“I need to get out of this comic and stop whatever Mxyzptlk is up to!”
DC All In 2025 FCBD Special Edition
DC Comics (June, 2025)
Superman Unlimited: “In The Blink Of An Eye”
WRITER: Dan Slott
ARTIST: Rafael Albuquerque
COLORIST: Marcelo Maiolo
LETTERER: Dave Sharpe
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Jillian Grant
EDITOR: Paul Kaminski
“SUPERMAN” CREATORS: Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster
“I don’t even know this Mixlplik guy.”
Absolute Universe flip side: “Mirror, Mirror”
WRITER: Jeff Lemire
LAYOUTS: Giuseppe Camuncoli
FINISHES: Stefano Nesi
COVER CO-ARTIST: Frank Martin
COLORIST: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
LETTERER: Tom Napolitano
EDITOR: Andrew Marino
GROUP EDITOR: Katie Kubert
EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Chris Conroy
In the main universe, Lois is in charge of the Daily Planet, which Morgan Edge’s ex-wife wants to make the cornerstone of her new media empire supposedly dedicated to the truth. Clark has to leave the announcement to do Superman stuff, which Lois tells Ms. Imani Edge is because he’s the top Superman reporter now. From there, Superman deals with Intergang (one of which thanks him for saving his favorite aunt), rescuing a baby from a lion pit at the zoo, and other disasters, though he finds time to give a street musician money for her great song. The Justice League then calls on him to stop a giant meteor headed for Earth, but someone coated it with a metal that hides its true form…Kryptonite!
What they got right: Most of this story is a “day in the life” kind of deal, seeing all the good Superman does in Metropolis and the positive influence he has on everyone. The art is okay, though not spectacular. For a guy who said he couldn’t do superhero stories anymore because of how an election didn’t go his way, he was doing okay.
What they got wrong: I do hate when a Free Comic Book Day story, preview or not, ends on a cliffhanger. Even some I’ve read for the 2025 Free Comic Book Day that were excerpts made it feel like a solo story. And I’m only noticing this because the usual suspects go out of their way to highlight this so much that I have no choice, but I noticed that women are taking a lot of the spotlight. Lois is now in charge of the Daily Planet, getting rid of Perry While, while Morgan Edge is replaced by his black ex-wife who is going to be so much better. (At least Cat and Ron are right not to trust her because of her reputation, a white woman and a black man.) The singer is also a girl…with blue hair and a goth complexion but a purple jacket. Even the Intergang dude thanks him for saving his aunt. Don’t get me wrong, individually and if it wasn’t for the culture war, I not only wouldn’t have noticed, I wouldn’t have cared. Now I just assume it’s done on purpose.
Now for the flip side. This isn’t much of a story at all. Just the Absolute universe being toured by some guy who walks through reflective surfaces noticing that he’s not the only one with freaky powers anymore, highlighting to the reader how different that universe is from the real DC universe. In the center there’s an explanation of the events of how Darkseid blew up and became a whole universe or whatever he was doing. In the story, our narrator’s tour is interrupted by his counterpart from the main DC universe. Both of these guys are their universe’s Mirror Master, setting up a future crossover between the two realities.
All this really did is show me why I don’t care about the Absolute universe. It’s formed by Darkseid so it lacks hope, fun, bright colors, heroes not being angry and violent…everything I enjoy about DC is drained from it. The presentation is well done, using Absolute Mirror Master to introduce us to this reality, but Absolute still comes off as DC’s answer to the Ultimate universe: make it darker and more violent.
What I think overall: After some of Waid’s recent comments and stories I was expecting the Superman story to be garbage, but it actually came out pretty well. I have concerns about what is planned next but I’m waiting to see what happens. The Absolute universe story (on a technical definition of “story”) is not for me the presentation works. Overall it wasn’t as bad I was expecting but my DC universe is still missing.
BW Media Spotlight 
I should have paid attention. Mark Waid may have written that he can’t write superheroes anymore because his party didn’t win the White House, but this was a Dan Slott story. I thought he was doing Superman Unlimited. It might be a different Superman he can’t write. I don’t know. It’s hard to follow this nonsense these days. Still, I screwed up.
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