On Monday’s release of his newsletter “Our Best Jackett”, Scott Snyder talked about what it’s been like writing Absolute Batman so far and where he plans on going with the series from here. He explains how the latest issue #12 (our review here) was the most difficult to write yet due to its brutality because of how much he loves the characters, but expands on how it’s necessary to build up Batman even stronger than before.
It was easily the hardest to write so far. I won’t give anything away, but I’ll just say that I love these characters dearly and I love writing this friend group the most of pretty much anything I’ve ever gotten to write in superheroes. It’s personal to me. I’m drawing a lot on my own experience growing up in New York City and still being close to a bunch of friends that I made when I was very young. So yeah, this one hurts. But that’s the goal of this series is to really break Bruce down, to build him up to be even tougher than you can possibly imagine. It’s what we did with Court of Owls. It’s what we did with Death of the Family and Metal and everything in the main universe. So we’re doing it over here.
Snyder then talks about what fans can expect from future issues, including an upcoming special. Issue #13 is described as “Bruce’s revenge tour” with Catwoman. He teases that the issue will introduce a new character that will be a “really big surprise” and get people talking. It will also contain the series’ first romance scene that apparently had to be censored back a bit from their original idea.
Moving on from issue #13, Snyder explains how he tries to make sure each entry feel unique in its own way without falling into a simple formula. The goal, he says, is to keep readers on their toes and unable to turn away from the series as a whole. To that effect, he outlines what the next half year of Absolute Batman will look like.
Like I said, this issue is brutal. It is not a fun issue. Next issue is a fun issue, and the issue after that, where he really fights Bane, is fucking nuts. You’re going to be cheering. And it’s a bloodthirsty, fun issue where he fights Bane for real. And then we got Joker after that, which is insane. I just saw the cover, the designs. You’re going to see them really soon because those covers get released. I mean, that goes really, really hard. It’s the most straight-up horror issue I’ve written for the series by far with Jock drawing it. And then we go the other way. #16 is the Wonder Woman crossover, which is great. We go to Gateway City.
And #17 through 19 is Scarecrow. I’m spoiling everything, but Joker is in town as the handsome, rich Bruce Wayne socialite-type and he is making a campaign against Batman. And in doing so, we break Bruce down again after he’s triumphant in the one before.
Finally, Snyder reveals (or “spoils”, as he puts it) the upcoming Arkham special Absolute Arkham that he will be writing with Frank Tieri along with artist Josh Hixson:
Then we’re going to be announcing soon, so I guess I’m spoiling it, but we have an Arkham special, Absolute Arkham. It’s me and Frank Tieri writing it. And it’s Josh Hixson of The Deviant and just an unbelievable artist. And it’s straight up horror, but it gives like a real surprise about Arkham. A couple of big surprises. So I can’t wait for you to see that.
Absolute Batman #13 goes on sale October 8
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