Written by: Stephanie Williams
Art by: Khary Randolph
Colors by: Alex Guimarães
Letters by: Dave Sharpe
Cover art by: Pete Woods
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: September 11, 2024
Absolute Power: Task Force VII #6, by DC Comics on 9/11/24, sends Paradise Lost to Themyscira to absorb the power of the remaining supers, dead or alive.
Is Absolute Power: Task Force VII #6 Good?
Yeah, you read that right. This is a terrible comic on multiple levels (we'll get to why in a second), but if nothing else, this issue underscores how DC threw concepts at writers without someone leading the charge to ensure everyone stays on point. If you ever want to put together a case study on how a major event can go from "Not bad" to "Huh?" to "Oy!" to "Oh, no!" Absolute Power is it. Absolute Power: Task Force VII #6 follows Paradise Lost, the Wonder Woman-themed Amazo, to assault Themyscira after the events of Absolute Power #3. Queen Nubia is prepared to assume responsibility for harboring supers after the attack on the Fortress of Solitude, and Amanda Waller sent Paradise Lost to collect on that error. From page one, what you're immediately struck with is the overblown, overwritten narration from writer Stephanie Williams. It's as if somebody gave Williams a Thesaurus and said, "Rewrite it with bigger words to make it sound important and fancy." I have first-hand knowledge of at least one reader who noped out after the first page because it's just that bad. Paradise Lost easily absorbs the magical strength of every Amazon it encounters as it makes its way to the ultimate objective - The Well of Souls. Nubia gathers every remaining fighter at the Well to make a last stand, but their defenses are useless. What does Paradise Lost do? It somehow summons the souls of supers who have died and absorbs their powers. Why? Paradise Lost is ordered to prevent them from ever being resurrected and posing a threat to Amanda Waller. When the deed is done, Paradise Lost flies away. Meanwhile, Steve Trevor secretly witnesses the meeting between Amanda Waller and the Crime Syndicate from Earth-3. He bolts when Waller spots him, leading to a chase through the Gamorra prison, which ends when Trevor runs into Wonder Woman and Damian Wayne in the middle of a heist. What's great about Absolute Power: Task Force VII #6? As noted in the previous Task Force VII tie-in issue, Steve Trevor's exploits appear to be the only thing contributing significantly to the main event. I want to know what Waller and the Crime Syndicate discussed and how it plays into the larger event. That's interesting. What's not great about Absolute Power: Task Force VII #6? The rest of the issue is a waste. In addition to the shockingly bad narration, the Amazons fight hard but not smart by attacking Paradise Lost with physical weapons. In addition, Paradise Lost's final victory is a complete headscratcher. How did an Aamzo acquire the powers to summon souls from the Afterlife? If the villain can summon souls, how does it gain their powers if power absorption comes through physical touch (stated explicitly in this issue)? You get the strong feeling each writer in this series is just making it up as they go. How's the Art? Khary Randolph's artwork is perfectly fine. The panel compositions are dramatic, Randolph's action is full of energy, and the overall appearance looks decent. Randloph's inks are a little rough but not so rough as to detract from the finished product in a big way.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Final Thoughts
Absolute Power: Task Force VII #6 accomplishes little, is riddled with terrible narration and dialog, and again demonstrates how each writer is simply making up the rules of how Amazos work. If you had misgivings about Absolute Power, this issue might just put you off for good.
4/10
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Between absolute power, knight terrors, beast world, house of Brainiac, Gotham war etc etc (before that shadow war, fear state, dark crisis) , DC has legitimately struggled to have an uninterrupted run that actually goes somewhere and accomplishes something with the character involved since the early stages of Rebirth. I am talking about a story, forget good or bad quality, just a complete arc. I think the only ones who managed that have been Taylor with his Nightwing (a horrible run wasting the readers' time and regressing the mentioned character for years now that despite having these many issues have managed to move at most an inch or two) and Ram V with his Detective Comics ( better than Nightwing but it's not a high bar to clear. It still isn't good because of a very drawn out middle that would have been better scrapped or at least told in one issue at most plus very confusing mechanics and almost no mention in other stories).
ReplyDeleteI wish they would just stop with these crossovers and events. They are so tiring. It's official now, DC has managed to be almost as bad and inconsequential in terms of story happening as Marvel. DC used to have big events mostly when it was going to do a reboot after some years with some smaller events every once in a while between select titles that didn't derail the whole run of those titles and waste time but now we can barely read a run before it is interrupted with nonsensical events that have nothing to do with the setup of the run itself and then start over without actually fixing any continuity or quality correction (something that DC was willing to do before unlike Marvel). So the horrible aspects of both rebooting and a long run without the positive aspects of both. Exactly what Marvel has been for years and what DC for some reason is trying to emulate since Rebirth ended.