Warning: Spoilers for Absolute Batman #4Things are heating up asAbsolute Batman’sfirst arc barrels towards an epic conclusion.Since DC All In beganin earnest, fans everywhere have been enamored with the series and its more raw, brutal, and oversized version of the Caped Crusader.
AfterDarkseid’s physical body was destroyed, his residual energy created the Absolute Universe, a world built on strife and turmoil. In this alternate universe,Batman lacks the Wayne Family fortuneand is fighting a war with whatever innovative weapons he can cobble together. AsAbsolute Batman’sfirst story arc reaches a turning point, Screen Rant sits down with series' writer Scott Snyder to look back on Bruce’s past and what’s coming next.
Screen Rant: Scott, it’s been about three months since DC All In/the Absolute line began. What has it been like seeing the reception among fans?
Scott Snyder: It’s been overwhelming, honestly. And humbling and thrilling. I’ll be perfectly frank, I was really terrified going into it, not knowing if it would work. We had really big ambitions with it, me and Josh Williamson, where we’ve been talking about it forever, and DC had been incredibly supportive once we started really planning it back in 2022, but you never know. The way it grew was we had this idea that it felt like this big cultural conversation happening in the zeitgeist. It felt like it was focused on this idea that superheroes were over. You know, that the biggest stories had been told, and yet in comics, it felt like not only were great stories happening, but there was potential to really show them that this is the medium where these characters live their biggest stories and are renewed and all of that kind of stuff. So we wanted to do something that was like an initiative that we were lucky enough to be a part of a couple times in our careers, like the New 52 or Rebirth, where the whole company comes together to make a statement and offer, offer a line that’s indicative of the priorities of DC at that moment. For us, that was very much about showing the elasticity of superhero comics as a genre, that we could reinvent the superheroes, our main characters, in ways that would make them feel more exciting and resonant. And then, at the same time, offer you continuing stories in the main books, with jumping on points that would feel, you know, really epic.
But to add to that, the common wisdom was also that it was a tough market. You know, there was streaming superhero movies, speculator market. A lot of the things that create bubbles within the industry weren’t really around anymore. And so what we did was, we went to retailers. We went to Third Eye comics, some of the biggest ones in the country, Midtown Comics, Forbidden Planet, Golden Apple, a bunch of places, and talked to the retailers who we’ve gotten to know over the years, and said, “Look, we’re thinking of doing this initiative at DC, but we want to know, like, what do you think the fan appetite is for it. Should we do a few books, should we do a couple, one absolute book to start, what should we do?” And all of them said the same thing, which was do all of it, go as big as you can, and the fans will show up. But I was like “Am I the one steering DC into the iceberg?” Like, is this going to be something where my friends who work there lose their jobs, because we spent all this money on the initiative itself and promoting it, and then what if nobody shows up? So it was really scary, not because I worry about my book not selling, so much as you worry about being responsible for something that hurts comics or hurts DC, when you care about not just the characters, but the people who work there, who I’ve been friends with now for quite a while. So to have the response be this positive, is one of the best moments of my life, honestly, not just to Absolute Batman, but to see Absolute Wonder Woman sell two hundred thousand copies and see Absolute Superman sell out, and see Justice League sell out. But the retailers are right that when you build something ambitious, fans want that, and they’ll show up. They want you to take risks and challenge yourself. And it’s so inspiring, honestly, to see. So I’m just extremely grateful to retailers and fans for making this something that we can all be a part of at DC, because we’re really just thrilled.
Let’s dive intoAbsolute Batman #4. The previous issue ended with a major cliffhanger, but we’re going back in time and seeing Absolute Batman’s… I hesitate to say origin, but definitely his growth. What makes now the best time to examine this part of his life?
Scott Snyder: That’s a great question, because the cliffhanger, without giving too much away, that we left off on in issue three, sort of positions him in a way where he might become a lot more like the main universe Batman, where he’s offered a lot of money and resources if he’ll do something he doesn’t want to do for the villain. But if he does do it, then he’ll have access to all the things that the main universe Batman has. So it felt like a good moment to re-examine the core values of this Batman and why he does what he does. And the other reason it felt really appropriate to do this story now, which is almost like our Batman: Year One, was that up until now, we’ve told the story from Alfred’s point of view. A lot of that is because for me, writing Absolute Batman is writing from Alfred’s standpoint. I am more like Alfred at this point in my life than I am Bruce. And when I wrote Batman the first time 15 years ago, I was very much writing myself into Bruce. Bruce was there to make me brave in the face of the things that I was scared of about myself and my place in the world and all of that. But this time around, my fears have much more to do with the world my kids are facing than I’m facing. And so Batman is the spirit that I see in them and a young generation of people who kind of refuse to accept the world the way it is, no matter what the odds are, no matter what the challenges are. And so it felt like after writing the book from Alfred’s point of view as an outsider looking in and being inspired by Batman for a while, it was time to give readers a glimpse into Batman’s actual psychology, and give a more intimate portrait of what his belief is, about what this Batman stands for, and why he’s important.
One of the things that I love about this series is that it really doesn’t run away or gloss over the anger Bruce feels. There’s a scene with a younger Bruce in court where he addresses Joe Chill that has so much pain and hurt in it. Do you want to talk about making a, I guess you could say, emotionally honest Batman story?
Scott Snyder: We always tried to make him really honest when we were writing him before, but being inside of a system and being at its kind of forefront just gives you a different leverage, where he doesn’t have to rage at things. He’s full of rage, that Batman too, but he has so much more access and he’s able to change things as Bruce as well. And our Batman, when I was writing with Greg, was always involved as Bruce Wayne in whatever charities and civic projects he could do by day and at night, he was Batman. And so there was more, I just think, more agency to him in terms of being able to affect the world as a billionaire, whereas this Bruce feels more reflective of the way I think the vast majority of people here in America, but also around the world, feel right now, which is that the levers of power are largely out of reach a lot of the time. And that the gap between people that have access to those things and the rest of us is growing every year, vastly and exponentially. And so I think that from this point of view and from that position, this Bruce would be angrier, because you feel more helpless, you feel more disenfranchised. You feel like “How am I supposed to change anything?”. And so that raw feeling of absolute fury is part of who he is. But the thing we’re trying to do with this issue is really show him at his lowest point, when he yells at Joe Chill, and he won’t listen to him in court, he does not want to hear anything he has to say. All he wants is for him to rot and die in jail, which is a valid response. And like you, I understand those emotions and that part of the issue is sort of his lowest point. When he revisits Chill, to talk to him and understand why he did what he did. Not necessarily forgive him, but learn the problem. That’s the high point of the issue and it’s kind of the most generous and aspirational way to see Bruce.
Scott Snyder: He’s building Batman differently, in three different iterations, between those two points, between anger and fear to generosity and compassion. That’s why I think Gabriel was such a…I feel so lucky to have him on the issue. He’s such an architectural artist. And he builds, he builds pages that have this geometry to them. And so it echoes this idea, as Bruce is trying to figure out how to build a Batman that fits this world, fits this moment in time, fits this challenge. The art sort of mirrors that, and it’s in its design and application in different ways.
Another aspect of the Absolute Universe that I appreciate is these through lines shared with the Prime DC Universe, because going into DC All In, we heard so much about what the heroes don’t have that the times we get to see the things they do have, they hit a lot harder. Case in point, you focus a lot of attention on Bruce’s relationship with his father here. How important is that to what you’re building with Absolute Batman?
Scott Snyder: It’s huge. The hard thing when you’re designing something like these books, for Jason, for Kelly, for Deniz, for Jeff and Al, is you want the characters to be underdogs, and that was the ethos. You want them to be more challenged. So some of it is subtractive. It’s taking away some of the fun things that people associate with characters, like for Batman, for example. He doesn’t have all the cars and all the planes and all. It’s very fun to see him whip out a new gadget every issue, and to have access to the hyper-wealth, the secret penthouse headquarters, etc. So, what do you do in its place? Like, what do you have that makes this character true to core, but also still fun? And how do you be additive? And so what I think we hit on with Batman, you see it, I think also in Wonder Woman with Circe, and you’re seeing it in a lot of the Krypton stuff, where Jason is giving Kal-El a real experience on Krypton, is that you try and connect them to something that drives them from an emotionally comforting space. They have a connection to their parents and to their families and to the values they’re supposed to stand for. Because they go out in the world now, they have much less to fight that world with, you know. So it’s almost like building that set of values is key. So for me, like Bruce’s connection with his father, his father’s kind of gentle way of telling him to always be better, always look further. And then now his relationship with his mother, who’s very much still idealistic, it almost feels like he needs at least that to go out into the world, because the world is so much more hostile than it is in the main Batman series.
I’m writing an issue now where he’s trying to figure out what’s going on in Arc M. And if you were main universe Bruce, you could make up any excuse as an investor and go there and see it like you could just say, “I’m a billionaire. I want to go see this place.”. But if you’re just a working-class guy, how do you get to one of the most secure and protected places in the state? you’re able to’t, you don’t have anything. So it’s all about how he tries to maneuver himself in there, and because he’s awesome and resourceful, that’s the fun of that. But it’s those things that make him feel so exciting and relatable to me, and part of that is his connection with his family, with his parents. When you have nothing, I think you need your parents to be like “You can change things.“You need those examples to teach you that no matter how dire it seems, you can affect things. And so that’s why it’s important for us to really build out his relationship with Thomas and his relationship with Martha in the present. They really are touchstones to the series.
You’re really the only person who has a perspective writing these two different versions of Batman. When you’re building Absolute Batman’s voice, do you find it hard to make him unique compared to the Batman you’ve written before?
Scott Snyder: Weirdly, I thought I would. But he’s just, by nature, so different. He really is. Even when I did “Zero Year”, where we did Bruce young, he still he came in with a very, a very sort of worldly view of what he was trying to bring to Gotham. He had traveled the planet, he had trained with the best people around the world. He was like he is the pinnacle of human achievement that comes with the resources to be that. And so he comes in with a sense of confidence that is extremely earned. And that’s the magic of that version of Batman, is that only one person can be Batman, right? Bruce Wayne. Because Bruce Wayne has billions of dollars and an insane drive to only be this thing, every waking second of his life is devoted to being Batman. And that’s why it’s fun to see him be ridiculous and awesome, like Lego Batman. And why it’s fun to see him be obsessive and almost dark in Frank Miller, but it’s always that thing. It’s someone so committed to this project, there’s no room for anything else in their life.
In this version, Bruce doesn’t get to travel the world. He doesn’t have any of that money. And so he trained with his buddy Waylon to be an MMA fighter. He learned about deductive reasoning from his friend, Edward Nigma. He learned about the Gotham underworld from Ozzy. And he learned about the political machinations of power from Harvey. But he’s raw and he’s provincial, and he doesn’t know things, and so he doesn’t have that same earned confidence. He just has arrogance and idealism. He’s much more of a kid, which I love. He’s more like “F*** you, I’m not listening to you.”, whereas the other Batman is “I know better than you, and because I know what I’m doing.”. That’s part of the beauty of it. The whole first year is about him learning that alone, you can’t change the world. Starting that way, you’ve got to inspire people and be a collective. You’ve got to start to bring people in and let them be part of your mission, and let go of it a bit in some way. So it isn’t about creating 1000 Batmen or anything like that. But Batman as collective is the only way you’re going to defeat somebody like Joker in this is like a country unto himself with the resources he has.
Scott Snyder: What’s similar is he’s awesome, which is the way Batman always is. I love writing Bruce Wayne, because what’s similar is the absolute core of this thing, right? People have different opinions, but Batman is a really simple construction. He’s a boy who suffers a horrible trauma, like the worst thing that can happen to you, and he decides in that moment to turn this thing into fuel to make sure that never happens again, and to make him the instrument of change, and that’s it. And beyond that, everything else is kind of malleable, right? Whether he has money, whether he doesn’t, whether he’s a little bit possessive, obsessive, whether he’s a little bit more happy. But that core thing to me is always, it’s just that. That’s what makes Batman. They both suffered something awful, and they devote every waking moment of their life to becoming something that stops that thing from happening again in whatever the biggest way possible is for them. I don’t think this Bruce would like the other Bruce. He’d come to like him, but not when he first met him, this young. Bruce would be like, “Dude, you can’t change it from within. You can’t be a billionaire and use all this stuff.”. This Bruce is more like “You’ve got to come at it from outside and change it by breaking some things.”, whereas I don’t think the other Bruce is that way. I’m sure they would meet in the middle and get along, but I love the idea of them bumping into each other eventually. But right now, this guy is his own thing. He’s like a teenager. I love writing him that way, where he’s just like, “Get out of my way, I’m not listening to you old man!”.
Right now we’re at an inflection point with the Absolute line. The first batch of titles are getting close to the ends of their first arcs and a new set books are on the way in March. What else can you tell us about the overall trajectory of things as they are right now and is there anything fans should be aware of withAbsolute Batman?
Scott Snyder: Yeah, our first arc goes through issue six, so we have four as a kind of touchstone in the middle, and then Nick’s back for five and six, and then we start our second arc soon after that. In terms of the Absolute line itself, just so I’m clear, the first season of the book, to me, is the first three arcs, and the first three arcs are five to six issues a piece, plus there’s little interstitial issues in between the arcs to give Nick room to get ahead. So you’re talking about 18 to 20 issues, so almost two years really, just to do the first season of the book. And we’re planning on doing more than one season, so there’s no going anywhere. As long as you guys pick it up, we’ll keep making it, because we love working on it. But in terms of the other books, you’ll start to see some of the the big story that connects the characters in this world and their villains, honestly, pretty soon, like in late spring. I don’t want to give too much away, but in late spring, you’ll start to see the connective tissue between the characters solidify and be revealed. And then in terms of the story that links the main universe to this world, you’ll learn a lot more about that in the coming year, and it will build to something pretty awesome in a couple stages over the next year and a half. So all that’s coming.
Scott Snyder: And in terms of the books in the Absolute Universe, I can’t say enough good things about the next wave like Jeff Lemire and Nick Robles on Flash are just out of control. It’s the most stripped-down book we’ve done, and I love it for that. Flash can be really big and cosmic and expansive. But one of the things that I think fans will love about this one is it’s at the other end of the spectrum, where it’s just about Wally as a kid, who’s the first Flash. There’s no legacy, there’s no Flash before him. All of a sudden, he winds up with this power that he doesn’t know where it’s going to take him. And it’s extremely accessible and extremely young and fun and all of that. Then you have Martian Manhunter with Deniz and Javier Rodríguez, and that book is the most risky and daring and experimental, but also really heartfelt. I think that one is going to also just take all the awards and blow people away. And then you have, what is the big, cosmic, expansive book, which is Green Lantern from Al Ewing and Jahnoy Lindsay, and that book is like hugely ambitious and wide in scope and covers space-time, and reinvents the mythology of the Lanterns while staying true to core. But so you have three incredibly different flavors. All three are just so different from one another. I’m so proud of the creators for making them. And then we have two more that we haven’t announced yet that you’ll hear more about in the summer or in the late spring.
I’m signing on to stay, not just on Absolute Batman, but to try and to stay at DC and to help creatively consulting for another year or so. It’s been so fun being there and to be able to help steer with Josh on some of the events that we set up and All In through their next phases. And the real goal is to build on the success of All In so that next year, around this time, we can just have the line be something that’s as good as it is now. And even better, where we have even more exciting books, and the books that are happening are doing their best stories. Because the key to it for me, and I think the key to the good feeling right now at DC is that it feels like we’re all supportive of each other. It is as corny as it sounds, it’s true. There have been times when it’s not felt that way. But right now, it really feels like we all worked hard to make it an atmosphere that feels supportive, but also creator forward. That’s really the big thing is being creator forward. So these are not books that are editorially dictated, they’re not handed down. They’re pitched by the creators and supported and guided by editors to be things that you haven’t seen before. So that’s what I love about it. They’re all big swings.
Absolute Batman #4is available now from DC Comics.
Batman
One of DC’s most iconic heroes, Batman is the vigilante superhero persona of billionaire Bruce Wayne. Forged by tragedy with the death of his parents, Bruce dedicated his life to becoming the world’s leading martial artist, detective, and tactician. Recruiting an entire family of allies and sidekicks, Bruce wages war on evil as the dark knight of his hometown, Gotham City.
