Absolute Batman Scott Snyder reveals more about Scarecrow, Robins, and how Absolute Deathstroke is connected to Alfred.
Snyder first talked about how did he get inspired to write Absolute Batman in the first place and how he different than the mainstream Batman. For Snyder, the key is making a Batman that is reflective of today’s anxieties and realities. For the modern day, it is seeing how people nowadays do not trust the people in power who are charged with keeping the status quo. But Absolute Batman is there to disrupt the status quo.
“…you think, “How do I apply him to the world?” Well, the first thing is, in the main universe, he is sort of an agent of order and the Joker is chaos. But in today’s world, it feels like the people who are masters of order and the system are not the best people, right? That’s the way my kids feel. So, I’m writing Batman not for myself, but as a hero for them. These characters are supposed to make us feel brave. But at this point in my life, it’s less about making me brave and more about making them brave. He wouldn’t be somebody who’s at the top of the heap. He would be somebody who punches up and feels like the underdog.
Suddenly, it became clear that if we invert that core aspect of the mythos, everything else will fall into place. It’s not even that he’s poor and Joker is rich. It’s that he is the one without means. He is the chaos. He is the disruptor. In this world, the Joker is the billionaire. Joker is order. Joker is the system. Everything else became wondrous and new after that.“
Scott Snyder on What Makes Absolute Scarecrow Different
The Scarecrow is the main villain for the current arc “The Straw Man”. Scott Snyder also hits upon how he can make the Scarecrow modernized. For Scarecrow, the fear he spreads is more related to vague dread and disinformation.
[Scarecrow’s] belief is that once you destabilize someone’s sense of truth or fact, everything else becomes terror and paranoia. He revels in that, and he gets called in to topple governments and create all kinds of disinformation. But he’s scarier on a personal level, even his face. You don’t know if he’s actually mutilated himself or if it’s some kind of mask, and you’ll never know. You’re never going to see that truth because what’s frightening about the character is just destabilizing any sense of certainty.
Absolute Robins
Issue 19 also introduced the Robins- a squad of mechs that are hunting Batman. Their relationship with the Dark Knight is inverted where they target Batman at the behest of the Joker.
Publicly, our Joker is a really beloved figure. He’s a philanthropist, he’s a billionaire, he’s a son of the city. Very much like Bruce Wayne in the main universe. He has a bunch of young people he’s mentored, whose lives he’s helped and changed. So, the Robins are very beholden to him because they think that he’s a really good guy. It’s a pretty heartbreaking arc in that way, but it has the most oversized epic action we’ve done to this point—I promise! There are huge Gundam-like mechs that the Robins pilot, and they go hunting for Batman. It’s the most incredible design work. I feel so bad because I’m like, “Nick, it’s amazing. How are you going to draw those on every page?” But he’s a beast. I feel like I could write the phone book at this point and it would look amazing.
Absolute Robins and Deathstroke; Art by Nick Dragotta
Absolute Deathstroke
Finally, Snyder dropped an interesting tidbit about the Absolute version of Deathstroke. He has a connection with Alfred.
In this arc, Deathstroke plays a big part because he’s Darth Vader to Alfred’s Obi-Wan. Alfred is the point-of-view character for me. That was how I found my way into the book. I don’t know how to write young and idealistic, but I can write the guy that’s, like, “Man, I’m sorry the world is the way it is because of us, but I will follow you and help as much as I can.” His protégé was Deathstroke. They had a terrible falling out back in the day, and he hates Alfred with a passion. That’s going to be a fun matchup.
Absolute Batman #21 hits comic book shops June 17th.
Source: DC.com
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