r/DCcomics • u/beary_neutral Telos • May 19 '26

r/DCcomics Weekly Discussion Thread: Comics, TV, and More! [May 18, 2026 - Absolute LEGO Batman Edition]

Hey there honorary Justice League members - it’s a new week which means it’s time for a new discussion thread!

For those who don't know: the way this works is that several comments will list this week’s releases, for any given title discussion you should respond to that comment. For example, Wonder Woman discussion would go in the replies to the "Wonder Woman" comment. Clicking the titles in this post will take you directly to that comment, too. In other words, you should only be replying to other comments. Do not post top-level comments.

Keep discussion civil. Do not harass other users for having a different opinion. Do not use this thread to push your personal one-sided grudges against creators. Reacting to a panel on Twitter is not the same as reading a book.

 

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What did one plate whisper to the other plate? Dinner is on me.

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Peak is on the menu.

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Remember, these are the short 'chapters' with a new chapter of a different series coming out daily. You can learn more here on Comixology. This is also why these are in release order, not alphabetical. Some comics may release on DC Universe Infinite or WEBTOONS.

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This Week’s Soundtrack: Patrick Stump - Who's the (Bat Man)

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59

u/TroubAlert The Good Skeets May 19 '26

Absolute Green Arrow #1

WITHOUT THE TRICK ARROWS... WITHOUT THE MONEY... WITHOUT MERCY... WHAT'S LEFT IS THE ABSOLUTE HUNTER!

A serial killer is slaughtering corrupt billionaires. The only clue to their identity is the mysterious green arrows sticking out of his victims' corpses. Executive protection specialist Dinah Lance, a.k.a. Absolute Black Canary, is one of the people tasked to uncover this murderer's identity as she investigates her suspects... all familiar DC archers uniquely linked to a recently murdered Oliver Queen. I Know What You Did Last Summer for billionaires, Absolute Green Arrow reimagines the Emerald Archer's mythos into a dangerous, urban horror murder-mystery by Eisner winners Pornsak Pichetshote (Dead Boy Detectives, Infidel) and Rafael Albuquerque (Detective Comics, American Vampire).

Preview

54

u/Blitzhelios Hal Jordan May 20 '26

Plain and simply this fucking rocked.

Love the angle with dinah set up it works so wellwith her being blackmailed by Hector hammond also nice to see a writer use things others set up and the voice for her is great reminds me of classic dinah in how shes gritty and grounded.

Art is excellent Alburquerque has always been one of my fav artists and hes bringing back the art which made me love him from American vampire but the colouring by Maiolo is another tier it helps it so much.

This might be the best 1st issue of an absolute book which is incredibly impressive.

3

u/Jonn_Jonzz_Manhunter May 24 '26

Imo, it's the second best #1 because not many single issues in history can beat #1 of Absolute Martain Manhunter for me, that last page is incredible

But yeah, either way, this issue was Ludicrously good, a 10/10 anyway you talk about it

42

u/wowlock_taylan Batman Animated! May 20 '26

Well yea, this is definitely the 'horror slasher where you are rooting for the slasher'. And I think in time, Dinah might come around to that side too. Every evil thing you can possible think of about the billionaires is in this. Really hammer it home. And sadly, it is not an exaggeration. Honestly, I am wouldn't be surprised if this books get targetted by the media and its oligarch owners.

Dinah's situation and the mystery of it all is great too. She got a connection to Ollie from the past but mostly it is about her own situation and her father.

And not gonna lie, I enjoyed every minute of Hammond suffering just like Dinah did.

We got Merlyn as the 'head of security' firm and the 'suspects' are Roy, Mia and Tom. Something tells me either none of them gonna be the killer or ALL of them gonna be doing some 'scream' switcharoo.

5

u/browncharliebrown May 20 '26

And I think in time, Dinah might come around to that side too

can she though

9

u/wowlock_taylan Batman Animated! May 20 '26

I mean, she already has every reason to. And she quite enjoyed seeing Hammond suffer and beg for help.

36

u/xehanortsguardian May 20 '26

I think it's good that this universe's Ollie 'doing the right thing' is kind of evil. Democratising trading as a way to fix the world obviously does not work, but him at least kinda believing it works real well. Then the twist at the end, I am excited for the mystery of who the Green Arrow Killer is and what dark shit Ollie was up to

23

u/ColorblindSquid May 20 '26

I noticed that too, at first I was like "why would Oliver Queen believe a capitalist system is a way to rebalance the power" and then I remembered that this is a dark side infected world where that just absolutely fits.

2

u/suss2it Jun 20 '26

Evil Ollie is a liberal

67

u/Will-Of-D-3D2Y May 20 '26

So we already knew this book was going to lean into the "kill billionaires" angle, but mentions of traficking minors to islands and the overall tone of 'no ethical billionaires' is really all over it. The final page is a great cliffhanger for the book, definitely needed to give the book a bigger angle than just who is the Green Arrow?

7

u/Androktone Alan Scott May 21 '26

Ik that they're setting up Dinah herself coming around to GA after watching Hammond squeal, but idk if they want us to at least partially root against GA for torturing these guys. Great first issue

6

u/FlowerRoomLord May 21 '26

The GAs all die by issue six and Dinah becomes the new one.

4

u/Future_Vantas May 22 '26

Green Arrow is always a blonde after all

30

u/silverrabbit May 20 '26

Ollie starting the absolute universe's version of Robinhood is such a funny touch.

35

u/Mr_Wh0ever May 20 '26

Absolutely solid start. My guess is that it's Connor Hawke. And that he's doing a season 1 of Arrow kill list thing. I'm surprised Hector got his arm chopped off. I thought he'd be safe outside AGL. Lastly, what did Dinah's mother do? And what's up with the eyes?

34

u/unionizedduck May 20 '26

I kind of wonder if it's multiple people as Green Arrow? Connor. Roy. Mia. Diggle.

I do also wonder if there'll be a resurrected Ollie, back from the dead?

22

u/Mr_Wh0ever May 20 '26

Possibly, but my theory is that it's Connor who'll been trained by Shado. Because in this universe, her and Ollie were lovers. But I also subscribe to theory that someone put his corspe in a Lazarus pit and it's him w/o a soul like the beginning of the Kevin Smith run.

9

u/Electric_jungle May 21 '26

I just don't personally feel like Ollie is important or skilled enough to be resurrected here so I'm out on that theory. Conner is a good bet. If Ollie was resurrected, the only person I could imagine doing so is Braniac though. From the absolute evil crew I mean. Which would be a pretty interesting angle.

7

u/unionizedduck May 20 '26

These are good!

14

u/Melodic-Violinist-31 May 20 '26

Taking the role of the spectre? Already has the Vengeance part down

26

u/mateogg Always On Point! May 20 '26 edited May 21 '26

About Dinah's mom, I'm guessing it will be connected to what was shown in the Absolute Evil one-shot about previous generations of superheroes being corrupted or disposed of.

My guess is that she became some sort of vigilante who then either "took the money" or was killed and framed.

9

u/Dent6084 May 21 '26

Y'know, in the first couple of Johnny Thunder stories that introduced Dinah Drake in the 1940s, she was a femme fatale who robbed criminals/a vigilante who went undercover as a femme fatale to target crooks. It took a couple of stories for her to become a more straightforward character. I wonder if we're about to get a spin on that.

4

u/sciencebitch616 May 21 '26

She's obviously Black Canary I who took the money

11

u/olliehive May 20 '26

My theory is I'm convinced the Longbow Hunter is Roy Harper. We know in Absolute Evil, Ollie was literally on the phone with Roy right before Hawkman killed him, and the series (so far) is built around Dinah investigating archers tied to oliver queen. Plus we know, solicits even have her tracking down "Oliver Queen’s protégé" while hunting the killer, I don't think its subtle lmao.

4

u/FlowerRoomLord May 21 '26

Except Oliver was still trying to recruit Roy and clearly failing. Unless Roy was some top tier warrior and assassin prior to Absolute Evil, I don't think it's him.

14

u/StealthHikki2 Nightwing May 20 '26

Without fear, without mercy, all that is left is the Absolute.

I've always loved Green Arrow and Oliver Queen, and my god, did they do him justice here. I'm sure we'll figure out that whoever is inside that vault was probably put there after Ollie died, because it seems like Ollie died a few months ago and he was a good guy, a bleeding heart. I don't have any idea about who is the Absolute Green Arrow, I think it might be Malcolm Merlyn just because that's an obvious twist.

I don't know if the book will go as far as showing that the Longbow Killer is a good guy. I suspect the story will show that the killer is also part of the corrupt system, even though it might work better as kind of a Luigi Mangione stand-in.

I've been saying for a few months now, we live in the Absolute universe, and what we need is the Absolute.

15

u/DriedSocks Condiment King May 20 '26

Very strong start to the book, and here's to hoping they keep up the momentum. Dinah's a great lead for this book, and I'm wondering how long the reveal will take for who this "Green Arrow Killer" is.

14

u/ptWolv022 May 20 '26

Peakpeakpeakpeakpeakpeak.

Mama Canary was a vigilante; Black Canary was a cop turned MMA fighter turned bodyguard because she needed cash; Tyler Co. is Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers; Malcolm Merlyn as the private/corporate security operative hunting the Green Arrow Killer; rampant abuse of power by Hammond; largely unlikeable billionaires who don't have empathy; Ollie was an unfaithful womanizer despite being a guy with good intentions.

Oh, it's just so great. Lots of commentary. It was a nice little surprise seeing a study (one I hadn't heard of but which seems real) showing that money makes you antisocial. It's interesting seeing Dinah as the stand-in for the audience not just for the murder mystery, but also as someone struggling with what to do in the face of corruption: embrace violence or accept evil, corruption, and depravity from the unaccountable? I'm as interested in where Dinah is going as I am in where the mystery is going.

Also, Roy makes sense for a suspect and we knew about Mia (who will likely be a trafficking victim). But the real surprise for me is Thomas Halloway, "Alias, the Spider". Because that's a pretty deep cut, I'd say, and he even was made into a Green Arrow stand-in for the Seven Soldiers of Victory back in the late 1990s or early 00s, for their continuity had Green Arrow excluded.

Lastly: Oh god, that ending? I concur, Dinah. I concur.

30

u/Dent6084 May 20 '26

Holy moly, what a start.

First off, Absolute Dinah is a wonderfully written noir protagonist as we meet her here. Pichetshote gives just enough of her backstory, balancing her cynicism and sense of decency (having Hammond blackmail her into service is a good way of explaining why she's initially working for the bad guys here), to establish her as a rock for the series to operate around and make you lean in and want to know more. Really strong narrative voice (that first page of her narrating about the study that the richer you get, the less empathy you have is a terrific piece of writing), and fingers crossed we get to see her interact with the other heroes.

Second, amazing atmosphere. Marcelo Maiolo's colors are just stunning, the whole thing is just drenched in almost giallo-esque vibes. The way it goes for single colors defining sequences (sun-drenched yellow nostalgic flashbacks, green storms, red violence) is immensely striking. Gorgeous work.

Third, expertly paced and so many intriguing narrative threads set up incredibly economically - the other archers, Hammond letting Carter's name slip, the hints of what happened to Dinah's mom, the kid's mutated body - this is not a decompressed story, not one bit. It moves in a way that frankly shames a lot of other books on the market right now.

And then god damn, when we see the Longbow Killer in action, what an astounding sequence. Albuquerque is just fully unleashed here, and all the build-up of how cruel Hammond is, the nastiness of just what the Longbow Killer did to Jubal, Dinah's exhaustion, grief for Ollie, fear for her father, and horror that she's being forced to help such pieces of shit, and all of that coming together and getting its release valve as the Longbow Killer unleashes his fury and vengeance on them, it makes the last twelve pages of this issue genuinely electrifying. One of the strongest beginnings of the AbsoluteVerse - and that's saying something.

15

u/TheMattInTheBox Long Live Conner May 20 '26

Dammit, I was hoping I wouldn't vibe with this book so I could keep my pull list tight, but this simply went too hard

4

u/sciencebitch616 May 21 '26

This is the best book I've read this year.

37

u/[deleted] May 19 '26

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32

u/tehawesomedragon May 20 '26

It's literally the most hyped Absolute comic besides Batman. On a sales point, it's insane to see so many DC characters in and outside of the Absolute universe getting so much attention lately. It's wild that this Green Arrow comic is probably going to be the best-selling comic of the month.

10

u/ColorblindSquid May 20 '26

If this brings Green Arrow into the public eye for once then I'm all for it. He's the superhero that could really appeal to the masses

8

u/hexcraft-nikk May 21 '26

Specifically, by going all in on the political stuff. His character was completely massacred over the past two decades. They're off to a great start with the clear Epstein/billionaires allegories

34

u/KingOfSquirrels May 20 '26

That's because he's actually Absolute Luigi!

6

u/FightingCommander Doom Patrol May 21 '26

Luigi’s the green one, isn’t he

5

u/ajdragoon Agent 37 May 22 '26

Aww, Chris Condon’s run was really good!

11

u/BlazeBigBang Barry & Wally May 20 '26

This has to be the coolest comic in existence. A bow built with 2 machetes? Sign me the fuck up bro, absolute cinema.

6

u/UnknownEntity347 Rorschach May 21 '26

Aight so we got Spawn Green Arrow. Dis pretty cool.

So we were definitely all thinking the "Slade" guy Ollie was referring to in Absolute Evil was Deathstroke but ig it's this rando instead as Absolute Epstein.

Arrow family teased, wonder what they're going to do in the book.

11

u/MuchPepe Batman Beyond May 19 '26

Wait its releasing this week?

8

u/JingoboStoplight4887 World's Finest May 20 '26

Yes

6

u/BergmanGirl Swamp Thing May 20 '26

This is a great vibes book.

6

u/Electric_jungle May 21 '26

I know he's been mostly in Superman, but I gotta think we get a showdown between Hawkman and this Green Arrow, right?

5

u/Average-JRPG-Enjoyer Absolute Wonder Woman May 22 '26

At this point I almost feel like Hawkman might be the first enemy the united good guys will face together.

3

u/Future_Vantas May 22 '26

I hope they take a cue from the final Arrow-Deathstroke fight from Arrow S02, show Ollie trying to fight Carter and failing while current Green Arrow is able to go toe to toe with Hawkman.

3

u/coltvahn Red Robin May 21 '26

This was so friggin cool.

1

u/SadDiplodocus May 24 '26

My theory is that Oliver is the Green Arrow and that they're sticking with the "there are no ethical billionaires" idea. I think the story will be about how money changed him and how he became a sort Bryan Johnson type of character, who started using his money to fund experiments to make himself immortal. And now he's this zombified monster and the kid is one of his experiments.

We've already seen small hints like the cheating on Dinah, and there's just something about how he's drawn that makes me think he's just not a good guy.