Posted in: Batman, Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: absolute, Absolute Batman, Absolute Joker, jock, scott snyder

Scott Snyder Spoiled Absolute Batman #15 More Than We Ever Could

Scott Snyder spoiled Absolute Batman #15 more than we ever could, makes good his Joker promise and... also revives The Pale Man?

Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers, spoilers… today sees the DC Comics publication of Absolute Batman #15 by Scott Snyder and Jock, although as is evidenced, plenty of comic book stores last week just said "screw it" and started selling it anyway, such was the demand. It will be the best-selling comic of the week, no doubt. And also the month. Possibly, blind bags and crossovers aside, the year. However, when the concept of an Absolute Joker was first being discussed, Scott Snyder established that the Joker was the Absolute Universe's equivalent of Bruce Wayne in terms of the wealth, influence, and power he possesses. He said, "The Joker to me is always the opposite of Batman. So if Absolute Batman is this thing, Joker would become a billionaire with all the resources… Joker plays both sides, so he creates crime and creates the means to stop crime." He told us explicitly, "If Bruce is Joker now, and he is chaos, and he is disruption, then Joker is the system and order. That means Joker would have a Batcave, he would have a mansion, he would be handsome, and be a socialite. Maybe he has Robins!" Basically, Scott Snyder spoils his own comics more than Bleeding Cool ever could. From today's Absolute Batman, with Absolute Joker revealed as a one-man generational immortal billionaire, turned rampaging monster hunting humanity, dealing with Nazis and CNN alike, his resemblance to Bruce Wayne goes further.

He has a mansion. He has a butler. And a grandfather clock…

With the hands set to 10.47pm… or is it 10.48pm? And then…

…. long staircase beneath the manor to… a Jokercave perhaps? And the hands on the clock set to the same time that the DC standard Bruce Wayne has his to open the door, the time of his parents death in Crime Alley. Why does 10.47pm have such a resonance for the Absolute Joker? Well, Scott Snyder can't give everything away, can he? Talking of which…. Scott Snyder also said;

"He's always playing us, and the Joker issue explains what a clown is and why the Joker loves them. It starts with someone you think is Joker's great great grandfather in the early 1800s who is a clown on the streets of Gotham. It keeps revisiting this idea of who this clown was and what did he do, getting darker and darker. It asks, 'What is a clown?' 'What does he love about clowns?' It starts with, Oh he loves clowns because they're funny and they make us laugh and then it goes to, 'Maybe he loves clowns because they mock us.' They're a pantomime of our own buffoonery. In mythology, a clown is the only one who survives everything and laughs at us as we die."

And as for that belief that Jack Grimm is The Joker's great-grandfather…

Which revives Scott Snyder's take on The Pale Man from his run on Batman with Greg Capullo with a looks at that origin of The Joker and the idea that he could have been The Pale Man, an immortal serial killer, recurring through history, and also aligning Vandal Savage an Ra's Al Ghul together, with the meteorite that made Savage an immortal being used to create the Lazarus Pits that did the same for the Ghul dynasty.

But it was revealed that the Pale Man was a false memory implanted into the memory of Gotham City serial killer Ephram Snow by the Joker, as part of a plot to convince Batman that he was an immortal.

Was Scott Snyder denied the chance to make such a permanent change to the Joker back then? And nopw gets the chance, in Absolute Batman, to follow through with the logic of that decision? Absolute Batman #15 by Scott Snyder and Jock is published by DC Comics today, available everywhere.

ABSOLUTE BATMAN #15
(W) Scott Snyder (A) Jock (CA) Nick Dragotta
SCOTT SNYDER REUNITES WITH LEGENDARY ARTIST JOCK! Alfred reveals to Bruce the story of the man he's been chasing for years. Enter: Joker! Scott Snyder and Jock reunite for an epic tale in the Absolute Universe! $4.99 12/10/2025

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