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When we got our first look at the Absolute Batman, many were taken aback by the sheer size of the fellow. Hulking muscles, pronounced body armor, all those spikes – it was a lot to take in. Modern Batman is usually depicted as beefy, but Absolute Batman is the whole cow.
What wasn't clear was what this guy would have to offer on a narrative level. Sure, one would expect that he'd use his bulk to send a bunch of crooks to the hospital, but there was little giveaway as to the psychological complications that come with each version of the character. Luckily, the Absolute Batman is far more than just a brute. In fact, he's thrown all of our expectations out the window (along with a few bad guys).
Building a new sort of Batman
It's been clear right from the start that this incarnation of the Caped Crusader bears an iron will and an unbreakable drive to save Gotham City from repeating the tragedy that took his father. It reminds us of other series that present the character at an early stage in his career, like Frank Miller's Batman: Year One. It shows us Batman at perhaps his most dangerous and obsessive, but also at his most alienated. He hasn't yet formed a "Bat family," and without even the support of allies like Commissioner Gordon his relationship to humanity initially seems distant at best. At one point in Absolute Batman #1, he uses the Bat-Symbol/axe on his chest to chop off a foe's hand. It's an act that screams, "Doesn't play well with others."
But while he is terse and occasionally brutal, spending more time with this version of the Dark Knight reveals a man starting from the opposite end of the spectrum to the Bruce Wayne we know and love. Not only is his Mom still around and a fairly active figure in his life, but this Bruce has actual relationships with his close friends. Absolute Batman #3 balances the present day story with a flashback that ends with his childhood pals surprising him with a trip to the movies. The fact that his friends are all based on traditional Batman villains and many of them bear certain trademarks of their namesakes (The most obvious being technological whiz kid Eddie and cat-lover Selina) lend Absolute Batman a "raised by wolves" feel. Yes, he has his primary mission, but he's also influenced by those closest to him, including the memories of his late father.
This is also a Batman who is still working out his moral code. A lot of that is due to the rage and frustration that is constantly in danger of bubbling over, something that some of the other, more ethically authoritative takes on the Dark Knight lack. How can he save an entire city? How can he divide his time between the violent criminals who threaten outright bloodshed and the more insidious figures that bleed Gotham dry at a higher level? What is useless spectacle and what makes an impact? What is proving a point and what is going too far?
These are all questions that Absolute Batman has posed so far, and each one provides another building block into a character who is evolving on the page. This isn't "How Bruce Wayne became Batman," but, like Bruce's childhood engineering project that he works on with his father, a Batman who is in constant development.
Interestingly, this isn't the only adaptation to tackle this idea in recent years: Matt Reeves' 2022 film The Batman featured a Caped Crusader that was in the midst of a sort of career overhaul as he realized that his dedication to barbarous, beatdown-fueled vengeance meant little in the way of promising hope for Gotham on a wider scale.
This is still an action-packed comic, one that makes ample use of Bruce's bodybuilder physique and his array of fearsome gadgets. Writer Scott Snyder and artist Nick Dragotta (Gabriel Hernandez Walta fills in for Dragotta in the fourth issue) know that these aspects lend themselves well to big set pieces, the kind that you can practically hear heavy metal music blaring behind. If there is ever a Batman movie scored by Slayer, it'll be an adaptation of Absolute Batman. But these crowd-pleasing features, from the dynamic, take-no-prisoners fights to the fact that the Batmobile is a massive haul truck weighing hundreds of tons, never clash with the more emotionally intricate moments.
These are the parts that make us realize that "building the Bat" isn't necessarily an A to B process. Rather, it's a toil on all fronts. And though a lot of publicity has been put into the Absolute Batman series, it's this willingness to be curious about Batman's metamorphosis, even as a crime-fighting adult, that has affirmed its spot as one of the best-selling and just plain best comics of the moment. We don't know what the future will bring for Bruce Wayne, but one thing is certain: Absolute Batman is a big guy, but he's got even more growing to do.
Absolute Batman #1-4 are all out now from DC. The story continues in #5, which will be published on February 12.
The Absolute Universe continues with Absolute Wonder Woman. Check out our interview with Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman.
