There’s a reason why the AbsoluteBatman’snew Bat Symbol is absolutely massive. As DC Comics prepares to release its Absolute Universe, analternative imprint to 86 years of history, one of the bigger talking points for fans has been surrounding thecontroversial new Bat Symbolfor this Absolute Universe. Much of the controversy surrounds just how abnormally large the logo is, compared to past iterations.
Screen Rant’s Kate O’Donoguespoke toAbsolute Batmancreators Scott Snyder and Nick Dragottaabout the topic of the Bat Symbol, and they were able to divulge exactly why the symbol is so big. In fact, they delve into exactly why it needs to be as big as it is.
Specifically, Dragotta and Snyder explain how the big symbol is there to match the official size of the Absolute Batman, but it’s necessary to protect him.Traditionally, the logo has represented a symbol of hope and protection for Gotham’s citizens, but now, that protection is reciprocal for Batman as well, which has some interesting implications.
Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta Explain the New Bat Symbol
The Bat Symbol is tailor-made for this incarnation of the Dark Knight
As an alternative take on the main canon of DC, this Absolute Batman showcases a Bruce Wayne who is not a billionaire, but a 20-something, 6'6, 250 lb working-class engineer.A weightlifting Batman is unlike any that readers have seen before in previous incarnations of the Caped Crusader, but the same can be said for an utterly unique Bat Symbol. The comics community has been divided between loving and hating it, but artist Nick Dragotta tells Screen Rant why the size is so necessary.
I mean, you need a massive symbol for a massive Batman. All my designs are dictated by story. And the character of this book, and particularly this Bruce, he’s someone— you know, in every way we’re going bigger. So it’s a bigger Batman. It’s a bigger Bruce. As an artist and a designer, I thought about the practical nature of the symbol and who this character is. And first and foremost, that symbol was for protection. So it’s going to protect his vitals. It also acts as other tools that you’ll see in the issue.
The first sentence of Dragotta’s statement alone makes sense out of the need for such a large logo. It’s because the Batman himself has a need for a large logo. At 6'6 and 250 lbs, no DC Universe has seen a larger Batman, and thus, the logo must be just as big, especially when the logo has its practical uses.The new Batsuit itself is practical, as previous previews revealed that his Bat ears are hidden Batarangs and knives, whilehidden under the symbol is an axe. Batman’s suit, especially the logo, exists to protect him as much as anyone else.
Dragotta expands further on the axe aspect:
And starting with that, starting from there, you tend to go larger. The idea, too, is just to get away from the Baroque, you know, the Batman ‘89 and how Baroque [it is with] all the curves. When you see our story, that just doesn’t fit. Such a massive guy carrying - his emblem is also an axe - so carrying that, and then the design, it just didn’t carry the weight. So all that shape and then getting away from the protection. And then I love the bows in it, and the curves, and it looks like it’s a Bat symbol that’s about to burst, to me. And that kind of fits our character, Bruce.
This quote gets to the meat as to why this new Bat logo is not only larger, but notably curveless compared to other Bat logos. The Bat Symbol is typically curvy at the wingspan, with the aforementionedBatman ‘89being a prime example and perhaps the template future symbols would build for future iterations of Batman. The problem is that for this Absolute character,the classic logo would restrict him and get further away from his need to protect himself, especially for the sake of hiding an axe.
Piggybacking off Nick Dragotta’s Words
Scott Snyder builds upon Dragotta’s introspection with the following:
Like Nick says, it’s a big Batman. He needs a big emblem, which is very true. But I think the thing that we were going for is this feeling that he’s almost just explosive. The idea of the mythology being completely inverted was exciting. Like, okay, Bruce Wayne doesn’t have money or anything like that. How do you take this and completely flip it? And so for us, that didn’t just mean the resources or that he’s not rich.
It meant that instead of being associated with the system and with order that he would be that small amount of chaos and anarchy. And his villains would be the things that sort of held the system together in that way. And so that sort of demanded a size to him that would feel almost like a primal beast, like this force of nature in Gotham. As opposed to somebody that has to pretend to be rich and powerful and wear a tuxedo. He could be unleashed in that way, because he’s nobody. He’s just a guy on the train.
And the emblem in that way, too, felt like it needed to be brutal. It needed to be almost aggressive. It felt like something that we wanted you to see and be like, “what is that?” And we tried ones that were more traditional and Bat-like. But for us, it really felt like it was a geometrical utility, like a tool. That this is a wall, and you’re not getting through it. This is an axe. It’s barely a bat because it’s just so bursting at the brim with passion and energy.
That’s another thing that needs to be considered when judging the logo and the costume in general: not only does the suit have its practical uses, but it is a suit that’s been made practically. This is a suit that has been hand-woven by a man with no money and no resources. Of course, Batman’s suits and logos traditionally look crisp, precise, and pretty curvy. It’s because it’s always been funded and created by a billionaire with time and money on his side.
This Absolute version of Bruce Wayne is the furthest from such a thing. This is a blue-collar worker with no time to build the prettiest looking suit for himself, and even if he did, he doesn’t have the resources to make it look pretty.This isn’t a suit that’s made to look pretty. This is a suit made to dive headfirst into a war on crime. Obviously, war is not pretty, and neither is his tattered suit or the oversized man’s oversized logo.
But is it effective? Judging from preview images of theAbsolute Batman’s first battles, it absolutely is. As long as it serves the purpose of protecting Batman, then the suit has done its job. The aesthetics of a great Batsuit are always great to have to any Batman costumeas seen in the past, but there’s no room for aesthetics in this world. It’s all about protecting the individual wearing the suit. Protection has been the keyword for this logo and this article as a whole, so it seems appropriate to delve deeper into the implications of protection.
The Bat Symbol Functions as Protection, Too
What It Meant Before, And What It Means Now
The Bat Symbol is universally recognized asa symbol of hope, especially for Gotham City with Batman serving as its protector. The symbol is representative of the person who is actively, regularly protecting the people. The same can be said for the Absolute Batman’s new symbol, but with both Snyder and Dragotta putting an emphasis on protection for Batman himself,this would mark the first time that protection is two-fold in a reciprocal manner.
This oversized logo has its own arsenal, existing to protect Batman as much as it does the people he protects. In the past, the Bat Symbol acting as a symbol of protection and hope was more of a metaphorical sense. Now, it’s literal, but in a way that shows how it can save both Batman and other people. The Absolute Universe exists to put new twists on old characters likeBatman, twisting old ideas surrounding their mythos, and this is one of the more interesting ideas that the creative team are morphing as we speak.
