Absolute Batman #20

A dark, rain-soaked standoff dominates Nick Dragotta and Frank Martin's cover for this twenty-first chapter of Scott Snyder's Absolute Batman run — a lone, caped figure faces down an enormous armored mech bristling with weapons, while a squad of armed combatants on motorcycles and foot close in from every side. The sheer scale contrast between Batman and the looming machine gives the image a genuine sense of weight and dread, with Dragotta's linework and Martin's moody palette doing a lot of heavy lifting. "The Straw Man, Part 2" promises that whatever confrontation was set in motion last issue is far from settled.