Absolute Batman is, as the kids say, gas. If you still haven’t read Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta‘s prescient and brutal reimagining of the caped crusader, you should get on that yesterday. It’s a series that requires a bigger, more brutal Batman, not just for the heavy-metal-tinged cool factor referencing anime like Chainsaw Man and Akira, to deal with a Gotham that’s more treacherous than we’ve ever witnessed. But if you need more convincing to pick up one of DC’s strongest Absolute Universe runs, allow us to give you a peek at Bruce Wayne’s rogues’ gallery thus far, ranking their designs from the least to the most gloriously messed-up-looking.
Black Mask
Black Mask doesn’t get his fair share as a lower-tiered villain for a fledgling Batman to test himself against. Old buddy got shafted in the Arkham Origins game for Joker to be the big bad after already getting jobbed in the rest of the series. He’s basically treated a degree above Falcone in terms of his Lilo & Stitch-esque badness level. Thankfully, Absolute Batman gives him some shine as Batman’s first threat, and he really puts Bruce Wayne through the motions. Aside from vibe-checking whether a blue-collar Bruce can be bribed, Black Mask is a villain taken more seriously, and a lot of that has to do with the sleekness of his techno-gothic design. While it’s not the most reimagined version you’ll see in the series, the nihilistic Roman Sionis and his crew are being fitted out in masks that help them in destabilizing Gotham’s economy and inciting Purge-esque anarchy among its denizens, making for a cool ensemble look to an otherwise innocuously designed dapper gangster wearing a black skull mask.
Catwoman
Great artists steal, and true to form, Black Mask’s look was so cool that Catwoman swiped it and made it even cooler. It lowkey homages Durarara‘s motorcycle-riding dullahan, Celty Sturluson, and while Catwoman is technically not a villain in Absolute Batman—she’s more a hot-and-heavy on-again-off-again lover of Bruce’s (as she’s wont to do)—her design in the series is sick in how understated it is.
Tactical cat suit: check. Feline motif in her belt, whip, and helmet: check. Afro-Brazilian representation under the mask: double-check. No notes. We’re looking forward to reading her upcoming run from Snyder, Che Grayson, and artist Bengal this July.
Mr. Freeze
Mr. Freeze is frankly one of the best villains in Batman’s mythos. The ultimate wife guy can make you sympathetic to his frosty plight in equal measure to him making you wish Batman would smack him across his snow globe helmet to cease his self-righteous nonsense. But, rather than dispense with Mr. Freeze in a flurry of Arkham-esque bonks to his cranium, Wayne never defeats Mr. Freeze; he escapes him. And honestly, we can’t blame him. If we were faced with a scraggly abomination that, as far as we know, might have the added power of biochemicals to create white walkers, we’d nope our way outta dodge and leave him for when we’re more leveled up to deal with him.
Bane
What can one say about Absolute Batman‘s Bane that hasn’t been said already? This dude is terrifying. Bane has always been a wall that Batman can’t finesse his way around. Unlike his other villains, he’s the one villain Bruce can’t outthink (or outprep) his way around. He’s gotta plow his way through him with raw force or get his spine snapped trying. Classic David-and-Goliath, immovable force vs. unstoppable object type shit. If Absolute Batman is an iron rod endlessly thrust back into the fire, then this Bane is the blacksmith hovering over the forge, toying with him with playful cruelty, excitedly awaiting what new weapon Bruce will come back as to test his mettle against him, only to break him once more.
Not many villains can make Batman throw a perturbed face at the mess he’ll have to somehow fight his way out of, and the hulking mass that makes him is worth getting into Absolute Batman in its own right. He’s one of those villains you have to get up from reading the comic to cool yourself down from the gory spectacle you’re reading and say out loud, “Bruce, you’re gonna have to kill this guy,” because he’s just that big of a problem worth breaking a core tenet of his character to overcome.
The Joker
Batman fans have seen more renditions of the Joker than they’ve seen Robins. We’ve seen him juiced up on venom in the lackluster finale of Arkham Asylum, carve off and tie back his face with a belt in Snyder’s Death of the Family run, and tap his feet to a musical taking place exclusively in his imagination in Todd Phillips’ Joker films. Like Superman, it’s become a bit old hat to expect the Joker to have some new gimmick tacked on to him to make him more interesting than the chokehold Alan Moore’s rendition of him has had on all variations that have followed. Absolute Batman‘s Joker, as you can see, is a different beast entirely. What’s more, the behemoth you see before you is somehow less menacing than the suit-wearing man of mystery the series had been drip-feeding readers up until his big debut.
Poison Ivy
Like a boulder rolling down a mountain, Absolute Batman‘s villain character designs keep getting better in ways previously thought unimaginable. As such, the latest villain to push Bruce to tie chainsaws to his arms to solve a problem is Poison Ivy. Like a biblically accurate visage of an angel, Poison Ivy’s design in Absolute Batman is equal parts grotesque and bewitching. And what you see before you isn’t even her final form. But we won’t spoil that page-turning surprise of hers in all her body horror glory, so you’ll have to cop yourself the 17th issue of Absolute Batman to see for yourself.
Absolute Batman has been the gift that keeps on giving, from its stellar writing to its inventive character redesigns. If you’re still not yet reading this generational comic book run, you’re missing out.
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