The Absolute Batman: Ark M Special went on sale in comic stores today, revealing more about the Absolute Joker's twisted past. The issue opens with Dr. Amadeus Arkham recounting his life, revealing that a young boy, covered in blood, showed up on his door in 1885.
He took him in and raised the child as his son, all while watching over Arkham Asylum's twisted inmates. Among them was John Doe, a disturbed killer who Amadeus believes to be Jack the Ripper (and may well be the Absolute Universe's immortal Joker, a.k.a. Joseph "Jack" Grimm).
John eventually managed to break out, seemingly killing the doctor's adopted son and leaving Amadeus to mourn his failings. Decades later, Grimm visits the Asylum and the shocking truth is revealed: he wasn't John Doe, he was the boy that Amadeus took in.
He killed John and returned to the Asylum in the 1940s to mock the man who took him in.
Learning the truth, Amadeus burned down the Asylum, allowing The Joker to take it over and transform it into Ark M in the present. Grimm's goal from the start was to mock and destroy Amadeus, and he decides to release two of the institution's prisoners to deal with his new foe, Batman.
Among those listed as being in Grimm's biomes are Kirk Langstrom/Man-Bat, Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy, Hugo Strange, Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow, Basil Karlo/Clayface, and Jarvis Tetch/Mad Hatter.
However, there's someone else who wants to take their shot at the Caped Crusader: Deathstroke.
He's seemingly wearing an eyepatch and appears to have metal legs, perhaps making this version of Slade Wilson a literal Terminator. The villain is currently expected to clash with Bruce Wayne in Absolute Batman #19, but there may ultimately be a bigger target on Alfred Pennyworth's back.
"He has a long old relationship with Alfred," writer Scott Snyder previously said of the Absolute Deathstroke. "They trained together, they were old allies, they were friends, right? And now he’s his worst enemy and he sort of teamed up with Joker and that whole group."
"So for Alfred, that character is the pinnacle, like it’s the person he’s afraid of facing, it’s his Darth Vader, you know?" he added. "It’s the person he feels he let down, it’s the person he feels guilty about, it’s the person he failed, if he’s Obi-Wan in that way."
Check out a first look at Absolute Batman: Ark M Special's take on Deathstroke below.
INTO ARK-M! The origins of the enigmatic Ark M are explored! What terrible secrets lie within its walls, and just who is assigned to protect it from discovery?!
ABSOLUTE BATMAN: ARK M SPECIAL #1
Written by SCOTT SNYDER, FRANK TIERI
Artwork by JOSHUA HIXON