The following contains spoilers for Absolute Batman #14, on sale now from DC
One of the things that doesn’t get NEARLY enough attention in Absolute Batman is the role of Alfed Pennyworth’s narration in the series. Alfred has given us a lot of great insight into Batman (like the classic “Batman AF” bit from the second issue), but just as importantly, he has also MISSED a lot of insight on Batman.
That’s so impressive to me, as few writers have the guys to use an UNRELIABLE narrator as the main narrator of the book, and yet that’s exactly what Alfred Pennyworth is in this series. Right from the start, we have been seeing Batman from HIS perspective. And it’s a vaulable perspective, to be sure, but it is just HIS perspective.
And at a number of times, Batman has confounded his expectations in a major way, and that is the case here, as well, as Pennyworth believes that there is a certain plan when, in reality, Batman has a whole OTHER plan in mind, because while Alfred is intent on winning the final battle with Bane, Batman is intent on winning the battle the RIGHT WAY.
Absolute Batman #14 is from writer Scott Snyder, artist Nick Dragotta, colorist Frank Martin, and letterer Clayton Cowles, and it features the stunning conclusion of Batman’s fight with Bane, where Batman, of course, wins, but he wins on HIS terms!
How does this issue play with flashbacks in a different way than normal?
I talk a lot (like, probably TOO much) about the power comic book artists have to control time, and it is at play in this issue, as well, as Dragotta uses so many panels in so many different timelines to control the speed in which you read the panels.
Image via DC
Back in Absolute Batman #9, I noted that one of the best things about the series was how Dragotta is not afraid of going BIG with his design choices. It has been so shocking and awesome how grotesque Dragotta’s Bane is, and it gets to an even crazier level in this issue, where Bane goes to some new, shocking points of body morphing.
The double-page spread suggests to us what we could expect from a Batman who would go to the same levels as Bane, and that’s so important, because that’s a symbol of what Batman would have to do to himself to defeat Bane, and that’s not what Batman wants to ever become.
It’s similar to the idea that Batman would never use a gun. There are things that Batman just won’t do, and we see in the flashbacks of the issue, Bruce Wayne had been bending his ethics a bit, but the “true” version of Bruce won’t let his ethics bend, and he fully supported Waylon Jones’ decision to try to win the fixed fight (and he bet all of their money on Waylon winning).
How does Absolute Batman speak to us about lack of faith?
All of Gotham heard Batman’s message last issue, but Gotham’s officials STILL try to lie to them about what they saw.
Something Scott Snyder noted to me in an interview a while back struck me in this section of the book.
What I’m afraid of is my kids losing hope and feeling apathetic and looking at a world that’s more challenging, more divided, more chaotic, more divisive, more cruel, more stratified, and being like, “I can’t change any of this,” or “I don’t know what to do.” But I don’t see that in them. I see resistance, I see determination, I see hope and all these things. And so what if I make a Batman that is the sort of pinnacle of that, and doesn’t have any access to anything else. They don’t like billionaires nowadays.
The world can try to lie to you, but you don’t have to accept it, and Batman is the symbol for people who don’t want to give up hope.
Source: DC