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"The only way to start is by thanking you guys," Scott Snyder says to a capacity crowd during DC Comics' Absolute Universe panel at Comic-Con International: San Diego 2026.

This comes after the Absolute line propelled DC Comics to its most financially successful year in its 80+ year history, the Absolute Batman title outselling any single DC comics run in the past 20 years, and the Absolute titles dominating the 2026 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards ceremony. It all started with the various editors and creators of the Absolute Universe titles, but only worked when fans bought comics as they did.

“They came in with guns blazing, and the mission was just pulling these characters out of context that we know them in," Snyder, who in addition to writing the Absolute Batman line is also a consultant for DC on it, says to the crowd. "“DC is just a bunch of people who really care about comics, trying really hard to make them, and most of editorial are there long hours, none of them expected this success, but it comes with this whole level of pressure, and these guys handle it."

But as Snyder has said before, he didn't expect this. Far from it. He has talked in the past about his expectations that it'd be a mid-tier DC book below its flagship title Batman. During this panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Snyder became even more open — as he is prone to do when he's in conversation — about expectations before they met reality.

“I remember going to [DC Comics' publisher/president/CCO] Jim Lee and literally going, ‘If it doesn’t work, then maybe I can pay for some of it…’” Snyder says in a frank moment.

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Snyder recalls having nightmares where the Absolute Universe failed, and there would be a chapter in the history of the DC Universe devoted to the Absolute Universe’s failure. Turns out, it wasn't.

"It’s the best moment I’ve ever had in comics,” says Snyder, who has had quite a few moments in comics including heading up Batman during the 2011 'New 52' relaunch, leading several of DC's tentpole crossover events, and launching several successful creator-owned series including Wytches (which he's now showrunning for a Prime Video adaptation).

“The argument is, in times of stress, and the economy is stressed, and comics are expensive, be safe, do things that are nostalgic, but our argument was, ‘Fans really want risk. They want to find things that are dangerous and that are theirs and that are individual and speak to their generation," says Snyder. "[The Absolute Universe's successis ] a statement about comics. It’s a statement that says you guys want risky, bespoke, singular comics."

”I could thank you for 45 minutes, and that wouldn’t be enough," says Snyder.

Read more from the panel with our members-only play-by-play of the whole event.

Here's an update to date guide on the Absolute Batman release schedule.