Double-Sized Issue Reviews!

This article contains spoilers for Absolute Batman #2 (2024) by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta.

To start off, Scott Snyder has shifted in the mentality of his writing from issue #1. Where issue #1 felt like DC trying to prove it could actually do something different with Batman (by doing the exact opposite of our Earth-Prime Batman), this is not as thesis driven. Rather it truly starts to create the myth of Batman, but this myth is not just for the depraved denizens of Gotham city. It is for the reader. 

However, before we delve into the Batman, I want to take a moment to talk about myths. Mythologies have sprung from every peculiar part of the world. In Central America, the Mayan myth of the Hero Twins was detailed in the Popol Vuh—capturing their journey into Xibalba (the underworld). Across the world, the Greek detailed the journey of Odysseus in the Odyssey. The story of Achilles and his interaction with the gods was written in the Iliad. All these stories told of unbelievable quests and answered questions about the world around us, each embedding myth into the lands which the stories were told. 

Now, let us take a journey to Gotham City, a foreground for a new myth. The Batman—a man in a bat-themed suit with an urge to save citizens from the hidden horrors of the city—has emerged with brutal force. This Batman steps into myth through the act of his out-of-pocket stories being retold—but the myth extends beyond the citizens of the city and reaches the reader because the story is being told to the reader by Alfred.

This is the story of a man who blew up a building and manipulated the flames to portray his image.

The story of a man who aligned his safehouses to create the symbol of the bat which he wears on his chest.

This is the story of a man who is larger than life—much like the Hero Twins and Odysseus and Achilles. This is the story of man who is more than vengeance, more than the night. This man is a mythology.

Through this revelation, it becomes clear that as Scott Snyder crafts this myth, the comics we hold become texts of legend—similar to the Iliad and the Odyssey. In watching this new Batman being crafted, we are witnessing a universe being birthed.

Overall, I would say this issue is a huge step forward over issue #1. It is this creativity and world building and character building that gets me excited to know more and to see how out-of-pocket this vigilante will get. Afterall, he’s Batman AF. Definitely worth picking up this book and holding onto it. We are watching a new myth being born.