Short Box: DC K.O.: Boss Battle
DC K.O.: Boss Battle
#1E
Jeff Spokes Variant
| Release: | Feb 04, 2026 |
| Cover: | Apr 2026 |
Creators
| Writer | Joshua Williamson, Jeremy Adams |
| Artist | Ronan Cliquet, Kieran McKeown, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Pablo M. Collar |
| Cover Artist | Jeff Spokes |
| Colorist | Hi-Fi |
| Letterer | Tom Napolitano |
| Editor | Ben Meares |
| Editor in Chief | Marie Javins |
“Who would win in a fight” is the worst question in comic fandom.
It brings out the most pedantic, trivia and stats-obsessed qualities in fans and invariably results in comments from creators about how the stats are irrelevant and the only thing that matters is telling a good story.
But it’s hardly ever a good story.
That’s why I had very little interest in DC K.O. when it was announced, and even less interest after giving it a chance and reading the first two issues and one of the tie-in specials.
However, I was mildly interested in this special simply because it’s does have a unique gimmick – it’s a crossover featuring characters from multiple companies, and not all of them are comic book companies. (Also, the comic shop added it to my box anyway, though I swapped the A cover out for the variant.)
The story so far: for gobbledygook reasons, all the heroes have to fight each other – to the death – in a tournament so that the last hero standing can absorb a bunch of “Omega energy” to be able to defeat Darkseid, who’s going to fully return from the dead and kill everyone in a week.
Despite their best efforts, the heroes weren’t able to keep the villains out of the tournament, and naturally, despite having no superhuman abilities or special weapons, the Joker has managed to make it to the final four in a fighting tournament that includes literal gods because, again, stats are irrelevant and the Joker somehow managing to survive nearly to the end is what passes for a good story.
Anyway, the other three in the final four are Superman, Wonder Woman, and Lex Luthor, and they’re about to face off against the Absolute versions of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman, and also Booster Gold who’s actually Darkseid in disguise because he’s competing in this tournament even though he already won an earlier tournament to become “King Omega” in the first place and is supposed to be dead until next week and I don’t know, it’s just all about who’s going to win the fight that will absolutely not be determined by any kind of stats whatsoever.
Some guy called the World Forger (I think I’m supposed to know him, but I don’t) shows up and tells the final four that they will lose unless they get more Omega energy, and he brings back some of the heroes who have already died in the tournament and opens up rifts to other universes so that they can fight champions from those universes and gain Omega energy from the conflict.
Thus, we have:
- Superman vs. Homelander from The Boys
- Wonder Woman vs. Red Sonja
- Lex Luthor vs. Samantha Strong, the serial-killing anthropomorphic bear from the comic Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees
- Joker vs. Annabelle, the haunted movie doll
- Batwoman vs. Vampirella
- Plastic Man and Black Lightning vs. Sub-Zero and Scorpion from Mortal Kombat
- Star Sapphire vs. Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Even though the whole point is fighting, we don’t actually get all that much of it. We get a bit of it in the Mortal Kombat universe, a bit more from Superman and Homelander, none at all between Joker and Anabelle, Lex mostly cowering in fear while Samantha fruitlessly stabs at his armor, too much fighting between Wonder Woman and Red Sonja given how quickly WW should have taken Sonja out, almost nothing from Batwoman and Vampirella other than Vampi quickly grabbing Batwoman before she can even make a move, and no fighting between Sabrina and Star Sapphire because Sabrina simply tries – and fails – to resolve the whole thing with a spell.
Ultimately, for gibberish reasons, the universes all start to run together, but though there was no conclusive victory for anyone, evidently the main goal was accomplished and the openings to the other universes are closed and the final four have all the Omega energy they need for issue four of DC K.O., and Plas and the others go back to being dead.
Oh yeah – the “to the death thing” will theoretically be rendered irrelevant when a hero wins the whole shebang – assuming it’s the right winner – and becomes all-powerful and can bring everyone back to life and restore things to the way they were, which was why they tried so hard to keep the villains out of it.
…
Okay, the art was good, and I’m more convinced that I need to get around to reading Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees than I already was, so this had that much going for it.
The crossover gimmick was interesting in theory, but this wasn’t really the best showcase for it.
The lack of any conclusive victory – Really? In this year of all years you’re going to deny us the pleasure of seeing Superman just completely laying Homelander out? Really? – also made the fights seem pointless. Even victories that didn’t make any sense would have been more satisfying than nothing.
And for what it’s worth, while I agree that ultimately the winner should be whoever makes the most sense for the story, I do think that stats ought to count for something – I’m sorry, Sonja; I love you, but you stand no chance against Wonder Woman, but then again, if Wonder Woman couldn’t easily beat Red Sonja, that World Forger guy was right about her not standing a chance against Absolute Wonder Woman – but more than that, I think when we start seriously entertaining the “Who would win in a fight” question we all lose.
But that’s just me. If this sort of thing is extremely your shit, I hope you’re enjoying this event, and if you are, congratulations: you win!
Still, I can’t really imagine anyone finding this particular tie-in especially satisfying.
Born and raised in the sparsely populated Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Jon Maki developed an enduring love for comics at an early age.
