Here I am covering the DC All In Special or, perhaps I would call it the Booster Gold All In one-shot? I don’t usually cover DC books because I simply cannot keep up. I usually fall a few weeks behind and then find a day or two to hibernate and whittle away at the pile. I finally got around to it, along with Absolute Batman and Wonder Woman.
The issue kicks off with the re-establishment of the Justice League, in which the consequences of Amanda Waller’s assault on all super-powered beings in Absolute Power are still felt across the DCU. The story focuses on the need for the heroes to have a new system of contact and connection. Since the disbanding of the Justice League a few years ago following Dark Crisis, there have been smaller teams and stables, but the superhero community as a whole has been fractured for various reasons.
Front-and-center of All In is Booster Gold. He is offered membership into the new Justice League, aptly titled Justice League Unlimited. He is also tasked with a special mission only he can do because of his unique abilities. Intriguing how he mentioned experiencing this or knowing about this event historically, yet in the past he was established Booster’s knowledge of the future has become distorted due to many cataclysmic events. It’s comics, so take everything with grains of salt.
Booster is tasked with exploring this new Earth seemingly either created or lay hidden, since its hinted birth at the end of DC’s Death Metal, but now is visible following the aftermath of Absolute Power. Booster travels to this world to find things are very much not what they seem at all, and in fact not what anyone could imagine in the slightest.
The other half of the issue focuses on Darkseid and his influence in the creation and forming of this new universe. This is some mind-bending cerebral stuff taking place, but for a character such as Darkseid who has been used a bit much as a main villain to be defeated repeatedly, it seems he’s become more than just that. Much bigger than that. If you have paid attention to past arcs with him, the phrase “Darkseid Is” comes up.
It would appear a theme of the Absolute Universe is the true meaning of “Darkseid Is.” It’s going to be gut-wrenchingly scary.
I’m typically skeptical when any company goes on a big initiative following a “Crisis” event or something which pushes the beginning of a new universe. DC and Marvel go to this well pretty often, sometimes with great results, others with questionable booking decisions.
That being said, I did enjoy DC All In and I feel the description of calling it the DC version of Marvel’s Ultimates Universe right on the money. It’s not just an Elseworlds tale or swapping heroes from good to bad. This is the story of a universe formed with extremely different origin stories, but not too far off from the roots of true origins.
I’m thrilled Transformers artist Mike Spicer was brought into this project, variant cover and contributing to interior art!
DC All In One-Shot Special is now available at you local comic book retailer.
