Darkseid represents superhero fatigue and DC All in is the solution according to Absolute Batman writer Scott Snyder

2024-10-01

ComicsDc ComicsDarkseid represents superhero fatigue and DC All in is the solution according to Absolute Batman writer Scott SnyderWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: DC)

Darkseid fires his Omega Beams

Asked how the creative team approached the special, Snyder said, “We were trying to make like a thesis statement about what the whole initiative stood for… We began with ‘what do we want to say?’ What is this moment about for us? And it really felt like in the cultural zeitgeist, there was this whole conversation about how superheroes were over, or how superheroes were in a malaise because the cinematic universes had peaked or were going to start over soon. There were all these kind of autopsies in the Times and in the Wall Street Journal and all these places. So for us what we wanted to do was an initiative that reminded people that not only are these heroes alive and well in comics, but they’re living some of their most epic stories, and the comics is where they can also be reborn.”

Image1of4Daniel Sampere’s cover for DC All In Special #1(Image credit: DC)Wes Craig’s cover for DC All In Special #1.(Image credit: DC)John Giang’s variant cover for DC All In Special #1.(Image credit: DC)Rafa Sandoval’s variant cover for DC All In Special #1.(Image credit: DC)

Image1of4

Daniel Sampere’s cover for DC All In Special #1(Image credit: DC)Wes Craig’s cover for DC All In Special #1.(Image credit: DC)John Giang’s variant cover for DC All In Special #1.(Image credit: DC)Rafa Sandoval’s variant cover for DC All In Special #1.(Image credit: DC)

Daniel Sampere’s cover for DC All In Special #1(Image credit: DC)

Covers for DC All In Special #1.

Wes Craig’s cover for DC All In Special #1.(Image credit: DC)

Covers for DC All In Special #1.

John Giang’s variant cover for DC All In Special #1.(Image credit: DC)

Covers for DC All In Special #1.

Rafa Sandoval’s variant cover for DC All In Special #1.(Image credit: DC)

Covers for DC All In Special #1.

Key to this approach was how the special reinvents perennial DC baddy Darkseid.

“We wanted to tell a story that would create a villain, or elevate one of our villains to a degree where he could stand in for that voice that we all hear sometimes, about how these stories are finished, how these stories should have ended a long time ago, how the whole medium is done,” explained Snyder. “And then the other side [of the flipbook] we wanted to tell a story where we create a challenge for the heroes to think bigger, and to expand not just their physical roster, but to expand the way that they approach their own mission to include worlds and heroes that they might not otherwise in order to face this new challenge. And so it came from that. It came from this kind of idea that we wanted to say something through the initiative that was about the conversation being had in comics.”

In the ‘Alpha’ half of the comic the newly reformed Justice League unite in the wake of the events of the recent Absolute Power crossover. In the ‘Omega’ half (which you can see a preview of in the gallery below) Darkseid goes on a mindbending journey that will change the villain seemingly forever.

Image1of5(Image credit: DC)(Image credit: DC)(Image credit: DC)(Image credit: DC)(Image credit: DC)

Image1of5

(Image credit: DC)(Image credit: DC)(Image credit: DC)(Image credit: DC)(Image credit: DC)

(Image credit: DC)