Absolute Batman, a return to Gotham, father-son bonding and more in a super-sized BatChat

A new world, a new Caped Crusader. Absolute Batman #1 is written by Scott Snyder, drawn by Nick Dragotta, colored by Frank Martin and lettered by Clayton Cowles.

Things seem to be improving in Gotham. Bruce Wayne’s new nonprofits are making a difference, and Batman is able to work less. But things never stay that way. Riddler has a new, “legitimate” corporate scheme, the Court of Owls is on the move and there’s a new vigilante with his own angle. Batman #153 is written by Chip Zdarsky, drawn by Jorge Jimenez, colored by Tomeu Morey and lettered by Clayton Cowles. 

Bruce and Damian Wayne are doing their best to live up to the Wayne name and do what’s right for Gotham. Well, Bruce is, but Damian is being a bit of a jerk about things. But a fundraiser never goes as planned in Gotham, with a new foe arriving with connections to Bruce’s past and the past of Gotham City. Batman and Robin #14 is written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, drawn by Javi Fernandez, colored by Marcelo Maiolo and lettered by Steve Wands.

When the Mystery Machine gets a flat, the gang has to stop off in a town haunted by a ghost car. What does the mysterious garage owner with the two-tone hair have to do with all of this? The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #10 is written by Amanda Deibert, drawn and colored by Erich Owen and lettered by Saida Temofonte.

Will Nevin: What a bad week to combine two weeks of columns into one, huh? Strap in, people, you’re going to be here a while.

Matt, I know I got your answer to this on the show, but I want to get it here since we’ve now read both All In and Absolute Batman #1: How many issues of Absolute Batman do you think we’re getting? At the very least, we know Scott Snyder is in for a five-issue arc to begin the book. 

As a second question, how long can DC keep this “two universe” thing going? 

Matt Lazorwitz: My money is the plan is a year, with the possibility of an extension if things are really selling well. As we discussed, aside from Batman and Justice League, Snyder has rarely done more than 14-18 issues on anything, and has focused on shorter runs in recent years, so I think we’re looking around there.

Will: The slow rollout is an interesting play. I personally don’t like the idea of waiting two weeks to get another Absolute book. But maybe that’s making me more likely to read it? Guess I’m a mark, huh?

Absolute Beginning

Will: Absolute Batman #1 is mostly fine in what it is attempting to do, assuming you’ll take a Batman who is both a knife pervert and only slightly less girthy than the Hulk. It also revels in the Elseworlds sin of insisting upon name checking most of the rogue’s gallery — Selina, Harvey, Oswald, Waylon, the whole gang (who seem to be Bruce’s friends here?). Oh, and Alfred is straight from Geoff Johns’ Batman: Earth One, a book that absolutely no one should read or pull anything from.

The only truly interesting thing here — and when I say “interesting,” I mean something like “an incisive, flashing warning sign to the festering political, commercial and cultural nightmare we have created for ourselves” — is Batman’s updated origin story.

It’s no longer the Monarch and The Mark of Zorro.

No, it’s a class trip to the zoo.

And Thomas Wayne dies protecting children in a mass casualty event.

We can talk about what the book does with its other 30 or so pages (most of which seem, quite frankly, fairly wasted but fun, at least) but this central choice to reframe the tragedy at the heart of Bruce Wayne’s being is a crushing indictment of who we are as Americans and what we continue to accept as a normal fact of life. If we were creating Batman de novo, beginning from white parchment and clean canvas, of course it would be a mass shooting. That’s the Batman for 2024. That’s the world we live in. The one we have made.

I am angry and sad after reading this book. But that’s not directed at Scott Snyder, a good writer who did what good writers do. I am angry and sad because his choice speaks to the real world and our continual willingness to let children and friends and neighbors die at schools and stores and zoos.

I am so angry. And sad.

And tired.

Matt: I can’t say anything more eloquent about the update to Batman’s origin. It is different; far more different than Earth One, “Zero Year” or any other attempts that just reskin the original version into modern times. And it is affecting. Far more than when I have seen similar topics used in superhero comics, mostly because the superhero doesn’t get involved. Having a superhero stop a mass casualty event has a visceral satisfaction, a wish fulfillment, but it always rings hollow, because there are no real goddamn superheroes in the world we live in. And that always leaves an ache in my stomach.

I’m not surprised to walk out of a Scott Snyder comic feeling this way. We’ve talked about this on the podcast, and maybe here in the column, but more than any other writer in modern comics, Snyder writes to exorcize the demons of his own fear. And as a father, this is the kind of thing I can only imagine weighs heavily on him. And as we live through another election cycle where a major political candidate is talking about immigrant boogeymen eating our pets, well, I don’t think Snyder is afraid of that, but I think he sees the fear that stirs, and is using that to craft a Gotham weighed down by the fear of crime run rampant.

The Elseworlds sin is at its worst in the last-page epilogue for me, because I felt the idea of establishing the people who Bruce will (may?) go onto fight as his enemies worked a little better. Establishing that Bruce will go a different way than the people he grew up with and that will create a schism can work, and I’m trying to, as you say, view this as an almost de novo take on Batman, and that is a concept that could bear good narrative fruit. But introducing the Joker, well, that’s a hat on a hat in issue #1. I’m still wrestling with the idea of the inversion of Joker being the ungodly wealthy and Bruce not. It definitely feels like something that is born of our distrust of the mega-wealthy, but again, I don’t know if it’s just a bit too much.

Will: One of the least interesting things you can do in a Batman story is bring in Joker, even if it is Joker: The Man Who *Never* Laughs. It’s never surprising, and no matter how much you futz with the character, it’s never novel. But it’s a compulsion, I get it. I still can’t get over how few new ideas we got here outside of the big (and big and meaty) changes to Batman. Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock are around and in gigs they’ve had before. Hell, even Alfred James Bond Pennyworth is still estranged from his daughter. Maybe we’ll get more of our expectations subverted as we go along?

Matt: This is just the first issue, despite being a big one. We can’t expect every new idea to be here. I think we set a lot of pieces on the board and need to see where they settle. Writing something like this needs to stroke a happy medium between completely new and completely familiar. I don’t know if this hit it, but Snyder was trying.

And I want to be clear: You’re not going to be able to build a new Batman without Joker. My problem was you didn’t need Joker now. We didn’t need to tie that little bow, connecting him to Alfred this early. Although, as I say that, doing it now does defuse the expectations bomb. I don’t know if there’s a win on that one.

Will: And he doesn’t necessarily have to come back for another five or 10 issues. I would be OK with that. Before we get to the physical and philosophical changes to Batman and Bruce, how about talking about one more tweak to the origin: He’s no longer an orphan. We see Martha very much alive and well, and given how Alfred’s narration talks about Thomas in the present tense, I’m not entirely sure he’s dead either.

Matt: That brought me up a bit short. This is The Darkest Timeline, after all. Yet Batman has the one thing he has always wanted and can never get over on the Prime Earth. I’m expecting there to be a twist to this; not immediately, but sooner or later. Whether it’s “the man who has a family has something to lose,” or that Bruce-Prime is going to find this hell world yet it’s a world where his mother is alive. But that latter might be a bit too Flashpoint.

Will: Now we’re finally to it: How do you feel about Knife Pervert Hulk Batman? This guy loves making bad guys bleed, doesn’t he?

Matt: The fact that he’s built like a tank, I don’t have too much of an issue with. It’s visually distinct and sets him apart from floppy hair, emo Absolute Superman. I am holding out on the verdict on the knives. My deep, longtime, inner Batman fan is always leery of a Batman who treads that close to Punisher territory (that territory being high violence), but Alfred does point out he is going out of his way not to kill, so Snyder is maintaining the import of The One Rule. 

My concern here is that, by stripping away Batman’s wealth, it gives creators the license to let him be more violent. You avoid the cliche of, “He’s a rich guy beating up the poor and mentally ill” by saying he’s not rich anymore. Snyder is a better writer than that, but I want to see where he goes. Is there a learning curve here? Is he going from a vigilante to a hero, one who will temper vengeance with justice? Or is it just extreme?

Will: One benefit to knives and/or axes is that you can make those yourself, and if Forged in Fire has taught me anything, it’s that any ol’ dumb dumb can do it. We still have some open questions as to how long this Bruce has been at it, who his allies might be and what his relationship with the police, Gordon and Bullock are like. (Please, let’s reverse the traditional Gordon friendly/Bullock unfriendly dynamic, if only just for fun. It’ll give Mayor Gordon room to grow.) We’ll get some of those answers, I know, but it might be better to not spend a lot of time explaining how Regular Joe Bruce Wayne can afford all this stuff.  

Matt: It will work best if it’s like Peter Parker and his web formula: the logistics of how he affords it only comes up when it has a story purpose, and otherwise we just take it as a given.

For whatever bumps there might have been in the road here, I am definitely in for the second issue. Snyder is telling a story we haven’t seen from him before, and Dragotta is at the top of his game. Even if you don’t like the look of Batman, it is drawn very well.

Will: I’m going to fuck up this analogy, but this was a prelude with many familiar notes, albeit arranged in a different order. But I’m with you: I’m interested to see where the song goes from here.

Buy Absolute Batman #1 here.

A Bold New(ish) Era

Matt: I had my doubts about where we might be going with the “All In” era of Batman. As you have said, it sounds like another “Gotham in peril” story. And while this first issue didn’t assuage all those doubts, this comic had more Bruce Wayne in it than anything we’ve seen since the early issues of Mariko Tamaki’s Detective Comics, and I am very excited to see Bruce doing something, not just Batman.

Will: And there are actual plot lines instead of existential crises! The Riddler is up to some shenanigans, the Court of Owls and Lincoln March (possibly?) are fluttering about and Mayor Nakano just took two to the chest. This was the most interesting issue of Batman we’ve had in … at least a year? 

Matt: It was the most plot heavy, at least. Issue #150 was a nice character piece, and #149 had some good Bat family drama, but this is building events happening in Gotham. In all of the previous arcs of this run, we haven’t really gotten a feel for what is going on in the city; it’s just been a lot of telling us that things are bad. Here, we see that things are good. And the only thing worse than bad things in Gotham? The bad things that happen after the good things.

Will: Where would we be if things were actually good in Gotham? I liked how all of these developments seemed reasonable — unlike, for example, a certain scoundrel being installed as police commissioner. But we even got a justification for that nonsense! 

Matt: I want to go back and look at the issue where that happened. I remember him being installed by rich folk, but I don’t remember if they made it clear there it was the Court of Owls. And I have a bad feeling Nakano isn’t making it out of that last page, which is a shame, as, again, he hasn’t had this much personality since Tamaki’s run. I like when the Gotham civic structure is part of the ongoing narrative.

Will: I have retreated, as many scoundrels do, to the text, specifically Batman #140, where we meet Leonid Kull (the man blackmailing Nakano) and he pitches Vandal Savage on the idea of becoming police commissioner. Kull says, “I belong to a society not as old as you, I’m afraid, but quite old.” So saying the Court without saying the Court, basically. And speaking of Gotham civic structures, one sneaky development here: Harvey Bullock is back on the force. 

Matt: Yeah, I’m curious to see exactly how that came about, especially after they showed Montoya, his partner and friend, the door. I have a feeling Harv didn’t just need the health insurance; that guy doesn’t go to the doctor on a regular basis.

Will: What a total coincidence that Montoya is gone and (as we see in DC All In) the Question now has a prominent role in the Justice League. Wonder if those two things are related. Hmm. But, yeah, if Bullock is there to just be my voice and rave about how this is obviously a bad idea, I’m here for it. It’s been a while since we’ve had palace intrigue in Gotham like this. 

Matt: You mentioned Riddler earlier, and Eddie running a crypto and cybersecurity empire is the best use of the character since his PI days during the Dini ‘Tec. Add in the fact that he is patenting stolen tech from other villains for his own uses? That’s a great idea!

Will: Jesus, Matt, I was having such a good day, and then you had to go off and remind me about that. OK, for all of you comic book writers out there, here’s how intellectual property law works: Patents cover inventions, copyrights protect artistic expression and trademarks identify the source of goods in commerce.

Matt: So this isn’t a patent?

Will: Oh, it is for sure. But Riddler’s line “Are you going to tell dear Mr. Freeze, deep in the bowels of Arkham, that he has a copyright case on his hands?” was stupid as shit.

Matt: Ah, I think you have rubbed off on me enough that I knew the right term anyway, even if I didn’t remember Eddie used the wrong one. Still, my defense of the concept stands, even if it uses the wrong term. And it opens Riddler up to all kinds of trouble down the line if this is a status quo shift and not just for this story.

Will: I blame Chip Zdarsky’s Canadianness, but your point generally stands. Eddie has always been a troll. Now he’s a patent troll. That could be fun.

Matt: Last but not least, we have Commander Star, Gotham’s new answer to U.S. Agent from over in Marvel, the right-wing, flag-wrapped hero. I’m not sure what angle he’s playing, or who he’s answering to. The Owls? Savage? 

Will: Star, when combined with the accusations of Bruce being a “commie” and supporting migrants, seems like we’re ever so gently dipping a toe into politics. Good! I want to see some right-wing chodes get real mad after reading this arc.

Matt: I’ll say it again for people in the cheap seats: Comics have been political since Action Comics #1, when Superman beat up shitty landlords.

Buy Batman #153 here.

Fathers and Sons

Matt: I can almost believe that DC was clever and intentionally released this book the same week as Absolute intentionally. There are rhymes between the two books. While that book deals with a Bruce who isn’t wealthy, this book is all about Bruce using his wealth for good. The use of death masks in both also seems almost intentional. But deep down, I know this is nothing more than a coincidence. But it’s still kinda cool that it happened.

I am a little disappointed that Damian seems to have reverted to his younger, surly self here. So much of the previous run was him growing up, but here he seems like the grouchy little shit he was for so many years.

Will: Oh, he is very grouchy, isn’t he? That’s the trouble in getting a new writer — progress gets reset a little, doesn’t it? This Batman also seems a little … militaristic. But that could also be me unfairly reading into some precision around the house and use of code words.

Matt: Yes, neither voice is exactly what we’re used to. I don’t think they’re bad, and we’re only in the first issue of the run, so there is plenty of grace to be given to a writer whose work I generally like, but my first impression is that it’s just OK. 

I think even more than the previous run, this is going to be a lot about fathers and sons. We not only get Bruce and Damian, but there are discussions of both Thomas Wayne and Ra’s al Ghul. Another parallel with Absolute, as I think about it. And we are talking about legacy here, and Damian would not be the first teenager to not understand why legacy is important.

Will: There’s nothing quite like the feeling of thinking Ra’s is about to pop up because someone pronounces him definitively dead. I liked how Bruce took the time — even as he was heading into a fight — to tell Damian he had crossed a line, and they’d need to talk about it. This book only has a reason to be if it explores the father/son relationship in all contexts, and I want to see that continue.

Matt: Johnson’s work on Action Comics was about Superman the leader and Superman the family man, exploring him and Lois taking in a couple of young refugees from an alien world and being a dad, so it’s a topic that his work at DC has touched on before. Damian is a very different kid, and I like that we do see some of the growth he has gone through, even if he has taken a step back after taking two forward. The fact that he realized he hurt the feelings of the little girl is something a Damian from his earliest appearances never would.

Will: Hurting her feelings *killed* me — and certainly underscores how Damian has a difficult time relating to children not trained to kill.

Matt: I do have one last concern on this: There’s only so many dark secrets the past of Gotham can have. Connecting this to something from 1892 is a neat idea, but for those of us who have been reading Batman a long time, there is going to have to be something special to make it not feel like the Court of Owls or any of the other dark secrets of Gotham’s past.

Will: When you can invent history, there’s always more stuff to imagine.

Matt: True. And I liked Javi Fernandez’s art. It’s somewhere in between house style and a gritty, Michael Lark style. It definitely works for a Bat book.

Will: This is *much* more visually similar to the rest of the line, which is a win for ol’ Will.

Buy Batman and Robin #14 here.

I Always Say, Reviewing Comics Saves Lives

Matt: The best Bat/Scoob stories are the ones that really capture elements of both series. This issue, while far from bad, feels more like a Scooby-Doo episode where Batman has a walk-on role. There are some delightful moments in it, though. The whole scene in the diner with Velma and the townies had me laughing out loud, for one.

Will: And Velma commiserating with Harley about not being appreciated for their intelligence? Incredible. I’ll agree with you that this felt like more of a Scoob book, but it also had me questioning why we don’t read more of those. This was a fun time, for sure. 

Matt: I think there’s a collection of some of DC’s best Scooby-Doo comics coming out soon. Might have to check that out. The ghost car is a concept right out of a Scooby-Doo episode. And the villain working as a local mechanic? I can absolutely see that as well. Although I don’t know if it would have worked better if the whole thing hadn’t so obviously been Harley from jump. I felt like the mystery is part of the charm of a Scooby story, and there was no mystery here.

Will: Well, we do have the mystery of what was actually making the car drive? Was it mechanical or was it actually haunted? Also, nice sneaky reference in naming the car Geraldine, which is close enough to Christine for me to count it as a nod to Stephen King.

Matt: No doubt. 

It’s strange to see the design combo on Harley here. The hair is modern, anti-hero Harley, but under the coveralls she’s wearing her classic jester outfit and is still hung up on Mr. J. The hair had me wondering if Harley was a red herring, actually, since that is the look of the usually more heroic Harley.

Will: That was a weird choice, but I guess it’s better than pretending the mechanic isn’t Harley for the whole issue? The hair was a dead giveaway.

Matt: I guess we do have to occasionally remember that this comic is geared for kids, and accept that there’s going to be some hints that are pretty darn obvious, huh?

Will: And, hey, I don’t mind the occasional hint either.

Buy The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #10 here.

Bat-miscellany

• It’s October, the spookiest month, and so the BatChat podcast is diving headlong into it with a month of episodes focused on Bat rogues. Our first two Villains Month episodes feature first Mr. Zsasz and second, who else but Two-Face.
• Four books this week? Well, Matt may or may not have forgotten to send over last week’s column to be edited because he was working on the All In roundtable, so this week’s column is bonus sized!
• Leslie Thompkins was back in Batman. This makes Matt happy.

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