The Mythos of Absolute Batman: A Review of Absolute Batman Annual #1 (2025)
Olivia Lindquist ‘26 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
Absolute Batman debuted over a year ago on October 5, 2024, and sold out almost immediately. This “elseworlds” story, alongside its peers Absolute Superman and Absolute Wonder Woman, has had DC fans hooked since its start—intriguing people with a 7-foot-tall, Gen-Z Bruce Wayne with no money to his name, and a living mother. As DC approaches the introduction of Absolute Joker, who will fully debut as a next-level monster in Absolute Batman #15 (December 10, 2025), they took the time to give fans a look into the early days of Absolute Batman with a collection of short stories taking place before the start of the first issue.
Spoilers ahead.
Story 1
“Story 1” opens with a flashback of Bruce and his father, Thomas, during a pivotal moment in Bruce’s childhood. The reader is introduced to the crux of Bruce’s hope for the world around him as his father explains to him that his goal as a teacher is to help guide his students away from making life-altering mistakes—in this case, a bombing that was reported in the paper. Writer Daniel Warren Johnson takes readers to the real meat and potatoes of the story and juxtaposes it with Thomas asking Bruce, “What will you do?”
In almost every universe, Batman is a big guy who is always looking out for the little guy. Whether it’s in the main continuity, the animated universe, or even here in the Absolute universe, Bruce always has an aching heart towards people who need help. Upon his arrival at an encampment outside of Gotham City, Bruce learns that the encampment is there after a promise of suburban development fell through. He encounters a group of guys in pig masks harassing a mom and her son, who don’t speak any English. He steps in to help before getting beaten up by the attackers, only to get saved by a pastor who is later revealed to be an old friend of Thomas’s, Father Peters. Despite being asked to stay with the pastor, where it is safe for him to heal, the call of need from the encampment is too great for him to ignore.
As Batman says, “Sometimes peace isn’t an option; sometimes words don’t work.”
The group of assaulters raid the encampment with the help of the local police, using their attack as proof that they exhibit “the new truth, pure power.”
In a sickeningly satisfying turn of events, Batman promptly breaks the instigator’s elbow before he could finish the call of “white power.” Bruce, in one of his most violent moments readers have seen thus far, takes down these neo-Nazis one by one, and Daniel Warren Johnson paints a very striking image that was teased at New York Comic Con before the release of the Annual.
The only thing that slows him down is the return of his father’s friend, stopping him from killing the instigator, Deejay, as the rest of the group makes a break for it. Johnson creates a terrifying image of Batman choosing violence over peace before he embarks on the journey to burn down the group’s safe-haven and bulldoze the last place the attackers attempted to take refuge, calling them cockroaches before setting fire to it.
The story ends beautifully, setting up Batman to reckon with the violence he committed against the peace he sees in the pastor’s care for the neo-Nazis after the fight—the same peace and care his father lived by.
Johnson leaves the readers with the heart-wrenching beginnings of a guilt-ridden breakdown and the words “I’ll always be proud of you” from his father.
Sanctuary
“Sanctuary,” written by James Harren, gives readers the first look at a truly mythical Batman in this universe. While “Story 1” showcases his humanity, “Sanctuary” plays into the fear that makes Batman great. It’s not his fighting skills that are highlighted in this story, unlike the first snapshot, but rather his stealth as Harren takes readers through a group of Party Animals—followers of Black Mask/Roman Sionis from the first arc of the run—and their fight against Batman in an abandoned church.
Beginning as a father-son story, Victor—the Party Animals’ de facto leader—takes the gang to his father’s house, a renovated church, for safety. The group spends time preparing for Batman to arrive, making acidic concoctions and searching for weapons as Victor reconciles with a father he feels has abandoned him. Up until this point, the Party Animals have been painted as a group of non-empathetic mass murderers desperate for cash, but Harren uses this setting and particular situation to give the reader a side of their humanity.
Though the story is focused on Victor and his father, it is admittedly cool seeing Batman’s suit behave with a mind of its own—snatching Party Animals and dragging them around like one would see in a horror movie dealing with ghosts. Even when fighting against the biggest and strongest Party Animal of the group, Batman works efficiently to dodge bullets and take the man down with inhuman speed.
This direct contrast between the very human and infallible Batman presented in the first story of the Annual and the god-like Batman Harren presents here takes readers on a whirlwind journey that proves the Absolute Batman isn’t very different from the main continuity at his core.
Let’s Learn About Bats!
Though this third installment by Meredith McClaren is only a spread long, “Let’s Learn About Bats!” illustrates the people of Gotham City and their view of Batman, overlaid with facts about bats. The collage of media screenshots shows the city’s fascination with the mythical vigilante. As established by the final panel, Batman being in action provides a sense of solidarity amongst the locals.
The DC editorial team truly outdid itself with this Annual, doing an excellent job at illustrating the reasons why people love Batman as a character, and fans eagerly await the next installment of Absolute Batman.