Key Collector Comics

KCC Notes

Key Collector Comics Notes presents Absolute Batman Written by Scott Snyder In the tradition of Cliff's Notes or *Spark Notes Get caught up on the series before the big Joker issue goes on sale December 10, 2025 This recap is not intended to be a substitute for the fantastic art and storytelling told throughout the series and can partly be read in collected editions available now

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Absolute Batman #1

DC ⋅ 2024

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Absolute Batman #1
 
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Key Facts

Premiere issue of an ongoing series in the Absolute Universe, a dimension built on Darkseid energy

Introduction of Alfred Pennyworth, an M16 agent

Introduction of Black Mask

Introduction of Waylon Jones, Killer Crock in the mainstream universe

Introduction of Martha Wayne, Commissioner Gordon, Barbara Gordon, Harvey Bullock

Introduction of Selina Kyle, Oswald Cobblepot, Edward Nygma, Harvey Dent - as children in a photograph

Introduction of Matches Malone

Introduction of Joker, first cameo appearance

Introduction of Julia Pennyworth, cameo appearance

Introduction and death of Thomas Wayne

1st team appearance of the Party Animals, led by Black Mask

Absolute Batman #1 preceded by a 16-page black and white ashcan preview

KCC Notes

Bruce Wayne is introduced as a civil engineer in Gotham City, not wealthy and unknown

His true wealth lies not in finances but in his mastery of academic disciplines and combat

Bruce’s backstory is narrated by Alfred, a British M16 agent

It is revealed that Bruce's father, a teacher, was killed in front of him, while his mother Martha remains alive

Bruce’s childhood friends include Oswald Cobblepot (Penguin), Edward Nygma (Riddler), Waylon Jones (Killer Croc), Harvey Dent (Two-Face) and Selina Kyle (Catwoman)

In the present, a town hall meeting led by Mayor Jim Gordon is interrupted by the Party Animals, a ruthless gang commanded by Black Mask, who outfits his members with technologically advanced helmets

Largely unknown, the Batman emerges and defeats the Party Animals, only to be confronted later by Alfred, whom he subdues with non-lethal force

The epilogue introduces the Joker, an extremely wealthy man who had been tracked by intelligence agent Alfred Pennyworth for five years before Alfred was reassigned to Gotham City

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Absolute Batman #2

DC ⋅ 2024

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Absolute Batman #2
 
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Key Facts

Introduction of Oswald Cobblepot, Edward Nygma, Harvey Dent - as adults but without their mainstream universe alter egos

Final page appearance of Selina Kyle as an adult

Absolute Batman #2 preceded by a black and white ashcan preview

KCC Notes

Batman wages a two-week war on the Party Animals while Alfred surveils him, noting the ingenious ways he uses the city as a combat ally, discovering that he has numerous “caves” hidden throughout the newly constructed high-rises and hinting at an alliance with a resistance group called the Red Hood Gang

Martha Wayne recalls how Bruce emotionally shut down after Thomas’s death at the zoo, where the boy was found by Jim Gordon - trapped beside his father’s body in a bat enclosure and swarmed by bats

Bruce learns from his “Crime Alley” friends (Cobblepot, Nygma, Jones, Dent, Kyle) that the money stolen by the Party Animals is likely being funneled to a mayoral candidate whose campaign has experienced a mysterious surge in funding

Investigating the candidate’s office, Batman discovers a file labeled Ark M, triggering a trap set by Black Mask that summons the Gotham City Police Department

As Batman escapes into one of his caves, he is confronted by Alfred, who presents himself as an ally, and together they flee in a giant armored construction vehicle that serves as this universe’s Batmobile

The issue ends with a flashback to the night after Thomas’s death, when a young Selina Kyle visited Bruce Wayne to pull him from his isolation

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Absolute Batman #3

DC ⋅ 2024

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Absolute Batman #3
 
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Key Facts

Full appearance of Selina Kyle as a child

Introduction of Julia Pennyworth in full

1st appearance of AL, an artificial intelligence robot created by Edward Nygma

KCC Notes

In a high-speed chase, Alfred tells Batman that Black Mask is likely the leader of a secret paramilitary group that destabilizes local governments

Alfred suggests that Batman accept a deal offered by Black Mask that would grant him vast resources to help the city which he refuses before ejecting Alfred from the vehicle

Edward Nygma decodes a recovered Party Animals mask for Bruce, revealing a crypto-based Black Coin network that broadcasts crime locations and bounties to anyone wearing the helmet

Harvey Dent reports to Bruce that mayoral candidate Hill’s mysterious funding originates from JK Holdings, a company running illegal prisons (owned by none other than the Joker)

It is later revealed that Ark M is one of these massive complexes being constructed near Gotham City providing connective tissue between Gotham’s political corruption, the Black Mask Gang, JK Holdings and Ark M

On the anniversary of Thomas’s death, Bruce contacts Black Mask through the Party Animals network and accepts a $200 million bribe to abstain from interfering with their activities for one week

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Absolute Batman #4

DC ⋅ 2025

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Absolute Batman #4
 
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Key Facts

Origin of Batman's early days as a vigilante and the background of the bat archetype

1st appearance of Randal Powers, an organized crime affiliate

KCC Notes

The issue begins with an early version of Bruce’s Batman - a more cartoonish figure who targets low-level gangs, though Bruce quickly realizes his efforts are ineffective when focused so small

Flashbacks show his father offering constructive criticism on young Bruce’s engineering design for a bat-inspired bridge, providing insight into the inspiration for becoming Batman - adaptable, principled and terrifying to criminals while empowering to those in need

Bruce’s childhood project wins a competition that awards him a trip to the zoo with his father and friends, a visit that ends with Thomas Wayne’s death at the hands of Joe Chill

The trial and error of defining who and what Batman will be culminates in Bruce choosing to strike at the criminal infrastructure from the top rather than the bottom

Batman begins staking out a charity event linked to corrupt politicians and businesses affiliated with mobsters

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Absolute Batman #5

DC ⋅ 2025

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Absolute Batman #5
 
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Key Facts

Part five of the six-part opening arc

KCC Notes

Alfred is ordered by his superiors to abandon his mission surveilling Batman in Gotham, but he refuses, now personally invested in Batman’s fight against the Party Animals

Jim Gordon laments his reelection prospects, fearing that Commissioner Bullock’s endorsement of his rival will cost him the race, but his deputy mayor, Martha Wayne, urges him to stand and fight

Batman meets with Black Mask and reveals what he did with the $200 million bribe - stacking the cash into the shape of a bat atop the Memorial Light at the shuttered zoo, illuminating the sky on the anniversary of his father’s death

Black Mask chastises Batman for refusing the deal just as a video feed, hijacked by Batman, broadcasts their confrontation citywide, exposing Black Mask as the architect of Gotham’s crimewave designed to destabilize the city and clear the path for Ark M’s construction

Black Mask seizes control of the feed and makes an offer to the entire city: anyone can claim a share of the $200 million by donning a Party Animal mask and committing crimes for profit

Black Mask’s henchmen viciously beat Batman, set him on fire and throw him from the roof, but he survives and escapes

The issue ends with Alfred abandoning Bruce, believing his actions have doomed the city, while Jim Gordon and Martha Wayne discover a massive shipment of Party Animal masks and weapons intended to arm the wave of new criminals deputized by Black Mask

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Absolute Batman #6

DC ⋅ 2025

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Absolute Batman #6
 
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Key Facts

Conclusion of the first story arc of the Absolute Batman ongoing series

2nd cameo appearance of Absolute Joker - cameo in Absolute Batman #1

First mention of Bane in the Absolute Universe

KCC Notes

Martha discovers that she and Jim Gordon each have a million-dollar bounty on their heads as armed men approach, eager to claim the reward

Bruce reveals to his friends that he is Batman and despite their anger, they agree to help him locate the technology hub aboard Black Mask’s yacht and transport him there

Bruce boards the yacht, battles Black Mask and his henchmen and ultimately destroys the vessel, severing communication to the Party Animal masks and reducing all criminal rewards to zero

Batman is thrown into the sea, but the submerged Batmobile rises to the surface with Alfred at the helm, proving his renewed loyalty to Bruce’s fight for Gotham

The final page shows the Joker undergoing an unknown medical procedure involving infants, as he orders his assistant to summon Bane

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Absolute Batman #7

DC ⋅ 2025

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Absolute Batman #7
 
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Key Facts

1st appearance of Victor Fries Jr., the son of Victor and Nora Fries who turns into a monstrous humanoid in the final panel

KCC Notes

Bruce Wayne walks through a Gotham now under martial law and subjected to a strict curfew imposed by the new mayor

Bruce meets with his Crime Alley friend, Matches Malone, whom he enlisted to falsify documentation so he could infiltrate the construction crew of Ark M

Matches reveals he spent a week on the crew himself, but before he can say more, he suddenly begins oozing blood from his skin and dies from a mysterious bacterium

Bruce watches a video on Matches’ phone showing jail cells within Ark M and a list of detainees, one of whom he recognizes as Dr. Victor Fries, owner of the cryo-tech company V-Core

Bruce’s Crime Alley friends chastise him for Matches’ death, believing he was killed because of Batman and fearing for their own lives

Bruce infiltrates V-Core by posing as an engineer and meets Victor Fries Jr., who reveals his parents are in frozen stasis and that he himself is a product of their experimentation - diagnosed with a childhood terminal illness and preserved until a cure could be found

Bruce discovers that the bacterium that killed Matches is prehistoric in origin and has been harnessed by V-Core

Bruce Wayne is suddenly attacked by Fries Jr., who has been driven mad by the agonizing pain endured during his preservation

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Absolute Batman #8
Non-Key

DC ⋅ 2025

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Absolute Batman #8
 
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Key Facts

Conclusion of Mr. Freeze arc

KCC Notes

Bruce is incapacitated by Fries Jr. and placed into a cryo-chamber surrounded by numerous wealthy Gothamites preserved in ice

Bruce recalls a recent conversation with his Crime Alley friends, who accuse both him and Matches Malone of being suicidal - Matches because of the guilt he carried for falling behind at the zoo when the gunfire began, believing he was the reason Thomas Wayne ended up in the line of fire

Fries monologues that the sudden snowstorm over Gotham was his creation – crystal snowflakes engineered to gather the city’s genetic profiles as they land on people and upload them to Ark M for the company to determine who were the best subjects for various experimentations

Bruce escapes the containment tube, suits up as Batman and confronts Fries, who unleashes the frozen patients against him

Nearly overwhelmed, Batman remembers Waylon’s (Croc’s) words comparing Thomas Wayne’s heroism to the life he lived rather than the way he died, giving Bruce the resolve to push harder and ultimately escape V-Core

The final page shows Waylon Jones being kidnapped by Ark M operatives, who have identified him as a perfect specimen for experimentation based on the genetic data gathered during the snowstorm

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Absolute Batman #9

DC ⋅ 2025

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Absolute Batman #9
 
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Key Facts

Introduction of Bane

Introduction of Deathstroke, briefly in a photograph

Introduction of Dick Grayson, briefly

KCC Notes

The arc opens with two foreign leaders on the brink of signing a peace deal that would end a century-old conflict, only for Bane to sabotage the meeting by killing one leader and forcing the other to escalate hostilities

Bane receives a call from an unknown figure, later revealed to be the Joker, ordering him to travel to Gotham

Batman tears through the criminal underworld searching for Waylon, eventually learning from officer Barbara Gordon that he has been taken to Ark M

Alfred, Bruce and his Crime Alley friends meet and reveal that Ark M, owned by JK Holdings, is the thirteenth facility in a program that began in the 1930s with Ark A

A flashback explores Bruce and Selina’s romance and returns to the moment Waylon earned a shot at an MMA title against champ Bibbo Bibbowski, who appeared in the first arc as the fighter seemingly choked to death by Black Mask during sparring

Batman infiltrates Ark M and discovers the prison is merely a facade concealing the true vast expanse of the complex underground

Batman is then attacked by Bane, who identifies every fighting style he uses and defeats him by targeting pressure points that paralyze each limb

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Absolute Batman #10

DC ⋅ 2025

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Absolute Batman #10
 
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Key Facts

Waylon Jones introduced as Killer Croc

Introduction of Clayface as the K.L.A.Y. biome

1st appearance of Dr. Arkham

KCC Notes

Bruce Wayne lies unconscious, prepped for surgery by doctors who measure him at six-foot-nine and 421 pounds

Batman's suit and booby traps are removed, but once Bruce awakens, he discreetly removes a needle from his gums to use as a lockpick

He navigates Ark M, passing a structure labeled the Helfern Experiment, a nod to Golden Age villain Doctor Death, before being ensnared by the K.L.A.Y. biome (a Clayface reference) and recaptured by Bane

Bruce is imprisoned for 45 days, feigning despondence to convince the staff he has given up, then uses extracted teeth embedded in his knuckles and stomach acid expelled through his feeding tube to enhance his next escape attempt

He enters the Isley Ecosystem (a Poison Ivy reference), where humanoid tree monsters trap him and Bane beats and recaptures him

Ninety-one days later, Bruce - designated Subject 27 (a nod to Detective Comics #27) has survived all surgical cycles that killed the previous 26 subjects

Bane provides Bruce with the Batman suit and releases him from his cell as a final test of his spirit

Bruce confronts the animal/human hybrids of the Langstrom Experiment (a Man-Bat reference) and ultimately escapes Ark M after battling Bane, who throws him through an egg housing Mutation 523 – Waylon Jones as the mutated Killer Croc

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Absolute Batman #11

DC ⋅ 2025

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Absolute Batman #11
 
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Key Facts

Origin of Bane in the Absolute Universe

KCC Notes

The issue opens with Alfred narrating Bane’s origin - born on an island as the son of a rebel leader fighting against impossible odds

Imprisoned by the local government, Bane and his father endure horrific conditions for 11 years before executing a desperate escape that grants them freedom

Emboldened by their success, the group plans to seize the island through force, but upon release, they encounter a mysterious man in white who whispers an offer to Bane

The man is the Joker, wealthy and influential, promising to liberate the island if Bane swears allegiance, which he does, proving his commitment by killing his own father

Bane becomes a global terrorist under the Joker, enhanced with the venom compound that grants superhuman strength and a heightened mind capable of mastering all known combat disciplines

Ark M’s pinnacle experiment is Bane, but the Joker and his allies aim to create more enhanced warriors (Deathstroke and KGBeast are mentioned as subjects) and potentially turn Batman into an instrument capable of bringing the same “peace” to Gotham that Bane achieved for his island

The issue ends with Bane targeting Batman’s childhood friends Harvey Dent, Oswald Cobblepot and Edward Nygma

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Absolute Batman #12

DC ⋅ 2025

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Absolute Batman #12
 
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Key Facts

Introduction of Catwoman in costume, head only in final panel

Introduction of Harley Quinn, unnamed and obscured by a hood

KCC Notes

Batman and Killer Croc escape from Ark M and briefly clash, but Bruce refuses to kill Waylon to end his hunger

Waylon retreats to the sewers while Bruce is recovered by Alfred and falls into a coma for 20 days

Upon awakening, Bruce learns that the surgeries at Ark M implanted a venom delivery system throughout his body

He visits his worried mother, who informs him that his friends have been brutally attacked - Cobblepot left a mass of broken flesh, Dent’s skull cracked in half and Edward Nygma suffers brain damage that fuels an obsessive, paranoid compulsion to question everything

The issue ends with Batman doubting himself, yet Alfred encourages him to go to war with Bane

The pair are soon alerted to an intruder breaching their safehouse, initially assumed to be Bane, only to discover Selina Kyle suited up as Catwoman

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Absolute Batman #13

DC ⋅ 2025

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Absolute Batman #13
 
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Key Facts

Introduction of Catwoman in costume, in full

Introduction of Harley Quinn in full

KCC Notes

Selina Kyle’s reputation precedes her, as Alfred references her mercenary activities with no honor

Bruce and Selina revisit their romance and she questions him about the green venom coursing through his veins, visible beneath his skin, while he inquires about her mercenary suit and the helmet resembling Black Mask tech

They agree to avoid discussing recent events and instead join forces to meet the Red Hood Gang

After a brief battle that causes Batman to grow in size from the venom in his veins, the Red Hood Gang leader is revealed to be Harley Quinn, who shares the desire to burn Ark M to the ground

Bane is shown still undergoing surgeries at Ark M, with scientists shocked and impressed by his body’s ability to sustain more venom, increasing his power to maximum infusion

Bane declares his intent to deliver Batman to Ark M as his replacement so he can retire to his island home

Batman hijacks a newscast to inform Gotham that the city is run by corrupt politicians, that a sinister underground operation is underway and then challenges Bane to a battle, vowing that if he loses he will willingly enter Ark M

Catwoman and Batman discuss the upcoming fight and she warns him not to use the venom, but Bruce insists he can control it and that it is necessary to win

The issue ends with Batman visiting Killer Croc in the sewers

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Absolute Batman #14

DC ⋅ 2025

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Absolute Batman #14
 
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Key Facts

Introduction of Harley Quinn in full

Conclusion of the Bane story arc

🗝️ KEY OF THE WEEK: KEY COLLECTOR COMICS

KCC Notes

The mayor holds a press conference denying allegations of monsters underground and asserts that there will be no fight between Batman and Bane

Doctor Arkham tells Bane that after this next venom infusion, his body will require an extended break, which Bane plans to take after defeating Batman and surrendering him to Ark M

Batman and Bane meet on the grounds of an empty arena, while Harley Quinn launches an army of drones to broadcast the battle on TV

Batman uses explosives and his engineering expertise to topple a skyscraper onto Bane and Alfred employs the Batmobile to harpoon him, but Bane shakes off the attacks and regenerates damaged body parts

Alfred's narration comments on what Batman lacks in strength, he makes up for in brutality and violence, reveling in delivering justice to those who deserve it

The Red Hood Gang release Killer Croc from captivity, who attacks Bane, forcing him to use even more venom

As Bane delivers a death blow to Croc, Batman uses his bat emblem chest plate as an axe to sever Bane’s spine, paralyzing his limbs

Bane activates the maximum venom infusion, disfiguring his body while achieving peak strength

Alfred urges Batman to use the venom, which he agrees to, signaling Catwoman to snipe Bane with darts filled with venom, delivering an overdose to Bane that cause’s his body to expand then vaporize

A flashback shows Selina Kyle and Edward Nygma extracting all the venom from Bruce

The arc concludes with Harvey Dent and Oswald Cobblepot still hospitalized, watching the televised fight, while Selina Kyle opens a suitcase containing a vial of venom on an airplane

Doctor Arkham addresses the preserved brain, eyes and spinal cord of Bane and the Joker informs him that his defeat is only a minor setback, claiming he knew Bane would be miserable in retirement and showing Bane’s disembodied eyes a video of bombs being dropped on his island to sever his attachment to home

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Absolute Batman #15

DC ⋅ 2025

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Absolute Batman #15
 
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Key Facts

Absolute Joker story arc begins

Origin of Joker - street performer, child clown juggling skulls in 1889

KCC Notes

On-sale December 10, 2025

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