Absolute Batman, Vol. 3: Joker Absoluto

Absolute Batman (2024)

by Scott Snyder, Nick Dragotta

¿Quién mueve realmente los hilos en Gotham?
Entre oleadas de organizaciones criminales, el alza de grupos de odio y la creación de monstruos en las profundidades de Ark M, la ciudad de Batman está al borde del colapso. ¿Y qué ocurrirá cuando empieze a desentrañar el misterio detrás de la versión más aterradora hasta la fecha del Príncipe Payaso del Crimen? Además: ¡Hacen su aparición Wonder Woman y Hiedra Venenosa!
¡En el Universo Absoluto, los héroes familiares son reinventados para una nueva generación! Separados de sus contextos originales, sus esencias se mantienen intactas. Scott Snyder y Nick Dragotta regresan junto a los artistas invitados Daniel Warren Johnson, Frank Tieri, Joshua Hixson y Jock para el tercer demoledor arco de la serie más exitosa de los últimos tiempos.

Recopila: Absolute Batman #15−18, Absolute Batman 2025 Annual #1, Absolute Batman: Ark M Special #1.
AUTORES: Scott Snyder • Nick Dragotta • Frank Martin

FORMATO: Libro | 17x24 cm | 176 págs en papel ilustración.
ISBN: 978-987-819-633-6

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Batman, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Crime

Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 2026

About the author

Scott Snyder is the Eisner and Harvey Award winning writer on DC Comics Batman, Swamp Thing, and his original series for Vertigo, American Vampire. He is also the author of the short story collection, Voodoo Heart, published by the Dial Press in 2006. The paperback version was published in the summer of 2007.

Reviews

[Gabriel Calderón · Rating 5 out of 5]

This continues to be one of my favorite Batman series I have ever read, so unique and original.

The villains so far have been super interesting.

Especially the Joker issue was insanely good, that dude came straight up from my worst nightmares bruh

Also the final 2 poison Ivy issues were probably my favorite depiction of the poison ivy character in any Batman media, her design alone was super cool and looked like a damn dark souls boss 😭

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first 2 volumes of Scott Snyder’s fully original new take on Batman were shockingly good. Usually subverting the expectations of fans doesn’t work out (The Last Jedi anyone?) but with a fully new origin story for Bruce Wayne and a completely reworked set of familiar characters, Snyder somehow managed to make Batman feel fully new and exciting again.

Then comes volume 3, which, if we are being honest, is a swing and a miss. It’s not that it’s terrible (there are still some interesting ideas peppered throughout these issues)…it’s just that it’s not really all that good…or at least not executed well enough. Joker is now an immortal shapeshifter and Poison Ivy is some weird plant/animal chimera that should be super cool and freaky but the art just makes her look like something I would have drawn in 3rd grade. There’s also a fully pointless Absolute Wonderwoman pseudo-crossover that, as others have said, felt shoehorned in as a publisher demand, rather than a totally necessary issue to further the plot. What saves this collection is the Absolute Batman annual that shows just how bad ass this new version of Bruce Wayne is, as well as the Ark M special which, once again, totally changes the past established lore, but in a good way.

I really am hoping this was just a bit of slump and Snyder can get this series back to the 5-star caliber story it was originally because this really is a great concept that works when executed correctly.

[Wyatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thus far, this is the weakest entry in Scott Snyder’s Absolute Batman run—though even at its weakest, it remains a compelling read.

The writing is still sharp where it matters most: the central story holds together well, the pacing remains energetic, and Snyder continues to find inventive ways to reinterpret Batman’s rogues gallery. The new takes on Poison Ivy and the Joker are particularly strong—radically different from their traditional incarnations, yet still wholly true to the core of each character. They feel fresh, strange, and entirely at home in this reimagined Gotham.

The volume’s one clear misstep is its Wonder Woman crossover, which feels more editorially mandated than organically earned. While not without a few entertaining beats, the detour ultimately comes across as unnecessary to Batman’s larger arc, and its rushed pacing undercuts any real sense of tension or consequence. It is the only portion of the book that feels structurally compromised, leaning more on spectacle than substance.

Where the volume succeeds, however, it does so with confidence. Issue #15 and the Ark M storyline are the clear standouts—easily the most shocking, narratively confident, and entertaining chapters in the collection. Snyder is at his best when he lets Gotham become strange, violent, and psychologically unpredictable. Even the book’s more absurd imagery—Batman outfitted with chainsaw arms, tearing through Poison Ivy’s creations with gleeful brutality—lands with surprising force. It is outrageous, yes, but memorable in exactly the way comic-book excess should be.
There is also more emotional weight here than one might expect. Snyder finds a few genuinely affecting moments, particularly in the quieter character work between Gordon and Ivy, which lend the volume a welcome sense of heart beneath its operatic violence.
Overall, this is a satisfying installment, even if it falls short of the heights set by earlier volumes. It is less successful as a self-contained story, but more clearly functions as a bridge toward something larger. And judging by the preview of Volume 4—with the Robin initiative, Deathstroke, Scarecrow, Gotham’s allies evolving into their villainous counterparts, the looming Joker-Batman confrontation above the city, and Mad Hatter waiting in the wings—that larger story looks increasingly ambitious.

If this volume is primarily table-setting, it is at least setting the table for something worth staying seated for.

[Renato · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick recap of the setup for Absolute Batman:
• Bruce Wayne is not a billionaire, in fact he is a stacked nobody-Engineer who works out of a garage.
• However, we do discover that, in an Absolute reversal of fates, there is a billionaire playout out on stage left about to come ot the forefront
• Thomas Wayne was a teacher who was killed in a school shooting, Martha Wayne is alive and a political aide, dating James Gordon. She also has connections to the Court of Owls, being their former talon.
• Bruce has a cadre of lifelong friends whose names would be very familiar: Eddie Nigma, Way Jones, Ozzie Cobblepot, Harv Dent and Sel Kyle
• Alfred Pennyworth has no connection to the Wayne Family whatsoever, works for a shadowy master
• Batman sometimes fights with a massive axe that detatches from his Bat-symbol

Coming hot off the heels of Absolute Batman, Vol. 2: Abomination, Bruce Wayne is immediately dealing with the repercussions of the conflict between Batman and Bane. Friendships and alliances were pushed to the breaking point (and then broken) seeding what is to become an interesting dynamic between him and the 'Batman rogues'.

On top of this, this volume introduces the Absolute versions of the Jack Grimm (althouh the cover blatantly reveals this to be the Joker) and Poison Ivy, both of which whose conceptions are very interesting (artistically and narratively). I especially enjoyed connecting this incarnation of Ivy to the trad-DC elemental forces of The Green, The Red and The Black.

Snyder is definetly taking his time here in setting up his next cataclysm, and I have no doubt that it will be able to match the high standard set out by Volume 2.

[Keers! · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bro wtf, I just read number #22 and it left me fucking speechless.

The writers don’t give Bruce a break, every number the guy is in the reverend shit if I’m honest, after what I just read I must say that this has been one of the best by far, every time you read more of this story it just leaves you fucked. An absolute madness.

Beyond fucked up that left me everything, the creation of the villains was an extraordinary work of the writers (especially ivy) because everything is so crazy that it doesn’t even let you assimilate it to get into something else, surpassing the other, one of the best works I’ve ever read.

The recreation of poison ivy has been perfect, nothing to say, he looks like a damn demon, and I love it. One of her best designs without a doubt, just like the Joker, his design is so fucked up, it’s impossible that shit is real.

I need to read the next issue right now

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is, in my opinion, one of the most revealing volumes of 'Absolute Batman'...

We explore the history of the Absolute version of Arkham Asylum...
(before it was remade as Ark: M)...
The Absolute Slaughter Swamp ...similar to the original universe version?
ABSOLUTE JOKER ORIGIN?!!?!! It's like some Bizarro Batman situation. Trust me...
Absolute Wonder Woman and Absolute Batman have a team-up to save the soul of 'Killer Croc'
Absolute Poison Ivy is a Chimera nightmare...
Absolute Batman's friends/future rogues have given up on Bruce, but he hasn't stopped caring.

LOVE every bit of it.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 I am really digging the Absolute Batman series and now that I’m all caught up for now I’ll likely dive into one of the other Absolute Titles. Volume 3 isn’t quite as strong as the last 2 mainly because the arcs are shorter and I’m not sure how I feel about the direction they’re taking the Joker. However it is damn compelling. We get more of the squad after what happened to them during the events of Bane. We are introduced to Poison Ivy and we get a pertinent team up with Absolute Wonder Woman. Just a blast to read.

Read all of the individual issues not the trade itself.

[Joel Jorden · Rating 2 out of 5]

I dunno, man, not only do I not like Absolute Batman and believe it's vastly overrated, the issues collected in here are just kinda "meh."

Absolute Wonder Woman crossover; Absolute Poison Ivy; a bit more Absolute Joker teasing... it's all absolutely "whatever." I dunno what you people are smoking that you're all so in love with this series, but please, do share and hook a brother up because I'm still missing out...

[James De Leon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The volume is a bit disjointed, but it's still very good and moves several storylines forward.

We learn more about the demon child (man, thing?) Joker and about Ark M, Pamela Isle gets introduced, Bruce becomes a bit more hardened, we get a cool story with Absolute Wonder Woman (the GOAT of the Absolute Universe), and DWJ kick some ass. What's not to love?

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even with Nick Dragotta only drawing two of the issues here, it's great. Snyder is building up these horror versions of Batman's rogues and it's glorious. We get our first teasers into the Joker. Poison Ivy is especially cool. All of Batman's friends who are rogues in another life, now refuse to see him after they all got seriously hurt during the Ark-M / Bane story.

[Facundo Aqua · Rating 4 out of 5]

El anual de Daniel Warren Johnson con Batman fajando fascistas ya vale la pena el viaje y lo que va haciendo el equipo creativo con una Gotham cada vez mas expansiva y una galeria de villanos que se gesta de a poco está muy bien. A nivel visual sigue siendo una patada en la cara. Todo el arco de Poison Ivy es una fiesta.

[Keegan Schueler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now while this is the weakest entry in the absolute Batman volumes it is still very good. The annual, ark m, and the joker issue 15 are all great but it just doesn’t hit that peak the first two volumes hit. This is in a way a filler volume giving some more background to various things but the writing is still very good. There are 5/5 moments in this but overall it just lands at that 4.5/5.

[Valuxiea · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Wonder Woman crossover and the Daniel Warren Johnson annual is particularly good. This arc has its highs but I feel this book has lost it a little, and I'm hoping we continue with what made this strong in the first place.

[Cristian Marrero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Snyder keeps delivering amazing story telling and punches with this new volume. Introducing the Absolute versions of the Jack Grimm and Poison Ivy. Elements of Gotham. Martha and the possible Owl connections. So much to explore and appreciate in this ABSOLUTE Universe.

[Mik Cope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as individual issues. Not as good as the other volumes but still pretty cool. Joker as supernatural entity was a new one. Clever how "Jack Grimm" returned to Gotham and the manor while Bruce carries on working construction.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can we stop babying Bruce Wayne. He’s going evil mode for the second time 😒

[Kurt Lorenz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Annual #1, ☆☆☆☆☆
15, ☆☆☆☆☆
16, ☆☆☆☆
Ark M, ☆☆☆☆
17-18, ☆☆☆☆

[Harry Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn’t out as a trade yet but all the issues are.
It was good. Not as good as vol 2 but better than vol 1 slightly. Good storytelling especially in #18

[Dustin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series may have jumped the shark. I'll keep reading for a bit and see how it goes.

[Noah frelin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of setup, but good setup!!

Iv’s great, Ark M was horrifying, and that annual was sick.

Annual was 10/10, batman fights The KKK

[Nunya · Rating 3 out of 5]

All Batmans gotta go into a loser arc at some point.

[Dennis]

3.75 ⭐

[Sarmad]

Most exciting version of the Joker in like a decade (fuck off Todd Phillips)

[McJankers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a full arc, but jumping around between various villains and their introductions. Joker was awesome, and Poison Ivy brought some fantastic visuals

[Gonçalo Bernardes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume includes the ArkM special and the Annual, which are GOLDDDDD. Perfection!! Such good spinoffs for what already is an amazing series. And the 3 issues present here are also fantastic!!

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

uff me encantan la Diana y el Bruce de este universo

[Kabelo Ntsala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read! There were moments where Bruce really annoyed me but he’s going through a lot so his irrational actions do somewhat make sense. Really excited to keep reading! Would highly recommend

[Bautista Pelosi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simplemente expansión del lore

[Neha]

Not as focused but still so gross and awful (in a good way).

[Matias Masseroni · Rating 5 out of 5]

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