DC’s new Absolute Universe reintroduces the Dark Knight’s closest confidant as a powerhouse unto himself.

Absolute Batman #1 brings readers face-to-face with a whole new kind of Gotham City, one suffering from the ever-present threat of a gang of skull-faced terrorists bent on sewing death and discord wherever they can. While the Batman of this world is more than capable of turning the tide of battle against these villains, he isn’t the only one keeping an eye on the situation. Alfred Pennyworth has been watching on from afar, and when things take a turn for the worse, he is more than happy to step in personally to help them get back on track.

Written by SCOTT SNYDER Art by NICK DRAGOTTA Colors by FRANK MARTIN Letters by CLAYTON COWLES Main cover art by NICK DRAGOTTA & FRANK MARTIN Variant covers by WES CRAIG, MITCH GERADS, IAN BERTRAM, and JIM LEE, SCOTT WILLIAMS & ALEX SINCLAIR

The reality that has recently come to be known as DC’s Absolute Universe was first introduced as the Elseworld in the pages of 2021’s Dark Nights: Death Metal #7 (by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Yanick Paquette, and Bryan Hitch). Following the Multiverse-reshaping final battle against The Batman Who Laughs, the Elseworld emerged as a new addition to the Multiverse, which housed an Earth that the likes of the Justice League could never get a clear glimpse of. At the time, all that was known was that this Earth was still in its infancy, leaving only time to tell what would ultimately become of it.

As of the release of the DC All In Special #1 (by Joshua Williamson, Scott Snyder, Daniel Sampere, and Wes Craig), the Elseworld and its entire universe have become one with the malevolent New God Darkseid. After bonding to the living Wrath of God known as the Spectre and waging war against the newly formed Justice League Unlimited, Darkseid was forcefully separated from his unwitting supernatural other, which somehow allowed him to ascend to a higher form of consciousness. As such, Darkseid ventured into and merged with the reality of the Elseworld, twisting the Absolute Universe into a darker, more brutal DC Universe than almost any before it.

Like the rest of the heroes of the Absolute Universe, this new version of Batman is unlike past versions of Bruce Wayne that readers are most accustomed to seeing in the pages of DC Comics. Rather than relying on wealth or overwhelming resources to subvert his enemies’ plans, the Batman of the Absolute Universe is operating on a bare-bones budget and barely holding back on the battlefield. Per the official synopsis for the series’ first issue, “Without the mansion… without the money… without the butler… what’s left is the Absolute Dark Knight!”

Absolute Batman #1 is on sale now from DC Comics.

Source: DC Comics