DC Comics’ Absolute Universe has been the most creative and unhinged comic book universe the company has ever produced. Yes, there are other non-DC comic book series like The Boys, Invincible, and Crossed that go beyond what fans are used to. However, the creative teams behind these series have made some classic characters more deranged and dangerous without going overboard. That being said, what Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta have pulled off in the recent issue of Absolute Batman is on another level of brutality and genius.
Prepare to be shocked as the Absolute Universe continues to up the ante with another surprise that is anything but pleasant for The Dark Knight.
Absolute Batman No. 12 creative team
- Writer: Scott Snyder
- Artist: Nick Dragotta
- Colors: Frank Martin
So far, Absolute Batman: Abomination has made Bane the scariest human Bruce Wayne has encountered in any universe. In this story's first couple of chapters, the Savior of Santa Prisca started by physically breaking the Dark Knight. All of the beatings and experiments left Bruce drained, but not defeated. Then, the constant losses almost broke him mentally. It didn't help that he saw the twisted experiments that came before him. Thanks to the intervention of Waylon Jones (who’s now a huge crocodile), Batman escapes. Sadly, the torture didn’t end there. It was time to break him emotionally.
After being unconscious for close to three weeks, Bruce goes to visit his friends. He finds out that Bane did horrific things to them after he escaped. What’s more devious is how creative Bane's attacks are. He doesn’t just mutilate them. It's calculated in ways that fit their personalities.
He said Ozzie wanted to be big, so he broke all his bones. Now, Ozzie will be two feet shorter with disfigured hands and feet. He cracks Harvey Dent’s skull in half and burns fifty percent of his body because Harvey plays two sides of the law. As for Eddie, he slammed his head against a wall, damaging the part of the brain responsible for intelligence. If all of this sounds familiar, it’s because Bane successfully turned Bruce’s friends into his enemies.
One of the things comic book fans have said is that each of Batman’s villains would have been criminals without him. During the “Trial” episode of Batman: The Animated Series, the Dark Knight’s antagonists admitted so, saying that the gimmicks may have differed, but the results would have been the same. Unfortunately, in this twisted universe, it appears that their destiny is to be enemies of their now-former friend.
For now, we don't know if Ozzie will survive, whether or not Harvey will leave Gotham, or what's next for Eddie. What's certain is that Bane is a menace that must be stopped. If the solicitations for Absolute Batman are correct, their final encounter happens in issue No. 14. Stay tuned to Bam Smack Pow for the results of the finale.
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