THIS WEEK: The first Absolute Universe crossover concludes in Absolute Batman #16.
Note: the review below may contain spoilers. If you want a quick, spoiler-free buy/pass recommendation on the comics in question, check out the bottom of the article for our final verdict.
Absolute Batman #16
Writer: Scott Snyder
Writer/Artist: Nick Dragotta
Colorist: Frank Martin
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Cover Artists: Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin
The team-up/crossover between Absolute Batman and Absolute Wonder Woman is atypical, to say the least. The Wonder Woman portion was released last month, and featured a self-contained story in which Diana travels to Gotham to investigate a series of murders and calls on the city’s resident crimefighter for assistance. This week’s Absolute Batman #16 is another standalone tale that finds Bruce seeking out Diana in an effort to help one of the many friends who have suffered as a result of their association with him.
It’s a novel approach to a crossover, not unprecedented but definitely under-represented, save perhaps in intercompany team-ups. There’s definitely a benefit to this approach: each book’s creative team gets to continue to do its own thing, tonally and story-wise, without having to necessarily be beholden to what’s going on in another creative team’s series. Absolute Wonder Woman #15 felt entirely like any issue of that series, just with Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman’s interpretation of Absolute Batman along for the ride. This week it’s Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta’s turn, and Absolute Batman #16 follows suit very well, presenting a solid issue of the series that happens to also include Absolute Wonder Woman.
For readers coming over to this series from Absolute Wonder Woman for the first time (are there any of those out there who are reading one and not the other? There’s probably two or three), Snyder and Dragotta, along with colorist Frank Martin and letterer Clayton Cowles, do a great job making this issue accessible and bringing them up to speed on what’s been going on. They get a glimpse of Bruce’s friends, alternate riffs on familiar Bat-villains, and see the terrible fates that have befallen them. There’s a taste of Bruce’s civilian life as a construction worker, and references to the fight with Bane.
And then there’s Bruce and Diana’s trip into the afterlife, from the quiet conversation between the two of them as they make their way to their destination, to Bruce’s unexpected encounter with a lost loved one along the way, to the utter bombast of the issue’s climactic battle. For a story where Batman and Wonder Woman go to Hell, the issue is still able to stay grounded in exploring the dynamics between its two leads. It also mines that dynamic for comedic purposes nicely, particularly in an action splash page that made this reviewer laugh out loud for how ridiculous and perfectly in-character it was.
Absolute Batman #16 is a perfectly representative sample of how the series has been from the beginning, filled with drama, pathos, and a healthy dose of humor. Snyder, Dragotta, and co. make a strong case to new readers for why they should come back next month for more. Crossovers like this are a great way to continue building out the Absolute universe without interrupting the flow of the individual series. Here’s hoping there’s more to come.
Final Verdict: BUY.
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