Nick Dragotta: I mean, you need a massive symbol for a massive Batman. All my designs are dictated by story. And the character of this book, and particularly this Bruce, he’s someone— you know, in every way we're going bigger. So it's a bigger Batman. It's a bigger Bruce. As an artist and a designer, I thought about the practical nature of the symbol and who this character is. And first and foremost, that symbol was for protection. So it's going to protect his vitals. It also acts as other tools that you'll see in the issue.

And starting with that, starting from there, you tend to go larger. The idea, too, is just to get away from the Baroque, you know, the Batman ‘89 and how Baroque [it is with] all the curves. When you see our story, that just doesn't fit. Such a massive guy carrying - his emblem is also an ax - so carrying that, and then the design, it just didn't carry the weight. So all that shape and then getting away from the protection. And then I love the bows in it, and the curves, and it looks like it's a Bat symbol that's about to burst, to me. And that kind of fits our character, Bruce.

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Scott Snyder: Like Nick says, it's a big Batman. He needs a big emblem, which is very true. But I think the thing that we were going for is this feeling that he's almost just explosive. The idea of the mythology being completely inverted was exciting. Like, okay, Bruce Wayne doesn't have money or anything like that. How do you take this and completely flip it? And so for us, that didn't just mean the resources or that he's not rich.

It meant that instead of being associated with the system and with order that he would be that small amount of chaos and anarchy. And his villains would be the things that sort of held the system together in that way. And so that sort of demanded a size to him that would feel almost like a primal beast, like this force of nature in Gotham. As opposed to somebody that has to pretend to be rich and powerful and wear a tuxedo. He could be unleashed in that way, because he's nobody. He's just a guy on the train.

And the emblem in that way, too, felt like it needed to be brutal. It needed to be almost aggressive. It felt like something that we wanted you to see and be like, “what is that?” And we tried ones that were more traditional and Bat-like. But for us, it really felt like it was a geometrical utility, like a tool. That this is a wall, and you're not getting through it. This is an ax. It's barely a bat because it's just so bursting at the brim with ion and energy.

And the funniest part is like— you know, DC got in touch when there was so much chatter about it and was like, “if you want to do any interviews to correct the narrative,” which, they're very sweet about it. But I was like, “do you guys think that we're upset about it? Because it's awesome!” It makes us so happy to see people engaged and talking and feeling excited or angry or confused about it. Just because we're so proud of it and the whole book that it's just nice to see people anticipating it.

SR: Yeah, it was really exciting to see everyone talking so ionately online about a comic that hadn't even come out yet, and specifically about the design of a comic as opposed to story decisions or anything. I feel like that kind of goes under-discussed a lot in comic circles. So I wanna stick with Nick for a second because I love the way you were talking about your design choices, how these design choices fit into the story and the character. The way you were both talking about the logo— “explosive,” “bursting,” some of the words you were using are really interesting.

But this character design, Nick, it's so memorable even beyond its differences from the Batman we know. In and of itself, it's a memorable character design. So what was your process like in doing this new Batman design, this new character? And do you have any favorite features of the design?

ND: The process in doing it, it's very challenging. Because imagine, the job is to create a new Batman for today. And I am so beholden to the nostalgia of comics and what creators have done in the past, and I just felt so strongly like, do not mess with the Batman silhouette. So you have the cowl, the cape, the symbol, and they're usually spotted in black, you know, in shadow and they work. And I wanted to really stay true to that. And so that was the biggest challenge, was keeping the nostalgia so fans and readers could recognize him, but then also making him new.

So that was the biggest challenge. And then you look at everything that's been done, you take and you pull from what you like and just mix it in. But again, I go back to the character that Scott thought up and who this Bruce is, and I imagine that, you know, this is the costume. Where he comes from, what he does for a living, what his ions are, what his knowledge is and his career and whatnot. This is what he would bring to his costume and what he would make.

ND: And he's a very do-it-yourself or he's a problem solver. He's an engineer, an architect, he's a city engineer. He’s constantly solving problems. So I felt like, rather than the utility belt, it would be the utility cowl or the utility uniform. Every part of it will be usable and do something. And that was really fun. And that's such a great storytelling device, too, right? So we can do all these cool, different action shots and poses. It's going to help further tell who this Bruce is.

And what's the second part of your question? I forgot, sorry!

SR: Do you have any favorite elements of your design, especially while you're drawing?

ND: The bigness of it! I love— I mean, I’m still learning it too, by the way. Like all the comics I've done. When you draw comics, these characters grow and evolve. And the costume, Bruce, my Batman will grow and evolve as I get more comfortable drawing this massive guy.

The favorite parts are probably what the Cape can do. His ears are detachable.Every part. It's just coming up with new things and new elements. I mean, I'm having a blast with all of it, really.

How Are the Core Elements of Batman Preserved in Absolute Batman?

And How Are They Completely Stripped Back?

SR: You know, I teach creative writing at a university, and I've been spending a lot of time this week sending to my intro poetry students, and I promise this has a point, because I've been asking them the whole week, literally constantly, to embrace the strange and unexpected in their writing, in their poetry. And I couldn't help but think of that advice while I was preparing to talk about Absolute Batman with you guys. Because you're essentially building a brand-new character out of like the rubble of a very, very deeply culturally familiar character. This is Bruce Wayne. This is Batman. And this is Gotham, but not the way we've known them before.

So how have you both been balancing taking elements of the familiar - the things that we've all known as soon as we know what Batman is - we know what Batman looks like, what makes Batman work as a character. How have you been balancing the familiar with the strange and unexpected in this character?

SS: I mean, that's a great question. I think for me, I did a lot of thinking about what Batman is at the core, both when I was on the main series and now. One thing to know when you're on the book is that people have very, very strong opinions about what Batman is, what he can do. If he does kill, if he doesn't, does he use guns, all of this.

Or, he can't not be rich he has to have Alfred, so you get a lot of very, very strong opinions about it when you're writing it. And it forces you to kind of burn it down to its essential elements, and for me the only real core thing to Bruce is that he's this character who takes the worst trauma that can happen to a kid and makes it fuel to to power him, to make sure that this doesn’t happen to someone else, that he can change the world for the better.

SS: You know, he doesn't necessarily need his money. He can have different costumes. He doesn't need a cave. We've seen him in different locations, and sometimes he has Alfred, sometimes he doesn't. So you know, there's so much flexibility and adaptability beyond that one thing. And so for us, it was like staying true to that. We really felt strongly about keeping some of the rules he has for himself, the guidelines he has for himself, like he doesn't kill.

So it really became about bending the series around what the mission of this Batman is. This Batman is formed in a world in which he is coming up from the streets, from the ground. But he’s still the kid with the impossible fuel to make sure that the same thing doesn't happen to anyone else, and everything else is pretty flexible.

ND: For me, it's the process, and just the act of doing. You know, talking so much with Scott about the story and these characters and then going and drawing so like, going back to your poetry students, you'll find something in just the act of writing. So it's just very much like just the act of me and Scott doing this is leading to all these— I don't want to say happy accidents. All these are calculated decisions, but the act of doing and the process of it is— we're finding all these different paths and all these different fun, abstract ideas like you were talking about.

Batman's New Origin Creates New Avenues of Possibillity

Variant Cover by Ian Bertram

SR: Thinking about flexibility, and how so much of this is about the process— it must be exciting to be working in this superhero space, the space that is familiar to you both from years of working with these characters, but still, like you're saying, Nick— I think it is a great thing, finding these “happy accidents” and new avenues for a character like Batman.

ND: And I think, too, it's the situation that Scott has put this character in, this new origin. It's almost like— Scott, I don't know about you, but it feels like the story is like telling itself. And then you start plugging in the Batman Family and the villains, and they're just coming alive.

Scott's initial idea for this was the birth, and it's just been awesome. And the process is like— it's a life of its own, for me. It's just a matter of doing it, and it's exciting to see where this is going.

SR: So it's not that you've necessarily erased the fortune and the manor and all of those classic rich-boy Bruce elements, but rather that you changed the foundation of the character. So how does changing that base layer - giving you that constraint of a new origin, of a new foundation for the character - how has that affected your approach to Batman, to the world of Gotham? Especially in the design and the action of the comic.

ND: I'm trying to draw violence that the reader feels. And I always think less is more. The reader will inject more of themselves into your story if you give them the pieces, but not all of it. So I like to start there.

In of the character inspiring the motions— it's just who this character is. He's big and he's lumbering, he's massive, he's blunt, but he's also Batman. He's fast. He's a genius. He can problem-solve on the fly. He still has all of those elements, but in of the action and his movements and stuff, it's just always going back to that rule: make it look cool.

ND: I'm bringing in a lot of different influences and looking at some manga and making it fast - and be furious with the action - and then pulling back on the more pedestrian scenes and drawing them more pedestrian and not dynamic camera angles and stuff. But the character influencing that is just, that's who our Bruce is, you know.

And then when you see Bruce, he's a big dude and he's always in his gear. He doesn't have to have a secret identity, really, because he's a nobody in our book. No one's going to be looking for this guy. But the way he carries himself, I think it's so believable when you see our Bruce. He's not the flamboyant playboy at all, and he looks like he would just fit right in and live among us.

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SS: I mean, DC was really good to us about letting us really go wherever we wanted, and we did try and really consider every aspect of it, and with this lens of: who would he be if he was formed today? Even the trauma that forms him here is slightly different. In the 1930s, it feels like a mugger in an alley is something that people were afraid of, and crime was different. Today something different might happen.

The city itself feels like it would be different. Cities today have this much greater stratification, the highs and lows, the idea of these yall glass towers and people struggling below, and they're not being the same heart and center. So it's been really fascinating and fun to build this from scratch with Nick, where it feels so reborn.

I almost feel like our Batman or our Bruce wouldn't get along with the classic Bruce that I wrote before? He really is more of a guerrilla fighter. He works in the power grid and then he works in the sewers and then he interns at City Hall. He knows the city like the back of his hand and he hasn't been able to travel the world. He hasn't trained with the best people everywhere. He has to be resourceful in a different way.

And he is. He's this master engineer, and he's learned to fight his own style. So there's this fun folk hero aspect of him that really parallels the way that we're trying to reconceive the book and Gotham and and all of it as something that feels like it's of his moment, in today— but still keeping it fun and over the top as well.

SR: I also feel like I have to ask about the familiar beats that we're used to, because, you know, when I think Batman, I have to think Robin, right? Not even a year es in Detective Comics #27 to #38, and we have a Robin character. What can you tell us about if there is an Absolute Robin coming down the line? If you can talk anything about that - or even characters like, I know we're getting an Alfred - and the other parts of Batman's world, characters in Batman's world that we might be seeing down the line?

SS: Oh, you'll see all of them.They're Easter eggs, and they’ll be fun for for all kinds of people. In issue 1 alone, you hear about Oswald and Harvey Dent and Waylon— Killer Croc. You hear about Selina. Every character has a place in this book. There isn't any that we’re shying away from.

ND: You're gonna see Jim Gordon. Barbara. There's a huge cast.

SS: This might be a minor spoiler, but for example, in this version, Bruce grows up in Park Row. Crime Alley. And he knows all these kids from childhood, so he knows the Penguin and Riddler and all these characters around the neighborhood.

And so they have a wildly different relationship than they do in the main universe. And it's been one of the real joys of writing the book, discovering all that. How does he know Selina, you know? How far do they go back? And it really deepens the relationships in all of these interesting ways. They knew his parents, you know? And he knows theirs. They go to each other's houses and they play stickball and all this stuff.

So there's this whole culture around their friendship that has been one of the great surprises of the book for us. It's a through line of the whole thing. I don't know, it's one of my favorite parts. He'll be talking to, you know, Edward Nigma, who knows Harvey Dent, and they all grew up together. And he's like, “this guy's a two-face! I don't want to hang out with him!” They've all grown apart. There's a whole history to them that's brand-new.

Is Absolute Batman a Good Starting Point for New Readers?

Variant Cover by Wes Craig

SR: What do you guys think might be Absolute Batman, about this book and the Absolute line, to new DC readers - or even new comic book readers, generally, people who are new to superhero comics?

SS: I've always been a fan of these kinds of lines, the Ultimate line at Marvel and all of its different iterations, whenever there is an out-of-continuity book, Black Label or any of those things. It's one of the joys of manga, too. You can just start without any history, without any backgrounds, and it's -friendly from the moment you open the book. So there's that element, but I think even more exciting for me, I always love seeing things taken in a direction that surprises me. And for this book, it is absolutely a labor of love. It is a ion project.

The scariest thing for me in all of superhero comics, or comics in general, is to come back and do more Batman, and I feel like I made it out alive, having done books that I was proud of. So it isn't easy at all. It's the biggest challenge, and it's why we wanted to do it for All In, as part of the initiative. But you know, this book really will be, I promise, surprising, true to core, but also really bold.

We wanted to give you every kind of superhero story all at once, so you can pick from this wild buffet of Batman.

SS: I don't think there's anything in the book that you will read and you're like, “I've seen that before in a Batman comic.” There’ll be echoes. But for us, we really wanted it to be something where everything is reimagined all around this very, very strong core thesis that this is who Bruce would be if he was coming up today. And instead of being a generational billionaire, he was just one of the people in Gotham, working class, who's up against things that are way more powerful than him.

That's the fun of it for me, but the other fun is like, classic Batman is right there. It's not replaced. And what Chip [Zdarsky] and Jorge [Jiménez] have planned in the main book, and what Mark Waid and Chris Samnee have planned in Batman and Robin: Year One, and what Tom Taylor has planned with Mikel Janín in Detective Comics - those are all incredible books that have a more traditional take on the character, so it's not like ours is replacing those. It just gives you another book to read. And that's the fun of the whole initiative, All In. We wanted to give you every kind of superhero story all at once, so you can pick from this wild buffet of Batman.

SR: One last question before I let you get on with your days! What are you most looking forward to in the other Absolute books other than your own?

ND: I'm just looking forward to reading them. I'm a huge fan of all the other creators. I kind of got a taste of what everyone's up to, but I just can't wait till all these books are out, because I think we're all kind of pushing one another to do our best work and really push what superhero comics can be and do. And it's just such an incredible opportunity, like I was saying earlier, to have all this history and then being able to play with it and reinvent it. So it's just exciting to be a part of it.

Close

SS: Yeah, it really is. I mean, I've read the first couple issues of Absolute Wonder Woman and Absolute Superman. I just can't tell you how awesome they are, but they are really, really awesome. And one of the fun things is, like Nick said, we are all pushing each other. We have a biweekly call, the writers, where we all get on and talk about what we're doing. We share material, we have a Slack, and we're all friends, too. Like we've become friends.

So Jason [Aaron] and Kelly [Thompson and AL Ewing and Jeff Lemire. And also Deniz Camp, who I think— Deniz Camp and Che Grayson were both announced - and Pornsak Pichetshote - as part of the initiative, as part of the Absolute line, in San Diego just because their names were on the ashcan that we did, but it didn't get a ton of attention. But for us, the books that they're doing, I can't wait for people to see. They haven't been announced yet, the titles, but they're going to be killer, they're going to be killer. It's such a variety of stuff from, like, the completely wild and radical take to the sort of reinvention of the classic. I'm really proud just to be a part of it.

Thanks again to Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta for taking the time to chat with ScreenRant. Absolute Batman #1 is available October 9th, 2024 from DC Comics.

Batman

Created By

Bob Kane, Bill Finger

First Appearance

Detective Comics

Alias

Bruce Wayne

Alliance

Justice League, Outsiders, Batman Family

Race

Human

Franchise

D.C.

One of DC's most iconic heroes, Batman is the vigilante superhero persona of billionaire Bruce Wayne. Forged by tragedy with the death of his parents, Bruce dedicated his life to becoming the world's leading martial artist, detective, and tactician. Recruiting an entire family of allies and sidekicks, Bruce wages war on evil as the dark knight of his hometown, Gotham City.

FIRST APP

Detective Comics #27 (1939)

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