ABSOLUTE BATMAN
The Axeman Cometh
COMICS
★★★★★
▶ RELEASED
OUT NOW!
▶ Publisher DC Comics
▶ Writer Scott Snyder
▶ Artist Nick Dragotta
ISSUES 1-3 It’d be
very
easy to look at DC’s latest Batman title and think “Another alternate version of the Dark Knight? So what?” The Batman mythos has been remixed countless times, making it difficult to imagine there are fresh approaches left. But Absolute Batman is the unprecedented exception to the rule, and one of the most exciting superhero comics in a long while.
This is especially surprising since the pitch for DC’s new Absolute universe – accessible new takes on classic characters – is similar to Marvel’s current rebooted version of their Ultimate universe. However, DC have the edge in terms of adventurousness, considering how completely Absolute Batman up-ends everything we know about the Caped Crusader.
Most notably, Bruce Wayne is no longer the scion of Gotham’s richest family – instead, he’s a working-class city engineer whose father was killed in a mass shooting when he was a child.