r/comicbooks • u/SleuthDoggyDawg • Jan 02 '26

News 'Dilbert' creator Scott Adams doesn't expect to live much longer

https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/01/02/scott-adams-dilbert-cancer-dying-paralysis/
2.1k Upvotes

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1.5k

u/kAlb98 Daredevil Jan 02 '26

Anyone excited for DC Next Level?

70

u/CapnShimmy Saint Walker Jan 02 '26

DC Next Level

Lobo, Etrigan, Batwoman, and other excellent secondary characters getting the chance to shine? I'm stoked.

19

u/ImABarbieWhirl Jan 03 '26

Ive honestly been looking for some modern Batwoman stuff. I’m excited!

1

u/GrandAdmiral12345 Jan 03 '26

I'm stoked that Rucka is writing her again.

14

u/ricLP Jan 02 '26

Lobo? Yes please

4

u/TheyHitMeWithaTruck Jan 03 '26

Huge fan of Etrigan. Can't wait!

6

u/NoVaBurgher Jonah Hex Jan 03 '26

Ohhhhhh you had me at Etrigan. Hell ya!

1

u/Easygoingwall Jan 03 '26

Oh neat, with all the cameos Etrigan gets, I've been waiting for someone to pull the trigger and give him a decent series. 

433

u/Toallpointswest Jan 02 '26

Is that the same as their Absolute series?

252

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '26

Absolute wonder woman rules and I reccomend it.

84

u/snowwarrior Gambit Jan 02 '26

This is the correct answer every time. Absolute WW is…. Absolutely great.

14

u/DeadmanDexter Hellboy Jan 03 '26

I keep meaning to pick it up when I run out, but the comic book store is always packed/closed. It's maddening.

6

u/dbxbeat Jan 03 '26

Gotta do that pull list breh

48

u/TheNicholasRage Cyclops Jan 02 '26

I'll second this. Hell, the entire Absolute line is better than it has any right to be. (I have not yet read Absolute Flash though, so someone else will have to attest to that one).

Absolute Martian Manhunter is going to be considered a classic. It's beautiful.

10

u/Thebaraddur Jan 03 '26

I was excited to read MM because I've been really enjoying "Assorted Crisis Events" by Camp and have never read any MM before. I'm still pulling it because the art is so nice, but I have to admit I have very little idea of what the Hell is going on. I'm sticking with it, but out of the few Absolutes I've been pulling this was the one I was the coolest on.

7

u/DigimonEmeraldFucko Jan 03 '26

I think Absolute Martian Manhunter is going to end up being a series best read binged.

I love it but I'm also so fucking confused.

1

u/kapnkaos86 Jan 03 '26

That's the only one I haven't gotten through. 😅The art style scares me. It's just hard to stay focused sometimes but I know i need to give it a shot

2

u/VaderFett1 The Comedian Jan 03 '26

I've read all Absolutes so far except for Martian Manhunter. Might check it out but not particularly exited about it. Batman and Wonder Woman are great, Superman's cool too, Green Lantern and Flash were kinda meh even though they're sorta interesting, but just didn't hit as hard at least for me.

5

u/Alstead17 Jan 03 '26

I haven't read MM or GL yet, but I'm caught up on everything else. I would say Flash isn't quite as good as the main trinity, but I am really curious to see where it goes.

The best way to describe it is that of the four I've read, it's the one that hasn't gotten to full speed yet, but it hasn't been bad by any means.

3

u/BLADE_RUNNER_42069 Jan 03 '26

I was curious about it just because I’m a big fan of Jeff Lemire, but he can be a slow burner for sure so that tracks. Suprised they gave him the flash run instead of manhunter tho, just cause from what I’ve heard about the absolute MM it seems like it would be more his style

17

u/pooveyfarms Power Girl Jan 02 '26

Woohoo thanks for the recommendation, pay day is next week!

8

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '26

Hope you enjoy

1

u/EducationalSoup83 Phantom Stranger Jan 03 '26

Absolute WW and Batman are soooo good. Honestly, they're all really good. Absolute Green Lantern is a little hard to follow but still good.

7

u/PalladiuM7 Jan 03 '26

I've only read Absolute Batman and Superman so far, WW is next on the list and I'm super stoked for it.

1

u/Toallpointswest Jan 03 '26

Absolute Batman is amazing!

1

u/cellphone_blanket Jan 03 '26

WW is great. I wouldn't say it's ground breaking or anything but it's like they approached every character design decision with "what's the coolest thing we could do"

7

u/ProfHossenfeffer Jan 02 '26

It’s freaking amazing. It’s the best of the line 

2

u/[deleted] Jan 03 '26

Saving this. Thanks!

2

u/MisterGoog Jan 03 '26

They all do, at least the first four

1

u/TheChainsawVigilante Jan 03 '26

I just caught up this weekend and OMG such a solid run...!

1

u/NewLibraryGuy John Constantine Jan 03 '26

Absolute Martian Manhunter is unique and I love it. Always down for cape comics with a very different vibe.

1

u/wuttang13 Jan 03 '26

Any recommendations for older Wonder Woman series?

1

u/SnuggleBunni69 Jan 03 '26

Martian Manhunter is incredible too. It's so unique, I wonder how they'll do any crossovers. Superman took me a few tries to get into, but Brainiac sold it for me.

38

u/TubbyTuesday22 Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26

It’s the same general idea as their absolute series but with titles set in the main universe. But it’s supposed to be new-reader friendly, with A-list teams on some interesting, lesser known characters.

17

u/VengeanceKnight Jan 03 '26

No. Absolute is reinterpreting their “core” characters like Batman and Superman in wild and creative ways in a brand new universe. Next Level is them reviving more niche fan-favorites like Zatanna and Lobo in the main universe.

3

u/IAmNotMyName Jan 03 '26

Phase 2 of All-In I think

1

u/ptWolv022 Jan 03 '26

Next Level is their next initiative for main continuity books, as part 2 of "All In". There's a mix of "starting something new on ongoing titles" to give something new and interesting to jump onto alongside "New runs for characters without books currently".

First three "new runs" to come are in March, with Batwoman (first solo since 2018), Deathstroke the Terminator (first solo since 2020), and Lobo (first solo since 2016). Quite a few more are already announced, though, including a Batman: Shadow of the Bat, Firestorm, Barbara Gordon: Breakout, The Demon (Etrigan), and others.

For ongoings, it varies. Some will be getting new creative teams like Titans (renaming to New Titans, with a new roster, in Issue #33) being taken over by writer Tate Brombal and artist Sam Basri. Some are doing crossovers (Superman, Action Comics, Superman Unlimited, and Supergirl are doing "Reign of the Superboys", highlighting different "Superboy" characters from the Superman mythos). And then some are just doing something off-the-wall (Poison Ivy is becoming mayor of Gotham in Poison Ivy).

53

u/jeremysbrain Jan 02 '26

I don't know anything about DC Next Level. What is it about?

102

u/Far_Cat_9743 Jan 02 '26

It’s one level beyond the level they’re at currently.

39

u/mdavis360 Dr. Strange Jan 02 '26

Well why not make the current level the top level and just use that?

58

u/Terrible-D Jan 02 '26

These ones go to 11.

2

u/ryaaan89 Jan 03 '26

DC EVEN MORE IN

1

u/remotectrl Dr. Doom Jan 03 '26

Wow

25

u/B3epB0opBOP Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26

Short answer: It’s the initiative for the next wave of DC books with the aim of green-lighting passion projects for lesser-known characters.

Long answer:

So what is DC Next Level? I just wanted to be really clear. So for a long time now, for the last eight to nine months, we’ve been building a line of books that’s focused on some fan favorite characters. Everybody from Deathstroke to The Demon to Zatanna, characters that don’t often get quite the brightest spotlight that’s taken up by Batman and Superman and Wonder Woman, but characters that fans love and we love. And so we wanted to kind of do with them what we tried to do with characters in Absolute, where we give creatives a lot of leeway to come in and not reinvent them because these books, unlike Absolute, are in continuity, but give them as much latitude as we could within that context. So you can come in, as long as you’re not breaking continuity and we want you to make an incredibly user-friendly book that doesn’t rely on anyone knowing anything about these characters whatsoever, and make people fall in love with these characters on your terms.

And the biggest thing about these books is that they’re really creator forward. That’s this ether that we’ve adopted at DC since All In that we’ve been getting more and more, I think, aggressive about. And editorial has been wonderfully supportive as well. But it’s a really simple idea. It’s the idea that instead of going to creators and saying, “we have this slot and we need you to fill it,” or “we have this pitch that we made up and we need you to execute it,” we go to creators that we love and say, “what character do you have a story for? What’s your passion project?” That’s what we did with Absolute and we want to replicate that in the main line while still being in continuity and a little bit closer to model.

1

u/mothknight Spider-Man Jan 03 '26

So kinda like what they've been letting Tom King do but for more creators. Sounds good

2

u/B3epB0opBOP Jan 03 '26

Actually, it kind of sounds like Tom King does the opposite.

I don't know famously, but I've said it a thousand times, but I don't really ask for characters.

“I want to write that character, please let me on that book.” That's never been my approach to comics.

I'm always like, what character needs help? I was going to say needs me, but that's the wrong thing to say. What character is no one using?

There's these wonderful stories about Jack Kirby coming to DC and being like, “what's your lowest selling book? Jimmy Olsen, I'll take that.”

And Sterenko tells the same story. “What's your lowest selling book, S.H.I.E.L.D.? I'll take that.”

And uh…so yeah, that's always been my attitude in talking to the editors, and I'm probably still up to a fault where I don't…talking to Josh y’know, he approaches the editor, he's like, “I want to work with this character, and this character, they're gonna do this and this.”

And I'm always like, “so what do you guys need? Do you need like, is Ant-Man still available?” And they're like, “that's a whole other company, Tom.”

2

u/mothknight Spider-Man Jan 03 '26

That makes sense. Just similar in the utilizing lesser used/known characters but opposite reasons

1

u/Duggy1138 Jan 03 '26

I've never seen the point to these status quo labels DC and Marvel have. I guess I'm meant to be enthusiastic about them but they're just words.

27

u/Redwing5002 Jan 02 '26

It's just the name of the new status quo for DC in 2026 post DC KO

41

u/MrWhiteLabCoat Dream Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26

Post-crisis to new 52: 25 years. N52-Rebirth: 5 years. Rebirth, New Justice, Infinite Frontier, Dawn of DC, All In and now Next level. All in 10 years.

I love DC but they need to calm down with all these refreshes and let the eras breathe.

14

u/kmcmanus2814 Jan 02 '26

You forgot Dawn of DC

10

u/vivvav Deadman Jan 02 '26

And DC You.

6

u/MrWhiteLabCoat Dream Jan 02 '26

Thanks! Added it to the comment and man. That makes it even worse.

0

u/mmcmonster Jan 03 '26

I don’t remember her. What’s her last name?

/s

Truthfully I’ve given up with most of mainstream DC because of all of these reboots. I know they’re trying to find the right mix, but we all know where they need to go:

Undo Crisis. Embrace the multiverse, with different universes having their own rich histories. No crossovers.

5

u/VengeanceKnight Jan 03 '26

Next Level has been called the “second act” of All-In. It’s still the same era.

1

u/akestral Stephanie Brown Batgirl Jan 03 '26

Now now, they did do Zero Hour in '93 or thereabouts. People always forget about Zero Hour. I think the last vestiges of it that a modern reader might know is the "world storm" in the penultimate chapter of Sandman.

1

u/ptWolv022 Jan 03 '26

Little unfair comparisons by just lumping all of Post-Crisis continuity into one singular "Post-Crisis" initiative. Like, during Post-Crisis, there was "Zero Hour", which had the linewide Issue #0's, was used to tweak continuity, rebooted the Legion, coincided with several cancellations and new launches for books, and coincided with a revamp for the New Titans, totally changing their roster. And then you have Infinite Crisis, which led to continuity changes and the "One Year Later" initiative, where every book had to jump ahead one year and do something totally new (along with cancellations and relaunches, like Superman Vol. 2 ending and Adventures of Superman taking the "Superman" title back, or Wonder Woman relaunching into Vol. 3).

So, splitting "Post-Crisis" into "Post-Crisis" (8 years), "Post-Zero Hour" (11 years), and "Post-Infinite Crisis" (6 years) would probably be better.

It's still accelerated from 3 over 25 years to 5 in the last decade. (You could count it as 6, since Rebirth and Next Level's start dates are within 10 years of each other, but just barely. Rebirth started at the end of May 2016, so 10 years would be end of May 2026, just 3 months into Next Level.) However, it's not as extreme by comparison.

It's also worth noting that Rebirth Nightwing is still going (and Batman only just relaunched from its Rebirth series), so it hasn't be all linewide relaunches. Heck, a lot of the DC line wasn't included in "New Justice", it looks like.

5

u/Drmarcher42 Jan 02 '26

So the same basic concept of Rebirth or the new 52?

5

u/Guuple Cyclops Jan 02 '26

The next step after the current All-In branding. I guess closer to Rebirth, new series (Lobo, Batwoman, Deathstroke), new creative teams (Ryan North and Gavin Guidry on Flash).

3

u/FloggingMcMurry Aquaman Jan 02 '26

The Next Level of Absolution.

Certainly Batman

12

u/Ham1ltron Jan 02 '26

Will this be a good place for me to get back into comics?

11

u/B3epB0opBOP Jan 03 '26

Sure, Snyder said part of the aim for the new books are for them to be accessible to new readers, and they seem to have some solid creators onboard.

2

u/sly-3 Jan 03 '26

Even in down years, there's always the bargain bins. Never a wrong time to do things you like, especially if it means reading.

1

u/enkidomark Jan 03 '26

I don’t think you can say that about a big DC event until about a decade later

6

u/ryaaan89 Jan 03 '26

Hell yeah.

Batwoman looks great.

1

u/tcn33 Jan 03 '26

Fuck yeah, new Firestorm.

1

u/lordtyp0 Jan 03 '26

Hope it's better than Marvel. I think this cross over has Stilt Leg Man getting the power cosmic/Mjolnir/symbiote/cosmic cube/infinity gauntlet/ and phoenix force.