Just when you thought we might take a break from the Absolute Universe’s incredible character introductions, Absolute Batman #9 from writer Scott Snyder, artist Nick Dragotta, colorist Frank Martin, and letterer Clayton Cowles knocks it out of the park with maybe the best one to date. Absolute Bane is an intelligent tank that has the ability to strike fear into the heart of even Batman himself; it’s astonishing. It feels like you’re reading something that’s already going to be a classic by the time it’s complete.
The issue starts with two war generals meeting, having peace talks. These talks quickly fall apart when they’re interrupted by Bane. Bane essentially tells them that one of them will live and one will die. The one who lives is told to give a speech today, explaining how the talks fell through. Bane receives a phone call telling him to go to Gotham City where we cut to Bruce on a rampage. He’s tearing up the criminal underworld after learning that his friend Waylon has been taken to a place called Ark M, and he shows no signs of stopping.
WRITING
Snyder hasn’t worked with Bane a whole lot in the past. Bane’s mostly been in the background of some of his other all-timer Batman stories. Here? He takes the spotlight and he is magnificent. He’s just this hulking, bone-chilling genius that knows exactly how to get what he wants without giving too much anyway. By the end of the issue, we are so stricken by his daunting personality, despite still knowing almost nothing about him. He’s Bruce’s toughest foe yet in terms of size, knowledge, and skill. Snyder is not afraid to completely outmatch Bruce so early into the comic.
Before everything converges on the Bane story, Bruce is up to some other things. He’s looking for his friend Waylon, who has been taken and sent somewhere called Ark M. We can only assume what this means given our general knowledge of Arkham Asylum in the main universe, but this new place has a different vibe to it. We learn that there’s more than one Ark, and there’s some old money and names behind it. Bruce learns all of this after a fit of rage. He cleans up the streets in basically one night, trying to learn anything about his friend’s whereabouts, and it’s a great way that Snyder has chosen to show exactly how far Bruce would go for the people that he loves.
ART
It’s good to have Dragotta back on art duties, and it’s like he didn’t skip a beat. He dives really deep into body horror for Bane, and it’s haunting. He’s just this giant creature, but never blinded by rage. Dragotta draws him as this giant, beefy, calm individual that adds another layer of fear to him. Near the end of the issue, we see the venom seep into him through the tubes attached to his body and he becomes double the size. The actual transformation itself is awesome. It’s a page that’s paneled beautifully with a larger panel featuring Bruce’s scared expression right in the middle. Dragotta clearly shows that Bruce is out of his depth through this, and that Bane never had a chance of losing.
Back to the point on body horror, there’s a lot of it in this issue. The issue’s credits page is a spread that’s just this mass of muscle and skin all converging on Bane’s small head. It’s drawn so well, but man it’s just tough to look at. Not only that, but early in the issue when Bane crushes someone’s head, his head becomes clay with eyes popping out of it, his brain becoming soup. Dragotta shows Bane’s strength well through this introduction. He makes Bane feel almost mythical, like he can see us and is telling us that we should be scared.
COLORS
The issue’s opening double page spread has been referenced a few times here, but the colors are what really bring it together. The muscles engulfing the page are composed of these gross pinks and reds that all come together on Bane’s small black and white mask with piercing red eyes. The issue’s title is plastered across this with a sort of toxic green that totally inverts any colors of the bundles of flesh emerging from behind it. Martin incredibly sets up the tone for the issue with this. The way he handles flashbacks is really great as well. We’ve seen before, he usually does lighter color palettes during flashbacks, but something that’s gone unnoticed is how, as we get flashbacks that seem closer to the present, the colors aren’t as light. They’re still just different enough for you to know it’s a flashback, but it being more recent naturally makes it more vivid in Bruce’s memory.
LETTERS
This issue features the return of Alfred’s narration which Cowles makes look like pages torn straight from a notebook. They fit the tone for this especially, with him thinking that Bruce is getting himself into a death trap. There’s something more eerie about them this time around, as they tie the setting together perfectly in the dark world Bruce enters to try and save his friend. Another thing to point out are the issue’s opening credits. The placement of the story’s title on the large spread is gorgeous, and the font is perfect and gross, really adding the cherry on top of Bane’s disgusting display. Everyone’s names fade in and out as well, almost like Bane is overpowering the letters themselves. It’s really creative.
CONCLUSION
Absolute Batman #9 brings our original creative team back to us and they grace us with a story that’s worthy of that return. Bane is introduced as a demon in human’s clothing, and he just gets scarier through the issue with everyone involved working to make him as utterly terrifying as possible. He’s a monster that completely outmatches Bruce and his friends, and so Snyder and company also reach out to ask one simple question: What exactly is this Batman capable of when the people he loves are in danger? It’s still early in the book, but this story feels like it’s ramping up to be an all time great.
