Written by: Scott Snyder
Art by: Nick Dragotta
Colors by: Frank Martin
Letters by: Clayton Cowles
Cover art by: Nick Dragotta, Frank Martin
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: June 11, 2025
Absolute Batman #9, by DC Comics on 6/11/25, finds Batman tearing through Gotham City's underworld to find his kidnapped friend. What he finds is a conspiracy that's years in the making.
Is Absolute Batman #9 Good?
Recap
When we last left the Caped Crusader of the Darkseid Universe in Absolute Batman #8, Bruce Wayne found himself in the clutches of Mr. Freeze (Jr.) as a result of an investigation into the death of Bruce's friend, Matches Malone. After a harrowing escape and a quick change into the Dark Knight, Batman confronted Mr. Freeze (Jr.), but the Frozen Felon's army of ice zombies proved to be overwhelming, so Batman chose to flee and live to fight another day. The issue ended with Waylon Jones receiving an unpleasant visitor.
Plot Synopsis
In Absolute Batman #9, the Big Man cometh. The issue begins with Abdul and Omar, the respective heads of Kahndaq and Qurac, deciding to form a peace treaty and work together as partners for their collective good. The peace treaty is interrupted before it's announced when a supremely large man barges into the private meeting and makes a counteroffer with lethal consequences.
Elsewhere, MI6 Agent Alfred Pennyworth returns to Gotham City. Batman should be resting after his ordeal with Mr. Freeze (Jr.). Instead, Batman busies himself tearing down every criminal organization - one pummeled gangster at a time - looking for information about his missing friend, Waylon Jones.
Meanwhile, the police commissioner solicits the help of "private law enforcement" companies to armor up and gear up the GCPD. Martha Wayne and Jim Gordon are sickened by the potential for a militarized police state, so they decide to join forces and stop the escalation.
Later, Batman secretly contacts Officer Barbara Gordon for intel on Waylon's whereabouts. Barbara agrees to dig up what she can find, and she delivers. Waylon was nabbed by the GCPD in cooperation with the folks running the new Ark-M facility, so Batman meets with his friends and Pennyworth to hatch a plan to infiltrate Ark-M. When Batman sneaks his way into the building through the drainage pipes connected to the Gotham River, he finds a vast underground facility and a very large Bane waiting for him.
First Impressions
Scott Snyder's vision for Bane is a strange mix of monstrous intimidation and graceful articulation. If the goal was to create a villain that makes the classic Bane look like a first draft, the mission was a success.
How’s the Art?
Here, Nick Dragotta's hyper-exaggerated anatomy style plays to the strengths of the characters and the script. Bane isn't just a big guy. He's a freakishly huge abomination that makes the comically proportioned Batman look like a child's toy. You're getting character designs that look like homages to Fist of the North Star and Akira in the best way possible, so Dragotta proves he's in his element.
What’s great about Absolute Batman #9?
Scott Snyder's debut for the Absolute Bane meets and exceeds expectations. The villain is imposing, brutal, smart, and deadly. In every way that counts, Bane is Batman's better (for now). In a genre where the villains need to be as interesting as the heroes, Snyder nails it.
Further, Waylon's kidnapping connects a few dots that suggest he may be headed for conversion into his Killer Croc namesake, so that's a nice bit of anticipation to get the imagination gears turning.
What’s not great about Absolute Batman #9?
The minor oddity in Scott Snyder's script is the handful of scenes without any clear purpose or resolution. What are former Deputy Mayor Martha Wayne and former Mayor Jim Gordon going to do? We're given no information other than they support each other. The issue includes a flashback involving Bruce and Selina (old enough to be lovers) congratulating Waylon on getting a shot at a title prize fight. What does that flashback have to do with anything other than establish that Bruce, Selina, and Waylon are on good terms, a fact we already knew?
In fairness, a good scene is a good scene, but flashbacks and tangents should still support the main plot clearly. Here, those smaller scenes are well done, but their connection to the main plot is lacking.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Final Thoughts
Absolute Batman #9 introduces Absolute Bane as the one being who is powerful enough to destroy Batman. Scott Snyder's reimaging of the classic villain is quite possibly an improvement on the original, and Nick Dragotta's exaggerated art is a perfect match for Bane's grotesque physicality.
9/10
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