Summary

Crates filled with guns, masks, and an invitation to violence have been dropped all over Gotham, and the chaos and greed are spreading like wildfire. Waylon ‘Croc’ Jones stands ready to defend his gym, as Bruce busts through the front doors and telling him “I’m Batman, and I need your help”.

We drift back to a time of peace where this gang of friends is having a simple sleepover at Bruce’s house. As Martha cuts through the usual chatter amongst the kids, a stranger stands in the shadows and shoots her dead. Bruce then awakens from his nightmare and slides into the arms of his mother on the couch downstairs. As Martha is organizing photos, Bruce tells her that the photo of him and his friends was taken the morning of the Zoo trip.

Martha places one of the masks on and sees the offerings it has to anyone inside Gotham. 50k for a simple robbery, 150k for an assault, and you even have the chance to kill a high value target like Jim Gordan for a million dollars. While Gordan insists that Martha leaves, she stands by his side as his Deputy Mayor. No one is safe and the city of Gotham has been turned into everyone’s personal Battle Royal. There quickly surrounded by mask wearing, gun toting, citizens of Gotham, all wanting a piece of the pie that they feel has been gatekept from them. While Martha is trying to reason with them, saying that this is what Black Mask wants and the only way to stop this is by not playing the game, her bounty has also been increased to a million dollars.

Ozzie is pissed, and so are all of Bruce’s friends over the reveal that he is Batman. Ozzie is chewing him out as they fly over the ocean, looking to find Ronan’s yacht where the local broadcast for the Party Animals mask is located. With Ozzie’s curses in his ear Batman drops from the plane, smashing into DJ Benjamin’s set, and begins to kick each of these tentacle henchmen off the boat, with a life jacket attached to them of course

As Ronan jumps from the top rope of his yacht, this final standoff begins. While Roman starts his mustache twirling Bond Villain speech, Batman doesn’t have time for that as he smashes him through a wall and beats him with a bowling ball. Roman gets a garrote around Batman neck and we see flashes of that moment when Bruce was curled up with his mother on the couch. She knew the photo was taken at the zoo, but all it did was bring her hope and a feeling that Bruce will make a difference one day. Out of everyone though, Thomas Wayne was always hopeful about Bruce. Batman’s mechanical bat ears rotate, and smash into the eyes of the Black Mask.

Batman then throws Ronan into the waters, with a life jacket of course, and proceeds to destroy the Party Animal Servers. As Martha is standing her ground, the value on her head drops to zero and those peole in the masks hand their head. “Does that mean there’s no money?” Martha decks him as her voice echoes in Bruce’s mind. “ I want you to know I’m proud of you…use the pain to be even more determines, more hopeful…you work every day to stop those bad things from ever happening again. That’s how you win against the nightmares. As Batman sinks to the bottom of the ocean, Alfred swings by in the Bat-Dumpster, and patches him up.

Review

Here we are, the conclusion of the first arc of Absolute Batman and I can say that I am perfectly satisfied. Coming into this comic it was advertised to be as the grittiest Batman has ever been and while I can see that angle, I feel like this arc struck a nice balance between using the familiar tropes of Batman’s story, but pushing them to a point where we see a different outcome. The event that led to his fathers death isn’t just a personal tragedy, it’s a moment that the whole city remembers. Black mask isn’t threatening the citizens of Gotham, he’s turning them into weapons themselves. It’s a deeper look into not just the psyche of one villain but the entire city and how society is operating.

Bruce isn’t just operating as a masked vigilante to avenge the death of his father. His origin story spends more time focusing on the knowledge he has gained throughout his life rather than the physical training he has endured to beat up bad guys more efficiently. We get to see plenty of his physical abilities throughout these comics, and in a way that is very entertaining to read, but I think his understanding of the heartbeat of a city stands out overall.

We also get to dive into the psyche of Bruce throughout this arc through the use of these flashbacks. We don’t just get an info dump in the first comic, they are spread out across the issues and are used to understand Bruce’s motivation in that moment. These panels are often interwoven with what is happening presently, were jumping between the past and the present and it gives it almost a cinematic vibe. With the use of these smaller panels it not only helps us connect these two moments in time, but it allows these us as a reader to digest each moment quickly but effectively.

Just like any other great story, this one is not shy about laying the groundwork for the future. Were introduced to plenty of characters that we recognize from the common lore of Batman but give us that intriguing twist that keep us on the hook. Batman’s greatest villains are all his childhood friends and not only that, they know that he is Batman now. We have seen Bruce utilize his friend’s skills to help him defeat Black Mask and it’s definitely an interesting idea to toy with if they end up being his allies in the next arc rather than his enemies.

Overall I am really satisfied with the issue, but also this first arc overall. I wouldn’t be shocked if I come back this story again in a year or two and I think this is a great example you can look to if you want to see a hero in a different angle, but no so drastically that they become unrecognizable. There are some great story beats, incredible artwork, and moments that I will stick in my brain for sure.

The Moments

As a parents I think one of the greatest feelings is when your child comes to you for comfort, no matter what the reasoning is. It feels good to know that you lived a life that they can look up to and know that no matter what, you will always be there for them. I think this arc is doing a great job of setting Martha up to be an outstanding character and a rock that Bruce can look to throughout his life. I’m interested to see where she lands, and hope she doesn’t get pushed aside because I think it’s giving us a great perspective on the city of Gotham and into who Bruce is as a person.

One of the more intriguing parts of this comics for me revolves around Selene. We see that she is another anchor point for Bruce after the tragedy at the zoo, but she doesn’t make an appearance in the current time. She obviously isn’t forgotten about and seems to be one of the stronger members of the group of kids because everyone keeps talk about her. I think were getting set up for another great character and I’m eager for that moment.

I mean… just look at the panel. The choice to include this is absolutely wild

This is a little bit of shameful plug, but I couldn’t help but notice the connection between this series of panels and the very first episode we covered on the Cinema Slime Podcast, The Untouchables. It feels like a direct pull from one of the final shots in the movie where Frank Nittie says an almost identical line.

I mentioned above that this series was advertised to me as one of the grittiest takes on Batman and that I liked the balance they struck through ought these first issues. We then get this epilogue moment where Joker hears then news of what happened in Gotham and asks them to get Bane and send him. This is a moment though were I go… really? Covering yourself in babies to srot of absorb there life force seems a bit over the top. We’ll see where it leads, I have a feeling Joker is gonna end up being this mastermind that is pulling all the strings rather than personally confronting Batman. We shall see.