Popverse's top stories

• Imagine Backrooms with Amazing Digital Circus characters. Here's what would happen, according to the cast themselves
• Superhero fatigue isn't real says Invincible co-creator Robert Kirkman... it's just a dearth of good superhero stories
• Failure is the major theme of The Vampire Lestat, says showrunner

Warning – this article contains spoilers for Absolute Batman.

When we first met the Absolute Universe version of Barbara Gordon, she was a Gotham City Police Officer. However, anyone that is familiar with the character knows that she is destined for greatness, no matter what continuity she’s in. Absolute Batman might be about Bruce Wayne and his war against the establishment, but Barbara Gordon was never going to stay on the sidelines for long.

Absolute Batman #24, which goes on sale this September, will give us the next step of Barbara’s journey, as she suits up to join the fight on her own terms. The cover, which is an homage to Absolute Batman #1, depicts Barbara in her own batsuit, with her father’s trenchcoat, a firearm, and a menacing aura that shows she means business.

“Barbara is one of the only people who knows that Batman did not kill her father,” Absolute Batman artist Nick Dragotta says during a panel at HeroesCon 2026. “The story just emerges, and the idea was she’s going to grab her dad’s coat. We’ve seen Bruce hanging up. He’s kind of going down this spiral from the Scarecrow, and Barbara is ready to take the mission into her own hands now and avenge her father. She’s got this great story. She’s going to become the Bat. She’s not Batgirl, she’s the Bat. Her day job is cop, but at night she’s going to maybe have to go outside the law to get things done.”

“This character’s story has been there from Nick forever,” Absolute Batman writer Scott Snyder says. “We’ve been talking about it since whenever we began the book, and it really comes to a head here in [issue 24] where it begins in earnest. We wanted her to kind of come up under her father and have begun her time at the police, at the GCPD, but she sees all these things that are wrong with it everywhere.”

“It almost feels like more Batman than Batman, her mission and her origin. And as Bruce is kind of losing, she’s going to come in,” Dragotta adds.

“One of the fun things is that she fights differently,” Snyder says. “In terms of the shotgun, you might recognize that from the very first issue that we did. Bruce repurposed Alfred’s shotgun to be this bat-shotgun that fires electrified mini-batarang pellets, so that it is non-lethal, but at the same time it is super badass. She uses different weapons that way. She still follows some of the same tenants. She’s not out there murdering people, but at the same time, she’s really tough.”

“Wait until you see her with the coat off,” Snyder continues. “It’s awesome. She’s buff. She looks like MMA, like out of control. She’s got the wraps and all that stuff, but she’s got the tank top that has almost Kevlar with the bat-symbol on it. She just looks so awesome. It’s one of my favorite designs.”

Absolute Batman #24 will be available in comic shops on September 23, 2026.

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