Last year Wayne Family Adventures got me back into DC Comics and then I heard about the ‘Absolute’ universe which seemed a good entry point back into actual monthly comics.
What’s the Absolute Universe?
Having now read back there was a run of comics called Absolute Power which led to a finale in which Darkseid gained control over a new universe – an Elseworld – shared by its heroes. It’s a bleaker, darker, world in which our known heroes have new origins that have removed some of their advantages. We’re starting there with the big 3 – Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman and then moving out to the rest of the Justice League.
So Batman then?
This is a Batman whose father wasn’t a billionaire but still died in Gotham violence, however his mother still lived. He’s fought his way up and trained like crazy, he’s basically still late-teens/early-twenties and friends with regular Gotham’s rogues (Selina – Catwoman, Harvey – Two-face, Waylon – Killer Croc, Eddie – Riddler, etc.). He’s a giant tank of a guy who is more brutal than regular Batman, but still wants save this more dangerous Gotham from itself
This initial story
This review covers issues 1-6 of the comics which makes up the first story arc called ‘The Zoo’. We get to know this young Bruce and a harder city that is being terrorised by Black Mask who in this run is pretty crazy and trying to prove everyone can go bad with the right incentive. It’s basically The Purge in comic form. We meet an Alfred Pennyworth who is working for a mysterious organisation and initially is tasked with killing Batman. And we see a Bruce struggling to survive and making some choices that are evident of his youth and hard life. He may prevail over Black Mask but he’s put himself in a bad place at the end of it.
Thoughts on this run
I actually bought physical comics (in the picture!) for the first time in years and it’s been worth it. The artwork is distinctive and the story effective. Not my favourite art style as it’s quite caricatured with Bruce in particular having small facial features in a large head. But, it’s great to have a stepping stone into comics and it has then led me to get DC Ultimate (access to the whole DC catalog online for a year) and start reading many more runs and going back in time to pick up older stories. If you find comics hard to get into because they’ve been going so long it’s good to get a new run as and jump off from there