DC Comics held a 75-minute panel at New York Comic Con yesterday, highlighting its "All In" initiative and the new Absolute Universe.
During the panel, Absolute Batman creative team Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta addressed the overwhelmingly positive fan reaction to their first issue together and made a point of acknowledging and celebrating the work of series colourist Frank Martin and his contribution to this reimagined version of the Dark Knight.
They also shared new artwork from the upcoming second issue which, as you can see below, has revealed Batman's new Batmobile. He's built like a dump truck so it arguably makes sense that he's driving one through the streets of Gotham City!
The publisher also announced that it would be adding to its second wave of titles, as writer Deniz Camp confirmed that Absolute Martian Manhunter is joining Absolute Green Lantern and Absolute Flash in 2025.
Camp is making his DC series debut with artist Javier Rodríguez on a new take on one of DC’s most enigmatic characters (you can see the hero's redesign below).
"We’re going to give the Absolute universe and the main universe plenty of room to tell their stories before we really intersect them in any kind of way that would feel intrusive," Snyder recently said when asked if fans should expect these Absolute characters to meet their DC Universe counterparts. "But we wanted to show that the DC Universe now has these two approaches to superheroes."
"On the one hand, you have the classic, epic, great tapestry of legacy storytelling. It’s all elevated with jumping on points over in the main line. And then over here, you have this very unpredictable, chaotic, daring, strange and dangerous take on all these heroes in a collective space that’s next to that world. It’s hidden away."
"And so, we wanted to do something that’s one big meta-story, where ultimately these two worlds, these heroes, have to embrace each other to defeat the threat that is Darkseid, as he’s now becoming this kind of primal, final form state," the writer concluded.
Check out a new look at Absolute Batman and Absolute Martian Manhunter below.
Batman was born out of violence – a horrible tragedy that shaped the trajectory of his future. But when a vigilant MI6 agent starts tracking the lonely life of Bruce Wayne, he discovers the interconnectivity between a hero’s shell life and the many layers of the Black Mask Gang. It’s Batman versus Alfred Pennyworth!
ABSOLUTE BATMAN #2
Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Art & Cover by NICK DRAGOTTA
On Sale 11/13