Three new tales of the Batman of the Absolute Universe are featured in the first ever Absolute annual. Absolute Batman Annual 2025 has story and art by Daniel Warren Johnson, James Harren and Meredith McClaren, colors by Dave Stewart and letters by Clayton Cowles.
Matt Lazorwitz: I think we’ve talked about the DC: High Volume podcast at some point, right? The one that is adapting classic Batman stories and dropping an episode a week.
Will Nevin: Talked ’bout it, ain’t what covered it yet. Which seems like a thing we could do for the things we do around here.
Matt: I thought they were doing three stories: “Year One,” “The Long Halloween” and “Dark Victory.” But a new, fourth Batman adaptation started this week: Darwyn Cooke’s “Batman: Ego.” And it just fascinates, and pleases, me that “Ego” is being included with those others. It’s #2 on The Big Board for a reason.
Will: And, as always, a man taken too soon.
Absolute-ly an Annual
Will: I’m going to start with something a smidge harsh — bold and maybe not controversial — but I think this would have been a stronger issue with the one story.
Matt: Just the first one, yes? I just want to confirm we’re talking about that as the one story.
Will: The fuckin’ masterpiece the book opens with? The story that asks hard questions of this particular Batman, for which he hath no answer? Yeah. It’s the first one. Daniel Warren Johnson absolutely got it in one. And as much as I consistently hate on a Punisher-assed Batman, there was something viscerally incredible about Bats fracturing an arm extended in a Nazi salute.
Yet as fun as it is to punch Nazis, we go right back to the roots of this character in his relationship with Thomas — and we see how Thomas took a distinctly different path in life. And we also see how Batman — at this point in his career — is utterly unable to reconcile his bloody war on crime with what his father (and surrogate father[s]) preached.
Matt: We have been doing this for too long, because I had the exact same thoughts about that scene with that white supremacist. I was overjoyed and not pleased with myself for being so happy about it. My inner Leslie Thompkins was shaking her head at me, man.
This story takes place before the events of the main series, since it’s where we see Batman get the vehicle he will turn into the giant-ass Batmobile that we see in the series, so it does serve as a nice prequel to what we’ve seen so far. I’m not sure how much he has learned from this point. Is he any less violent in the regular series? Maybe, but not by much.
I thought tying the main narrative in so neatly with the flashbacks really worked. It doesn’t always, but the same photo appearing in both stories, showing how Thomas affected and was affected by others? That his legacy endures in places that just aren’t Bruce, and in ways that Bruce’s anger won’t let him touch? It’s the kind of sad, introspective stuff that DWJ does better than nearly anybody.
Will: It’s the creamy emotional nougat this series has lacked since the first couple of issues. Is it fun tearing ass and tearing into people? You’re goddamned right it’s fun. But it will always ring hollow without some kind of deeper meaning to it. I mean, yes, I do enjoy a good bloody revenge story as much as the next guy, but as we have pointed out during our career, Batman has to mean more. He has to be better than simple revenge.
Matt: Will, you enjoy a bloody revenge story MORE than the next guy. How many weeks in a row have you brought up Sisu II on the pod, and we’re still nearly a month out.
Will: Some people go to church, Matt. Other people think about Sisu: Road to Revenge constantly.
Also, it’s three weeks, but who’s counting?
Matt: But yes, if you have, as you say, a Punisher-ass Batman, he should struggle with that. He should think about why he is the way he is, what it would mean to the people he is fighting for. It’s why Leslie Thompkins matters. She is the angel on his shoulder. He really hasn’t found that character in this universe. Leslie hasn’t appeared enough, we haven’t seen Martha serve that purpose, and Alfred, who sometimes does in the main universe, is as cold as they come in this one. I think Father Peters, the priest here, would be an excellent addition to the cast of the ongoing; the first original character to the universe. He reminds me a bit of Rabbi Cohen from the Bat-Man miniseries. The man of God who tries to speak of a better way to Batman, only this one is farther along the dark path than that one.
Will: That’s a good reminder that we’ve got to get around to covering Second Knight, my dude. But, yes, I thought Father Peters — someone every bit as relentless as Batman — was a great inclusion here. And certainly an echo of what Bruce could have been if not for the tragedy in his life. There’s got to be more “Batman as priest” stories aside from one of the craziest Batman premises ever, right?
Matt: That’s a good question. I can’t think of any off the top of my head. There are definitely Batman as holy crusader, but those aren’t quite the same thing. There’s a lot of potential in a Batman torn between a life of pacifism and a life of violence. But that’s some heavy stuff.
And just to say it, DWJ’s art throughout here is stunning. That double-page spread might be the highlight, but the splash of him saying, “This is my way!” is another memorable image. But his character moments are as good, if not better. Father Peters’ facial expressions, the looks on Thomas and young Bruce? They just draw you right in and break your heart.
Will: The final page is a masterstroke in composition, pairing the giant, hulking Batmobile with the usually hulking Batman shrinking into his own sadness. I am incredibly hard on writer-artists because 1) I am a jealous and petty person and 2) they are diverse and highly specialized skillsets, and most people don’t have all those tools. DWJ, however, acquits the fuck out of himself with this story.
Matt: That last part, as Bruce remembers his father’s words? That is some painful (in a good way) stuff. Even without the words, you can see him wondering if he doesn’t have the good heart Thomas assured him he does, as he looks at the literal blood on his hands. Just top notch stuff.
I didn’t dislike the other stories, but I don’t think either of them reaches anywhere near the heights of this first one.
Will: The problem, at least as I saw it, is the second story is simply a distant echo of the first. Thomas and Bruce are estranged by time and father. The father and son in the second story are estranged by the son shacking up with the Party Animals. The meat here is the same. On its own, this is perfectly fine, but it just can’t stand up to the first piece and is, in fact, actively harmed by following it.
Matt: Can’t argue that point. James Harren makes some good comics, and this is a fine one, but after a masterpiece, fine is a pale comparison, yes.
Will: I think it’s also hurt by the inclusion of the Party Animals. Maybe if this book came out just after the last arc — when they’re still an ongoing concern in the main series — it might hit harder. This story just felt over and done with in a couple of different ways.
Matt: I would have also liked to see Bruce react to the father and son. Ground it in a character we care about rather than two random characters we know we’ll never see again. There wasn’t enough with them to make me care about them in a way that made the end hit me emotionally.
Will: And that could be a space thing. I mean, the third piece is barely a thing at all. But I agree with you, we could have used a strong scene in which Batman does whatever he can to preserve the father-son relationship because he knows so personally what the absence of that relationship is like.
Matt: The third story, by Meredith McClaren, is just a cute little two-pager. I’m really glad it didn’t go where I was thinking it was going to, by the way. Since the first two focused on fathers and sons, and with the title “Let’s Learn about Bats,” and a young, dark-haired kid in the first panel, I was really worried this was going to revisit the death of Thomas Wayne near the bat house of the Gotham Zoo. But no, it’s just showing how different people in Gotham are reacting to Batman. Simple, quick and, as a fan of McClaren, I like seeing her art, but it’s standing in the shadows of giants again.
Will: It works in theory better than in execution. The punchline, as it were, is about bats being social, and that makes sense with the social media stuff. But the other factoids don’t play along as well, so it ultimately seems a bit more scattershot than it should have been. Clever idea, though.
Matt: I think we can say that this issue is definitely worth reading, whether you’re following Absolute Batman or not, and that if Scott Snyder ever needs to take a break from the main book, DWJ would be the guy to cover for an arc or two.
Will: A thousand percent yes. And if you’re not reading Absolute Batman, this is a great place to start.
Bat-miscellany
- Happy Halloween, everyone! This week, to celebrate this ever so spooky day, the BatChat podcast features three stories of Batman vs. werewolves.
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