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Absolute Batman #5 Sells Over 140K And How Darkseid Is A YouTube Troll

Scott Snyder says Absolute Batman #5 has had orders over 140,000, and also how Darkseid is a YouTube troll.

In his latest Substack newsletter, Scott Snyder has talked about Absolute Batman and the Absolute Universe. Both in terms of sales, with Absolute Batman #5…

"It is probably our most violent issue. And I just wanted to say thank you, honestly, I just got the sales when I was talking to DC for the latest issue and we're over 140,000 copies on #5. And I just can't wrap my head around that. I can't. I never expected us to sell even really a fraction of that by the time we were at issue #5. But all I can tell you is the fact that Wonder Woman and Superman and the Absolute line are both over 100,000 at this point and still selling out."

… and also of the origins of the line three years ago. I only started to hear inklings 15 months ago or so.

"We conceived of the idea of the Absolute universe back in 2022. So it wasn't really with sort of the current events in mind, but it was always this feeling that I think I see in my kids, that things are getting harder, that systems are more entrenched. They're harder to change, whether it has to do with algorithms and big tech or political division, political manipulation, all kinds of stuff. It just seems more funded, more intractable, more difficult to budge. Things feel more firmly, immovable, more in decline in ways. And so that was a really hard thing to wrap my head around. How do I write Batman or Superman or Wonder Woman in a moment when it doesn't feel like there's going to be a big change for them when it comes to more opportunity, suddenly, for jobs?"

And as the father of older teenagers, I get the following a lot.

"My oldest is 17. He's just getting into college right now. He just got into a couple of schools. He's going to be out in the world soon and he's super hopeful and rebellious and all those kinds of things. He believes he and his friends will change the world, and that's kind of the impetus for Absolute Batman. But that said, I look at the world like Alfred in that series and see a really difficult environment. And so how do I write superheroes, which are designed in a lot of ways for instant gratification, with that in mind?"

As well as what Darkseid means for the Absolute Universe,

"if it's infused with Darkseid energy, Darkseid isn't sentient in our universe right now. He's not like, a being sleeping in the stars, looking down and manipulating things. He's not telling the villains what to do. There's no mind control. But what does it mean if you're in a universe where every atom, every particle down to the microscopic and subatomic level to every kind of giant, grand machination of the universe when it comes to gravity or dark matter, is all kind of infused with the same Omega energy. And what we decided was it almost means like the universe leans towards hardship, leans towards indifference, leans towards cruelty, the crushing of good in some ways."

Does anyone feel like this is more relevant than ever right now?

"what's exciting about it is the heroes not only might not win, but that might be the point. Not that they're going to lose and die and it's going to be tragic and sad, but that they have a tremendous faith that their actions are going to have an impact at some point, but maybe not in their lifetime. Maybe in their lifetime, they'll win some small battles and then lose and the arc of history will curve darkly. But eventually, maybe someone will, at a better time, hear about the things they did and take those things and be able to effect real change."

They're martyrs. Absolute Martyrs. And all selling north of a hundred K. And on Absolute Bruce…

"In the first couple arcs, has a bit of a death wish that his friends have to assuage of him because that's the way he sees his father. His father put himself in front of a bullet and Bruce and his friends and that was his form of heroism. He went down to save people. And so Bruce thinks that's where he's headed as well. He expects Batman to go down at the end of the first arc. And the harder part is accepting the fact that if you don't and you survive and you start to fight to survive and you don't just sort of look to flame out and go down as a kind of blaze of glory, what does that mean if you fight and fight and fight and you still don't see your actions create the results that you hope for? That to me suddenly wasn't depressing thought at all, talking to all these people who are such good writers and artists in the room, it was actually really inspiring. It made me feel like that's how I feel like writing superheroes right now."

And the other writers on the Absolute Universe seem to echo that, such as Kelly Thompson on Absolute Wonder Woman.

"Kelly read a speech that Circe has about Diana at one point and about the Amazons and how they thought about Diana. And it's the same thing. It was like creating her for a better time, even if they can't win and she can't win right now. She's a weapon or an arrow they're almost hurling it at the monsters in this moment. And similarly, Superman, he's on a doomed path at the beginning but he still believes in the good of everybody. And there's something so potent about that."

While Scott Snyder won't be going anywhere for the rest of the DC Universe as well…

"and we have some amazing announcements coming about the main line. I'm signed up again to consult with DC for another year. We're finishing that now. I'll be writing or working on the meta story with Joshua Williamson, my co-architect on the All In uber narrative. And so we're going to bring that to a head in the fall and then tell our halfway point with the story around then and then push it forward even further into '26 in a really big way. So we have a really big plan that we'll be telling you more about soon, but we're just super excited. It was a great week of talking to creators and really crystallizing both what we feel the different worlds stand for at this moment and also where they're headed and why those things are important about comics, that they're saying important things about comics and what we believe we stand for, and the world itself."

With more reasons to read New Gods by Ram V and Evan Cagle…

"Ultimately, if you want the skeleton key to what we're doing with All In, Darkseid is sort of like the ultimate troll, right? Darkseid is the one saying "comics should be done. Superheroes are finished. Superheroes are oversaturated. We've seen all the biggest stories. We're sick of them. They're culturally irrelevant." He's that. He's the one that says "time for the doll to die." And he's transformed himself into this huge thing that speaks that. And with All In, we said, "well, look, we want to show you that we can not only defy that premonition, but surprise you in all kinds of ways that breathe new life into these characters, both by reinventing them in the Absolute line and telling epic stories in the main line." And now comes the second part of that story in '25. So, very, very excited.

You can read more, much more, as well as listen to him speak all this, on his Substack. And here's the solicit for Absolute Batman #5 out in a couple of weeks.

ABSOLUTE BATMAN #5 CVR A NICK DRAGOTTA
(W) Scott Snyder (A/CA) Nick Dragotta
WILL THE PARTY END HERE FOR ABSOLUTE BATMAN? With his friends lives at stake, will a broken, beaten, and ultimately defeated Bruce Wayne finally compromise and give up both himself and his morals to Black Mask? Or does he have something even BIGGER than himself to help? And what does this have to do with Mayor James Gordon and his relationship with a young Bruce Wayne? All this and more in the penultimate issue to the first arc of ABSOLUTE BATMAN! Retail: $4.99 2/12/2025

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