Absolute Batman Vol. 2
Plot Summary and Credits
While investigating a mysterious black site off the coast of Gotham City known as Ark M, Bruce Wayne learns about a scientist named Victor Fries from a childhood friend, who is killed before he can share any more information. At Fries’ lab, Batman is captured and placed into a cryogenic tank alongside dozens of other unfortunate individuals. After narrowly escaping, Batman is forced to fight against Fries’ frozen victims, allowing the mad scientist to get away. Meanwhile, Bruce’s friend Waylon Jones is kidnapped and taken to Ark M, where Batman faces the genetically enhanced mercenary Bane. Batman remains a prisoner in Ark M for weeks, experimented in by scientists, hunted by Bane, and eventually injected with the same venom that gave Bane his strength. Waylon, now the mutant Killer Croc, helps Batman escape before vanishing into the sewers. When Batman wakes up after recovering from his injuries, he learns that Bane has hunted and mutilated his closest friends. When Bruce’s old flame Selina; now the criminal Catwoman; returns to Gotham, she helps him to enlist the vigilante organisation known as the Red Hood Gang for a final battle with Bane. With the help of Alfred, Catwoman, Killer Croc and the Red Hood, Batman used the venom that he was injected with to overload Bane’s strength and seemingly destroy him. His still-living remains are kept by his employer, a mysterious billionaire known as the Joker, who forced him to watch his home and family burn as punishment for his failure.
Scott Snyder (writer), Nick Dragotta, Marcos Martín, Clay Mann (artists), Frank Martin, Muntsa Vicente, Ivan Plascencia (colourists), Clayton Cowles (letterer), Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger
Collects Absolute Batman #7-14
My Copy
I’d been waiting for this release for months. I’d started collecting the individual issues of the series, but was missing number seven, so I wouldn’t be able to read on in my collection until I had the collected paperback. On the morning it was due to come out, couldn’t find it in the comic shop, so I continued on to class with a heavy heart. That afternoon, I followed the impulse to have another look, and, as if to reward my perseverance, there was a whole shelf filled with them.
Before Reading
As you may have gathered from my above account, I was really excited to keep reading this series. I know that letting your hype build up for a while can sometimes lead to disappointment, but I wasn’t worried. Let the hype flow through you, I thought.
After Reading
Once again, I was thoroughly impressed by the latest entry to the Absolute Universe. Even without all of the wealth and gadgets, this Batman is still very much Batman. He’s almost inhumanly strong, incredibly intelligent and scarily resourceful (he uses a feeding tube to weaponise his own stomach acid), and his violent tendencies don’t lead him to stray from his roots. His relationships with his childhood friends add an extra layer to his character, giving him both a great deal to lose and a tangible connection to the city and people he protects, without affecting his solitary personality. When each of them is uniquely mauled by Bane, they all feel more distant from Bruce, who already tries to avoid them in order to keep them safe. This will undoubtedly drive a wedge between them, leading to what I can only imagine will be intriguing new versions of three iconic villains.
Bane is without a doubt my favourite part of this storyline. When I introduced my younger brother to the Absolute Universe and its reimagined characters, he jokingly asked if Absolute Bane was “the most swole guy ever,” and his description is not inaccurate. This new version takes his venom-enhanced strength to the extreme, turning him into an even bigger physical threat than we’ve ever seen before. On top of that, he’s as smart as he is strong. He studies Batman’s strategies and ideologies, learning how to hit him where it really hurts, and he becomes all the scarier when he targets Bruce’s friends (potentially creating three more Absolute renditions of classic villains). He’s almost on par with Batman in this way; a balance of brains and muscle who doesn’t let either get the better of him, and it’s only when he leans on his enhanced strength that he’s finally beaten in spectacularly gory fashion. There’s also a tragic layer to him, where he can be seen as little more than a pawn in a much bigger plan, especially when we learn that he isn’t the first to be injected with the venom. We haven’t seen much of the Absolute Joker yet, but his cruelty towards the defeated Bane and his people sets him up to be especially despicable.
Catwoman makes another fine addition to the Absolute lineup. Out of all the characters we’ve seen so far, she’s the one who sticks the closest to the original; a seclusive antihero who occasionally stops by for a romantic encounter with Bruce and usually has an ulterior motive to helping him. This doesn’t make her appearance any less entertaining, and it’s almost a benefit to have a familiar archetype in this mismatched setting. She’s got her own solo series scheduled for later this year, so I’m sure it’ll be interesting to see her fleshed out a bit.
Like I said in my review of Volume One, the thing that I enjoy the most about Absolute Batman is its ability to balance silliness with seriousness. Much of Batman’s gear is a bunch of hardcore, violent nonsense that probably wouldn’t work in real life, but it’s given a veneer of gritty realism that sells it without letting it seem like a joke (I refer again to the use of weaponised stomach acid). The final fight with the exploding Bane could easily have come across as completely ridiculous or horrifically disturbing, but is instead a mix of the two, feeling right at home in a collection that also gives us a crocodile monster with a mouth that spans half of his torso.
Closing Thoughts
Absolute Batman keeps on delivering, mixing craziness and grittiness in a way that doesn’t feel like it should work and reimagining iconic characters in fun new ways. Now I begin my long wait for vol. 3.
If you’ve been reading my reviews since the beginning, you may recall my entry on Transformers: Windblade, where I promised to cover the storyline that set it up. I’ll be fulfilling that promise next week with a look at a war between giants.
