Absolutely All In - DC's New Universe Unveiled in (Almost) Full

The problem and highlight of comic books is, reinvention. The problem being the convoluted nature of things and limited wallet space (and time) to absorb it all, the highlight being we can enjoy fresh takes, new stories and different teams (to a degree) feeling out entirely new chapters in all things Funny Pages.

The recent San Diego Comic-Con took place for its 14th year, and each year the pop culture Mecca produces more and more for the geek-aligned. And among myriad announcements and reveals this year, chief among them was DC highlighting its new "Absolute" and "All In" series of books which will offer up the freshest look at key heroes we've seen in some time, and in some cases... ever.

Case in point: Absolute Batman.



DC revealed that this Bruce Wayne is a city engineer in his 20s, and not a billionaire playboy. He's also 211cm (6,6" for our non-metric pals) and weighs some 113 kegs (or 250lbs). In short (heh), he's a monster of a man and early images show we're looking, clearly, at a version of The Bat inspired by Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns whom was also sufficiently beefed up, though much older and much, much grumpier.

For mine, however, it is the inclusion of his frenchie in place of any Robin -- something this very proud dog owner is very excited for. I mean, those ears alone...

It was also revealed that Absolute Batman's first key villain will be Black Mask, also markedly reinvented, while Bruce's trusty butler, Alfred, now rides a motorbike and looks more like a transient road warrior. He's also apparently an ex-MI-6 agent who went by the name 'Penny'. So yeah, plenty of significant changes.

This new spin will be handled by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta.

In addition to the Batman rejig, we'll also get new versions of Superman and Wonder Woman.

Stay tuned as we learn more about this emerging universe and its players, and if you've been away from comics for awhile, maybe this is going to be a good place to start again.