The first Absolute Universe storyline has come to a close in Absolute Batman #6. Writer Scott Snyder, artist Nick Dragotta, colorist Frank Martin, and letterer Clayton Cowles come together to give us a compelling story cementing this new Dark Knight’s beliefs and priorities. This issue is the incredible payoff to five issues of setup, definitively showcasing what this Batman stands for. Any unanswered questions from the previous issues were addressed perfectly here, with Bruce showing that he cares about his friends, family, strangers, and even those he seeks to defeat. He’s strong and not afraid to be brutal, but he knows when he needs help and knows what rules he follows, and now we do too.
SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ABSOLUTE BATMAN #6
The issue starts with Bruce stumbling into Waylon’s gym, hurt and beaten. He tells his friend that he’s Batman, and that he needs his help. We then cut to a younger Bruce having a nightmare. He wakes up from it and is comforted by his mother, Martha. Back in the present, Martha and Jim Gordon are on the run from Black Mask’s Party Animals. He has put a bounty on their heads, and so these people are willing to do a lot to kill them. They try to negotiate but it doesn’t seem to work. Somewhere else in Gotham, Alfred Pennyworth’s daughter is abducted by him as he tries to put her on a plane out of the city to protect her. She tells him if the plane leaves, she will never speak to him again. In the skies above, Bruce is on a plane piloted by his friend Ozzie. He jumps from it, and descends onto Black Mask’s boat for a final confrontation.
WRITING
This feels like the Batman story that Snyder has always wanted to tell. It captures what was so enticing about his previous run on the character, with his ability to write action as well as great interpersonal relationships elevated. Throughout this entire first arc, seeds have been planted about these characters and how they all work together. It all comes together in this issue. Bruce’s bonds with his friends are tested, but we see how they jump into action for him. Alfred is ready to abandon it all and leave the city, but something about Batman is in the back of his mind telling him otherwise. The action is incredible and exciting, but the real strength of the book lies in the relationships tested throughout it. Bruce and his mother are tightly knit, and even when they’re apart you can tell that everything they do is for each other. It’s really emotional work.
Something really great about this issue is that when Bruce is on the boat and fighting all of Black Mask’s followers, he doesn’t throw a single one overboard without ensuring their survival. There’s this one great moment in particular where he uses a life vest to beat one, then throwing them off the edge of the boat with it. Batman has never been about just beating the bad guys. Snyder understands that Batman’s journey is to help and to encourage those he defeats to forge a new path for themselves. While this Batman doesn’t get there the same way, Snyder really understands that two different characters can get to a similar place while being motivated by different things, making them stronger in their own ways.
ART
This issue features some of the best art of the book to date so far. Dragotta doesn’t miss on a single page. He’s an incredibly diverse artist, tackling these stiff and robotic pages featuring Party Animals viewing bounties and contrasting that with snappy fight sequences that use the entire page to its advantage. Dragotta never wastes an inch of space. Every single panel progresses the story smoothly without skipping a beat. There’s this page where Bruce has a nightmare, and the structure of the page is really confining. The panels are rigid and fixed, suffocating us as they do Bruce. Dragotta also manages to sneak in some beautiful homages to past Batman art, and it really fits. This is a new take on the character, but his core is still there and Dragotta explores that beautifully.
COLORS
Martin does a really good job of making sure we know where and when we are at all times. In these incredible flashback sequences that he colors, we immediately know we’re in the past from the lighter colors, giving us a more dreamlike aesthetic. When the dream turns into a nightmare however, it shifts to these darker colors where you can hardly make out the silhouette of what you’re seeing.
In the present day, the Party Animals wear these tech masks that Black Mask has supplied, and we get a few POV shots of what the Animals see when they have them on. As opposed to Gotham’s usual darker appearance, through those masks we see the world through an orange lens that blends really well with the darker outside of Gotham itself. When Bruce confronts Black Mask on his boat, he’s covered in the blue of lightning and purple of the night sky. It’s small touches like these that really help in separating each situation from the other, making sure we don’t get lost while we’re taken through this story.
LETTERS
This issue really tries a lot of different things with the lettering. Cowles provides us with some great screams of agony and determination, the letters following the character throughout the entire page sometimes. We follow the character’s movements through this, and really helps in viewing them as real moving people. Back to the Party Animals and their masks, Cowles uses this great computer font display inside those masks. It looks statistical and robotic with no room for error, and is perfect for displaying the bounties on Jim Gordon and Martha Wayne clearly and in an understandable way. Cowles has fallen into a great rhythm of making the reader understand a character’s intention through speech bubble placement and word emphasis. It’s hard to really discern what a character really means sometimes reading comics, but Cowles captures the intent behind every sentence really well, and it’s different for each character too. It helps all the different personalities shine through and also enhances their conversations together. It’s really helpful when reading things like this, and allows the reader to further invest themselves into the story and all the different character dynamics.
CONCLUSION
Absolute Batman #6 is masterclass work. It brings together everything that has made this series great so far while also paving the way for new reveals and things to come in the future. Every page is just as exciting as the last, and every character gets to shine in their own way in relation to Bruce. Some characters take the backseat, but you’re filled with hope as you read and understand that your favorites are coming, but soon. Snyder, Dragotta, Martin, and Cowles should be proud of their work here, and reading it was an absolute pleasure. The feeling is sure to grow in the issues to come, but if this is what the Absolute Universe will look like always, then we’re all in for a treat.
