Review: ‘Absolute Batman’ Annual #1 Is More Than It Says On The Label

Batman has always fought evil. He’s even fought Nazis. But in Absolute Batman Annual #1, he doesn’t just show white supremacists what he thinks of them, he actually grapples with what his actions mean.

Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer, and Clayton Cowles lead off the annual, with backups from James Harren, Dave Stewart and Cowles, and Meredith McLaren.

Before he made his public debut as Batman, Bruce Wayne had work to do — gathering equipment, clothing and weapons. Unfortunately, one of the towns he sourced those weapons from is a hotbed for a neo-Nazi group. Will Batman stand back and let them reign with fear? Or will he strike back?

In the back-ups, the Party Animals are retreating after Batman defeated Black Mask. What will they find in their sanctuary? And learn a little more about Bats … particularly the Gotham City variety…

The entire internet is talking about a two page spread in Johnson’s story. And rightfully, it should be. It’s a bold statement about white supremacy. It’s a brilliantly paced and laid out page turn. It captures how we all should feel and react to Nazis. It’s actually the tolerance paradox- if you’re tolerant of intolerance, the intolerance will grow.

And yes, that two page spread of Batman dislocating the elbow of a Nazi mid-sigheil is awesome. (Also, everyone is saying that he’s breaking the Nazi’s arm. Looking at the anatomy of that page, it’s a dislocation, which in the way Johnson drew it would be a break, a dislocation, and permanently disabling said arm.)

But Johnson’s story — a brilliantly written and drawn action story, without a doubt — is about so much more than that. It’s a story about fathers and sons in a way that only Johnson is writing about in comics right now. It’s an examination of the methods of protest against hate and violence. And it asks the question of balance in the way we end hate and how we show compassion. It is not asking us to stop evil with peace and love, but it is telling us that compassion and empathy are also valid forms of protest.

Harren’s story is a fun epilogue to the first arc of the series and looks great. The issue I have with it is that it thematically clashes with the opening story — going from an examination of family and living up to expectations to something much darker, and much more nihilistic. From the action standpoint, it’s a match but from a deeper meaning, it’s a miss. McLaren’s short is cute, and plays with double meanings behind the words on the page.

Spicer, Stewart and Cowles all play great roles in the issue too. Spicer’s colors on Johnson’s story, particularly his use of reds, sets such a specific tone that you can almost hear the electric guitar behind the art. Stewart’s colors on Harren’s story makes Gotham feel grimy and dark. And Cowles is such a great storyteller in how he uses captions, bubbles and sound effects to show what’s going on (though in the case of Johnson’s story, I’m not sure if it’s Johnson or Cowles who did the SFX).

Overall, this is a fantastic issue for any Bat-fan. It probably would have been stronger splitting Johnson and Harren’s stories up into separate issues, but in general, I can’t recommend it enough.