Overview
- Absolute Batman #23, released Thursday, August 13, 2026, escalates Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta’s Straw Man arc with a sudden, violent turning point that isolates Bruce Wayne from his allies.
- The issue opens with an intervention by Batman’s closest figures that fails as Bruce—deep in Scarecrow-driven paranoia—rejects help and retreats further into delusion.
- The Robins in this universe operate as a coordinated, mech-armed anti-Bat team whose internal fracture becomes central to the issue’s crisis and emotional impact.
- The issue intentionally echoes 1988’s A Death in the Family through visual callbacks and thematic beats, using that history to raise the stakes and burden Bruce with new guilt.
- Near-term consequences described in the issue point to a vengeance-driven arc for Jason Todd and the immediate arrival of Barbara Gordon as the Absolute Bat in the following issue.