DC’s Absolute universe launched an arms race of just how freakishly huge you could make a comic book character when it kicked things off with the impressively wide Absolute Batman himself, a unit of a vigilante superhero. Then things started getting bigger and freakier as Bruce’s thick-torsoed world expanded even further. Now? Well, they’re taking the piss because the Robin of the Absolute universe is finally here—and he’s more mecha than boy wonder.
This week DC Comics revealed the cover for its latest milestone issue of Absolute Batman, its 20th, fully revealing that Absolute Robin is on the way… and that Absolute Robin is a Gundam hopped up on Bane juice.
Actually, even more than that, Absolute Robin is actually one of several giant robots we’re getting. It seems like “Robin” is less of an individual mantle and more of a team title. We also see what appears to be a more medically inclined Robin-bot stomping in the background of the cover, as well as a trio of more reasonably sized human beings surrounding Batman, wearing color-coded armor with matching motorcycles. So maybe it’s less that the Robins are Gundams and more that the Robins, as a team, are basically a Power Rangers/Super Sentai riff. But presumably much more messed up, given the usual tone of the Absolute books.
Here’s the brief logline for issue 20, provided by DC:
As the dust settles in the city of Gotham after the loss of [redacted], Robins enter the scene ready to hunt and more than one secret will be revealed in this seminal issue.
Funnily enough, this isn’t the first time Absolute Batman writer Scott Snyder has dabbled in a world of bat-mechs. Back in 2015 during his run on the main Batman, when prime-Bruce had stopped being Batman after a brutal fight with the Joker, Jim Gordon took over Bat-duties with his own mech suit (it eventually got destroyed, alas). So Snyder must really just love the idea!
I guess when your Batman is already built like a tank, making Robin a giant robot is just a logical size progression. Maybe whenever we get Absolute Batgirl, she can be a Death Star? Absolute Batman #20 is set to hit shelves May 13.
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