DC All In Omega Prophesies a Darker Tomorrow

Most stories of good are built upon foundational pieces of concrete ideas and themes. You see them repeating in most of the greatest hero origin stories of the world, from Gilgamesh to The Bible to Star Wars. Texts like Joseph Campbell’s The Heroes Journey work to help us break those down rises to actualization into steps and phases on which we follow heroes and messiahs.. Many of those structural pieces can be swapped in and out to guide the story in one direction or another.

The DC Universe is no different. Those structural building blocks often look like a boy in an alley, a baby jettisoned away from a doomed planet, or girl molded from clay far from the world of man. But at the center of that universe that has been rebuilt over and over from those blocks is a diamond absolute. Darkseid is. Darkseid is the absolute of the DC Universe. The DC All In Special “Omega” lights the fire that will drive the universe as a whole by removing that absolute from the core and allows it to grow without being held back by the confines of those familiar building blocks of old.

With a story penned by Scott Snyder & Joshua Williamson, we see a former architect of the DC Universe as a whole meet in the inkwell with the current maestro at the helm to build something new. This bold new beginning of endings is only brought to life in spectacular beauty by the art team of Wes Craig as the artist, joined by Mike Spicer on colors, and Steve Wands with lettering.

While the more recent DC soft reboots leaned into their mysteries with a hand on their chest hopefulness, Omega serves as a chance to allow Darkseid the space to look at the man in the mirror of the universe at large. Darkseid has his call to action in the form of feeling a surge of power that has awakened his hunger for knowledge of what it could be. It was a hunger for control that came at a massive level of sacrifice that was not hard for Darkseid. Both are major pieces of the start of the heroes journey but this “hero” is bent on defying his cosmic given role in the scheme of things.

Wes Craig’s illustration of Darkseid’s Odyssey for his goals is a brutal violent campaign across literal heaven and hell. His artistic style has a level of motion and vibrance that goes against a typical, more house-style forward book of this nature. I do not say this with a negative connotation in the slightest. Books of this scale are typically where you put in an artist from a book that is already selling gangbusters. With this ushering in the new Absolute line, we are seeing DC allow artists with a unique styles shine. Wes Craig shines on full display with just some truly ethereal reds from Mike Spicer on this story. With Craig’s approach to Darkseid’s Jack Kirby stylized powers with Spicer’s more matte coloring makes this story stand out from so many titles on the shelves. The Kirby Krackle is even delivered in ten fold by Steve Wands lettering choices for Darkseid as he gets more frantic through the story. While it captures a very stylized approach to every character we see in the story, it still carries a visual storytelling we have come to know of a character like Darkseid. The final three panels we see of him in this issue are some of my favorite appearances of the character.

The DC All-In special reestablishes Darkseid as an absolute of the universe. With the popularity of a character, you start to see them more and more in different comics. Snyder and Williamson explain how even if there is only one Darkseid, his power has been scattered further which makes his physical being less. I actually really like this explanation on the change to this omnipotent world destroyer to what frankly has become a monster of the week type villain at this point. In the main continuity, Darkseid stopped being a threat a long time ago because the readers have seen him foiled so many times over. With this fresh start as an absolute again, I am excited to see where the character goes in the Absolute books to make him a looming threat at all times once again. It made me excited for the potential of more Darkseid stories rather than making me sigh when I see him as I have for some time.

There was a very interesting repeating use of the power of names in the story that Snyder and Williamson used strongly to emphasize who Darkseid is. I started to notice there was a lot of use of the true name of Darkseid, Uxas, throughout the story. I chalked it up at first to an interesting character choice to those using it thinking that they could get through to him. There is a power in names because you can know oneself when you have their true name. There is a huge difference when you stop referring to a parent as mother or father to call them by their chosen/given name. Why should Darkseid be any different? Darkseid is. It’s a phrase we have read mimed over and over since King/Gerads Mister Miracle.

But in “Omega”, I don’t think it’s used as a mimic but as a line in the sand. Darkseid is a cosmic absolute. Everything that happens in the journey to self-actualization can change you into something entirely new. The idea of him pushing back against the universe’s predestined role for him brings up so many more questions about who Darkseid is come Absolute. Darkseid Was. Uxas Is.

DC All In “Omega” takes the building blocks of the universe that you are familiar with and puts them into the hands of an absolute of the universe. What do you get when the author of the heroes journey believes in power through pain over all else? What does that world become when Darkseid is above all else? Those concrete piece are being reshaped to create something very different with the Absolute line. This feels like an appetizer to the horrors that lay in store with Darkseid holding the pen.