Absolute Power: Task Force VII #1 is written by Leah Williams and published by DC. Artwork is by Caitlin Yarsky, colours by Alex Guimarães and letters by Dave Sharpe. Main cover art (left) is by Pete Woods.
Absolute Power: Task Force VII #1 is available from today, in print and on digital platforms where all good comic books are sold. Grab your digital copy from Amazon Comixology UK right here.
Synopsis
SUPER NO MORE! With the assault on Metropolis’s heroes complete, Amanda Waller’s latest living weapon, the Last Son, sets his sights on the other most powerful supers in the DCU…the Marvel Family! Will their combined powers be enough to survive this terrifying threat?In this biweekly series we’ll see the ABSOLUTE POWER event through the eyes of evil—as told from the point of view of the TRINITY OF EVIL!
Review
With DC’s Absolute Power now in full swing, the publisher is widening the event across the DCU with a plethora of tie-in stories. Whilst some of those will take over the various solo titles like Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, DC is also setting up two spin-off books from the main Absolute Power title. The first of those, Absolute Power: Task Force VII launches today with the first of seven issues.
The title says it all. Task Force VII will follow part of Amanda Waller’s story but with a focus on Failsafe and her Amazo robots. This first issue focusses on Last Son, the Kryptonian-inspired robot who swiftly took down Clark, Jon and the rest of the Superman-family last week. This time he’s set his sights on Mary Marvel and Billy Batson who still have a shred of power left and are retreating to the Rock of Eternity to search for answers.
Writer Leah Williams plays with the tone of Absolute Power to create something unique from the core narrative. Where Mark Waid’s debut issue for the event felt heavy, Williams plays more with light hearted comedy as the Marvel kids search in the Chamber of Souvenirs and contend with the strict management of Dino-Accountant. It plays in to the tone of the Shazam! book without compromising the integrity of what Waid is trying to do.
This debut issue opens with Waller presiding over her prison of metahumans as she sets up Last Son’s mission. The scene is bolstered by plenty of background cameos courtesy of series artist Caitlin Yarsky. We return here at the end of the book for a coda featuring Steve Trevor which potentially adds more to the main Absolute Power narrative. But again this sequence is littered with familiar faces to drive home the impact of what Waller has been able to achieve. Tie-in books always come with an inherent risk. There are those who tire of exhaustive reading lists and stick to only the core elements of the story. But Williams has created a story which more than justifies its place on comic book store shelves.
As with all good tie-in stories, Task Force VII does throw a few important crumbs at the audience. As the battle on the Rock of Eternity rattles on Mary and Billy are joined by Black Adam. Adam simply wants to keep the Rock safe and seemingly has little interest in the kids. But going toe-to-toe with an Amazo is an enlightening experience for both characters. It seems Black Adam may have exposed a potential flaw in the Amazo robots programming which could come in handy down the line.
Yarsky and colourist Alex Guimarães bring an energetic sizzle to the book. There’s a lot of moving parts as well as simply rendering the scale of the Rock of Eternity. It all looks great on the page and is elevated beyond a simple tie-in book to the main event. In particular Yarsky is great at capturing the emotions of the characters through their facial expressions. Even Last Son appears to be succumbing to the emotions of those characters whose powers have been stolen. What could it mean for the future?
Verdict
Absolute Power: Task Force VII sets out a plan to explore important elements of Mark Waid’s event story narrative. As well as clues to the wider direction of travel for the event, Task Force VII is a fun, energetic story in its own right.
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