Posted in: Batman, Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: absolute, Absolute Batman, Batman #163, H2SH, jim lee, late, nick dragotta, scott snyder

Absolute Batman #19 Will Be Late From DC Comics… But Not By Much

Absolute Batman #19 by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta will be late from DC Comics... but not by much, honest

If a comic book is a week late, I wouldn't usually bother reporting it. I save that for comics like Batman #163 from DC Comics, currently nine months late, but now with a confirmed publication date of the 25th of March, alongside Superman/Spider-Man, one of the comics that delayed it, one of DC Publisher/President/CCO Jim Lee's many commitments. In this case, to the Tom King/Jim Lee Lois Lane, Mary Jane Watson/Gambit story.

But I will make an exception for Absolute Batman, the highest-selling monthly comic book in the direct comics market, currently hitting 300,000 orders a month, three times what its top-selling rivals are getting. So when Absolute Batman #19 slips from the 8th of April to the 15th of April, it's worth at least letting comics retailer folk know, if only for their cashflow and traffic projections – as well as letting the fans know when they come in the door…

It's not the first time the comic has slipped, due to the extensive work Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta have been pulling on the title, and this issue marks Nick's return to the series after a two-issue break. Nick Dragotta's cardstock cover for Absolute Batman #19 was recently revealed, giving better and bigger looks at all manner of folk turning up in that issue, and what it might mean for the Absolute Universe – and Absolute Gotham.

We have the Absolute Joker with a R for Robin badge, underlining the idea that in Absolute Batman #20, he will have a cadre of Absolute Robins under his control. We have Absolute Deathstroke looking larger and more robotic than usual. Maybe to go up against Absolute Batman? We have an Absolute Scarecrow that looks like something out of a shrunken-head version of Coraline. Absolute Batman seems to have a shadow… is that Absolute Clayface? Is that the teased Absolute Man-Bat flying in the back? Is that a Jokerplane in the sky? There is the Absolute Court of Owls, possibly Absolute Dick Grayson on a motorcycle in the background, a chest wound, or something that has ripped through his costume from the front, and Mayor Jim Gordon up front. Given the tragic loss promised in Absolute Batman #20… does this mean the death of Absolute Jim Gordon in #19? Of course, it could be none of that…  Absolute Batman #19 by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta will now be published on the 15th of April 2026. No change to Absolute Batman #20… yet.

• ABSOLUTE BATMAN #19
  (W) Scott Snyder (A/CA) Nick Dragotta
  ABSOLUTE SCARECROW EMERGES FROM THE SHADOWS OF ARK M AS A NEW STORY ARC BEGINS… Poison Ivy proved to be just one of the many horrors within the bowels of the ARK M facility, and as Joker sets his sights on Absolute Batman, he decides to enlist the help of one of the center's most terrifying doctors, Dr. Jonathan Crane. While Bruce Wayne tries to align himself with Barbara Gordon, there's more than one alliance formed in this issue. New debuts, new villains, new arc starts here. $5.99 4/15/2026
• ABSOLUTE BATMAN #20
  (W) Scott Snyder (A/CA) Nick Dragotta
  A TRAGIC LOSS ROCKS GOTHAM CITY! As the dust settles in the city of Gotham after the loss of [redacted], Robins enter the scene ready to hunt and more than one secret will be revealed in this seminal issue. $4.99 5/13/2026

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