Well, apparently, he still has his arms and did not become “Bat-Bane.”
ABSOLUTE BATMAN #12 goes full on with the shift from big-time “superhero stuff” to full-on horror — which writer Scott Snyder has been setting up from the beginning of the “Abomination” storyline.
We now know what Ark M is all about, as well as the fates of Bruce Wayne’s closet friends — who were destined to become the ABSOLUTE version of his A-list rogues’ gallery.
Yes, the origins of this world’s versions of Killer Croc, The Penguin, Two-Face, and The Riddler totally lean into the sci-fi and horror genres, which are outside my comfort zone of my personal Batman sensibilities (though I do have a soft spot for Batman comic book horror like the classic BATMAN: RED RAIN and the recent BATMAN: FULL MOON), Snyder is doing something different and fresh, yet very much Batman at the core with this title.
Like, if he wasn’t, what would be the point?
My only quibble is with the writer having all these characters refer to each other with shortened first-name nicknames…like “Mar” for Martha Wayne, “Se” for Selina, “Way” for Waylon, etc. It’s annoying AF.
For sure, we’re heading for the big dukeroo (See what I did there? between Bane and Batman) and I’m all in to see how this pans out…especially now that Bruce and Alfred are pretty much a team.
On yeah…
The issue ends with a bit of a cliffhanger as we meet another classic Batman villain (which is debatable) for the first time in their ABSOLUTE incarnation. If you’ve been reading, you know that it was coming.
Meow. – Bill “Jett” Ramey
GRADE: A-
