If you thought Absolute Batman #17 was epic, prepare yourselves for Part Two, The Seventh Kingdom, because it takes things up a notch.
At this point, Scott Snyder’s Absolute Batman has already established itself as a generational run. It doesn’t just dial the action and scale up a notch, but this is a story and a mythology that Snyder knows inside-out. Reading it is an absolute delight, if you’d pardon the pun. Beware of spoilers! In Absolute Batman #18, which sees Eric Canete return as a guest artist, we continue the Absolute Poison Ivy storyline. But that’s not all: it also sees Martha Wayne meeting with the Court of Owls and features a deep and game-changing conversation between Bruce and Jim Gordon.
The main action element of this issue comes from Batman’s confrontation with Poison Ivy. The battle is climactic and thrilling. It has a lot of moving parts and keeps you guessing. Even the culmination is something of a mystery with Ivy not visibly dying — although she loses the original heart from Batman’s attacks. Whether she’s able to recreate it remains to be seen. Even so, the fact that Batman ultimately destroys her heart goes to show another evolution of his character. Absolute Batman keeps taking big swings, and this is a particularly massive one.
Also, the issue does a stellar job at character development elsewhere. Notably, Bruce and Gordon have a deep discussion in which Gordon reveals that he knows Bruce’s persona (I mean, it is quite obvious). It really gives us in insight into Bruce’s mental state and moral psyche at this point in the story. With the looming threat of Jack Grimm, aka Absolute Joker, it he isn’t in the position to tackle that right now, and he knows it.
And of course, the third plot line follows Martha Wayne meeting with the Court of Owls. In the previous issue, it was teased that Martha was a possible member of the Court of Owls, and this issue not only confirms that to be the case, but also reveals that she was a traitor, which is punishable by death.
The way Snyder weaves together these plot lines is masterful. Between high-octane action, big revelations, and raw emotion, they intertwine, echo each other, and carry momentum across the whole issue. That’s right folks, this is yet another 5/5 entry.
