Assuming this thread is a bit more for general discussion of what we’ve read rather than simply noting what we’ve read, I’d like to drop a line about the Absolute and Ultimate superhero comics universes.
Both are clearly based on realisations by DC and Marvel comics that the classic superhero model of upholding the law and protecting the status quo is not the best look in our current era, and it might be worth trying a version where superheroes are the underdogs fighting against a malignant world order and protecting the rest of us from the status quo. Both are alternate universes: Absolute is DC (Superman etc) and Ultimate is Marvel (Spider-Man etc).
Let’s talk about Ultimate first. This is mostly written by Jonathan Hickman, who is quite a fan of techbros and superior-people-know-best, so honestly it’s not a good fit for him. The setup is that the Maker (evil alternate Reed Richards from the previous Ultimate universe) travels in time and removes all superheroes before setting up an overt new world order of villains who run the planet. The disadvantage of this is that the Ultimate universe is therefore significantly different from our universe, which makes things less relatable and more deniable. Ultimately (ha ha) I don’t think it fulfils the assignment.
The Absolute universe is more disparate - there are several creators working on several individual books in the shared universe. The setup is that Darkseid has changed the universe so that evil is more likely to win, and so the effects are more fundamental and diversified than in the Ultimate universe. The stories themselves are quite varied but have the same basic premise - our heroes do not have many of the advantages that they have classically, and face enemies who are much more part of society and have all the advantages and resources available. So Absolute Batman isn’t a billionaire playboy; he’s a civil engineer who borrows tools from work and uses his training to turn the city against its predators. Absolute Superman came here as a teenager from a very unequal Krypton that destroyed its own environment for profit. Absolute Wonder Woman was taken from the Amazons (who may be all dead) by the Gods as an infant and raised by Circe as a prisoner in Tartarus.
I therefore much prefer the Absolute universe so far; the writers clearly understand the assignment and are mostly making it work. AWW is amazing, AB less so (because the designated enemy is crime and that’s a hard needle to thread these days, and honestly Snyder seems reluctant to go after the actual elite criminals). I’d love to see AWW as the actual WW in the DC movies.
