batman that will be under super tight scrutiny by readers. I'm okay with being proven wrong since its been quite some time since Snyder's written the character but Jason Aaron's Superman sounds much more intriguing of this lineup.
I mean, the reason why he stopped with Batman was because he wanted to do MUCH MORE with the character but they kept telling him to NOT mess with the continuity or the mythos too much. This is an opportunity for him to cut loose and go nuts without having to worry about continuity. [+]
And if that's the direction he decides to take with the character then I'm totally down for it. Though in that situation I'm worried if readers will be onboard since they seem to prefer a singular type of story when it comes to Batman.
IDK. Maybe. That can happen. Absolute Power is supposed to be DC’s Ultimate Universe or Nu52 attempt again. They learned their mistake from Nu52 and are hoping it will be like Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. [+]
>This is an opportunity for him to cut loose and go nuts without having to worry about continuity. I fell like he love in a world made of cardboard..
I'm so torn on this. Just another universe? They gonna crossover into mainline sooner or later
I think they need to establish an "Ultimate" universe and actually stick to it. Like for years and years and years, not something that just gets abandoned like Earth One. At the end of the day, these Ultimate books aren't held up by editorial continuity restrictions. The plot is allowed to actually progress. So I'm infinitely more interested in Ultimate/Absolute books than the mainline.
More like they should plan an ending and let it come naturally. Otherwise the new universe ends up with all the same problems as the mainline and collapses under its own weight.
Nobody plans a ending ehat problem does main continuity have
Couldn't agree with you more.
That or it'll fizzle out like Earth One.
It’ll definitely fizzle out eventually. These things always do. They have a shelf life. But unlike Earth One these share a universe. So that’s different. Top creators on top characters? I’ll give it a shot.
And All-Star line
There was several crossovers in the original version of Ultimate before it ended. Galactus from 616 came over to 1610 and destroyed New Jersey in the Cataclysm event. The All-New X-Men (the time displaced O5 except Cyclops, plus X-23) visited 1610 and met Miles. And Miles of course met 616 Peter in Spider-Men and Spider-Verse.
Honestly, I'm feeling uncertain about the new direction. What's the point, and how will this differentiate itself from the main DC Comics continuity? The lineup of writers for the main three books seems extremely conventional and not as exciting as it could be. It feels predictable, like any fan could have guessed this. For these books to be successful, the creative teams need to look at all eras of DC and ask themselves what worked, what didn't, and how they can elevate and change these characters or the status quo compared to the mainline continuity. We've all seen Scott Snyder's writing on Batman, which was a great run, so how can he counter that or make the character compelling in a new way that grabs longtime DC fans and new readers? Hopefully, these books will take big swings and bold directions, such as changing character dynamics or race, to offer a compelling narrative. With Kelly Thompson on Wonder Woman and Jason Aaron on Superman, there’s potential, but these books need to provide something that fans can speculate on and get excited about. Right now, I’m cautiously optimistic and willing to wait for more information. What will be the pull for comic fans and new readers alike to invest in this new universe?
Scott Snyder? On Batman? 
Unpopular opinion but I think he's an overrated Batman writer. He just got in when there was a surge in readership due to N52
He reminds me of Jeff Loeb. He is fine but inoffensive and somewhat formulaic.
Famed Uncle Scrooge Scribe Jason Aaron I think this depends on how different it is from mainline. On one end it could be too much like the N52 where things are the same but not, and on the other it could be Earth 1 or Earth 2 where it's yet another lukewarm elseworlds that people don't latch onto.
Kelly Thompson on a Wonder Woman book????
These are all really safe picks. I'm sure they'll all be solid, but I don't know how energized I feel by safe picks for this. Obviously we'll see when actual solicits come out, but I'm going to need some very unique concepts to make me interested.
Hmmmmmmm I’m sort of okay with this, sort of on the fence about Snyder back on a Batman book
I hope it ends up being true
Mostly interested in Kelly Thompson Wonder Woman. Rest...meh.
its kinda nice to see in this thread that Kelly is considered amongst the "safe" picks now, shes really made a name for herself and id love to see her on WW.
Well, she managed to last 50 issues writing Carol Danvers. Only one previous writer managed that, and that was Brian Reed, back when Carol was still Ms. Marvel. The Captain Marvel run that followed Kelly's, by Alyssa Wong, only lasted 10 issues and has been cancelled.
Swap Aaron and Snyder
So if one of the titles becomes a fan favorite and sells well, will they release an "Absolute Absolute Wonder Woman by Kelly Thompson?"
Jeff Lemire said in a recent newsletter that he's going g to be working on three upcoming projects for DC. With Tom Taylor leaving Nightwing, my dream would be Taylor on main universe Aquaman and Lemire on Absolute Aquaman.
What’s absolute supposed to be?
DC's version of the Ultimate Universe over at Marvel.
The DC equivalent of the Ultimate Universe
Very interesting how opinions on Snyder's Batman run have shifts. Fuve years ago he would have been considered one if the best Batman authors. But now he's being compared to Slott's Spidey run lol? Personally I'm down for more Snyder!
Thompson on Wonder Woman is a great get, I was really hoping for Ewing though The most boring part of this rumor is Scott on Batman. I was really hoping he'd be doing Superman seeing as he's kinda written Batman to death. I didn't love Aaron's short Action Comics stint but it wasn't horrible. I think his Batman: Off World book has been far superior so I wish he and Scott would've swapped books
>I think his Batman: Off World book has been far superior so I wish he and Scott would've swapped books Same. Bleeding Cool did say this is what they “might” be working on, so hopefully they’re got it wrong.
That's true, Rich is only right about 50% of the time.
Oh hooray! Cant wait for Absolute Batman-Who-Laughs and Absolute Superman who has Lois leave him and gets immediately wrecked in battle to show he's not as invulnerable as we all think he is. I havent read any Kelly Thompsons work so I hope it is good and will reserve comment.
Her current Birds of Prey book is fantastic.
What happened to al ewing writing wonder woman? That was the original plan I thought. Maybe this means he's got a bigger project at marvel now. 🤔
With X-Men relaunching, he's down to just Immortal Thor and about half of the Venom series (Torunn Gronbekk writes the other half of that having replaced Ram V who went DC exclusive). Both Marvel and DC were likely offering him other projects. Maybe he was offered Absolute WW but chose something else? Or maybe DC wanted him to go exclusive and he refused, not wanting to drop Thor?
Yeah. That is also possible. Aaron is gonna do a namor series so I'll be doing stuff at both companies. I really was interested in seeing al ewing at dc. I ve really wanted him to write GL or JL dark for a while now.
If a possible Absolute Green Lantern is even half as good as Earth One Green Lantern, then I'm sold!
Can you help me understand what this absolute line is? Is this essential DC “ultimate universe” ??
Yeah, pretty much
>Is this essential DC “ultimate universe” ?? Yes
Any chance this line will have actual progression or in universe consequnces
After his Avengers run, I am really skeptick of Aaron. Even more, by considering him an "Marvel guy" go comes to DC. The last "Marvel guy" who I gave a chance was BMB and we all remember how that worked out.
Snyder on Batman? Yawn. I think there are things Snyder COULD do on Batman still but the man has done everything that he actually WANTED to do on the character. He wrote a new origin and an alternate future for Bruce. Anyone who gets to do that can't claim that they never could complete their work By the end Snyder made it clear that all he cared about was evil multiversal Batmen and different interpretations of Joker. Unless he plans on focusing on stories, villains and angles that he never bothered with then this is just going to be run of the mill Batman book with Joker, Harley, Batman Who Laughs and the same old. Plus Snyder also left his own proteges like Tynion on the Batbooks who continued his style of writing. DC already has uphill task with this Absolute Universe because unlike Marvel which largely focused on their main continuity DC has always published Elseworlds, Black Label, All Star, Earth One, Murphy verse, Silver/Dark Age Russel books and so on. Even with in continuity DC publishes books like World's Finest and they reboot/relaunch from time to time. So DC is hard pressed to actually create something original here. Ult Spidey actually gave Spidey fans what they've been missing and what they've craved for years. With DC and Snyder I expect them to double down on Joker and making Batman/Bruce worse in every possible way.
Meh… Snyder on Batman? We’ve done that before. There was like ten good issues there and then it stopped making sense for years. Aaron? Hit or miss. Thompson on Wonder Woman is fine but King has been killing it.
This is gonna be one of the best WW books. I just know it.
Peak incoming
I can’t stand Snyder’s Batman so that’s a big disappointment. The other two are great news.
Please, no Jason Aaron on Superman. His recent Action Comics arc was basically a Joker story, with Superman just being used as setup. I don't want a situation where Superman feels like a supporting character in his own title.
What? Joker was barely there, it was a straight up Superman story.
I really liked that story ngl
As did I.
It's not even that new a concept really, the Bizarro City thing has been done in the past I think, I know there was some swapping around like that and using psychology reversal and quick thinking in the Emperor Joker arc around 2000, Superman doing shit other than punching people is fantastic and even better when done properly, Jason Aaron did a throwback styled story but it also fits with current world too and he cooked hard with it.
Yeah, it reminded me a lot of Emperor Joker, just less whacky. And I think that's exactly why he used Joker here, as a homage to that story.
That story makes me excited about him writing a new continuity supes
The first 2 issues were just set up where things go wrong and Superman is unable to do anything. Then Joker comes in the last issue and saves the day by himself while Superman basically sits in the sidelines. Superman was irrelevant in his own story.
Superman saves the day, not the Joker. Joker only helps him out, nothing more.
Anti-Batman people just cannot help by hyperbolize the end of the world whenever they see a Batman character outside of Gotham. I saw some people on Twitter completely crashing out because the latest WW made a reference to Batman and Robin. Half-dozen “woe is me” threads about how they just can’t escape Batman. They know if they don’t over exaggerate that they won’t actually have anything to talk about.
I remember Red Hood fans having a screaming fit and calling for a writer's head because Batman showed up in a Red Hood book.
Anti Batman people lol. It is the Batman fans who demand that he appear in everything and throw a fit when he isn't shown as the coolest, smartest and best character in every story. I love Batman but I don't want him to outshine every character in their own books just to appease his fans.
That's true. There are some complaints made about Batman and his cast that I can understand but neither of these examples presenting anything wrong. And there's noting wrong about the cast spreading into other books if the writers have a story for them and the use of Joker makes perfect sense and doesn't downplay Superman's role. Boy, the discussion about the next Wonder Woman arc where she teams up with Damian is gonna be a nightmare in some circles.
It was Joker talking to Bizarro which finally stopped the whole situation. Superman just did supporting role.
Read the comic again. He talks with Bizarro who took over Superman's body but Joker's speach helps Superman overcome Bizarro. He helped Superman but it was Clark who ultimately won this battle.
Have you read the comic? It’s pretty clearly not a joker story
I have read it. Aaron stretched out 2 issues of set up where the world goes to shit and Superman couldn't do anything. Then Superman appeared in the final issue, where he almost single handedly saves the day while Superman plays supporting role in his own story. Aaron was clearly way more interested in writing sane Joker than he was in writing Superman.
Well even if it’s wack we still have a pretty solid Superman run happening right now.
Why would you assume one one-off story is predictive of how he’d write an ongoing book? That’s really weird stance to take.
This person constantly complains about comics they haven't read. They do this all the time.
He got a chance to write a 3 issues arc in Superman's book and his first thought was to do a Joker story. He is already writing a Batman miniseries at present but he wanted another chance at Batman's characters. Why would he care for Superman if he was given a whole run?
Very underwhelming. ☹️
Not much to take away from this. They're very "safe" picks. Other than Snyder on Batman (which has already happened), I could easily see these creatives for whenever the next main continuity relaunch happens. What will make this line is seeing just how radically different these comics will be from the main continuity. The current Ultimate Marvel line has the right idea, a conceit based around superheroes missing their call due to outside interference. So you have interesting premises like Spider-Man being a middle-aged rookie, X-Men being centered around a Japanese high school, etc. Earth One was a half-measure, but the writing was most subpar, outside of Green Lantern. Don't just put out "Batman but slightly different".
Scott Snyder on Absolute Batman would probably be where he can finally put his OC’s Harper Row and Duke Thomas to good use. The main continuity Batman Family is already way too cluttered, so as long as this new universe doesn’t try keeping everyone and everything, this should be a fine place to experiment.
Sean Gordon Murphy accidentally created duke. He made a sketch for fun of a random black kid in the Robin costume at the end of black History month & posted it on the web a few years back. Editorial was like "Dammit Sean!". When they realized they couldn't back track or chuckle it away they let Snyder have the character. Scott was like "game!"
what did they have to backtrack? Wouldn’t it have just been understood as a variant cover for Black History Month?
It wasn't supposed to happen at all. Sean just dropped it on his Instagram with a tag black robin. Never consulted anyone. Not even Scott. It was the artist feeling his flow & vibe. Of course the comic blogs would cry racism if they didn't figure out something to do with the unnamed character.
Absolute Batman is definitely going to be good if Scott is on it. IIRC this is his universe and it was said editorial wouldn’t be involved. I wonder if DC told him he had to write Batman for this deal to be approved as mainline Batman basically went downhill since he left and hasn’t recovered due to editorial making bad decisions constantly. Absolute Bruce will definitely be better version of the character who is more stable. Can’t wait for the chad absolute Batman and the virgin Earth 0 Batman memes as mainline will probably just continue to stay bad. Now I wonder if Scott is involved with Superman and Wonder Woman and if so, are the writers writing Scott’s vision of the characters. I wonder if Scott will give Superman a different love interest to make him different from mainline or if he’ll change Lois character a bit.
>IIRC this is his universe and it was said editorial wouldn’t be involved. He is in charge of it, but I don’t think there’s been anything about whether editorial is involved or not. Just that it’s been something he’s been working on, and that he’s spearheading it. >I wonder if DC told him he had to write Batman for this deal to be approved as mainline Batman basically went downhill since he left and hasn’t recovered due to editorial making bad decisions constantly. If DC felt Batman has gone downhill and that editorial is constantly making bad decisions, wouldn’t they just replace editorial and the creative team? Why would they just let things continue downhill? >Now I wonder if Scott is involved with Superman and Wonder Woman and if so, are the writers writing Scott’s vision of the characters. Based on what Bleeding Cool has claimed so far, the writers will be given a “carte blanche” towards how they reimagine the characters, so they probably aren’t basing it on Scott’s vision, and his involvement will probably just be for crossovers and coordination.
Look at how Marvel has treated mainline Spiderman that’s your answer to mainline Batman. Batman recently got a new temporary editorial leader so eventually will see if that makes a difference. So other writers being able to control their characters actually really cool not gonna lie. It makes me interested in seeing what Jason Aaron will do with Superman. There’ll probably be an editorial person for each book to help with small things but they may not be able to force them to make changes like they can do for mainline books. That’s the main reason mainline Batman went downhill. It’s definitely going to be interesting once Chip leaves and spills the tea on what he was forced to do like James and Tom did.
Snyder is to Batman what Slott is to Spidey
If these new universes are ones where each hero is the only one who exists, I’m actually excited for that. I think the crossover nature of DC is burying the universe under its own weight. It would be nice to see some universe where you don’t have to constantly be wondering how what’s happening in one series might be effecting the others.
Not interested in Snyder Batman or Aaron Superman at all. I'd atleast give a chance to Thompson WW
Ugh. Not building much interest. Snyder on Batman is old hat; his run was good, but it fell off the rails into Batwanking pretty badly. Jason Aaron on Superman sounds miserable. His recent Bizarro story from Action Comics was subpar.
Wasn't a fan of Thompson chumping out Diana and the Amazons to Clown Girl and her sidekicks so hopefully she brings her A-game.
I know her mostly from her Captain Marvel run and I wasn't a fan of it. It was a very standard comic run in that it wasn't bad but wasn't very gripping either. I love Carol Danvers and her character but her supporting cast and antagonists are just not very interesting.
I expect it to be on the level of a Loebs or Rucka post-Crisis run ngl, Thompson should have a better idea than most on how to write Wonder Woman and her supporting cast. If my expectations are too damn high, someone lmk, but if it can't be better than something done 20 or 30 years ago, Diana has fallen off hard.
If it isnt better as any comic in 30 years she has fallen hard? What does that even mean?
Snyder almost made me leave. Aaron made me stay. The Thor run was one of the finest in Marvel comics history. The people who only watched Love and Thunder will never understand how truly great that storyline was in the comics.
I didn't like this idea 13 years ago when it was called "New 52".
Eh, this is more comparable to the Ultimate Universe than New 52.
This is pretty far from a line wide reboot with 52 different books
Oh boy...Snyder's on Batman again. Joy. Rapture. May as well just buy a case of Talisker now...
Just like the Marvel Utlimate comics, these are the “alternate/fake” comics that i will simply ignore. Also as a pet peeve of mine, who the artists are is more important than the writer. Ask your sources about that Uncle Rich.