Absolute Batman, Vol. 1: The Zoo (Collects Issue #1-6)
by
Scott Snyder (Writer), Nick Dragotta (Artist), Gabriel Hernández Walta (Artist), Frank Martin (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer)
My rating: 4 of 5
This was an interesting new re-entry for me to Bat-Man books and some of the core DC characters – I’ve been bored for ages now and aside from dabbling, been avoiding them.
This is the launchpad for a line of books in the “Absolute-verse” which is essentially an alternate reality to the main DC Universe (amongst many) but this one was created because… in a recent big event, Darkseid supposedly died (or some such) and his soul (or something) fell into this alternate reality and had some dark influence wherein all the familiar faces had their support systems taken away and were all left bereft and blah, blah… it is dark.
Heroes struggle to be heroes.
Got it.
ANYWAY! That brings us to Absolute Bat-Man: A Bruce Wayne who was never rich because his Dad decided not to be a doctor (I always thought the wealth was older than that, but fine, doesn’t matter) and it was his Dad that was killed and not his Mom. So he is poor and lonely(ish) and grew up with friends who in the main universe would have become The Riddler, Killer Croc, Penguin and Two-Face – oh and Catwoman.
So this world is grimmer and darker and the Black Mask of this world is on a whole other level. He’s part of some bigger super-organisation-of-evil and he is running the “burn Gotham to the ground and let it eat itself alive” game and impeding his plans is this mysterious and savagely brutal new Bat-Man. This version is painstakingly self-taught and honestly, seems genuinely more capable and driven than even mainstream Bruce and for that I give full kudos to Snyders’ story-telling.
Gordon is the embattled Mayor and there are crazies killing their way through Gotham and into this mix we have our audience proxy: Alfred. Yes, Alfred, who is now a secret agent of sorts and his mission is to observe and report on this new gang of crazies in Gotham as well as its new vigilante and he finds himself at odds on what to make of all this and whether he can or even should go against orders and get involved as the whole mess escalates more and more and more – oh man, does it escalate!
Honestly? I enjoyed it. All of it.
The artwork is extremely good fun. Dragotta, Walta and Martin are killing it with every page. The facial expressions at moments big and small, the flow from page to page, the balance of dark and colour, keeping things super grim and dark and yet not becoming a boring grey-scape, the flow of the action and carnage, the designs of this Bat-Mans’ arsenal and of the near-inhuman rendering of the Dark Knight himself – it is all masterful and really elevated the whole reading experience. I might even say this first volume it is worth reading just for the visuals.
The story has some highs and lows, but it is (for me at least) some of the best Bat-Man work that Snyder has done. I know people rave about his mainstream title run, but I had very mixed reactions to a lot of it and it was way more uneven – while in this, he has a solid, tight and layered story with intriguing characters and it is all put together in a fast-paced, violent narrative that feels almost as driven as the titular character himself.
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One Happy Monk 
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