The life of Bruce Wayne in Absolute Batman isn’t necessarily worse than his Prime Earth counterpart’s. For example, Bruce didn’t have the billions of dollars, and his father was murdered. However, in this universe, his mother Martha was alive. He also went without being trained by the best people worldwide, but this led him to know everything about Gotham City.
Sadly, as much as there’s a give and take in his life, writer Scott Snyder continues to show that we haven’t seen the worst of what can happen to the Absolute Dark Knight.
Absolute Batman No. 19 creative team
- Writer: Scott Snyder
- Artist: Nick Dragotta
- Colors: Frank Martin
In Absolute Batman: Ark M, Jack Grimm (a.k.a. The Joker) tells Slade Wilson / Deathstroke that he is going to “introduce” Bruce to some of the other experiments in Ark M. Among them was Jonathan Crane, better known to DC Comics fans as the Scarecrow. In Absolute Batman No. 19, the creative team wasted little time in showing us that Crane is a major threat who controls and understands fear in a dangerous way.
This version of the villain seems more focused than his Earth-Prime counterpart because he doesn't seem held back by insecurities. Plus, instead of experimenting with fear to see how people react, Scarecrow has a clear and sadistic purpose: He's using his power or toxins (or the crows he controls) to get people to become homicidal. This is further highlighted during an interaction with James Gordon and Batman.
Gordon reaches out to Batman with an app Harley Quinn created called the Bat Signal (nice!). When he arrives, he seems unlike himself; he's jumpy, nervous, and unsure of his decision to show Bruce the file on him called Project Batman. As the Dark Knight is going through it, Gordon rambles about the crows circling that are trying to stop him, apologizes for what Bruce is about to read, and jumps off the roof. As Batman tries to save Jim, civilians who were looking on say that he was the one who killed Gordon. Realistically, Crane (who was looking on in the distance) caused all of this.
Now, Batman isn’t the hero of Gotham City anymore. This gives Grimm the momentum he needs to torment Bruce even more. And he does, as he brings Slade Wilson in front of a crowd to announce his new initiative, the Robin Project.
The names in the Robin Project will look familiar because they were all Robins in DC Comics’ main continuity. They are Stephanie Brown, Jason Todd, Duke Thomas, and Tim Drake. Leading them is none other than the kid Grimm raised, Dick Grayson.
After reading this issue, I began to wonder how much this Joker knows about Bruce Wayne on Earth-Prime. Grimm seems to be taking everything good and bad in Batman’s life and using it to test him. The point really hit home when it’s revealed that Grimm raised Dick. However, while it seems like Joker is out to kill Batman, are we sure that he’s not testing him for the upcoming battle against Darkseid? Stay tuned to Bam Smack Pow to find out.
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