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Absolute Batman Vol 1 3

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"The Zoo, Part Three": The Batmobile thunders down the streets of Gotham, pursued by the Party Animals and GCPD. Batman tells Alfred that his thirty seconds begin now and so Alfred, while returning fire on the Party Animals; tells him that he believes Roman Sionis, the leader of the Party Animal

Warning! This comic is very recent and may contain spoilers!
Read beyond this point at your own risk!

... I may actually love Batman.
— Alfred Pennyworth

Absolute Batman #3 is an issue of the series Absolute Batman (Volume 1) with a cover date of February, 2025. It was published on December 18, 2024.

Synopsis for "The Zoo, Part Three"

The Batmobile thunders down the streets of Gotham, pursued by the Party Animals and GCPD. Batman tells Alfred that his thirty seconds begin now and so Alfred, while returning fire on the Party Animals; tells him that he believes Roman Sionis, the leader of the Party Animals, is also Black Mask, a notorious underground mercenary figure. Alfred tells Batman that he can help him and Batman tells him to prove it by taking the Batmobile's rear gun turret. Alfred climbs in to the nest and shoots out the Party Animal's tires. He tells Batman that if Sionis is Black Mask then he has unlimited resources and can't be stopped; however, he overheard Sionis offer Bruce a deal, which means that Sionis is probably almost done in Gotham. He tells Batman that if he makes a deal to stand down, Sionis will probably reduce his attacks and give Bruce enough money to make a real difference in Gotham. Alfred also promises that his agency will track the transaction and eventually be able to arrest Sionis. They reach the docks and Alfred asks Batman if he has something to get them out of there. Batman tells him to pull a lever in the gun nest and Alfred does, but this turns out to be an ejector that rockets Alfred into the air and he splashes down in the water. Batman seals off the Batmobile and drives it into the bay and then through a hidden tunnel into his nearest bolthole.

On the night of Thomas' death, Selina leads Bruce across the rooftops in Crime Alley and teaches him how to walk along wires. They go to a roof where stray cats congregate and Bruce asks Selina how she's doing in her new foster home. She tells him that she has run away, the fourth time that year. Bruce says she can come to live with him and Martha but she refuses and tells him to never ask that again. They jump down to street level in an alley and she gets him to sneak in through a door into what turns out to be a movie theatre. An old Zorro movie starts playing, the same movie Thomas was planning to take Bruce to that night before he was shot.

In the present day, Bruce goes to Eddie's makeshift lab and asks what he was able to find out from the helmet. Eddie, through a robot he built called "Al", tells Bruce that the helmet gives the user an individual crypto wallet for a cryptocurrency called Black Coin, and the network not only provides targets for the wearer but also valuations: for every crime committed, the wearer is rewarded with a certain amount of Black Coin. Bruce asks if there is a way to take down the network but Al tells him it is satellite based and there are thousands of members with the masks, making the network impossible to disrupt. Eddie advises him to destroy the mask and stop whatever he is doing. Bruce then gets a call from Harvey, who he asked to look into the Ark M fund. Harvey tells him that most of the funding comes from a company called J. K. Holdings, whose main business is building private black site prisons that appear to be using the inmates as subjects for medical experiments.

Harvey Bullock meets with Hamilton Hill on Roman Sionis' yacht. Hill is seeking Bullock's endorsement for the upcoming mayoral election but Bullock refuses as he is loyal to Gordon. Hill takes him to meet Sionis, who is wrestling champion MMA fighter Bibbo Bibbowski. Sionis tells Bullock that he can offer him considerably more money and equipment to fight off the Party Animals, as Bullock does not know he is actually their leader. While they are talking he also easily overpowers Bibbo, breaking his arm and choking him unconscious.

Bruce further researches J. K. Holdings and learns they have secret, unregulated prisons all around the world. The latest, Ark M, is currently under construction on an island off the coast of Gotham. He looks at the site from across the bay with a surveyor's scope and sees that it is a massive compound, realising the sheer scale of what he is up against.

In the past, Bruce tries to leave the theatre but Selina stops him. She tells him that he has talents that other kids don't and he can use what had happened to him to mean something, but only if he ignores his fears and pushes forwards. Their friends, who were waiting for them, jump out and the group watch the movie together. Martha watches them sadly from a seat near the back.

In the present, Bruce goes to Martha's apartment first thing in the morning. He suggests she lie low until the chaos in the city dies down, but she tells him she has accepted Gordon's offer to be deputy mayor. He tells her that she is putting a target on her back, but she says that she believes in what Gordon is trying to do and is going to help rather than just watch the city collapse. He asks what if it's too big and she can't do anything, and she replies that even then you have to try anyway, and that's what his father would have done. Meanwhile Alfred lurks in a van outside the elementary school where Julia is a teacher to spy on her, and drives off before she notices him. Bullock endorses Hill's bid for re-election in exchange for Sionis' resources while the Party Animals ramp up their campaign of terror.

The next day, the anniversary of his father's death, Bruce returns to the Zoo; which was shut down after the shooting. He contacts Sionis through the helmet and Black Mask offers him two hundred million dollars to stand back for a week, and says that the Party Animals will reduce their attacks. Bruce reluctantly takes the deal.

Appearing in "The Zoo, Part Three"

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Concepts:

  • Black Coin (Party Animals cryptocurrency)




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