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Admittedly, it has been a long time since I read an American comic. I dove into manga in a big way and didn’t look back. However, in an effort to expand my horizons (and give in to the peer pressure of some of my more persuasive colleagues here at Popverse), I delved into the world of Absolute Batman to see what all the fuss was about.

Before picking up this comic, it had been sold to me in terms that a manga fan like me could understand; if the mainline DC Comics universe was a shonen adventure, Absolute Batman is the seinen counterpart aimed at older fans who can tolerate more violence and darkness. Several people from DC have said multiple times that he drew inspiration from manga for this version of Batman. As a Berserk and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fan, this spoke to me in a way that got me to pick up the series on digital. Don’t we all want to see what happens when Batman really cuts loose?

This stripped-back version of Batman delivered on that expectation, without trying to become something it's not. Absolute Batman answers the question of 'What if Batman was big and broke?' The early issues establish this version of Bruce Wayne as someone with the same motivation as his mainstream counterpart but without the same resources. At pretty much every turn, this Batman chooses the path most violent, stopping just short of actively killing his opponents.

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So, is this the seinen Batman I was expecting? I’d say a partial yes. This alternate universe of Batman is filled with reimagined characters who have both a dark past and a darker future. There is still a sense of holding back from trying to be a seinen manga in itself in the issues that I read, which were up through Absolute Batman #18. It is hard to describe exactly, but it feels like the writers want to go further with the violence and gore. They want to embrace the seinen influences that inspired them in the first place, but they haven't gone there (yet?). Are they restrained by the decades of history Batman carries, even as they strike out to do something different, or are they playing a longer game?

Perhaps it is a cultural difference. As Spider-Man Noir co-creator Fabrice Sapolsky explained so eloquently, I feel like I’m watching a big, action-packed movie when I read Absolute Batman, but there is not an intimacy to the action and emotion that manga often has. We watch Batman doing Batman things, but it is from the outside looking in. The Rule of Cool applies, which creates spectacle and an undeniable wow factor, particularly when Batman drives his giant bulldozer of a Batmobile through Gotham; there are no consequences or setup. It is merely to wow us with the brutality of the setting, without making me feel like those stakes apply to me. Batman is presented as this big, almost inhuman thing in a way that manga usually doesn’t.

I think the other thing that separates Absolute Batman from the seinen influences it clearly has is the progression of its hero. While this Bruce Wayne lacks the money and the training that his mainstream counterpart has, he is still a formidable fighter. He is an unrefined brawler in many ways, but he is strong and tough enough to overcome almost any obstacle already. Compare this to how most manga approaches the hero’s journey, which involves self-improvement and, usually, rigorous training, and it further separates Absolute Batman from seinen manga like Berserk.

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None of this is to say that Absolute Batman is bad. It is a fun reimagining of a classic character in a more brutal, almost primal way. He is still undeniably Batman, but without many (but not all) of the trappings we associate with the character. You can see the seinen manga influences in the art and in the characters, but with a few distinct differences. It is as close as DC Comics has come yet to embracing something like Berserk or Fist of the North Star, but it's not there (yet?). 

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