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Geek Dad
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Review – Absolute Batman #9: Terror in Ark M
Absolute Batman #9 cover, via DC Comics. Ray: It never fails to amaze me just how impressive the Absolute books are, packing a level of tension very rarely seen in mainstream comics. That continues this issue, with a brilliant segment where two Emirs, the leaders of Bialya and Khandaq, put aside their long-standing enmity and cut a peace deal that will change the world – only to open the door and discover an absolutely horrific Bane waiting for them, ensuring that the peace deal fails and one not only keeps the status quo, but escalates it because it'll benefit his masters. Bane's always been a massive threat to Batman, but it's been a very long time since he had this level of menace. And back in Gotham, Bruce is focused on a much more pressing issue – his friend Waylon Jones has gone missing, with the man seemingly disappearing off the face of the world. And all indications are that he's been taken deep below – to the mysterious facility known as Ark M. The fixer. Via DC Comics. Bruce now has a much bigger support network, including Alfred and Bruce's old friends like Ozzy, Eddie, and Harvey. Their first planning mission doesn't particularly go well, but Bruce gets what he needs to set out. Similar to Superman and the Kents in Absolute Superman, there are hints of the relationship Bruce and Alfred could have had in another world, but a distance between them. Scott Snyder's worldbuilding is incredibly strong, but it wouldn't be what it is without the stunning artwork of Nick Dragotta. His Bane design is horrific, and the depiction of what the real Ark M looks like is incredibly menacing. It all comes together into one of the best Bat-books I've read in a long time – maybe since Scott Snyder's last run on this title. There are so many other great beats, including Martha Wayne and the former Mayor Gordon, and a flashback to Bruce's relationship with Selina. I'm hoping Snyder has a very long time planned on this title. To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week. GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
Geek Dad
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Review – Absolute Superman #8: Showdown in Smallville
Absolute Superman #8 cover, via DC Comics Ray: For the last few issues, we've been teased about what happened in Smallville. One emotional issue showed us the few weeks Kal-El spent in the small town, being found by Jonathan and Martha Kent when he was a teenager. You could see that they would have shown him the same love they did if they found him as a baby – but then Lazarus Corp came, hunting him, and Kal was forced to flee. And all these years later, that's still the only place he ever felt safe. But this isn't the Smallville he left. The town has been fully taken over by the shadowy corporation, turning the farmers into modern serfs. Jonathan Kent is long gone, and Martha Kent languishes in a memory care center. Kal tries to visit, but she doesn't recognize him. And so he prowls the streets of Smallville – along with Lois Lane, and Omega Man Jimmy Olsen. Put to the test. Via DC Comics. The three main players have been in opposition from the start, with Lois not sure she can fully turn her back on her father's army yet and Jimmy not trusting anyone associated with them. And Superman, of course, stuck in the middle. But now, the Peacemakers are about to enter the fray, led by the mad and cybernetically-enhanced Agent Smith, turned into a raging monster. The action in this issue is intense, but as usual with the Absolute Universe, there's a great emotional underpinning to every issue. And then there's the main villain, Ra's Al Ghul. Whether he's the true big bad of this series or Brainiac is, it's hard to tell. But after last issue's spotlight for Brainiac, what we see of Ra's here is no less terrifying. Here more a mad warlord than the utopian we often see him as, he's further gone – and plays a key role in introducing Kryptonite to the world of Superman, raising the stakes even higher. To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week. GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
