Though the character's redesign took a bit of getting used to, many DC Comics fans have come to embrace Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta's Absolute Batman since the series launched last October, and The Popverse has now shared some potentially inflammatory story details for writer-artist Daniel Warren Johnson's Absolute Batman Annual #1.
Set to hit shelves on October 29, the special will focus on the early says of Bruce Wayne's crime-fighting career, as he does battle with The Black Mask's crew, and a group of white nationalists.
During DC Comics' Gotham City panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Daniel Warren Johnson revealed some details about the annual. "I don't know, man, it's just Batman beating up white nationalists," he said when asked to share something about the story. "I'm not exactly a subtle storyteller... But I'm angry and it's coming out in these next 30 pages."
Absolute Batman reimagines the iconic DC hero as a 24-year-old blue-collar civil engineer, who operates as the vigilante known as Batman while utilizing his own self-designed armor and equipment. This brings the Dark Knight into conflict with a secret agent named Alfred Pennyworth.
"The idea with Absolute was to really approach the whole universe with one ethos," Snyder told DC last year when the imprint launched. "The beauty of something like Black Label is that every creator comes in and can take whatever approach they want to make that character resonate with them at that moment. You have Daniel Warren Johnson coming in and doing post-apocalyptic stories, you can have Dan Jurgens and other people coming in and doing Batman in the 1930s. So, there isn’t a unifying sensibility to it, beyond that every story is really individuated.
For us, with the Absolute universe, the idea was to share a mission statement. And the mission statement was we want these characters to remain true to core, but they’re happening now. We want the challenge for creators who are coming on to the Absolute universe to really look at the hero and think, 'How can I make this hero more what they are?' if you pit them against the things in the world today? What things can you take away? What things can you adjust? What things can you give them? What things do you want to invert, to almost make them more heroic in the way that they’re heroic, if they’re up against things that are frightening to young people and to adults in today’s world? Batman was the template for that."
Check out the cover to Absolute Batman Annual #1 below.
"On sale October 29, 2025, Absolute Batman 2025 Annual #1 will feature stories about Absolute Batman written and drawn by Daniel Warren Johnson, James Harren, and Meredith McClaren. The issue will have a main cover by Daniel Warren Johnson, with variant covers by Nick Dragotta, James Harren, and Meredith McClaren (1:25).
How did Bruce acquire his Batmobile? What happened when Black Mask’s crew tangled with the Bat in those first few days? DC’s Absolute Batman 2025 Annual delivers insight into the raw, formative chaos from Absolute Batman’s earliest days.