Suicide Squad supremo Amanda Waller is close to achieving Absolute Power in DC’s next big event

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Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman must finally face The Wall

Art from 024 Absolute Power Free Comic Book Day Special Edition
(Image credit: DC)

The next phase of Dawn of DC has been announced and, if you've been paying attention to recent developments in the comics then it should come as no surprise who the main antagonist is: Amanda Waller.

Writer Mark Waid and artist Dan Mora are uniting for Absolute Power, a new four-issue limited event series launching in July. Before that, however, will come two special issues. The 2024 Absolute Power Free Comic Book Day Special Edition is available on - you guessed it - Free Comic Book Day, which falls on Saturday May 4. The issue contains a new 12-page story by Waid with art by Mikel Janín, as well as a recap of things that have led up to this event, and a preview of Absolute Power #1. 

It will be followed in June by the Absolute Power: Ground Zero one-shot, which is said to bridge the gap between the conclusion of the Superman 'House of Brainiac' arc and with Waller's plans in Absolute Power. Here's Mora's covers for both of these special issues.

Image 1 of 2
Art from Absolute Power
(Image credit: DC)

"The Wall" has been a core component of many different stories over the last year or so, most notably the Titans: Beast World crossver event. Now it sounds like her plans are about to come to fruition. DC's synopsis for the event states:

"Throughout the Dawn of DC, Amanda Waller's combination of pure ruthlessness and dangerous alliances has placed her on the precipice of fulfilling her pledge - the elimination of all metahuman abilities planetwide. This summer, her plans take a major step forward with Absolute Power, DC's big summer blockbuster."

Here are some work in progress pages from Absolute Power.

Image 1 of 3
Art from Absolute Power
(Image credit: DC)

In other DC news, the publisher has also announced the release dates for its first wave of new Elseworlds titles. A new title will publish monthly from June, starting with Gotham by Gaslight: The Kryptonian Age #1, followed by Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #1 in July, DC vs. Vampires: World War V #1 in August, Batman the Barbarian #1 in September, Green Lantern Dark #1 in October, and Batman: Nightfire #1 in November.

Amanda Waller has been recruiting more heroes to Task Force X lately, including Dreamer. Find out more about the upcoming Suicide Squad: Dream Team in our interview with writer Nicole Maines.

Will Salmon
Will Salmon
Comics Editor

Will Salmon is the Comics Editor for GamesRadar/Newsarama. He has been writing about comics, film, TV, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he has previously launched scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for over a decade. He sometimes feels very old, like Guy Pearce in Prometheus. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places and he runs the micro-label Modern Aviation, which puts out experimental music on cassette tape.

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