DC Comics reviews 4/15/26 – Absolute Batman 19

April 19, 2026 Jeffrey Lyles Absolute Batman, Batman, Nick Dragotta, Scott Snyder

With Absolute Batman 19, writer Scott Snyder, artist Nick Dragotta, colorist Nick Martin and letterer Tom Napolitano show a complete lack of fear of dramatically shaking up the status quo.

On the heels of introducing the Court of Owls to the Absolute universe, Absolute Batman 19 reintroduces Deathstroke the Terminator, debuts a whole new take on Robin, delivers a horrifying new spin on Scarecrow and kills off a core supporting cast member. Probably. Maybe?

That uncertainty spans from the opening act in Absolute Batman 19, which finds Absolute Scarecrow strolling onto a farm and being a mix of a chaos agent and a Final Destination’s death entity in the flesh.

For now, let’s take Absolute Batman 19 at face value and go along with the notion that Jim Gordon is actually dead.

Batman’s staged role in the murder sets the stage for Gotham officials to sanction a task force under the command of a horribly disfigured Slade Wilson with familiar names like Grayson, Todd, Drake, Thomas and Brown to bring in/take down Batman.

It’s a big power move when public sentiment was already starting to shift to Batman’s methods of dealing with crime in Gotham.

The likely conductor of these actions is Jack Grimm IV, who Absolute Batman 19 shows is wisely already on Batman’s radar. Batman’s supporting cast has already expanded with Harley Quinn joining Pennyworth at Mission Control. Snyder teased Harley would be the Absolute Batman’s sidekick, but it feels too early to bring her so closely into the fold while Bruce is building his partnership with Pennyworth and his Crime Alley crew could still become unlikely allies instead of adversaries.

Snyder does include a flashback showing how tight Bruce’s childhood bonds go so it’s clearly not a forgotten subplot by any means.

Dragotta’s art is overpowering in the best way possible. Everything feels a little rawer, more in readers’ faces from Batman’s Bat-Nasty gyro ride to the demented look of The Straw Man to the deformities throughout Wilson’s body. This is the look for Absolute Batman and he showcases it powerfully in Absolute Batman 19.

Martin’s deep colors finds the sweet spot of making bold, bright color palettes still have haunting echoes of darkness. Napolitano’s font choices help dramatically tell the story as well.

Absolute Batman 19 feels like a seismic change to the status quo as the creative team closes in on year two of one of the more consistently shocking and legitimately surprising Batman runs in the last 30 years.