Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta's Absolute Batman has put a horrifying spin on many of the Dark Knight's greatest foes. Now, right in time for October's Clayface movie, the Absolute version of the villain will debut in August's Absolute Batman #23.
While he's posing as Batman on the comic's cover, Dragotta's designs hint at Clayface's motivations and true form. It seems that part of his head is missing, along with a skinnier, much creepier body than the one typically seen in the regular DC Universe.
"In a climactic showdown, Batman is forced to battle an unyielding enemy in not just the Robins but in himself," reads the official description for the issue. "More than one dead character signals a call for help...and a symbol of hopelessness as more friends become enemies."
The Absolute Universe has been a hit for DC Comics, with Absolute Batman proving the publisher's biggest seller. At the moment, Snyder and Dragotta are busy putting a bold new spin on the Robins and Scarecrow, keeping fans hooked as they continue reinventing Gotham City.
During a recent interview with DC, Snyder opened up on his approach to reinventing Batman:
"The goal was to make one that felt the opposite, that was sort of burning the character down to his core and saying, 'What is the only thing that matters?' and rebuilding everything else so it feels more immediate, more personal, more relevant, more urgent. What I came up with was this idea that he is at heart just a boy who suffers this terrible trauma and decides he's going to use that to aggressively make the world better—and that's it. If you take away everything else but that, then the wealth doesn't matter, the gadgets don't matter, the vehicles, Alfred the butler."
"So, you think, 'How do I apply him to the world?' Well, the first thing is, in the main universe, he is sort of an agent of order and the Joker is chaos. But in today's world, it feels like the people who are masters of order and the system are not the best people, right? That's the way my kids feel. So, I'm writing Batman not for myself, but as a hero for them. These characters are supposed to make us feel brave. But at this point in my life, it’s less about making me brave and more about making them brave. He wouldn't be somebody who's at the top of the heap. He would be somebody who punches up and feels like the underdog."
"Suddenly, it became clear that if we invert that core aspect of the mythos, everything else will fall into place. It's not even that he's poor and Joker is rich. It's that he is the one without means. He is the chaos. He is the disruptor. In this world, the Joker is the billionaire. Joker is order. Joker is the system. Everything else became wondrous and new after that."
Check out this first look at Absolute Batman's take on Clayface below.