Exploring DC's Absolute Batman

what's up, enthusiasts? Welcome to the Nerd O Dome. You're listening to I Am A Nerd, where we celebrate nerdy things old and new with our like minded peers. I'm your host in direct addition, and today we are jumping into Absolute Batman. I have here with me the symbol of infinite and boundless chill, Zero Cool. 

What's up, Zero? What's up, man? I was thinking I was gonna be Absolute Zero. Real cool today, . I mean, it works Absolute zero. Absolutely absolute zero. What's that? Freezing temperature? Absolutely 

So, uh, last week we were [00:02:00] talking about the, uh, absolute universe, how it started, what's coming up for it. And now we're gonna delve into the core titles essentially a little bit more. And we are gonna hit absolute Batman today. This is essentially a Batman with uh, no money. No, mansions, no butler, no gimmicks or no back utility belt. 

You know what the biggest thing that he's missing? What's that? Support structure. Okay. There's no Robins. Yes. There's no Oracles. There's no Jim Gordon that's on his side. Right. There's no Right. You know what I'm saying? He doesn't have the things that we typically associate with. With Bruce Wayne and being Batman. 

Yeah. It's a whole brand new version of Batman. Yeah. It is still Bruce Wayne, but he's completely different. He is. But then he's not. He still has the same motivations. He still has the same drive. He still has the [00:03:00] same ideology. Okay. And, and let's talk about where that motivation comes from. Ding, ding, ding, ding. 

Yeah. Cause we know in regular Batman, we all know what happened. We've seen it thousands of times. And do you understand how much I enjoy not having to see Martha and Thomas Wayne in a fucking alley. In Crime Alley. Getting shot with pearls. Pearls, Zorro. Ugh. And all over again. Now we did see Zorro in this book. 

But we'll talk about that in a little bit. Yeah. But I was so glad we didn't run down the same rabbit hole. What created Batman to begin with? They took the socialites out of Thomas and Marshall. They were essential blue collar workers. Pretty much, yeah. Yeah. Thomas was a schoolteacher and Who was Marshall? 

Marshall was a Social worker. Marshall was a social worker. And Bruce Wayne didn't have this lifestyle as it came from. But that history of[00:04:00]  

Gotham, so to speak. The influence. The influence that they established with the regular Batman. So he doesn't have any of that now. And, is it the same Batman? Is it the same Bruce Wayne? Because, we know Thomas and Martha got into conflict, but in this one, and I'm pausing because it's spoiler territory, if no one. 

Well, and here's the thing about it, Absolute has been going on for at least four and a half months now. There, yeah, he's at issue five. And I think issue six is going to be out next week. I'm sure it's going to be out before we I'll tell you exactly when it's going to be [00:05:00] out march 19th. And that should be the final chapter of the first story arc. It's the first arc, yeah. So, is he essentially the At this core, is he essentially the same Batman? Yes and no. Yes and no. Yes and no. Alright. The circumstances are different. The way that he has had to approach his mission, a little bit different. 

But I think at the core, we're still seeing what essentially makes Batman. We're essentially seeing the determination. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I give you that. We're seeing the, the drive to, to make things better. He's still a vigilante. I see the vengeance. I definitely see the vengeance. And you can see in this character that he's actually a little bit more mad. 

Mmm. He's a little bit more angrier. Yeah. Than your typical Batman is. Oh yeah. Over the [00:06:00] years, we've seen Batman get angry. We've seen him get really upset. We've seen him get very vengeful. We've seen him do a whole bunch of things. But 

on the norm, Batman approaches his mission as a duty. As in this version of Batman, he's taking it up as more of, I guess for lack of a better word, per se. You see what I'm saying? Kind of a regular Batman has become, has evolved in such an intellectual individual. He's a strategist. He's the, I was going to say, tactician. And they kind of pushed him into that role. Where he's sanitized as far as his emotions and his feelings. Whereas in this version, in the absolute version, you can see the actual anger. 

Yeah. Behind what he's doing. Yeah. Cause I would say in this version. This absolute Batman is still, that wound is still raw. We've had 80 years of Batman in regular. We don't know [00:07:00] to as far as comic time. 

36? Yeah. Yeah, Batman still looks 36. I would say over that time with him adding the family, Uh, the Robin. You see more of the human qualities of Bruce Wayne. You see him almost softer. Not by much but you see him almost softer. Whereas in this version, do you think he would take the time to mentor somebody? Right now? No. No, not at all. No, he's absolutely raw. He's out there to do, do damage? Yes, he's out there to do damage. 

And, uh, in his latest issue, it was the way he was approaching entering a room, and how he was listening to all of the socialites, and saying how they could be helping, and the only thing they're doing is Jockeying for positions to line their own pockets, or they're coveting their own [00:08:00] interests, and stuff like that. 

Yes, absolutely. Right, and they, he made a point where he said, they're not just eating Gotham, And you can tell that he is literally angry. Oh yeah. It's a righteous cause. This is a payback Batman. Yeah. He is, to me, he is going to pay back all the ones that did wrong. 

Yeah. The original Batman almost started off like that, I would say. But, they both were kids when the incident happened. Yeah. But, there was a major difference in, in this absolute Batman. And I'm trying to figure out how That was such greater impact. 'cause in the first one, he lost both fans and this one drove 

[00:09:00] him to his, to this anger. But we also have to realize that there's a whole different essence that is propelling these characters Yeah. To do the things that they're doing now. Whereas in the other multiverse, the, or, you know, typical DC that. It's motivated by life's unbounding ability to be positive, to expanding, to be more. 

Whereas in the Absolute Universe, you have the influence of Dark Side, where it's overcoming conflict. It's containment, and control, and basically overlordship. It's the overwhelming theme of the Absolute Universe. You look at, all of these titles, and we're going to get into the other ones in a minute, but if you look at the overall theme, everything is trying to control something. Control people, contain, we're going to see it in, in Regular Every [00:10:00] Day, where rich people are continuing to get rich while others are being dominated and suffering. 

So, that motivation, Right there, that, that overwhelming, 

unthinking sense of conflict could be the motivating factor in the difference between Absolute Batman, Regular Continuity Batman. And you know what? I would say, out of the three, these three titles, Absolute Batman is really a sense, of broader. Yeah. Yeah. Because, uh, Absolute Superman. Man, he gave him another friend. 

Absolutely, in a sense, some people consider hell another place, another being, another human being. Yeah. And, but, absolute Batman is so focused, is, he's not even considering threats outside of [00:11:00] the world, so to speak. Well, and right now, we're only, he's only considering, yeah, we saw on the rooftop in that last issue, just like you said, you know, the socialites mingling, 

towards them. But, right now we've only seen him focus on one group. And that's the Party Animals. Yes. But right now, they're the one that's causing the most They are. They're the premier villain at this point. Yeah. With them and Black Mirror. Which, you know, is running Party Animals. Yes. So. 

So, I mean, really, right now, it's easy for him just to focus on that because right now that's all that's been presented. But we all know there's more things Yeah. There's going to be more. You can't just have one. All of a sudden Gotham is going to save my family. Not unless Batman is going to train me to flip ass. 

Period. But, right now, the [00:12:00] main focus is party animals, black mass. What's going to happen once that threat is nullified or at the So, and another difference is, not really a difference, it's a sense of the way that they approach him. Uh, he doesn't have a butler, and we've been alluded to Thor as being some agent who worked with MIT. 

Specialized training. Specialized training, yeah. Now, in this absolute Batman, right out of the gate, That's exactly what he is. That's exactly who he is. You know, it's not something he's done in his past, it's something that he's doing now, and he's almost at with it. of Batman. Well, and I don't think it was specifically him that was at odds with Batman, per se. 

I think it was his organization. And as [00:13:00] Pennyworth observed what was going on at one point he decided that this Batman is not a bad thing. And he actually even tries to help him in certain instances. But this Batman being so focused on his own mission. frustrations, on his own anger, on his didn't really see the opportunity of trying to form an alliance with this Pennyworth. 

Because this Batman is doing it all on his own. And I think he I kind of think so too. Yeah. I kind of think so too. And then at the end of, uh, the, the last issue, you see that there actually is some animosity between Pennyworth and this Batman. But the way he approached the situation, when he [00:14:00] burnt the money that he took from Black Mask as the, you know, the, the absolute F. 

U., you know, which I, I, I thought was great. I didn't think he was actually going to take the money, but if he did, you know, he could build Batman like we would know it. But he didn't. He took a different route. Like, I'm not bowing down to this. And I liked how he did it. Except that, once again, it put him at odds with Pennyworth. 

Now Pennyworth seems to have a little bit more world experience than this Batman does. And we all know that, you know, actions have consequences, whether they're intended or not. And these actions that Batman's taking will have consequences. Now, the Pennyworth that we're seeing now is more of a, he's a trained person. 

Specialist. Absolutely. And he gets the job done. But he's more of a go along type. Because he's not the head of this agency. He's just the operative. [00:15:00] And he knows how things work. He's that soldier. So, he's trying to reason with a Bruce Wayne who is not going to see the benefit of going along. He's going to stand on his own. 

Like I said, he's trying to do it all on his own. He even says, you know, this is bigger than you. This was paying worth two Batman. He's like, I'll build bigger. Spoken like a true Batman. But he said, I'll build. He didn't say, we'll build bigger. He didn't say, well, we'll make it happen. He says, I'll build. 

This, that right there tells me that until something drastic happens, he's going to go it alone. Yeah, and I say they were almost in opposition because those first few issues when Pennyworth was essentially trying to throw him a line like we could work together. He was not hearing any of [00:16:00] that. He was snatching Pennyworth's equipment, running that shit off of buildings. 

And the dude said, don't park your bike out there. Love that part. That was awesome. So, yeah, he essentially has every intention of doing this by himself. Another thing that we see is we see Jim Gordon. And Gordon isn't a commissioner. He's running for mayor. No, he's not running for mayor. He is the mayor. 

He is the mayor. Or is he trying to be re elected for another term? He's working for re election. Because of, uh, Mayor Hill. And I've, I think I've heard that from animated Batman, reading in any other show. Yeah, that's not a new character, but it's a very obscure one. Yeah. And he's, in a sense, running against Mayor Hill. 

But he's not that good cop in Gotham. We also see his daughter. And, the place of [00:17:00] that good cop in Gotham. So, I'm not sure where that's gonna go. I just kind of feel like they needed to include Jim Gordon into that for some reason, and they didn't know how he would fit into this absolute Batman. 

Think about it though. I mean, essentially, you're looking at worlds where we've come to know and like certain characters. And if you're going to build an alternate universe of a set of characters, it almost It goes without saying, you're going to make alternate versions of those characters. Batman is always going to have a Jim Gordon. 

Batman is always going to have a Henry Bullock. And he's always going to have a Barbara Gordon. I can see those. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. Certain characters will, just like in Superman, you're always going to have a Lois Lane. Always going to have a Jimmy Olsen. Yeah. Wonder Woman. 

You're always going to have a Steve Trevor. I can give a damn about Steve [00:18:00] Trevor. But we're going to have a Steve Trevor. We're going to have a Steve Trevor. Or a Barbara Minerva. You know what I'm saying? So they're going to be essential characters that are going to cross over. It doesn't matter what alternate timeline you're in or what alternate universe, you know, these are characters that people are familiar with. 

So we're just giving, you know, different takes on those characters in different roles. right now, Jim Gordon doesn't know. Batman. Right. There's no interaction between the two. Zero. Yeah. But Jim Gordon knows Martha Wayne. They're very close. Yep. He knew Thomas Wayne. Yep. Martha Wayne becomes Deputy Mayor. 

Yep. Jim Gordon found Bruce Wayne in the Bat exhibit. Yeah. After the incident with his father. So, some of those things still ring true, but they're not in the same way that we're used to it, [00:19:00] which is great. Like I said, we need different takes. Him not being the police commissioner, but being the mayor, still the same kind of role, but it's different. 

And who the hell ever said, uh, Bullitt could be damn police commissioner? What the hell? Whoever came up with that idea? Where? Where? But, you know what, they did it and it worked. But, uh, unfortunately, you know. Yes. It didn't work out so well for Jim. So far. So far. So far. Uh, one of the other things that we got to see in this one. Absolute Batman, they explored more, of his childhood, and who his friends were. 

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And, Which is, which is great because they've switched it all up. Yes. Because, and as far as I know, and I've not been a DC reader as long as you have, but as far as I know, after Martha and Thomas died, he had no friends. He, we don't know what happened to him, we just knew he went off and trained, [00:20:00] but I mean, he talked to the, to the one guy who became Hush, Uh, Elliot, Thomas Elliot? 

Thomas Elliot. Yeah. Who ended up betraying him and, you know, all that good stuff, but That time between, after his parents death, And we can talk about original back 

to When he was able to go off into the world, we, no interactions with anybody else other than Alfred. I think they're trying to like sprinkle some stuff in. 

Started in, uh, Batman. But, 

you know, you know what it made me think of when I was reading this and I saw who the friends were, and what was going on, it almost reminded me of the show, Gotham. [00:21:00] Okay. Yeah. Where you see a young Bruce Wayne after the event. Where you see him interacting with a young Selina Kyle. 

Younger versions of 

the Penguin. Things of that nature. It gave me, it gave me that same vibe. And I thought that was pretty cool. Because I actually like Gotham as a show. Because it was a good show. But it showed it in a different light of how these characters came about. And I think that that is what this book is doing. Is showing those different characters. 

Let's be honest, all of his firm group are villains, are his gallery of rogues in the main DC time. Yep, Harvey Dent, Selina Kyle, Waylon Jones, um, Nigma, Cobblepot, you know, all of them, all of them are his rogues gallery. But in this, they're his, more or less his best friends that [00:22:00] he grew up with. They were there for him after what happened to Incident. 

They went to the same school. They were all there on the snow trip. They all experienced that same trauma. But, it's nice to see that exploration of him as that child and dealing with the outcome. 

His father's death, yeah. And who was there for him. Once again, like we said, about the Zorro, we were tired of seeing Martha and Thomas's, blah, blah, blah. I mean, after the, after the incident, they, Selena kind of pulls him out of it, and they end up in a theater to see that movie. Because that's what they were supposed to do with the parents. 

Which was a nice little play off of what actually happened, blah, blah, blah. They're keeping some elements of the original storyline, but twisting it. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Well, I thought that was pretty cool. Me too. Yeah. The Batsuit. The Batsuit. Fan or not? Say what? Are you a fan or [00:23:00] not? 

Um, I, I wasn't at first and that's because it was so different. But there's a certain practicality to it. Yeah. And that's what drove me to like it. And that comes from him not having a lot of fun. And him having to make use of everything to the best, and starting off, they did make him very smart. 

You know, Batman was a tactician in the other universe. Here, I think he was genius level intellect. Like, even as a kid. And, it was just seeing him make use of, what he could get his hands on. The way he approached it. Yeah. He did it methodically. He started out, and I think water services. I mean, he went, after the incident, he kind of went off the rails. 

But then he kind of, I guess, that time period, obviously, is going to be traumatic. But he figures out what his purpose is. He [00:24:00] gets back into school. He does well enough in sports that he could have gotten a full ride. Got the full ride. And then faked an injury in the first week. So he didn't have to worry about that. 

And Pennyworth said it. Uh, in the last issue, it's like, you weren't trying to be the best, you were trying to save your body for what was coming up. Uh huh. And that takes a lot of forethought. He went into different divisions of the municipal services in Gotham to plan and figure out what the playing field was. 

Yeah. We talked about the practicality. And some of the things that I have is every component seems to be a symbol. Is a retractable bat. Ears. Okay, 

he has no batteries. Oh, they're there. You know, he has them. Uh, his gloves [00:25:00] have spikes. You know, even the cape. And, it really blew my mind when they introduced the Batmobile. Oh, yeah. 

That thing was ginormous and I mean Pennyworth said, how the hell are we going to get away in a 200 ton vehicle? And then he drove it right off the damn pier. Oh, I can show you how we going to get away. So it was nice to see that. That ingenuity in Batman, where it's not, oh, the answer to everything in my utility belt. 

I have, I got this back sharp repellent. Yeah. I can take care of everything. Like that. Although, you did see that he did show, not just, just martial fighting skill or weaponry or stuff like that. He also showed, foresight and [00:26:00] he, a capsule of some, some type of vinegar. Yeah. Where he dropped it in the water and it became hydrochloric acid. 

Yeah. So, it's not just that, he's trying to just bludgeon the hell out of everybody. He's also taking approaches to, you know, nullify people with other means. Yeah. So, I mean, he's still got the ingenuity of the same regular Batman, but he's just, because he doesn't have that abundance of resources, he's figuring it out, making do. 

With what he has to say on that. Yeah. Um, I have one more thing. I don't know if I'm spoiling it. Uh, you guys may be waiting on the trade. You may be waiting to read it all at once. So, uh, we touched on it a little bit when we talked about the death of his parents. But, there's a twist to it. And I think I'm going to leave that for Discovery. 

Explore on your own. Yes. Did you see the tease to the Absolute Joker? Yes. [00:27:00] Okay. And why do they call him the Joker? I don't know. 

He left a playing card of it. Playing card that they found, wasn't it? Yeah. Yes, it was. That was at the end of issue 2, right? 

Let's take a quick look. What I thought was interesting is that there were two pilots. The person that's being portrayed as the Joker is getting on to, I think it's either a helicopter. 

Oh, I was taking a mention about 

his name. 

But he's still in contact with him. He still regularly meets up with him. And. Plays poker. Yeah. And seeing as how they're, they have different, 

but they're involved in Gotham. In different ways. In different ways. He uses that information to help him. [00:28:00] With the crime in the city. I think they said Harvey Dent's like a young hotshot up and coming lawyer. He's a lawyer, yeah. Or intern or something like that. But he's not the DA. Right. He's just starting out. 

Yes, he's just starting out. But we know Harvey Dent has information on the party animals. What's going on, on the legal side. Yeah. And, Oswald is, what's going on with him? He's more street level. He may not be all on the up and up, but he knows if he has like some type of circuitry or puzzle to solve, Edward still wants to be the best person to help him out. 

Apparently he's more of a techie in this iteration. So that was, that was kind of refreshing and how they all have certain aspects of their original personalities from the original, uh, timeline. But have included different, uh, [00:29:00] I guess for the lack of a better word, specialities in what they do on a day to day basis. 

Okay, it's in two. The tease that I was talking about, how they tease the Joker, was when they were playing poker. Okay, I'm talking about a different one. Go ahead. 

And they were playing poker, they were talking about the rules to the game, and And no jokers were allowed at the table. No jokers were allowed. That's, I took that as a tease to And, that was a good one, and I remember that. I didn't remember that when you were saying that as what you were taking as the, the teaser. 

There is another panel in here where it shows the actual person who is supposed to be the Joker getting on, like I said, I think it's on to a helicopter. It irritates me that I can't just read, we read all of this over the weekend. Like I said, it's irritating when I can't.  

But basically what it boils down to is they actually show. Uh, the individual that we were [00:30:00] supposed to assume as the Joker. And the two pilots are talking to each other. And they're, the one was saying about how much money that, Banks , and the Rokes. , maybe he'll become my new best friend. And, basically it says, well, don't expect much because, he never, anything like that. Uh, okay. I remember that. You remember which one I'm talking about? Yeah. I can't remember where it happened. But I do like I was saying when we were talking about teases for the Joker and let's be honest You can't have an absolute Batman without an absolute Joker. Yes, I mean, that's just They'll change it. They'll change a bunch of stuff, but they won't change that. Yeah Yeah, kind of But I actually thought black mask was a good starting off point it was and before we wrap up absolute [00:31:00] Batman anything They'll say we didn't touch up on 

No, I think that, uh, you need to get out there and read Absolute Batman. Because by far, so far, in my opinion, that's been the best of the three titles. Now, you know that I'm a, uh, an avid Superman hater. Yes. But I have found enjoyment in the Absolute Superman. We'll get to that. I do like Wonder Woman, but I've never liked Wonder Woman as a solo character. 

But the first four issues of this book, I'm really digging the way that she moves into space. And her attitude. Refreshing new backstories, so. Funny in the absolute Batman, definitely hit up your local comic book. 

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