Thus far, Absolute Batman from DC Comics has been operating in the space of an origin story. While there’s, of course, a level of difficulty there — particularly when you’re reinventing a character with decades of continuity behind him like Batman — origins also have their own inertia that tends to power the story to an inevitable conclusion: the hero becomes the hero. So with the story beginning its second arc in Absolute Batman #7, how do things hold up? Pretty cool, if you ask me.
The extremely funny joke there is that this issue begins a two-part arc introducing the Absolute Universe version of Mr. Freeze. And spoilers past this point, while the first arc concentrated on the big, bombastic superheroics — “Batman AF,” as writer Scott Snyder put it — that were perfected on Snyder’s run with Greg Capullo, this second arc with artist Marcos Martín turns to his other strength… Horror.
The issue picks up after the fallout of Batman’s war with the Black Mask, and rather than making things better, they seem to be worse. Gotham City is now under martial law, with gun-toting soldiers walking the streets. A black site prison called “Ark M” is being built off the coast of the city, and like the Death Star in Return of the Jedi, the still-in-construction facility is, in fact, fully operational. And in the midst of this, Bruce Wayne finds himself stuck between his friends, who now know he’s Batman, and his obligation to try and take down Ark M from the inside.
Martín is the perfect artist for this arc, his clean lines and cartoony style matching without aping the look Nick Dragotta set up in the first few issues. The colors by Muntsa Vincente pair perfectly, particularly when it comes to the silhouettes of Crime Alley or the snowstorm that hits — and then disappears — from Gotham. And the design of Mr. Freeze is appropriately terrifying, living in the same realm as other Snyder villains like Mr. Bloom or the title characters in Wytches.
Snyder also steps back his usually dense, fact-heavy narration to let the art shine here. This is a Bruce who won but lost and is grappling with what that means for him next. How does he save Gotham if it turns out that Black Mask was right and every move only makes the city worse? What is the role of Batman? Who is he really saving, anyway? The sparse writing is cold and clinical and feels like the moments before a blizzard absolutely wrecks your town. The pressure drops, the cold settles in, and everything is quiet and calm.
It will be fascinating to see where this goes in the next issue, and where this Bruce ends up. We’ve seen his origin, we’ve seen him be Batman AF. But what will he be when he’s just Batman? It should be… Pretty cool… To find out.
Absolute Batman #7 Rating:
Absolute Batman #7 Official Synopsis:
THE JOKER AND MR. FREEZE MAKE THEIR ABSOLUTE UNIVERSE DEBUT — STARTING HERE! It’s about to get icy cold in Gotham City… as we reveal the connections between a young, up-and-coming scientist named Victor Fries, his history with the Ark M experiment, and what it all has to do with the mysterious Joker. A bombastic two-parter with a guest artist, the one and only super-star Marcos Martín, starts here!
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