Bane Co-Creator Graham Nolan Savages Absolute Batman's Bane Redesign: "A Terrible Abomination"
Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta have made some absurd design choices in Absolute Batman, but now Bane co-creator Graham Nolan has come out against the new design of Absolute Bane as a “terrible abomination.”
DC Comics last year went “all-in” as they made a new Absolute DC Universe to compete with the Ultimate Marvel Universe. It copied the Marvel concept in every way, even making the universe a villainous construct to try to garner sales for their flailing titles.
It was reported last year that a full two-thirds of DC Comics’ line was selling under the threshold of cancelation, and so creators became desperate. Scott Snyder teamed with Joshua Williamson to make this all-in initiative and create the Absolute DC Universe, which instantly revitalized sales. Absolute Batman #1 was driven by a lot of variant covers and speculation.
Absolute Batman was not an absolute edition of the Batman character, however. It read like an Elseworld where the characters are in name only, and they’re completely different from the regular line. Bruce Wayne in this edition isn’t rich, seems to be on steroids like a caricature of a 90s Rob Liefeld design, and Alfred appears to be some kind of secret agent.
The design of Absolute Batman caused a lot of mockery at first from fans, especially because of the Bat-Logo, which looks ridiculous and can be peeled off of the costume to be used as a weapon.
Other strange design elements include turning Barbara Gordon into a black girl in another attempt at diversity, equity, and inclusion from DC Comics.
Now, DC Comics has revealed a new design for Absolute Bane by Nick Dragotta, which is in the same vein. The character's original creator, Graham Nolan, is none too thrilled.
He tweeted an image of the design, saying, “As the designer /co-creator of Bane…this is a terrible abomination.”
A fan asked if the head was part of the problem, to which Nolan replied, “We can start there.”
He even received a concern troll about the topic where a fan asked, “Graham you rock man but don't you think that there's room for other artists to re imagine the character?”
Nolan replied, “Of course. Many have, and done excellent interpretations. This is not one of them.”
His post is going viral on the topic as fans are questioning the designs of the Absolute DC Universe once more, as the company seems to like to be mired in company with all of their reworkings of classic characters.
What do you think about the Absolute Batman redesign of Bane? Leave a comment and let us know.
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When you can't write new stories and have no imagination, you bulk up a character and resort to gimmicks.
Batman was a detective. He solved crimes and chased the joker.
Ridiculous looking characters, a five minute read and all for $4.99-$5.99 and I'm not buying. Yesterday, I flipped thru the new Absolute Martian Manhunter. Boy, did that look like piece of crap. I looked thru some comics from the forties. 6 to 9 panels per page, loaded with writing. Actual stories! People are accepting so much less for so much more.