Are you All In with DC Comics?

Word Balloons #1225: DC announces 'All In' and Absolute lines

DC is hoping readers will be ‘All In’ this fall.

DC Comics made some big announcements this week with writers Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson at the forefront.

The meat of the announcement came via a video posted by DC.

“All In is the biggest initiative that DC has done in the better part of a decade, honestly,” Snyder announces in the video.

Snyder wrote about the genesis of All In at his Substack newsletter:

“What if we go All In?” Snyder wrote. “What if we put it All In the books? What if we make this whole initiative about going back to the stores every week? So everybody, all of us, are in the stores. We're All In the stores. What if it was about the whole company being all in from top to bottom? Everybody—marketing, editorial, creative, we all are part. We're all giving our input.”

Darkseid is the focus of the events that cause this new universe.

Following the events of “Absolute Power #4,” DC will release the “DC All In Special.”

The “DC All In Special” #1 is co-written by Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson; the flipbook features art by Wonder Woman artist Daniel Sampere when read in one direction and Deadly Class co-creator and series artist Wes Craig when read in the other direction, according to DCComics.com.

This sets the stage for DC Comics to launch the “Absolute Universe.” Here’s how it’s described in the article at DCComics.com.

Here, DC’s biggest icons come of age with fewer advantages while facing greater opposition than ever before and retaining the immutable heroism that continues to inspire and entertain fans. But can they really protect the light that shines inside them when the world in which they live is hurtling toward a terrible destiny?

Co-written by Scott Snyder (Absolute Batman) and Joshua Williamson (Superman), the flipbook DC All In Special #1 features art by Wonder Woman artist Daniel Sampere when read in one direction and Deadly Class co-creator and series artist Wes Craig when read in the other direction. The 64-page one-shot features a main cover by Sampere, with variant covers by Rafa Sandoval, Wes Craig, and John Giang.     

The three titles starting the “Absolute” universe will be:

Absolute Batman by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta on Oct. 9.

Absolute Wonder Woman by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman on Oct. 23.

Absolute Superman by Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval on Nov. 6.

These titles will feature the classic DC heroes in a world where they have fewer advantages and greater opposition.

Meanwhile, DC’s core titles will get a new focus following “Absolute Power” as well.

“EVERY book will be a jumping on point,” Snyder wrote on X. “Continuing series, new series, everything. With every kind of superhero story you could want: from new takes on the heroes to epic core-line stories.”

Overall this seems like an effort for DC to grab the excitement of “New 52” with an Ultimate-style universe with “Absolute,” while rejuvenating current titles along the lines of a “Rebirth” with the DC Core titles. If this comes together successfully, it will be good news for the DC line, which has had solid titles during “Dawn of DC” — “Superman” has been a particular favorite — but anecdotally at least the line could use a sales boost. (Accurate sales figures are particularly hard to come by since the breakup of the direct market comics distribution system into multiple distributors.)

Will fans go All In with DC on this latest initiative? We will have to wait until October to see.

Matthew Price, matthew@matthewlprice.com, has written about the comics industry for more than two decades. He is the co-owner of Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman.