Review by Karl Verhoven

There’s a surprise on starting Abomination, as instead of Nick Dragotta’s art that defined this new Batman’s word so well in The Zoo, we instead have more individualised pages illustrated by Marcos Martín, and they’re brighter to boot. Yet does Batman’s world have to be perpetually dark?

The occasion for the brightness is Scott Snyder introducing Mr. Freeze to the new world. He’s never actually called that, by the way, although ironically lives up to that name more literally than his usual incarnation. Martín designs a disturbing new form for Victor Fries, while Snyder supplies him with a new obsession and the result is a chilling threat accompanied by the dripping of a little more guarded information about why this Batman isn’t just an impoverished counterpart. It’s all very stylish, moves fast and contributes to the ongoing world-building process. The most intriguing aspect, though, is the background suggestion that Batman developed from a street gang.

Dragotta’s back to illustrate the six chapter title story. Leaders of two neighbouring and warring countries meet having agreed on peace and unity moving forward, but their meeting is invaded by a monstrous hulk of a man who murders one and instructs the other. Readers not starting out on Batman with this series will immediately recognise Bane. Clay Mann fills in for a chapter, but broadly mimicking Dragotta’s style of layouts. It remains good art.

Batman’s new origin and background will only carry Absolute Batman so far, and the trick will be Snyder continuing to ensure differences. On this score ‘Abomination’ struggles, events seeming to prod Batman ever nearer the familiar version, although considerable time passing during events is a luxury that wouldn’t be possible on the core Batman series. Snyder is gruesomely creative, if not greatly credible with regard to the lengths a captured Batman tortures himself to escape, and Bane is suitably terrifying, although not notably different from his known version. He’s partially elevated into such a threat by the foreboding narrative commentary of Alfred Pennysworth, consistently overblown: “He has become the bird from his vision so long ago. Not his father’s quetzal, but the terrible burning thing from that night in the jungle. That white skull bird”. This sort of whittering tracks the entire story, and it’s tiresome. Given the quality of the accompanying art, most of it isn’t necessary either.

The underlying principle must also be taken into consideration, and while Snyder’s source is the 1990s Knightfall, albeit handled with greater sophistication, it remains nonsense that Batman needs to be dragged into the abyss and broken to emerge as the hero he must become. It does lead to a tremendous finale, though, with Dragotta drawing Bane ever larger as he self-injects ever more spruce juice.

While ‘Abomination’ hits the spot in so many respects, ultimately it also draws Batman’s world far closer to that of his long-running counterpart. Why?