Writer Scott Snyder is on one hell of a Bat-run on ABSOLUTE BATMAN. This title has that something that’s rarely seen in the mainstream Batman comics, which is probably because Snyder and co. are not handcuffed and stifled by continuity. It’s like a mishmash of ELSEWORLDS or BLACK LABEL Batman, but also a monthly like the legacy titles. As I’ve said before while reviewing this title, everything about ABSOLUTE BATMAN is fresh and new, yet familiar and very Batman at the same time.
In issue #9, we are finally introduced to the ABSOLUTE version of Bane (And yes, I hear Tom Hardy’s Bane voice from THE DARK KNIGHT RISES whenever I read a story that includes Bane!). He’s the most horrific and physically badass version of the character that we’ve seen since he was introduced in the (overrated, like HUSH) KNIGHTFALL saga. I mean, he can crush a man’s head like a tomato with one hand…and his right one at that (Bane is left-handed)! Yes, we know that the ABSOLUTE incarnation of Batman is a really big dude, but this Bane makes him look like a pipsqueak. This issue ends with Batman in a very tight spot that Ulysses Everett McGill could appreciate.
Also in this issue — and before Batman meets Bane and finds himself in a tight spot — Bruce Wayne’s childhood buddy Waylon Jones has gone missing. It appears as if he has been taken to the new and mysterious facility known as “Ark M.”
For help, this Batman has a much bigger “team” around him (but no GD kid sidekicks…though the ABSOLUTE version of Dick Grayson is kinda-sorta introduced in this issue), which includes Alfred Pennyworth and Bruce’s childhood pals Ozzy, Eddie, and Harvey. He also has his mother, Martha Wayne, family friend Jim Gordon, and his daughter, GCPD officer Barbara, though they do not know about Bruce’s Batman thing.
And then there’s Selina. Stay tuned, I suppose.
Anyway, in his search for his buddy Waylon and with the help of his friends, Batman makes his way into Ark M…and eventually into that aformentioned tight spot.
Surgery?!
Looking forward to seeing how all this plays out in the next issue or several in what is in my opinion, the best Batman monthly going right now. – Bill “Jett” Ramey