Jason's Picks: Absolute Batman and Absolute Catwoman Level Up, Plus Two New #1s Worth Chasing

The Absolute Universe has spent a year proving that a clean-slate reboot can still surprise you, and this week both of its marquee books cash in a chunk of that goodwill at once. Absolute Batman #22 pays off a season of setup with an origin reveal, and Absolute Catwoman #2 tests whether last month's confident debut can hold its momentum under pressure. Pair that with two of the better new #1s of the summer — a pirate-vampire epic from BOOM! and a Nazi-hunting Dracula from IDW — and July 8 is a stacked week at the shop.

Absolute Batman #22: The Robins Finally Fledge

Scott Snyder and artist Werther Dell'Edera have been building toward this issue since the Robins first read as something closer to a flock than a family, and #22 is where that metaphor pays off. Harley Quinn's origin gets tied directly into Ark M, framed as hatchlings becoming birds of prey — the kind of connective tissue that makes this decompressed run feel less like stalling and more like patience. Snyder has built a career on long fuses that actually detonate, and this is one of the clearer signs yet that the Absolute line's flagship title is headed somewhere specific rather than coasting on its no-continuity premise. Nick Dragotta's cover alone is worth a look before you open the book.

Absolute Catwoman #2: Nine Lives, One Vendetta

We wrote about Absolute Catwoman #1 last month as the Thomas Crown version of Selina Kyle — an operator with her own cave, her own agenda, and no Batman required to justify her. Issue #2, from Che Grayson and Scott Snyder with art by Bengal, is the harder test: can the book sustain that confidence once the plot actually has to move? Selina spends this issue licking her wounds from her mystery assailants, and the revenge she's clearly building toward will say a lot about how self-contained this version of Catwoman really is. Demand for #1 was strong enough to send it back for a second printing and spin off an Absolute Cassandra Cain one-shot, so the pressure on #2 to deliver is real — and worth watching.

Vampyrates #1: BOOM!'s Best New Ongoing in a While

Fred Van Lente and artist Luca Pizzari open a new BOOM! ongoing with a pitch that sells itself: a world ruled by vampires, and an empress who'd rather duel and drink than rule it. When Empress Nira of the Night Isles gets run off her own throne, she ends up stowing away on a pirate ship — and has to fight her way from deckhand to queen of the Sea of Night to get her revenge. Van Lente has always been good at high-concept mashups that still function as character studies, and Vampyrates doesn't skimp on either half of that equation. Adam Guzowski's color work gives the whole thing a genuinely nocturnal mood. This is a first issue that does the job: establish the rules, earn the lead, end on a hook.

Operation: Iron Coffin #1: Dracula Goes to War

The pitch is almost too good: the Allies air-drop a recently resurrected Dracula onto a Nazi train packed with soldiers, augmented villains, and a vampire plague that can't be allowed to reach the outside world. Writer Kenny Porter has described it as what you'd get if John Wick had been a horror movie starring Dracula, and artist Tyrell Cannon draws it with exactly that momentum — this is a book that gets Dracula moving car to car and doesn't let up. What keeps it from being pure spectacle is the redemption angle: this is a Dracula actively trying to earn something back, facing off against Hazel and Ivy, who have their own reasons for wanting him to fail. IDW has had a strong year for pulpy horror concepts executed well, and this is near the top of that list.

Four very different books, one very good week: two Absolute-line titles proving the format still has range, and two new #1s that remind you a good high concept, well executed, never goes out of style. Get to the shop!