The “Absolute” DC Universe, launched last year, is doing what Marvel Comics has done with its “Ultimate” universe — restart and distill the company’s classic superheroes from the ground-up to make them more appealing to the reader of today. This has produced a dark fantasy version of Wonder Woman, a Superman who better resembles modern immigrant stories, and a Batman out to tear down the system.
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Dragotta and Martín draw Batman as bulky as Frank Miller did in “The Dark Knight Returns.” It’s a potent comparison, too, seeing as Snyder has said he’s aiming to write a Batman as relevant to now as Miller’s Batman was in 1986. To be a hero of the moment, Bruce Wayne can’t be a billionaire. (The “Absolute” Joker has only been teased so far, but this time he’s one of the world’s richest men, not Batman.)
“If the thesis of Batman is that he exists to go up against fear, then you’ve gotta put what you’re afraid of in the book,” as Snyder told AIPT.
Before he even got to “Absolute” Mr. Freeze, Snyder penned a daring reinterpretation of Batman’s inescapable origin. As a child, Bruce Wayne was caught in a mass shooting, and his father/teacher Thomas died saving Bruce and his classmates. (Martha, Bruce’s mother, was spared for once and has been a supporting character in “Absolute Batman.”) Some of Bruce’s classmates are people who would’ve been his enemies in another timeline: Waylon “Killer Croc” Jones, Harvey Dent, Ozzie Cobblepot, and Eddie Nygma.
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“Zero” cuts between Batman investigating the murder of another old friend, Matches Malone, and Bruce holding a vigil for Matches with his other friends. In issue #8, the two stories collide.
Freeze reveals that, instead of a peaceful sleep, the ice keeps him in constant pain: “The ice isn’t salvation. It’s the memory of all we want to forget. It’s vengeance.” (Hmm, interesting word choice for a “Batman” character…). Bruce, briefly frozen in one of Freeze’s traps, experiences searing memories of his own pain.
As Batman is facing down Freeze’s unthawed collection, he remembers his friends confronting him about his nightly double-life. Waylon asks him a pointed question: “Do you want to die?” Bruce says no, and Waylon makes it clear he’ll be holding him to that. Snyder is further taking apart the “one great man” part of Batman; Bruce needs his friends to keep from fading to nothing inside … or “Absolute Zero.”
In the same vein, Snyder sews a new contrast between Batman and Mr. Freeze. Freeze represents being frozen as a person and constantly stewing in your own pain. Like a good super-villain should, his gimmick now reflects something deeper. Batman is often guilty of what Freeze does, too, and this book argues he shouldn’t if he’s going to be the best Batman he can be.
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DC’s Absolute Batman comic has introduced the most radical reinvention of Mr. Freeze yet, putting a different kind of horror movie spin on the villain. Read More