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As one of the best-selling comic of 2024, it's fair to say that Absolute Batman has already been a huge success for DC (almost as big as its central character, in fact) but series writer Scott Snyder is clearly planning far ahead. Talking in an in-depth interview with the The Comic Watchers Show on YouTube last week, Snyder revealed several intriguing titbits about what's to come in the series over the next few months, including that while he has already plotted the first 24 issues of the series too.
The series' first big arc, 'The Zoo' wraps up this month with Absolute Batman #6. Following that will be a two-issue story about Mr. Freeze that Snyder says "ties into what you read in the first arc and sets up the second one." Marcos Martín is the artist on those issues, and Snyder calls his work "unbelievable" while promising a new design for Freeze and "a lot of fun revelations about who he is."
After that will be an arc-focused on the Bat-breaker himself. "Starting with #9, it's a Bane arc, which I'm very excited about, and it really deals with Ark M and what it is," revealed Snyder. "Bruce is desperately trying to figure out what they're building there and what it is underneath this prison, and it's like a real horror show. So you get a bunch of villain revelations there." That arc will run through issues #9-14.
Following that will be a three-part arc that Snyder says will focus on "the return of a character who you've seen a little bit in the past." And then it's time for the big one – probably. "Right now that's where we're planning our Joker story is, after that, but I haven't decided yet." Snyder goes on to clarify that he knows exactly what the Joker story is going to be, but that other ideas and stories (including "a little Scarecrow thing") may sneak in before getting to this long-awaited look at Batman's greatest enemy – in the Absolute Universe seemingly reinvented a super-wealthy industrialist.
Speaking of whether Bruce Wayne will remain a loner in the Absolute Universe, Snyder also teased that Barbara Gordon and the OG Robin, Dick Grayson, will be seen in the book sooner rather than later. "You'll see Dick Grayson at some point this year, he's coming," Snyder revealed. "It was an interesting set of choices because it was like, 'Is he a kid, or is he a grown-up?' Because if Barbara is a grown-up and he's a kid, is that too weird? Does that feel off? So what if he's a grown-up? Who would he be? And then that opened this whole door. You'll see some friendly Bat characters and some fiendish Bat characters, all coming soon."
Perhaps most exciting of all, Snyder confirmed that the Absolute Universe comics – or at least the big three of Absolute Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman – will be crossing over later this year. "We had a big summit, Zoom-wise, all the Absolute writers," Snyder explained. "There will be crossover storylines in '25 between the Absolute books – the first three especially, 'cos they've been around longer."
The whole interview is long and fascinating, with Snyder also going into some of the metaphysics of the Absolute universe, what it took to bring him back to writing Batman, and teasing what the upcoming Absolute Martian Manhunter and Absolute Green Lantern comics will have to offer, so do go check it out.
Absolute Batman #6 is published by DC on March 19.
Check out interviews with the creative teams of Absolute Wonder Woman and Absolute Superman.
