Absolute DC #1s Review (Originally Posted Nov. 7th, 2024)
So DC, yesterday as I’m writing this (Thur, Nov. 7th), has released all the #1 issues of their new Absolute universe trinity. Absolute Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman are all out and this new universe is firmly launched. I wanted to do a quick review of all 3, but firstly, I want to say this, buy these books. These are good books by some amazing creatives. But lets talk about them in more detail in release order.
**Spoilers Below**
Absolute Batman — While all these books re-imagines these characters, this one seems the most different, this Batman isn’t rich, he works construction and trains in a local gym. He hasn’t lost his parents, only his father, with his mother being very much alive. Also the one thing he had holding him together in the regular continuity, Alfred, is out for his head. This Batman is built like a brick wall, using his physicality just as much as his new and unique gadgets. This batman can walk on sticks in his cape, like a bat has arms in it’s wings, he has an axe in his chest emblem, and knives in the ears. The spirit of wanting to improve the city you belong to is still there, this Bruce Wayne is still incredibly smart and strong, using his almost in-human willpower to change the city for the better, but this Bruce isn’t the type to know the DA, or be able to offer jobs to everyone he beats up like the one we’re used to. Overall, its a great start to a new Gotham with new and old problems, probably my favorite of these #1s.
Absolute Wonder Woman — This book, like Batman, takes everything away from Diana, just for her to find a way to be a hero anyways. You can hide even the word amazon from her, but she knows what she is, and will never hide it. This Diana has a much darker aesthetic, emblematic of growing up in hell, with a giant sword and a badass helmet. This Wonder Woman comes into our world to fight demons, a far cry from her mission of peace many are used to. This book has us watch as Diana grows in hell, slowly molding herself (out of clay??) into the hero and warrior she needs to be, we see her kindness early, a strong foundation for a hero. This Diana may not have the amazons or even human allies like Steve Trevor, but she still manages to make the most of her power, fighting to protect as always, just with a different kit than we’re used to seeing her with. While we don’t get a whole lot of world building like with Batman, we get a lot of Diana and some gorgeous art, so it lands a solid, but close, second place for me.
Absolute Superman — Another great start. If Batman was a balance of character and world building, and Wonder Woman was mostly character, then Superman balances it back out with a lot more world building, and some world destruction as well. Here we get a re-imagining of Krypton, which, while on the surface may appear like the Krypton we know and love, we find a deep seated inequality between classes. Instead of the famous “S” crest meaning hope and/or being specific to the house of El, it is now the symbol of the working class, a “People of Steel”. The hubris of the scientific class and their rampant exploitation of their planet leaves a broken world, cracking under the pressure of its people. Leaving that flashback, we find Clark (sporting my favorite of the redesigns for Absolute btw) fighting for the working class on earth. The book will obviously deal with the real world problems of land exploitation and the ravaging of third-world peoples by first-world nations and corporations. I honestly can’t wait to see where they take this book, and while it may be in third place for me, that’s like bronze in the Olympics, still pretty damn good.
