Absolute Batman #25 is shaping up to be one of the biggest single comics of the year. Comic shops have ordered more than 775,000 copies of the milestone issue, according to a report from Bleeding Cool, which cites senior sources coming out of New York Comic Con.
That would be a huge jump for a series that was already one of DC’s top sellers. Bleeding Cool says the previous order record for Absolute Batman was just shy of half a million copies. DC has not publicly confirmed the new figure.
Why #25 matters
Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta have been building toward this issue for months. Absolute Batman #25 features the first big, direct confrontation between Batman and the Absolute Joker, Jack Grimm. Snyder has called it the biggest issue of the series so far, with “two of the biggest moments” in the run.
It is also a turning point for the cast. During the issue, Barbara Gordon steps up and takes on the mantle of The Bat, a status quo shift the creative team says will set the direction for roughly the next 25 issues.
The official DC listing puts Absolute Batman #25 on sale Wednesday, October 28, at $5.99, with Snyder writing, Dragotta on art and Frank Martin on colors. The solicitation keeps it short: “All the villains. All the heroes. All the stakes. What’s left…of Absolute Batman?”
A pause after the big issue
Fans who get caught up in the cliffhanger will have a short wait. As RCG reported in Absolute Batman Goes on Hiatus After #25, the series takes a break after this issue. Absolute Batman #26 will be a flashback focused on Barbara Gordon, and the main story picks back up in February with Absolute Batman #27.
If the 775,000 figure holds, it will be a striking result for a single standard issue in today’s direct market, where most books measure success in tens of thousands. It also shows how much retailers trust the Absolute line to move copies.
Readers can find out how the Bat and Joker showdown plays out on October 28.
