Absolute Batman #2

Jan 2025 · DC · 4.99 USD

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“The Zoo, Part Two of Five”

About this Issue

Absolute Batman #2 is the second chapter of 'The Zoo,' the origin arc that establishes the core mythology of DC's Absolute Universe Batman — a working-class Bruce Wayne whose childhood friends are the very people who will eventually become his rogues' gallery. The issue delivers the Absolute Universe's first on-panel poker-table gathering of Harvey Dent, Oswald Cobblepot, Edward Nygma, and Waylon Jones as Bruce's Crime Alley peers, and introduces Selina Kyle through a flashback as a meaningful figure from Bruce's youth — the Absolute Universe's first hint at that reinvented relationship. It also marks the pivotal story beat in which MI6 agent Alfred Pennyworth — reimagined root-and-branch from loyal butler to adversarial operative — deduces Batman's secret identity, an inversion of their classic dynamic that drives the entire first arc. As part of a series that went on to earn an Eisner Award nomination for Best New Series and anchor DC's most commercially successful imprint launch in years, this issue is a foundational text in that lineage.

writer Scott Snyder · artist, inker Nick Dragotta · colorist Frank Martin · letterer Clayton Cowles · cover Nick Dragotta

ComicBooks.com Value

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Raw (NM) $16

CGC 9.8 · 1157 in census $93

CGC 9.6 · 66 in census $49

CGC 9.4 · 14 in census $43*

CGC 9.2 · 5 in census $37*

CGC 9.0 · 6 in census $35*

CGC 8.5 · 3 in census $29*

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CGC 8.0 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 7.5 none in existence

CGC 7.0 · 1 in census $20*

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CGC 9.8 ▾ $60–$150 2 listings

CGC 9.8 · Variant $60 CGC 9.8 $150

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Raw — NM ▾ $5.99–$54.99 6 listings

NM $5.99 NM · Variant $29.99 NM · Variant $29.99 NM $35.19 NM $49.99 NM $54.99

Raw — FN/VF $54 1 listing

Raw / ungraded ▾ $4.99–$375 9 listings

Raw / ungraded $4.99 Raw / ungraded $25 Raw / ungraded $25 Variant $34.99 Raw / ungraded $38.5 Raw / ungraded $49.99 Raw / ungraded $49.99 Foil $89.99 Raw / ungraded $375

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4th print $6.93 VF/NM · Variant · 3rd print $9.99 Variant · 2nd print $13.99 NM · 3rd print $16.99 Variant · 6th print $17.99 NM · 2nd print $19.99 2nd print $20 2nd print $23.9

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History

The series was born when writer James Tynion IV persuaded Scott Snyder — who had initially planned only a consulting role on DC's new Absolute Universe imprint — to take on the book himself, with Snyder agreeing on the condition that Nick Dragotta, best known for Image's East of West, serve as artist. Snyder described wanting a Batman who felt like a 'primal force,' and Dragotta's early designs were pushed even larger at Snyder's direction. The Absolute Universe itself, overseen editorially by Snyder and co-architected with Joshua Williamson, launched in October 2024 as DC's line-wide 'All In' initiative, with Absolute Batman as its flagship title; issue #2 arrived on November 13, 2024, as part of that sustained monthly rollout. Colorist Frank Martin and letterer Clayton Cowles rounded out the core creative team.

Trivia · 9 facts

Published November 13, 2024, by DC Comics; cover-dated January 2025; 24 pages; rated Teen; part of the DC 'All In' Absolute Universe initiative.
Written by Scott Snyder, art and cover by Nick Dragotta, colors by Frank Martin, letters by Clayton Cowles — the same core team that launched the series in issue #1.
Story chapter title: 'The Zoo, Part Two' — the second installment of the six-issue opening arc that was later collected as Absolute Batman Vol. 1: The Zoo (August 2025).
First issue to show the Absolute Universe versions of Harvey Dent, Oswald Cobblepot, Edward Nygma, and Waylon Jones together on-panel as adult friends of Bruce Wayne rather than enemies, gathered around a poker table.
First appearance (cameo/flashback) of Absolute Selina Kyle — introduced as a childhood figure from Bruce's past in a closing scene where young Selina enters young Bruce's room after his father's death, teasing the Absolute Catwoman dynamic that would unfold across the series.
Alfred Pennyworth — reimagined as a veteran MI6 special agent rather than a butler — deduces Batman's secret identity as Bruce Wayne in this issue, inverting one of the franchise's most defining relationships.
The issue reveals that in this continuity Thomas Wayne was a public school teacher (not a billionaire physician), killed in a mass shooting at the Gotham Zoo during a school trip, while Martha Wayne survived — a double inversion of the classic origin.
Issue #2 went through at least eight printings by mid-2025, alongside the broader Absolute Batman #1–2 reprint wave driven by the series' word-of-mouth momentum following New York Comic Con 2024.
Former Mayor Hamilton Hill and Joe Chill both appear in cameo capacity, and the issue establishes that a file labeled 'Ark M' — the arc's central conspiracy MacGuffin — is discovered by Batman in the mayor's office.