DC Power 2025: Rise Of The Power Company #1 review

DC Power returns to celebrate yet another compilation of black led stories. Last year, creatives like Brandon Thomas, Khary Randolph, and N.K Jimisin brought their unique voices to the underrepresented pantheon of black characters. Directly following Absolute Power, this year's edition sets up the return of The Power Company. Outside of functioning as a backdoor pilot, this book serves as a platform for fearless representations of black culture. Whether that means the representation was all that good is something we can discuss below!

The Return

Brandon Thomas pens the central story in the anthology, "Company Man," which follows Josiah Power. Way back in the early 2000's, Kurt Busiek and Scott Grummet created DC's answer to Heroes For Hire, with Josiah Power and The Power Company. In a nutshell, Josiah started a paid firm for metahumans in the DCU during a huge boom in metahuman activity. Although Josiah has popped up here and there, the Power Company aims to return in a big way after the big power switch-a-roo seen in Absolute Power, JLU, and The Atom Project. At the start of the story, Waller's actions have led to the death of Josiah's nephew. As a result, Josiah increases his political presence, becoming an advocate for metahumans and black and brown communities. At the same time, he curiously prepares for the inevitable loss of control of his own abilities.

Charles Stewart III's visuals are simple and feature mostly rigid gestures and basic backgrounds. None of it really holds up in quality under scrutiny. Throughout the story, the panels flit from scene to scene, giving the impression of speeding through the day. Luckily, this sequencing plays into the plot, as Josiah must expel energy about every eight hours. Consequently, his detonation is one of the more colorful spreads in the book. Although the Justice League helps Power with his unexpected detonations, this situation worries him enough to restart the team. Incidentally, in the second half of the story, Josiah meets with Black Lightning with this in mind. Unfortunately, even with professional advice, Josiah is unable to convince him to join.

Score: 6.5/10

Ring Of Power

Zipporah Smith's "Ring Of Power" catches readers up with Malik "Bolt" White on the heels of the 2022 Black Adam solo series. Basically, after Malik's "refusal of the call," an encounter with Vixen convinces him to reattempt heroism. The main conflict follows a xenophobic human rights group called the Humanity First Movement who reject metahumans after the events of Beast World and Absolute Power. Weirdly, the group are virtually one to one parallels with Marvel's Friends Of Humanity made popular in X-Men: The Animated Series (1997). Still, beyond the hollow antagonists, the story is really about heroic nature.

The artwork in this story is sketchy with a lot of the base drawing being visible in the characters and backgrounds. Leniently, I want to attribute this to style, but the lack of an inker credited says that perhaps it's unfinished. Considering she got control of the Kingdom's database of black heroes in DC Power 2024, Vixen recruiting Malik makes sense. Where the story falls apart is in the structure. Malik goes aimlessly through his work shift, Vixen shows up, threats not far behind, they have one panel fight scenes, and it's over! It doesn't help that there's a time travel element implying that Vixen needed the timeline reset to beat angry people. In any case, the inclusion of authentic voices are a highlight, though the flirty undertones between the leads feel forced.

Score: 4.5/10

Unfinished Business

"Unfinished Business" features the unlikely team up of two Justice League members who were standing around in the Watchtower. Almost as if to say, "stop socializing on the job," Red Tornado sends the duo to handle a space station S.O.S. Naturally, Cyborg and Green Lantern Sojourner "Jo" Mullein travel to the station to investigate, only to find a mustache twirling villain. This story doesn't have very much depth. Initially, the conflict surrounds Jo missing her family after a long time abroad in Far Sector and other stories. While this may be an interesting thread to pull, she enters and leaves the story drawing the same conclusion. Nonetheless, John Jennings uses it as a way to temporarily torture Jo with her unexplored guilt.

The best part of this segment is the crisp artwork by Caanan White and Atagun Il-Han. The use of warped perspective and creative paneling makes this fun to flip through. On a negative note, the entire inclusion of Despero is a low point. In this story, the cosmic titan Despero seems more excited to see the Justice League back than the league itself. Jennings portrays Despero as nothing more than a troublemaker these two heroes can beat up until he cries uncle. Tonally, it feels more Saturday morning cartoonish than anything. Alternatively, the space station setting is effectively eerie, but even that opens up a lot of questions about how they are fighting in space in general. Despite his plan having no value, it makes for a cool looking comic book, with an admittedly redundant closing point.

Score: 6/10

Batman & The Signal

Vita Ayala teams the two of the few African American members of the Bat-Family together for a night of crimefighting. While taking down a street gang in New York City, Jace Fox finds unexpected help from The Signal! Surprisingly, Jace rejects the usual team-up dynamic outright, and spends much of the issue bemoaning Duke's interference. Firstly, Jace's disgust is off-putting and hypocritical. Not only has the character shown up to assist in other books in the same fashion, but he has his own "Robin" as well. This may just be an oversight, but it isolates his "I work alone" attitude solely to this interpretation. Secondly, cursing Duke out made me uncomfortable. Not just because the two of them are black and should have each other's backs, but the overuse of grawlix is excessive.

Honestly, I'm not a big fan of John Ridley's version of Batman; mostly because I prefer Luke Fox, but I always like seeing more Duke. Here, Ayala portrays Duke as a plucky sidekick type, eager to connect with someone like Jace. This bromance is fun but weird. One moment they're butting heads, then the next this toxic father figure is schooling him in a game of Spades. Which is something I never knew I would read in a comic book someday. The artwork is the best in the anthology and makes for a very exciting read. Although Ayala attempts natural colloquial dialogue, there are several awkward lines such as, "you gotta ask first before you hit a man from the back," or "the only hard thing is your head!"

Score: 6.5/10

Recommended If...

Excited to read stories led by African American characters.
You're a fan of The Power Company.
You aren't averse to representation.

Overall

Apparently, the Power Company will return in DC's Black Lightning ahead of the powerhouse team of Khary Randolph and Bryan Edward Hill reviving the group in The Power Company: Recharged. In light of that, this may have been a decent tease, but it wasn't that great of a comic book by itself. Many of the stories in the anthology tell simple stories, but mostly aren't effective one-shots. What this edition does well is unapologetically explore black mannerisms and voices in the DC Universe. The kinds of characters that play Spades don't pop up very often, but I don't ever need Batman saying he has to "carry the culture" again. Similarly, I don't see why Josiah Power needs advice on how to talk to other black people. Overall, these stories were mediocre, and likely won't appeal to anyone outside of the black community, but I'm happy it exists at all.

Score: 6/10

18 comments

Kaingerc

January 29, 2025

While I'm not averse to representation, I am kind of tired of all these comic 'specials' using representation as a hook.
It often reduces characters to their skin color, the country where they or their families are from or their sexuality.
Best case scenario it feels pandering, worst case they are written completely out of character just to fit the message.

Sara
January 29, 2025
I don't mind these anthologies, since they do offer a chance for underseen characters to make appearances and say their say. But as a rule you'll get, like, one to three good stories and all the rest are blah or actually amateurish.
But I want my angry secular Jewish nerds of DC anthology.
I feel so unseen.
The plot, and the whole plot, of every single story, needs to be angry secular Jewish nerds arguing with EVERYBODY about EVERYTHING.
This is the milieu that created these comics, yet somehow it never gets panel space.
1. Kaingerc
  January 29, 2025
  I don't know, that can also feel half baked.
  You get characters like Moon Knight or Kitty Pride randomly remembering they are Jewish once in a while and making an extremely forced comment about it.
  Or Batwoman having to stand next to a menorah every time December comes along as if someone is forcing her to do it.
  1. Sara
    January 29, 2025
    But none of these people are nerds, so it doesn't count.
    Ah need MuH rePReSenTATioN.
    "as if someone is forcing her to do it"
    Tbf, that's exactly how a lot of Jews feel when told to stand next to a menorah: "Something something oil something eight days something... Did you get the picture, Grandma? Can I go back to the Christmas tree and Santa figurines now?"
  2. Blockhead Jr.
    January 29, 2025
    Ben Grimm is Marvel's biggest represented jew. Moon Knight is a not so close second.
2. Jackson Luken
  January 29, 2025
  If you want to get technical about it, Batman is arguably a secular Jew depending on which version of his inconsistent family tree you take.
  1. Sara
    January 29, 2025
    Yeah... But his family life is always presented as Christian, and his intellectual life is that of an ex-Christian secular rationalist. Afaik, he's only vaguely, briefly "Jewish" when Kate needs to be explained. In one of the YA books, Gotham High, Bruce was un-Jewed so that he could be Asian'd.
    I mean, Bruce is also 1/8 black if you accept Tom King's version. (Take that, blasian Jace!) Which, to the best of my knowledge, nobody but King does.
Blockhead Jr.
January 29, 2025
While I agree with Sara, I do feel like your point is valid too. A lot of the anthologies aren't the best. However, I think it's less about making some statement and giving underrepresented characters and writers to write about and depict characters that look and act like they do. A lot of times, the nuances of culture are overlooked in the mainstream media. Whether they end up good or not is part of the critique, but I think there should be a point where it stops being a novelty to see these characters and creators in the spotlight.
1. Kaingerc
  January 29, 2025
  That's kind of my point, despite the relatively big frequency of these "specials" and the fact that some of these characters have existed for decades, they keep treating them as if they are novelties they are even allowed to be in comics instead of releasing good stories that allow them to be actual characters with depth.
  1. Madeleine
    January 30, 2025
    These representation oriented anthologies are only annual events and most have only existed for a few years. I wouldn't call that high frequency.
    It's only fair to note that this particular anthology is designed to bring attention to an upcoming series featuring at least some of these characters in hopefully good stories--though the review leaves me in some doubt about the quality.
    It needs to be remembered that a shortage of good stories, irrelevance, and eventual disappearance are the fates of most comic book characters regardless of race, gender, and so forth. Themed anthologies are a distillation of fundamental problems no less than an attempt to address those problems. The anthologies as such are not the problem.
    1. Sara
      January 30, 2025
      I figure Tim's future is as a fixture in some of the worst stories released in mid anthologies.
      This is why it's so scary for fans when a character who's been around for however long (a few decades, a few decades, it doesn't matter) starts to get crappy stories, important stories get retconned, and/or a new character with too many similar traits gets pushed by the hype engine.
      DC has no clue how to handle its characters wisely.
      DC encourages creative teams to invent new characters, but most of them aren't really new. When editorial backs someone like Tynion, who pumps out derivative (but also diverse) characters like raw sewage, it hurts the comics.
      It's also worth noting that the one of Tynion's creations who stands any chance of lasting more than a few years on her own momentum is Punchline, the straight white girl with the big t!ts. Better female villains that pre-date her will continue to languish in obscurity because they don't have those very specific assets that appeal to the majority of readers.
      Janet-from-HR is a good example of a queer character who took off because people liked her. She didn't need constant hype. She was in one of the better Bat books and people naturally took an interest in her.
      Meanwhile, Renee has had fans for years, yet diverse female Question's comic has been axed at six issues because it's badly written and sells badly. People still question her right to be the Question because the quality of stories outside of Rucka's work sucks.
    2. Madeleine
      January 30, 2025
      Some thoughts on getting people to read... I'm sorry to say it but I seldom click with DC's female characters. An anthology designed to showcase them would probably be near the bottom of my list of DC books to buy unless it got stellar word of mouth from trusted sources. This almost never happens with these anthologies.
      Yet while on Amazon to buy the DC Essentials edition of Batman: Year One & Two I picked up Wonder Woman: Earth One, Far Sector, Gotham City Sirens, and Cooke/Brubaker's Catwoman. I saw the books all under $10 and I thought, why not.
      Repackaging good stories in affordable editions is probably a better way than these anthologies to entice people to read about characters, series, periods, and creative angles that fall outside their habitual reading.
    3. Sara
      January 31, 2025
      I hear that the new budget paperbacks sell well. I have no idea which stories they're releasing, though, since I own standard sized copies of most of the things I want. I have thought about reading Far Sector. An excerpt was published in the second to last DC Power anthology and it looked okay? Can't go wrong with Jamal Campbell's art. Then again, maybe you can, after it's been shrunk down for these small editions. I agree with the sentiment, however. DC is finally figuring out how to take advantage of ordinary shoppers' impulse buying. They stock these things at Wal-Mart, I'm pretty sure.
      Agreed about female characters, too. Ivy's the exception to the rule. I saw the movie Phenomena as a kid, with Jennifer Connelly able to communicate with insects, and it left this indellible imprint on my brain. I wanted this totally unsexy, creepy superpower. Ivy's at her best when writers get that there's something gross about her.
      Anyway. I was half kidding about Jewish representation, but the half of me that's serious about it is very much so. I was legitimately angry that they cut out all reference to WWII and Nazism in Caped Crusader, and especially that they took the relevant features away from Harvey Dent. He was the Jewish creators' stand-in for persecuted Jews, a story that, despite its rough edges, is way more morally complex than is typical for comics from most periods. That should have been respected. Instead they took away almost all context for his mental collapse, made him a representative of entitled white wealth, then killed him, which is also another slap in the face for mental illness representation, too. There are so many reasons to hate that show. And I wanted to love it. But this is a case where representation matters to me, so I get why it matters to other people. Hence my tolerance for the not so amazing anthologies. But yeah, showing people actually good classic stories would probably do more for most of these characters than piling everybody together into anthologies that just seem to offend the always easily offended straight white middle-class American guys over thirty.
    4. Sara
      January 31, 2025
      Wait, let me elaborate on the Harvey Dent situation. Because it makes me THAT mad and it's kind of relevant. And I like to rant.
      In the original 1942 comic, Harvey is rejected by the society he spent years protecting. He can't get his face rebuilt because the doctor who could do it is being held in the camps. That's when he has his breakdown. Even this doesn't stop him from tryig to help people. It's a poignant story. It's important to me because of my (totally secular, never-been-in-a-synagogue) Jewish heritage.
      In 2024's Caped Crusader, it's all internal. This series thinks it's so progressive, but this is EXACTLY the line that ultra-conservative "Personal Responsibility" freaks take. In CC, Harvey is expected to bear the burden of his guilty all on his own, like man, I guess. No social context exists in this idiotic show, and the family context of later stories is barely hinted at. His idea of "helping" people in this series is to kill a few gangsters and scream at Batman. It looks more like personal revenge and poor anger management than serious moral conflict with social underpinnings. Most of the traits that gave him moral depth in other media were stolen for Barbara. But she's visibly a minority now, and pals with visibly minority lesbians, so I guess we're supposed to consider this some kind of win? In this brave new Jew-free world.
      This makes me so mad. This is why I complain about Jewish erasure. This is the kind of thing that makes it easy for the reactionaries to complain about "representation" in comics. Harvey's white, so he doesn't get to "represent" anything but whiteness. But in CC, whiteness isn't even a thing. There are no racial barriers to be seen anywhere. It's fvcking offensive. WB/DC wants kudos for being progressive with all this representation, but they're too chickenshit to be honest and too stupid to be smart.
    5. Madeleine
      January 31, 2025
      I agree with every word of your comments on Caped Crusader. What a disappointment that was.
      I may be overthinking this but I don't think I am (haha)... How does a publisher get people to read about characters they've developed a hardened indifference to? I'd say I just finished reading Wayne Family Adventures Volume 5 but I didn't finish it so much as I reached the end. I skipped right over some stories including the stories about Duke and Luke because these characters bore me. This is a comic I own! Reading the stories would be risk free. I just don't care.
      I consider WFA Volume 5 to be an improvement over volumes three and four but the series has gotten very repetitious.
    6. Sara
      January 31, 2025
      Never liked WFA and the thought of it being peopled with characters I'm, at best, meh on is one of the reasons I refuse to pay into it. Like, yeah, I get that Payne is nicer to Jason than basically everybody else DC has hired to write him for YEARS. I appreciate that. But the cutesiness is just gross.
      "How does a publisher get people to read about characters they've developed a hardened indifference to?"
      They probably don't. I'm more likely to read a book about Steel or that girl Lantern, two characters I know almost nothing about, than about Duke, a superfluous Bat-Family member who has been boring and annoying me for years. Divisive characters with dodgy histories like Jason have an easier time getting read by people who aren't into them than a bland, misconceived wannabe X-Men like Duke.
    7. Madeleine
      January 31, 2025
      The stories can be childish and didactic, hardly my ideal, but in justice to Payne she explores more facets of Jason's personality with more sensitivity than the canon has since the best parts of Lobdell's run. This is why I started reading WFA. I was surprised at the rift between it and the canon. In WFA no not every character is equally fun to read about (the ones that were dull in Volume 1 are just as dull in Volume 5)... but every character counts and nobody is just a butt for jokes or an object lesson.
      I don't mind subsidizing stories about characters I'm not excited for if it means I get a few stories I like that are memorable for the right reasons...

Adam

October 31, 2025

Hey there, thought I’d give my 2 cents on this. So as a black man myself, and a life long Batman fan, I assure you that I care way more about the idea of Jace Fox as a black Batman then I do Duke Thomas as the Signal. And after reading their team up in this comic, it kinda just confirmed what I said. It came off trying way too hard to appease to us black people, and then playing spades thing I could’ve done without. But back to my point, I think DC is way too cowardly to put in effort to promote a black Batman, something I’d wanted for all my life, and instead wants to give us sidekicks like Duke Thomas or Luke Fox just to satisfy us when really, again as a black Batman fan, I couldn’t give any less of a shit about either of those characters. I’d rather an ongoing series of Jace Fox’s Batman then a “special” issue of Duke Thomas a thousand times over.

Kaingerc
January 29, 2025
While I'm not averse to representation, I am kind of tired of all these comic 'specials' using representation as a hook.
It often reduces characters to their skin color, the country where they or their families are from or their sexuality.
Best case scenario it feels pandering, worst case they are written completely out of character just to fit the message.
1. Sara
  January 29, 2025
  I don't mind these anthologies, since they do offer a chance for underseen characters to make appearances and say their say. But as a rule you'll get, like, one to three good stories and all the rest are blah or actually amateurish.
  But I want my angry secular Jewish nerds of DC anthology.
  I feel so unseen.
  The plot, and the whole plot, of every single story, needs to be angry secular Jewish nerds arguing with EVERYBODY about EVERYTHING.
  This is the milieu that created these comics, yet somehow it never gets panel space.
  1. Kaingerc
    January 29, 2025
    I don't know, that can also feel half baked.
    You get characters like Moon Knight or Kitty Pride randomly remembering they are Jewish once in a while and making an extremely forced comment about it.
    Or Batwoman having to stand next to a menorah every time December comes along as if someone is forcing her to do it.
    1. Sara
      January 29, 2025
      But none of these people are nerds, so it doesn't count.
      Ah need MuH rePReSenTATioN.
      "as if someone is forcing her to do it"
      Tbf, that's exactly how a lot of Jews feel when told to stand next to a menorah: "Something something oil something eight days something... Did you get the picture, Grandma? Can I go back to the Christmas tree and Santa figurines now?"
    2. Blockhead Jr.
      January 29, 2025
      Ben Grimm is Marvel's biggest represented jew. Moon Knight is a not so close second.
  2. Jackson Luken
    January 29, 2025
    If you want to get technical about it, Batman is arguably a secular Jew depending on which version of his inconsistent family tree you take.
    1. Sara
      January 29, 2025
      Yeah... But his family life is always presented as Christian, and his intellectual life is that of an ex-Christian secular rationalist. Afaik, he's only vaguely, briefly "Jewish" when Kate needs to be explained. In one of the YA books, Gotham High, Bruce was un-Jewed so that he could be Asian'd.
      I mean, Bruce is also 1/8 black if you accept Tom King's version. (Take that, blasian Jace!) Which, to the best of my knowledge, nobody but King does.
2. Blockhead Jr.
  January 29, 2025
  While I agree with Sara, I do feel like your point is valid too. A lot of the anthologies aren't the best. However, I think it's less about making some statement and giving underrepresented characters and writers to write about and depict characters that look and act like they do. A lot of times, the nuances of culture are overlooked in the mainstream media. Whether they end up good or not is part of the critique, but I think there should be a point where it stops being a novelty to see these characters and creators in the spotlight.
  1. Kaingerc
    January 29, 2025
    That's kind of my point, despite the relatively big frequency of these "specials" and the fact that some of these characters have existed for decades, they keep treating them as if they are novelties they are even allowed to be in comics instead of releasing good stories that allow them to be actual characters with depth.
    1. Madeleine
      January 30, 2025
      These representation oriented anthologies are only annual events and most have only existed for a few years. I wouldn't call that high frequency.
      It's only fair to note that this particular anthology is designed to bring attention to an upcoming series featuring at least some of these characters in hopefully good stories--though the review leaves me in some doubt about the quality.
      It needs to be remembered that a shortage of good stories, irrelevance, and eventual disappearance are the fates of most comic book characters regardless of race, gender, and so forth. Themed anthologies are a distillation of fundamental problems no less than an attempt to address those problems. The anthologies as such are not the problem.
      1. Sara
        January 30, 2025
        I figure Tim's future is as a fixture in some of the worst stories released in mid anthologies.
        This is why it's so scary for fans when a character who's been around for however long (a few decades, a few decades, it doesn't matter) starts to get crappy stories, important stories get retconned, and/or a new character with too many similar traits gets pushed by the hype engine.
        DC has no clue how to handle its characters wisely.
        DC encourages creative teams to invent new characters, but most of them aren't really new. When editorial backs someone like Tynion, who pumps out derivative (but also diverse) characters like raw sewage, it hurts the comics.
        It's also worth noting that the one of Tynion's creations who stands any chance of lasting more than a few years on her own momentum is Punchline, the straight white girl with the big t!ts. Better female villains that pre-date her will continue to languish in obscurity because they don't have those very specific assets that appeal to the majority of readers.
        Janet-from-HR is a good example of a queer character who took off because people liked her. She didn't need constant hype. She was in one of the better Bat books and people naturally took an interest in her.
        Meanwhile, Renee has had fans for years, yet diverse female Question's comic has been axed at six issues because it's badly written and sells badly. People still question her right to be the Question because the quality of stories outside of Rucka's work sucks.
      2. Madeleine
        January 30, 2025
        Some thoughts on getting people to read... I'm sorry to say it but I seldom click with DC's female characters. An anthology designed to showcase them would probably be near the bottom of my list of DC books to buy unless it got stellar word of mouth from trusted sources. This almost never happens with these anthologies.
        Yet while on Amazon to buy the DC Essentials edition of Batman: Year One & Two I picked up Wonder Woman: Earth One, Far Sector, Gotham City Sirens, and Cooke/Brubaker's Catwoman. I saw the books all under $10 and I thought, why not.
        Repackaging good stories in affordable editions is probably a better way than these anthologies to entice people to read about characters, series, periods, and creative angles that fall outside their habitual reading.
      3. Sara
        January 31, 2025
        I hear that the new budget paperbacks sell well. I have no idea which stories they're releasing, though, since I own standard sized copies of most of the things I want. I have thought about reading Far Sector. An excerpt was published in the second to last DC Power anthology and it looked okay? Can't go wrong with Jamal Campbell's art. Then again, maybe you can, after it's been shrunk down for these small editions. I agree with the sentiment, however. DC is finally figuring out how to take advantage of ordinary shoppers' impulse buying. They stock these things at Wal-Mart, I'm pretty sure.
        Agreed about female characters, too. Ivy's the exception to the rule. I saw the movie Phenomena as a kid, with Jennifer Connelly able to communicate with insects, and it left this indellible imprint on my brain. I wanted this totally unsexy, creepy superpower. Ivy's at her best when writers get that there's something gross about her.
        Anyway. I was half kidding about Jewish representation, but the half of me that's serious about it is very much so. I was legitimately angry that they cut out all reference to WWII and Nazism in Caped Crusader, and especially that they took the relevant features away from Harvey Dent. He was the Jewish creators' stand-in for persecuted Jews, a story that, despite its rough edges, is way more morally complex than is typical for comics from most periods. That should have been respected. Instead they took away almost all context for his mental collapse, made him a representative of entitled white wealth, then killed him, which is also another slap in the face for mental illness representation, too. There are so many reasons to hate that show. And I wanted to love it. But this is a case where representation matters to me, so I get why it matters to other people. Hence my tolerance for the not so amazing anthologies. But yeah, showing people actually good classic stories would probably do more for most of these characters than piling everybody together into anthologies that just seem to offend the always easily offended straight white middle-class American guys over thirty.
      4. Sara
        January 31, 2025
        Wait, let me elaborate on the Harvey Dent situation. Because it makes me THAT mad and it's kind of relevant. And I like to rant.
        In the original 1942 comic, Harvey is rejected by the society he spent years protecting. He can't get his face rebuilt because the doctor who could do it is being held in the camps. That's when he has his breakdown. Even this doesn't stop him from tryig to help people. It's a poignant story. It's important to me because of my (totally secular, never-been-in-a-synagogue) Jewish heritage.
        In 2024's Caped Crusader, it's all internal. This series thinks it's so progressive, but this is EXACTLY the line that ultra-conservative "Personal Responsibility" freaks take. In CC, Harvey is expected to bear the burden of his guilty all on his own, like man, I guess. No social context exists in this idiotic show, and the family context of later stories is barely hinted at. His idea of "helping" people in this series is to kill a few gangsters and scream at Batman. It looks more like personal revenge and poor anger management than serious moral conflict with social underpinnings. Most of the traits that gave him moral depth in other media were stolen for Barbara. But she's visibly a minority now, and pals with visibly minority lesbians, so I guess we're supposed to consider this some kind of win? In this brave new Jew-free world.
        This makes me so mad. This is why I complain about Jewish erasure. This is the kind of thing that makes it easy for the reactionaries to complain about "representation" in comics. Harvey's white, so he doesn't get to "represent" anything but whiteness. But in CC, whiteness isn't even a thing. There are no racial barriers to be seen anywhere. It's fvcking offensive. WB/DC wants kudos for being progressive with all this representation, but they're too chickenshit to be honest and too stupid to be smart.
      5. Madeleine
        January 31, 2025
        I agree with every word of your comments on Caped Crusader. What a disappointment that was.
        I may be overthinking this but I don't think I am (haha)... How does a publisher get people to read about characters they've developed a hardened indifference to? I'd say I just finished reading Wayne Family Adventures Volume 5 but I didn't finish it so much as I reached the end. I skipped right over some stories including the stories about Duke and Luke because these characters bore me. This is a comic I own! Reading the stories would be risk free. I just don't care.
        I consider WFA Volume 5 to be an improvement over volumes three and four but the series has gotten very repetitious.
      6. Sara
        January 31, 2025
        Never liked WFA and the thought of it being peopled with characters I'm, at best, meh on is one of the reasons I refuse to pay into it. Like, yeah, I get that Payne is nicer to Jason than basically everybody else DC has hired to write him for YEARS. I appreciate that. But the cutesiness is just gross.
        "How does a publisher get people to read about characters they've developed a hardened indifference to?"
        They probably don't. I'm more likely to read a book about Steel or that girl Lantern, two characters I know almost nothing about, than about Duke, a superfluous Bat-Family member who has been boring and annoying me for years. Divisive characters with dodgy histories like Jason have an easier time getting read by people who aren't into them than a bland, misconceived wannabe X-Men like Duke.
      7. Madeleine
        January 31, 2025
        The stories can be childish and didactic, hardly my ideal, but in justice to Payne she explores more facets of Jason's personality with more sensitivity than the canon has since the best parts of Lobdell's run. This is why I started reading WFA. I was surprised at the rift between it and the canon. In WFA no not every character is equally fun to read about (the ones that were dull in Volume 1 are just as dull in Volume 5)... but every character counts and nobody is just a butt for jokes or an object lesson.
        I don't mind subsidizing stories about characters I'm not excited for if it means I get a few stories I like that are memorable for the right reasons...
Adam
October 31, 2025
Hey there, thought I’d give my 2 cents on this. So as a black man myself, and a life long Batman fan, I assure you that I care way more about the idea of Jace Fox as a black Batman then I do Duke Thomas as the Signal. And after reading their team up in this comic, it kinda just confirmed what I said. It came off trying way too hard to appease to us black people, and then playing spades thing I could’ve done without. But back to my point, I think DC is way too cowardly to put in effort to promote a black Batman, something I’d wanted for all my life, and instead wants to give us sidekicks like Duke Thomas or Luke Fox just to satisfy us when really, again as a black Batman fan, I couldn’t give any less of a shit about either of those characters. I’d rather an ongoing series of Jace Fox’s Batman then a “special” issue of Duke Thomas a thousand times over.

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