Once more, the DC Power anthology returns in honor of Black History Month! Following a deeply personal foreword by Morgan Hampton about the importance of representation to black nerds, the book covers ten different stories set in the DC Universe. Of course, each one highlights unique or unrepresented elements of black culture rarely seen in the average series. Sadly, some regard the mere inclusion of these tales as “virtue signaling” or “going woke.” Yet, it bravely opens up opportunities to explore the world of DC in challenging but special ways. Let’s take a closer look!
Enduring Farewells
Written by science fiction author N.K Jimisin, this story serves as the long awaited epilogue to Green Lantern: Far Sector. It’s story surrounds Far Sector’s Green Lantern preparing to leave the outpost with John Stewart. While Jo Mullein spends much of her last days closing loose ends, her supporting cast plan a surprise party. As a reminder, most of the alien races living in the City Enduring voluntarily switch their emotions on and off. As a result, her friends and foes alike struggle to find the right ways to say goodbye. This includes a mild argument about the ethics of “scaring her for fun.” The tone is warm and potentially nostalgic for readers of Far Sector. Jamal Cambell’s art warmly characterizes the world of the koh-Topli culture and their alien designs. Overall, the ending is surprisingly “down to earth” in dialogue and humanity for a tale set far in space.
Score: 9/10
The Spice Of Life
As a relatively new writer for DC and Marvel, Cheryl Lynn Eaton writes a small story about Anissa Pierce’s homecoming. After her life and powers go off the rails, Anissa drives back to Metropolis to move back in with her parents. Unfortunately, Condiment King knocks her out of the sky on a hang glider, then terrorizes a Steelworks cookout in the Suicide Slums. The best part of the story is the cavalier humor and dialogue. In particular, the casual way Lightning and Thunder speak to one another as siblings. One joke that especially made me laugh involves Condiment King failing to poison the cookout, because none of the black folk will touch his “off-brand” ketchup. In addition, I found Lightning’s design to be a noteworthy interpretation, as her braids turn into white hot coils in costume. Overall, Anissa’s relatable story suffers from taking a backseat to Condiment King’s unrelated hijinks.
Score: 6.5/10
Pit Stop
Lamar Giles and Sean Damien Hill take Bloodwynd on their version of Dante’s Inferno. Strangely, this story follows the newest version of the so-called “Superman of Hell” introduced in Lazarus Planet: We Were Once Gods. Bloodwynd’s mission is to use a demon to guide him through an infernal cul-de-sac, while he experiences the original Bloodwynd’s origin story as a memory loop. Confusingly, this includes the time he was or wasn’t Martian Manhunter in JLA. Regardless, I wasn’t a big fan of Hill’s sketchy and stiff art style for this story. His rough etchings didn’t do the already confusing story any favors either. Ultimately, it ends up being a wordy refresh for the character, but a literal pit stop in what could be a better story we may never read.
Score: 5/10
Pure Blackness
Pure Blackness is John Ridley’s existential take on Earth-2‘s Val-Zod. In this beautiful tale, Val-Zod marvels about his life of insurmountable expectations and broods in the solitude of space. As the second “Superman” in his universe, he must contend with several presumptions about how he should live like the original. In contrast, Val-Zod is more introverted due to his isolated upbringing with only computers to keep him company. Although I completely understand the metaphor Ridley is making, this version of the character acts mildly sociopathic or non heroic. In a sense, this version coldly saves others to seemingly save face. Still, Edwin Galmon’s illustrations, such as Toyman’s Gundam-like mech suits or panels of Superman rocketing through dead planets, are amazing.
Score: 6.5/10
Lost At Sea
The legendary Denys Cowan illustrates this somewhat generic parable about an abusive father and his son. Firstly, Black Manta accepts a job to help a suspicious pirate named Knotty Dread retrieve his sunken haul of stolen ingots. Before long, Manta learns that Dread’s top diver and his son wish to leave Knotty Dread’s abuse behind, and join the Manta Men. Predictably, Manta ultimately fights Knotty Dread to defend the son’s honor. Interestingly, I found Manta’s relationship to his own son as a motivating factor to feel self reflective. In a way, his sympathy for the son and his friend feels like atonement for his own failings as a son and father respectively. Despite Deron Bennett’s heartfelt story, Cowan’s flawed rendering is incredibly distracting, especially the lack of eye contact most of the characters have.
Score: 5/10
The Session
Set sometime when Crispus Allen was the Spectre, Shawn Martinborough writes a mildly hard to follow short story about therapy. Framing the story with Allen’s therapy, he recounts a recent case with his old partner Renee “The Question” Montoya. As the Spectre, Allen went on a brutal rampage through The Hill dishing out divine justice. Nonetheless, The Question teams up with Allen in hopes that he will remember what real detective work is like. Oddly, despite the grounded premise, the story veers into confusingly mystical territory. Initially, Allen and Montoya discuss going after a gangster, but eventually they try to track who’s responsible for an unexplained monster. Overall, I love Gotham Central, but this story ends up esoteric than necessary to carry its point across the finish line.
Score: 4/10
The Natural Order
Another unlikely team up, The Natural Order follows Nubia helping Mr. Mxyzptlk out of a literal bind. In a nutshell, some weird old gods find a way to drain Mxyzptlk’s fifth dimensional energy on Themyscira to wipe out the universe. Luckily, because the Amazons are sympathetic to bondage, Nubia agrees to fight for the imp. Overall, the story isn’t really that creative or easy to understand. Several moments are very unclear in artwork and dialogue. For example, I found Mxy saying things like “ya’ll always got my name in your mouths” fairly out of character. Moreover, I can’t tell exactly what the antagonists are, where they come from, or what they’re doing on the page. Honestly, being esoteric doesn’t mean that it’s awful, but Alitha Martinez’s story doesn’t feel as if it took much thought.
Score: 3/10
Jump Shots & Loose Watts
Kid Flash leads a short after school special style story set in Central City’s answer to a YMCA. After frustrating herself on a basketball court, a young girl breaks down and looses confidence. In response, Kid Flash seizes the opportunity to give her a corny pep talk. As a result, we learn that the young girl has far too much on her plate for her age and uses basketball as a stress free outlet. On the other hand, Kid Flash shares his own rough upbringing involving his abusive father Daniel “The Modern Day Reverse-Flash” West to relate to her. Although, the addition of Wally living in Richmond, Virginia and Atlanta, Georgia are entirely brand new ways to characterize him. In any case, the story develops exactly how you’d expect, and they happily continue playing basketball with the rest of the Teen Titans and Speed Force cast.
Score: 5/10
Fair Play
Next, writer Greg Burnham decides to center his story on Mr. Terrific. After tagging along on an interview with Atlanta’s assistant D.A Ray Thomas, the duo field attacks from political assassins. Apparently, because Thomas wants to prevent the construction of Supermax prisons for at risk metahuman youths, his political rivals want him dead. Consequently, those rivals also take out Terrific’s T-Spheres, so they must defend themselves for five minutes before help arrives. This kind of format occurs in television and movies to isolate the hero in a single location, but Burnham uses it to punch up the suspense. In spite of this, the artwork isn’t all that great, but still manages to be fun. Lastly, the D.A feels like a forgettable special guest role unless DC plans on making Atlanta a bigger location in the universe.
Score: 6/10
The Light That Shines
Finally, Brandon Thomas and Khary Randolph write an inspiring follow up to their Batman: Black & White Vol. 2 #6 story, “The Second Signal.” However, in “The Light That Shines,” we find The Signal in the third act of an entirely different face-off between the Bat-Family and Chronos. Slowly loosing confidence after making mistake after mistake, Duke Thomas ends up teleporting to another alternate future in Gotham. In this world, the Rook brothers have finally become Robins to a new Batman. Unlike “The Final Knight,” the Batman of this world is a calm and experienced Duke Thomas. The rest of the story follows the future Batman reassuring his younger self of his self worth like Static Shock‘s “Future Shock” episode. Overall, while not original, I like these kinds of stories. Although the Scour is an entirely useless inclusion.
Score: 7/10
Recommended If…
- You have an interest in seeing stories about Black characters.
- A fan of old Milestone creators like Denys Cowan.
- You want to read stories from new black talents.
Overall
For the most part, DC Power is fun. Some stories are heavy and seem to carry a chip on their shoulders, but others let loose and have fun with the material. My definite favorites are Enduring Farewells and Spice Of Life, but there seems to be something for nearly everyone. In conclusion, the book could be better, but these characters and stories shouldn’t only emerge in anthologies. If anything, DC Power proves that there are stories that need telling, and less than optimal outlets for their inclusion in something.
Overall Score: 6/10
DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review.
