Posted in: Batman, Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: absolute, Absolute Batman, Absolute Joker, frank tieri, megacon, scott snyder, The Joker

Frank Tieri & Scott Snyder Plan Absolute Batman: Ark-M Joker Sequel

Frank Tieri and Scott Snyder talk up an Absolute Batman: Ark-M sequel, looking at the Absolute Joker's twelve other Arks...

At the Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo Panel during MegaCon Orlando 2026, writers Scott Snyder and Frank Tieri opened up about the Absolute Batman: Ark M one-shot that they collaborated on, with the origin of the Absolute Joker, Jack Grimm, originally planned to come out before Absolute Batman #15, but Frank Tieri and Scott Snyder say they prefer it came out later now. And let us know that a sequel is on its way. Maybe even an Absolute Joker series could be on the cards.

Absolute Batman: Ark M, drawn by Joshua Hixson, explored the dark origins of the Ark facilities, a network of alphabetically titled shadowy institutions that serve as the Absolute Universe's counterpart to Arkham Asylum and more, run and owned by Jack Grimm, the Absolute Joker, who once lived in the original Arkham Asylum and ended up destroying it – then buying it. The question was asked whether it might lead to an Absolute Joker series spinning out of the current Absolute Batman stories.

Scott Snyder replied, "He comes in really big in this arc. Bruce meets him for the first time in the next couple of issues, and it's one of my favourite things. Like, it's like the scene that I did with Greg where they meet on the bench in Super Heavy. It's like that." I remember that well. Maybe we should take a quick flashback to Batman Vol 2 #48 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo? Just to feel the mood?

That's the one. Scott Snyder continued, "It's just one of those things that I've never gotten to do before this way. It's not just them meeting as Batman and Joker. It's this really spooky scene. So he's all over this arc. So I'm sure we could do an Absolute Joker thing at some point, but we're talking to them, and we really want to do a sequel to Ark-M. The Joker has Ark-M, the whole idea is that this is the last one he built. It's a final one, but he's had them. He has A B C D all over the world because he thinks it's funny to end on Arkham and call it Ark-M because he killed Arkham, right?"

"And in those places, a lot of other villains have been created, the way Bane was created in Ark-A from Santa Cris. So a lot of other ones are lurking around in these terrible places. And it tells more of the story of the Joker, like how he set these up over the years, what he's done in other places, and who lurks inside all these things. And then, like we did with this one, then they would come to Gotham."

The discussion tied directly into ongoing Absolute Batman teases: the first major meeting between Absolute Batman and the Absolute Joker is coming soon in issue #21, and the Joker is already building influence with a cadre of twisted allies, including hints of Absolute Robins under his control. The one-shot's global ARK facilities provide the perfect infrastructure for Joker's schemes to escalate across the Absolute Universe.

You can catch up with the panel yourself here, filmed for Chris Covers Comics on YouTube.

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